Out of the Storm (12 page)

He chuckled. “Yep. Picked it up in the Army.” He paused. “Combat’s strange. You spend hours, sometimes days, bored out of your mind. Then suddenly you’re sent on a mission. You’re scared, terrified not for yourself but for your men,” he confessed. Eric noticed that whenever he spoke she seemed to hang on every word. “When you’re sitting alone in ambush or in your tent, a cigarette almost seems like a...friend. Strange, huh?”

“Not really. Guess I never thought about it like that.” Her eyes narrowed as she slid closer. “So it was real bad over there?”

“Yeah,” he told her, then shook his head. “It was sometimes, but let’s talk about something else.”

“Just so you know.” Ashley touched the top of his hand lightly. “I’m a good listener.”

“Thanks.” He flushed at the intimate offer and the warmth of her touch. “My wife hated both—smoking and war stories. I’d sneak a cigarette at the marina, but only smoked one at home—every night after supper. I promised to quit after the…” He couldn’t finish the thought.

Ashley smiled softly and stood, fishing in the pocket of her jeans. She sat down again as she passed him another crumpled cigarette and her worn plastic lighter. “Sorry about that,” she giggled and shrugged as she stared. “It’s nice to know that even Eric Montgomery isn’t perfect. I figured you wore a halo.” As Ashley giggled louder, he glimpsed the innocent teenager he remembered.

“No, Ashley. No halo.” He chuckled softly as he lit up and inhaled deeply. Eric enjoyed the dizzying sensation adding, “You may be a bad influence on me.”

Ashley turned as she moved the swing in a slow cadence with one foot. She let her tall, slender body relax easily as she blew smoke rings into the damp evening air.

“Give me time.” She found his eyes. Hers twinkled with a mischief Eric hadn’t seen before. He found it intoxicating.

They both laughed softly.

“Looks like our friends are gone,” Eric nodded toward the street.

“Looks that way,” she agreed.

“You didn’t know who they were?”

Ashley shook her head. Her expression lost the playful look. “Don’t think so. Why? Who do you think they were?”

“I have no idea. Most likely they were just workers installing a new cable system or phones.” He watched her face closely. It wore an impassive expression. “Why? Would there be a reason someone would be looking for you?”

“Not sure, Eric. I told you. Daddy was into some things that…” She left the thought unfinished, shaking her head.

“You said he had a lot of balls in the air.” Eric faced her. “Were some of them dangerous or illegal?”

Ashley stared, focusing on the dark street.

“Ashley.” He took her shoulder and gently turned her to face him. “Was that why he was scared?”

She bit her lip and found the new moon. “Could be.”

He had to ask. “But if Ralph was into some bad business why would they be following you and Kylie?”

She pulled away from him and stood, crossing the porch, sighing as the peepers played backup to her breathing. “Can’t be sure. It wasn’t what I wanted for me or Kylie. But…” She exhaled deeply. “Sometimes things happen by accident. Things you don’t expect.” Ashley’s words were soft, but her face wore a hard, anxious look as she crushed her cigarette in the empty flower pot.

“You’re not exactly a font of knowledge.”

She stared at him. The smile that appeared never reached her eyes. Suddenly, Ashley had morphed into the sad lonely girl he’d met on Friday night.

“Sorry, I meant…”

“I know what you meant, Eric.” She looked hurt and angry, pushing her lips together in frustration. “I went to school, had good jobs. I’m not some dumb piece of trailer trash!”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Her words made him feel small and guilty. Suddenly it struck him. “By the way, where’d the cigarettes come from?”

She continued to frown for a moment. Then her smile reappeared. Ashley was enjoying her little mystery. She twisted her face into a grin and held up a finger—like a child with a secret. “Be right back.”

When she returned she carried a worn backpack over one shoulder.

Eric laughed out loud. “Where was that the night you arrived?”

She sat down and turned toward him, sitting closer. Her fragrance washed over him. “Under a tarp behind the garage. Just in case you didn’t take us in.”

“I could never have turned you away.” He held the grin. “But I figured you had to have something with you. What else you got in there? A magic wand.”

Eric enjoyed studying Ashley. Her moods changed as often as the color of her eyes. Being around this girl was like riding a runaway roller coaster. But Elaine had pegged him correctly—an adrenaline junkie. He loved riding roller coasters, the steeper the better. And for the time being he was enjoying being a passenger on this one.

It was Ashley’s turn to laugh. “I wouldn’t mind a magic wand. But you won’t find one in here. Got an old toothbrush, a couple of clean T-shirts for Kylie, a leash for Rusty, and this.”

She pulled out a wrinkled one-hundred dollar bill, snapping it open. “Daddy said to keep it for emergencies. Case everything else failed at least we’d have somethin’. It was all he had left.”

Eric sighed. He faced Ashley, listening, drinking in her words—intoxicated by the melody of her voice, the soft cadence of her drawl, and the musky fragrance surrounding her.

“Everything okay?” Ashley caught him staring. She looked puzzled.

“Everything is just fine, Ashley. I promise.” He held up three fingers in a Boy Scout salute.

She stood. It was her turn to study him. Suddenly, her eyes grew soft and moist again. Without warning Ashley leaned over and kissed his cheek softly, letting her lips linger.

“Thank you.” She backed away quickly as her face flushed. “I…I hoped you’d take us in. After Momma died, Daddy kinda turned inside. Figured he was afraid something bad might happen to us.”

“How’d your mother die?” Eric didn’t want to dredge up bad memories, but maybe he could glean something from the information or pass it on to Lip or Buzz.

“It was a while back. Late winter. She was all alone on a back road. She and Daddy had a terrible fight—about Daddy’s job, I think
.
” Ashley’s eyes grew hard and dark again. Her jaw stiffened. “They yelled a lot and Momma ran out. Daddy went frantic. Next day the State Police came to the house. They said she drove off the road and the impact broke her neck. There were no witnesses.”

Eric felt the chill run down his spine. “Drove off the road…broken neck…no witnesses…” he repeated softly.

Ashley nodded. “Daddy went into his bedroom. Heard him talkin’…on his cell phone. He didn’t come out for a while. Then
he
took off. Told us to stay at home, not go out, and lock all the doors. Even left a loaded shotgun. He used to take me shootin’, so I knew how to use it.”

She crossed and picked up the backpack. “When he came back he was…different.” Her eyes looked distant and frightened, focused on a place far away. “After Momma’s funeral he was never the same. Finally one day last week he just told us to leave. Never told us where to go. Said he didn’t want to know where we went, but we needed to get as far away as we could real quick. I remembered you livin’ up here, the way Daddy talked about you so I…” She broke off as she watched him. “Eric, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Eric swallowed deeply, recalling the night of Elaine’s accident.

The tension was broken by a sharp cry from Kylie’s room. Ashley rushed inside, ran up the stairs, dropping the backpack in the upstairs hall. Eric heard her singing softly. He tiptoed upstairs and down the hall, peeking in to see Ashley holding Kylie, rubbing her back slowly. Ashley rocked her daughter, then eased her back onto the bed. Ashley saw him and put her finger to her lips, nodding as she stood.

“It happens sometimes.” Ashley sighed deeply. “She gets real frightened. Didn’t understand what was happenin’. I promised her that when we got here…”

“I know. She told us,” Eric interrupted, putting a hand on her shoulder. He went downstairs and out to the porch, taking one last look around. Eric came inside, locking and bolting the back door, patting Rusty on the head on his way upstairs. Ashley’s backpack lay on the hall floor. He picked it up to give it back to her and was struck by the weight.
Some clothes and a leash for Rusty?
Before he could do anything, Ashley snatched the backpack. Her eyes showed fear as her face flushed.

“Thanks. I’ll…I’ll take that,” she stuttered.

He released it. She hugged the backpack like it held the crown jewels. “Wouldn’t want you to see my…my secrets,” she stammered with a nervous smile and turned, her face still crimson.

“’Course not.” He nodded.

Ashley just stared at the floor and continued clutching the backpack.

“Goodnight,” Eric said curtly as the roller coaster took another deep dip. Just when he thought she was opening up. She was still holding back. His own face heated with anger and frustration as he brushed by her toward his bedroom.

“’Night,” she whispered with a nod and stood planted to the floor.

****

Eric sat on his bed. Another cigarette hung from his fingers. He absently flicked the ashes in a coffee cup.

After the revelation about her mother’s death and Ashley’s secretive behavior with the backpack, Eric wanted to talk to Lip. Maybe he’d have some light to shed on the situation.

He crept down the hall and listened outside Ashley’s door. She was asleep, snoring softly. He returned to his room and checked his watch: 10:30. He went into the master bathroom, washed up, and brushed his teeth. He pulled out the sleeping pills, thinking he might need them again.

Just as he sat on the edge of the bed, his cell rang. He pressed Talk.

“Ricky?”

“Yeah. I was afraid I might have lost you.” Eric spoke softly. The interior walls were thin and sound carried easily.

“Lost me?”

“I got a call from a throwaway earlier. Figured it was you.”

“Not me, bro.”

“Really. Then who the hell…?” Eric stopped in mid-sentence, knowing his friend had no answer. “You get anything more?”

“I met an old friend today—a Norfolk Police lieutenant. We help each other once in a while,” Lip explained. “Sometimes we bend the rules to help the good guys and keep the bad ones off the street.”

“Sounds fine to me.”

“Yeah. He owes me a couple of favors.” Lip chuckled. “I had to coax him. He bobbed and weaved but finally coughed up something.”

“Okay?” Eric said with anticipation.

“Well, he claimed he didn’t know too much, but said there was something strange going on at the base.”

“Wait a minute. You’re at the base—in
Naval Intelligence
?”

“Hell. This isn’t your usual Naval Intel kind of stuff. The unit I’m with now is more tactical. You know, boring, day-to-day shit. Not like the stuff you and I did in the Middle East. Some guy may break into his CO’s safe, or a seaman steals a couple of documents to impress a girl working for the bad guys. Stuff like that. What he’s talking about is big—strategic. He knows people. Got connections to all the heavyweights, FBI, Homeland Security, even CIA. Swore he didn’t know much.” Lip stopped. “Look, my career’s all I got, but I’ll keep digging. He said there’s a lot of people involved.”

“Okay. What’d you get? Your secret’s safe with me.”

“That’s the problem. He couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me any details. Swore all he had was rumors and hearsay. But don’t worry. I’ll get it out of him.”

“Okay. I know I’m pushing you, but I need one more thing.”

“Shit, Eric. I know we go way back, but this is getting deeper all the time.” His friend paused, adding a reluctant, “What now?”

“I need a copy of the accident report for Ralph’s girlfriend, Melissa Fitzhugh. She was killed in a hit-and-run. Drove off the road, no witnesses. It was a little while after that the girls left to come up here.”

“Okay. I’ll see what I can do. But please, tell me you’re not implying what I think you are? That there’s a connection…”

“No. Yes. Hell, I don’t know!” Eric interrupted. “I know it’s probably a coincidence. But we’ve been getting strange phone calls and it looked like there might be surveillance on the street tonight. Shit, Lip! Surveillance for a couple down-and-out girls from Virginia? And get this. Ashley was hiding a backpack she brought. Told me it had some T-shirts and her dog’s leash. I picked it up and the thing weighed ten pounds. There’s something more going on here than I can figure out.”

There was a long silence on his friend’s end. “Really?” Lip whispered after a pause. “A backpack? Heavy? Like she was carrying something?” More silence. “You’re right. That is strange.”

“I know it makes no sense. But I’m begging you. Can you run down the accident report?”

“Sure. I’ll give it a shot. But you could probably look it up yourself.” His friend explained. “You know a lot of that stuff is public record now. It’s online.”

“Hell, you know I’m a total klutz when it comes to technology. I’m asking
you,
” Eric pleaded. “I got no one else. Anything you can get would be great.”

“All right. You got it! Maybe I can part the Red Sea in my spare time.”

Eric couldn’t read his friend. Was Lip backing away or just up to his eyeballs in day-to-day stuff?

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, Lip. But please. For me. I’ve never asked you for anything before.”

“I’ll try. But I still have a day job. And I’m due for a ten-day leave over Memorial Day. Jen and I and the kids are going down to the shore to visit her folks, so I won’t be able to do much while I’m away. This may take a while.”

“Anything you get is more than we’ve got now.”

Chapter Fifteen

Eric stood, staring absently out of his bedroom into the mild night. The flat, dark expanse of Nantucket Sound reflected a sliver of moonlight. A faint breeze moved the sheer curtains. He glanced at the digital clock: 1:16. Exhaustion filled every fiber. Yet even after a prescription sleeping pill, he was wide awake. Sleep refused to come.
Overtired? Adrenaline high? Mind on overdrive? Take your pick, Eric.
More likely it was the confusion that had overtaken his life since Friday night. Was it only Monday? It seemed a lifetime since Ashley had arrived.