Avarice or Innocence (JOHN LOGAN FILES Book 1)

by Marshall Huffman

  “And do what? You just said there was nothing for me to do but wait. Waiting with nothing to do will only drag out time. I have to be doing something or I’ll lose it. I need to keep on working,” he assured her.

  “Mr. Ashton, if there is anything I can do, just ask,” she said.

  “I appreciate that very much but for now all anyone can do is wait. I sure hope they will let me know what they find at the lake,” he said sitting down at this desk.

  He continued to work for two more hours before he gave up. No matter how hard he tried, his mind would not stay focused. He decided to leave and drive down to the Holcomb Bridge Lane boat launch area to see how they were doing.

  It took him almost an hour to find the boat ramp area. When he got there it was swarming with police. They stopped him as he drove up.

  “Sorry sir. The ramp is going to be closed today,” the officer said.

  “I’m Jim Ashton,” he told the officer.

  “And?” the officer said just looking at him.

  “It’s my wife’s car that they recovered from the water,” he said.

  “Oh, in that case, why don’t you park over there?” he said, pointing to a spot, “and come with me.”

  Ashton parked his Mercedes as directed and followed the officer to where a large man was giving orders. They waited until he was done.

  “No reporters,” he said to the officer.

  “Sir. This is Mr. Ashton. The BMW was his wife’s car,” the officer told him.

  The man turned and looked down at Ashton for several seconds before saying, “what brings you out here Mr. Ashton?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I can’t work and I don’t really know what to do with myself. I decided to come down here in case there was some news,” he replied.

  “It’s just as well that you did. I was going to have to leave to come look you up anyway. I’m detective Logan and this has been kicked to my department. As you can see we are searching the area and have started dragging the lake,” he said pointing to three boats working their way along the shoreline.

  “What can I be doing to help?” Ashton asked.

  Logan rubbed his chin and said, “Nothing much really, same as me. We just wait and see what they find. I have read your statements from both Stockton and Smithers but I would like you to tell me again. Start from the time you left in the morning to now, if you don’t mind.”

  Ashton started to protest but then decided it would do no good at all so he told his story one more time.

  Detective Logan looked to be in his mid-forties. His clothes were certainly not top quality. On top of that, the tie he had on looked like it had been used as a bib one too many times. His hair was starting to thin and he must not have shaved for the last couple of days. Ashton judged him to be around six foot tall with a scar at the corner of his left eye. Even though he wasn’t particularly big, he had a rather menacing look that said ‘don’t screw with me.’

  “And she said nothing as you left for work?”

  “She was still sleeping.”

  “You didn’t bother to at least wake her to say goodbye?” he asked.

  “She really hates the mornings. I usually just get up, get dressed, and go. It’s no big deal,” Ashton said defensively.

  “It would have been at my house,” Logan replied.

  “People are different,” was all that Ashton could think of to say.

  “People don’t usually disappear for no reason either. I’ve been doing this for more years than I care to count and I can tell you that one of five things has happened here. One is that she made a wrong turn and somehow ended up in the lake. If that is the case, considering the time she has been gone now, we should find her body. Two is that someone abducted her and dumped her car here. In that case, this will no longer be in my jurisdiction. Homicide will take over. And the third, and far too common reason, is because things were not as they seemed at home and one of the people gets tired or bored and runs off either alone or with someone else,” he said turning to see the commotion was taking place behind him.

  “Detective Logan,” one of the officers called out,

  “Over here.”

  “Detective they have snagged something. The divers are going to go down and see what it is.”

  “A body?” Logan asked.

  “Don’t know yet. It seems to be lodged about 15 feet down,” the officer reported.

  “Let me know as soon as the divers retrieve it,” he replied and turned back to Ashton, “Doubt it’s a body.”

  “Look Detective just because I didn’t kiss her goodbye doesn't mean she ran off with someone else. That seems to be the mentality I have encountered from everyone so far,” Ashton shot back.

  “Thirty percent,” Logan said.

  “Thirty percent what?”

  “That’s the percentage of people who take off with someone else. Of that, almost 90 percent of the people left behind didn’t believe it could happen to them,” Logan said matter-of-factly.

  Ashton decided it would do no good to argue and said, “Go on. What’s the fourth?”

  “Ah yes. The fourth is that one gets tired of the other and decides to get rid of them. They try to make it look like an accident most of the time. I don’t know much about you yet Mr. Ashton, but you don’t really fit the mold of the people in the last category. I try to keep an open mind though,” Logan replied.

  “That’s comforting to know,” Ashton said sarcastically.

  “I said yet. Believe me, before this is all over, we will know more than you want and a lot less than we would like, about you and Mrs. Ashton.”

  “It’s just a submerged log. The diver just checked it out,” the officer reported.

  Logan just shook his head.

  “You said there were five reasons. I can’t wait to hear the fifth,” Ashton said.

  “UFO abduction.”

  “What? Are you serious?” Ashton said, looking at the detective in disbelief.

  “No, but it always seems to work for Fox Mulder in the X-Files,” he said, with a straight face.

  Ashton broke out laughing, “I appreciate your attempt to lighten things up a bit.”

  “You have to maintain your sense of humor Mr. Ashton. This could get very unpleasant at some point and humor always helps. At least it does for me in this job,” Logan said.

  Ashton walked around the area for a while and finally sat down on a large rock, just killing time. He watched the boats grow smaller and smaller as they made their way along the shoreline. A second set of boats had been dispatched to the dam area and was working its way back.

  Jim was surprised when he looked at his watch. It was going on 4:00 p.m. He started to get up when Logan walked over with a large sack in his hand.

  “You getting hungry?” he asked, holding out the sack.

  “I didn’t realize how late it had gotten,” Ashton said.

  “Yeah. Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin, into the future,” Logan sang in an off key voice.

  “Good thing you’re a cop. Singing would not produce much of a cash flow for you,” Ashton kidded.

  “Ain’t that the truth? Tell me Mr. Ashton, have you or your wife had any run-ins with anyone lately?”

  “No. We lead a fairly low key life. At least, we did. My company is introducing a new product and I have really been working long hours to get it ready on time. Honestly, no run-ins of any sort that I can think of,” he answered.

  “Any trouble at work?”

  “Stephanie doesn’t work. I’m co-owner of DigitCom. No problems other than those related to the project have reared their ugly head,” Ashton said.

  They sat there talking while Jim munched on the burger and soggy, cold French fries that Logan had given him. The sun was sinking further and further toward the horizon. Every once in a while they would be interrupted by a report but all leads turned up blank.

  “Do you think she is in the lake?”

  “No, not really. The car windows wer
e rolled up and it would have been nearly impossible for her to open the door once it went into the water. I don’t expect to find her here,” Logan told him.

  “I think you’re right. I’ve been sitting here thinking and she had no reason to even be out here. She hates the water. She wouldn’t even consider a boat a few years back,” Ashton told him.

  “We have to be certain. Stranger things have happened.”

  It was getting dark by the time they called off the search. Nothing had been found to link Stephanie to the area other than her car. The heavy rain had washed out any chance of foot prints.

  Logan told Ashton to go on home and that he would call tomorrow with an update. He gave Jim his card with his cell phone number on it in case he heard anything.

  As Ashton drove off Logan said, “Seems like a nice enough guy. I think he is in for a rough time. She either took off with someone else or she has been nabbed. Either way, we should know in the next 48 hours.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Jim spent a restless night, tossing and turning in the bed. He reached out for Stephanie several times during the night. He finally fell into a deep sleep just as the sun was coming up. The phone startled him awake.

  “Jim, it’s Terry.”

  “Hi Terry. What time is it?” Jim asked, looking at this watch.

  “7:30 a.m. I just talked to Carla. She told me that Stephanie is missing. What is going on?”

  “I don’t know. I came home yesterday and she was gone. Vanished. They found her car at a place called Holcomb Bridge Lane boat ramp but no Stephanie.”

  “Listen, I’m booked on the first flight out. I’ll be home later today. I’ll call you as soon as I get in.”

  “No Terry. Really. You don’t need to do that. There is nothing you can do. For that matter there doesn’t seem to be anything for me to do, except wait,” Jim said.

  “Too late. I’m leaving for the airport right now. Any word? Anything at all?” he asked concerned.

  “Nada. Nothing. They called off the search at the lake when the sun went down. I think they are going to try again today. The detective in charge doesn’t think she is in the lake,” Jim offered.

  “What does he think happened,” Terry asked.

  “He seems to think that either she has been abducted, has taken off, or that I did her in.”

  “That’s crazy. I mean her taking off or you doing something to Stephanie. What did he mean by taken off?”

  “Ran off with someone else,” Jim explained.

  “Oh, that’s nuts. Stephanie isn’t like that,” Terry said.

  “I know, but you know how the police think. Everything is a worst case scenario with them,” Jim said.

  “Look, I need to run. I’ll call you when I get home. See you tonight. Hang in their buddy. I’m sure this will all work out okay,” Terry told him.

  “Thanks, Terry.”

  “For what? Gotta run. See ya tonight,” he said hanging up the phone.

  Jim got dressed and was just starting to heat up a bagel when the doorbell rang.

  “Detective Logan. Did you find Stephanie?” Ashton asked when he opened the door.

  Logan had on a different tie but it wasn’t much better than yesterday's. It had stains on the end of it as well.

  “Nothing yet. We started the search again at first light. You have any coffee?” he asked, stepping into the house.

  “Instant. I don’t drink coffee but we keep some on hand for Steph’s friends,” he said, leading the detective to the kitchen.

  “Nice place. No kids?”

  “Not yet. We haven’t had time for that,” Ashton answered.

  Logan laughed, “Me either, but it didn’t matter. Got a daughter anyway.”

  “What brings you here so early?” Jim asked, placing a cup of water into the microwave.

  “I was thinking about something you said. You mentioned that a company had made an offer to buy DigitCom from you the other day. You elected not to sell. Was it a friendly meeting?”

  “Absolutely, totally professional, it wasn’t a takeover deal. They were just a company that is interested in what we do and wanted to see if we were in the market to sell. I’m just not ready yet,” Ashton explained.

  “How did they know about you? What I mean is why did they even make the offer?”

  “My partner, Terry Larkins, isn’t as keen on DigitCom as he once was. He wants to sell and do something different,” Jim replied.

  “And how do you get along with your partner?”

  “Terry? He is great. He found out about Stephanie being missing and headed right home this morning. I just talked to him. He has been a friend ever since college,” Ashton said.

  “So he is out of town. DigitCom business?”

  “Yeah. He's at a trade show in Atlanta. One of us goes every year. It was his turn this year. Like I said, when he got the news from his wife, Carla, he hopped on the first plane home to be here.”

  “To do what?” the detective said, taking the cup of steaming water out of the microwave and adding the packet of coffee.

  “Moral support. I would have done the same thing for him,” Jim explained, not sure what the detective was getting at.

  Logan sipped the coffee, made a face, and took another sip, “It isn’t real but not too bad.”

  “Sorry.”

  “You non-coffee drinkers. I don't see how you get through the day,” Logan said.

  “Diet Coke. I drink five or six a day. It’s usually how I start my day.”

  “Weird. Tell me more about the company that wanted to buy you out? You said it was totally professional. What does that mean to a non-business person?”

  “I mean this was not a hostile situation. They made an honest offer. We refused. That’s all there is to it really,” Ashton told him.

  “Who was ‘they’?”

  “Aikimoto Limited. A Japanese electronics company.”

  “How was first contact initiated?” Logan asked.

  “I’m not really sure. I assumed Terry contacted them. I don't really know the particulars,” Jim said, rubbing the stubble of beard on his chin.

  “So it wasn’t a hostile thing? No threats?” Logan asked.

  “Nothing like that. In fact Mr. Aikimoto said he thought we would still end up together somehow.”

  “Do you have the address of this Mr. Aikimoto?”

  “Sure do but you’re barking up the wrong tree. This has nothing to do with Stephanie’s disappearance.”

  “Ever watch a dog Mr. Ashton? It sniffs every tree looking for just the right spot. Police work is just like that. You never overlook anything. Just like the lake. I know she isn’t in the lake but you never can tell what it might lead to. I’m an old dog Mr. Ashton. I bark up every tree. It’s a little slower but in the end it’s worth it,” Logan explained.

  Ashton gave him the address and phone number of Aikimoto Limited. Logan drained his coffee and left. Jim took a long hot shower and shaved before heading off to work. Staying in the house was just too painful.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Jim walked into the house just as the answering machine kicked on, “you have reached 353-2990. No one is avail......”

  “Hang on. Don’t hang up,” Jim said into the receiver.

  “I’m hanging,” said Terry on the other end.

  When the message stopped Jim said, “Hi guy. You just get back?”

  “Yeah. I missed a connection and had to take a different flight. How are you doing is the question?”

  “Good as can be expected. How was the show?”

  “Who cares? What’s the latest on Stephanie? Anything new?” Terry asked.

  “Nothing. They finished the lake search this afternoon with no luck,” Ashton told him.

  “And no one has contacted you?”

  “Contacted?”

  “You know. Demanding money?”

  “Why no. You don't think she was kidnapped do you?” Jim asked, letting his mind think about it for the first time.


  “It’s a possibility I think you should be prepared for,” Terry said.

  “You know I don’t have money. A few stinking thousand maybe, but not the kind that people kidnap for. You know our position as well as anyone. Everything I have is in DigitCom,” Jim said.

  “You know that, and I know that, but to others, you look rich. I don’t think it’s something you can just dismiss.”

  “That’s just crazy. I couldn’t raise any real money,” Jim said, sitting down on the arm of the sofa. Stephanie would kill him for that if she were home to see it.

  “Any other ideas? I told you about my problems with Carla. Anything like that going on in your life.”

  “For heaven’s sake, you know better than that. When would I have the time to fool around?” Ashton said huffily.

  “I didn’t mean you,” Terry said. A long silence followed.

  “You know you are the third person to say that to me in the last 48 hours. Is there something I’m missing?”

  “Just being logical. You can pretty much rule out her driving into the lake. What do you have left? No ransom demand. You didn’t do her in did you old buddy?” Terry kidded.

  “Terry. How could you ask such a thing?”

  “Now, don’t freak out. I was just trying to lighten things up. I know you didn’t have anything to do with this. All I am trying to say is that you need to be prepared for whatever happens. Let’s face it, your life changed forever as of yesterday,” Terry said, bringing Ashton back to the hard face of reality.

  “Some choices” Jim said at last.

  “I know. I know. Say, why don’t I come on over and we will try to form some plan? Put Carla on the phone would you. I need to tell her something,” Terry said.

  “Carla? She isn’t here,” Ashton said.

  “She isn’t? I found a note saying she was going to be over at your place. It doesn’t have a time on it. Maybe she is on the way. Did she say anything to you?”

  “Not a word. I’ve hardly been home. You’re sure she said our house?”