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Authors: Jerry Langton

BOOK: Rage
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Ashley and the girls raced to Heather’s house. Heather’s mom was already home and the girls blew by her on the way up to Heather’s room. Her mom stopped them and asked what was going on. Heather wouldn’t explain, but told her it was serious. Rather than pry further, she gave them their privacy. But she also assured them she’d be around just in case they needed her.
Sitting on Heather’s bed, Ashley took Kevin’s number out of her pocket and dialed. One of the girls noticed it was written down in pink highlighter. Lindsay held Heather’s tiny tape recorder up to the phone receiver. It was 4:13 when Kevin answered the phone. Ashley asked for Tim. Kevin put him on. He tried to play it cool.
Tim: Hey, what’s up?
Ashley: Not much, what are you guys up to?
Tim: Nothing. We’re here waiting.
Ashley: Waiting for what?
Tim: What do you think?
Ashley: I don’t know.
Tim: His family to come home.
Ashley: Why?
Tim: ’Cause we’re going to kill them.
Ashley: Good job.
 
Later in the conversation, Ashley pressed Tim on his part in the conspiracy.
Ashley: Are you actually going to?
Tim: You thought we were joking?
Ashley: A little bit.
Tim: A little bit.
Ashley: Anyway.
Tim: Oh please, like you know I couldn’t resist. (Laughs)
Ashley: (Laughs)
Tim: Killing somebody, Jesus!
Ashley: Anyway . . .
Tim: Should know me better.
Ashley: All right then.
Tim: I was just an accessory that came over and they’re like, yeah,
we’re going to kill them. I’m like, well, I’m not really [going to]
do a lot. More like sit there and drink blood, but okay, fine.
Ashley: Pierre’s going to?
Tim: Yeah, Jesus Christ, [unintelligible]. Pierre’s gonna kill a lot.
Ashley: Are you serious?
Tim: Yeah.
At this point, Tim asked Ashley what she was doing that night. She demurred and eventually said that she was thinking of doing something with him, but since he was busy she couldn’t. He freaked out. Tim could hardly believe that Ashley wanted to see him again. He made it obvious that it he was dealing with a dilemma: He would have loved to be with her, but he had a prior commitment he couldn’t get out of. Exasperated, he says: “The one time I can see her . . . Why do I have to kill someone
today
?”
That’s when he got the idea that she could come to the house. He told her she could come over and watch. He did his best to sell the idea. “You’ll just be an accessory,” he offered plaintively. When she refused, he told her that the two of them could “hang out in the bedroom while” Kevin and Pierre murdered the family. She refused again. After she demurred repeatedly, he kept pressuring her to come over by cloyingly saying, “blood is on tap here,” as though he was giving her a gift of human blood to drink.
Throughout the call, the other girls had been writing down suggested questions and showing them to Ashley. When one note instructed her to talk to the other boys, Ashley asked to talk to Pierre, who Tim had mentioned in the first call was with them and whom he was aware she knew from Rosedale Heights. The first thing she did was to make sure this Pierre was the shy, unimpressive Pierre they all suspected it was.
Ashley:
Pierre
Pierre?
Pierre: Yeah.
Ashley: So you’re killing people now?
Pierre: Yeah.
Ashley: Since when?
Pierre: Since today.
Ashley: Really?
Pierre: Yeah.
Ashley: Good job.
Finished with him, she decided to move on to Kevin. She’d never met Kevin before, but asked for him anyway.
Ashley: How are you?
Kevin: I’m fine, you?
Ashley: Not bad. You having fun planning the deaths of your
parents and little brother?
Kevin: Oh, it’s already planned . . . it’s already planned.
Ashley: Oh . . . I see, you’re just waiting now?
Kevin: Pardon?
Ashley: What time are your parents and your brother getting
home?
Kevin: You know, my brother should have been home by now—but
for some fucked-up reason, he’s not home yet.
Ashley: I see.
Kevin: It’s like he knows what’s happening . . . so he’s avoiding it.
Ashley: Awwww . . . puppy. What time do your parents get
home?
Kevin: Ah, my father’s supposed to be home early today. My mom
may be home around 8:30.
Ashley: Good job. So where are you doing it? Your basement?
Kevin: Doing it right here. Wherever they come in.
Ashley: Really?
Kevin: Yes.
Ashley: Good job. What do you guys have?
Kevin: Uh . . . fists and knives.
Ashley: Oh, no guns?
Kevin: I’m not using a gun—too loud.
Ashley: Ah.
Kevin: Too loud. Too easy.
Ashley: Uh, why are you doing it?
Kevin: I’m just sick of everything.
That’s when Tim took the phone back from Kevin. Ashley later described him as sounding ecstatic at this point. She asked him why they were doing all this. Tim hesitated. Then he called out to Kevin:
“What are your reasons again . . . other than that you hate your stepfather?” Although he was already across the room, the tape recorder caught his shouted reply: “I hate my parents . . . I hate motherfucking everything.”
Tim started begging her to come over again. He offered her money. She refused. He eventually offered her drugs (which he didn’t have)—but she continually refused. Eventually she went back to her original story of being sick, and she said that she was tired and wanted to go to bed. Reluctantly, he let her go.
As soon as she hung up, Ashley—the talented drama student—broke character and burst into tears. The other girls excitedly ran downstairs to tell Heather’s mother about the call. They played her a portion of the tape and she told them she had to call the police right away. Ashley stayed upstairs, crying.
At 4:34, Constable Paul Wildeboer received a call from dispatch about a death threat. He and his partner arrived at Heather’s house at 4:42 and were surprised by what they heard. The girls played them the tape, and both cops immediately recognized the gravity of the situation. The police took the girls’ statements, the tape and Kevin’s telephone number. They were disappointed they didn’t get his address—because getting it would mean a trip back to the station and a network search—but they were very impressed by the girls’ detective work, and they told them so. Wildeboer even compared Ashley to Nancy Drew. He then asked them what gave them the idea to tape the phone call. Lindsay told him it was because the police don’t always believe what teenagers say.
Ralston didn’t normally get out of work until much later, but on November 25, 2003, he finished up at Shopsy’s just before 3:00 p.m. Working two jobs six days a week left him with very little time to himself, so he decided to enjoy what little time he had. On his way home, he stopped at the old Greenwood Raceway. The horses haven’t run at Greenwood since 1994, but the housing development that now stands on the old racetrack grounds still has a betting parlor—a tip of the hat to the track’s former glory. Ralston enjoyed just hanging around, betting on the horses (which now ran at the Woodbine track in the faraway western suburbs) and watching the results on the betting parlor’s many TVs. He even had a few friends there. Ralston was having a great time until the clock caught his eye. It was 4:45 and he knew he’d better get moving. He wanted to get home by 5:30 to make dinner for the kids.
Sean, a good friend of Johnathon’s, had been looking for him since 3:20. Actually, Sean—in a different grade—got out at 3:10, but habitually played basketball with some other school friends until his buddy’s class got out. Despite their slight age difference, Sean and Johnathon were very close, often walking to and from school together, going to each other’s houses and even on one another’s family outings from time to time. But what they used to like best was to go down to the cyber café and play online video games together. Johnathon had developed a passion for video games, but rarely ever got to play them at home because Kevin dominated the family’s computer. At the cyber café, he could play online games like
Runescape
for just a few bucks and have a good time with his friends while he was there. He’d gotten to know many of the cyber cafe’s habitués and staff and really enjoyed himself while he was there, even when he wasn’t actually playing.
On November 25, Sean—as usual—spent the time between 3:10 and 3:20 p.m. shooting hoops with a few other friends. When Johnathon didn’t come out at 3:20, he decided to go home and watch TV. Sean quickly got bored and called Johnathon’s house to see if he wanted to come to the cyber café. Kevin answered. Sean recognized his voice, but didn’t really know him well enough to chat. He asked if Johnathon was home. Kevin told him he wasn’t there and hung up. Fed up, Sean went to the cyber café by himself at 4:20.
Not only wasn’t Johnathon there, but nobody else he knew was either. Disappointed, he plunked down a toonie and sat in front of a rented PC.
Sean was well into his game when Johnathon finally showed up. Since Sean was in the middle of a game, etiquette commanded that they not talk much. When Sean glanced at the clock, it was 4:40. Johnathon asked him if he could borrow some money to play. No way, Sean said. Not only had he spent his last toonie on the game he was playing, he was tired of bailing him out all the time.
Embarrassed, Johnathon chuckled and shrugged and said he was going back home to get some money. He had a roll of quarters in his room.
Wildeboer returned to the stationhouse at 5:05 to find an address for Kevin’s telephone number. Since he was shocked by the content of the tape, Wildeboer handed the statements, tape and other evidence over to Detective Sergeant Glenn Gray of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. Gray remembers that Wildeboer said to him: “You’ve got to hear this tape, it’s no run-of-the-mill death threat.” But Gray didn’t have time to listen to the tape yet. He accepted Wildeboer’s assessment of the situation and called Kevin’s number to see if the boys were still in the house. When Kevin answered at 5:32, Gray pretended to be a telemarketer. “I wasn’t trying to sell him anything, just taking a survey,” Gray said later. “It was something annoying, something nobody would ever want to do—I just wanted to get him off the phone quickly.” Kevin was calm and unfailingly polite. Gray quickly determined that Kevin was not only still at the house, but that his friends were still with him and his parents weren’t home yet.

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