Chapter 48
CHAPTER
TWO DAYS LATER NASH RECEIVED a text from Morris on their secure link. The FBI agent had nothing to report, but insisted he was still working diligently on the matter. Despite that, Nash did not like the tone underlying the man’s words. Something was off, he could feel it.
Later, Shock phoned him.
“I’ve got some calls in to folks I trust and who are in the know, Walter. Anythin’ pops, I will get right back to you.”
“Thanks, Shock. I… I went to the office the other day and subtly suggested to Rhett that I would do anything to get Maggie back safe.”
“You think he bit?”
“I’m not sure, but he nearly ran out of my office. I haven’t heard anything, though.”
“But looks like he wasn’t aware that folks workin’ with him had taken Maggie?”
“I don’t think he knew, no. Shock, if Steers took Maggie, what will she do? Will… will she let Maggie go if I—”
Nash broke off because he had no idea what to say next.
“I don’t know, Walter. But I’m not goin’ to sugarcoat this. Steers is very dangerous.”
“I’ll leave my job. I’ll never call the FBI back, if… if they agree to let her go.”
“Right,” said Shock, but with not much behind it.
Nash clicked off, his spirits even lower now, if that was possible.
Judith was sleeping in their bed. He made sure her breathing was normal and then he stepped into his closet to change. Every normal routine he performed now seemed ridiculous in the face of losing Maggie.
I should be out there searching for her. But where do I even begin to look?
As he was taking off his clothes he noticed something.
A pair of gray khaki pants was missing, as was one of his beige shirts. When he slipped off his shoes and put them away in the shoe rack he noted that a pair of his sneakers was also gone.
What in the hell?
He later drove up to the guardhouse and asked Rolf if he knew exactly where Adams’s car had gone off the road. Rolf gave him the location and Nash headed to the spot.
It was a winding double lane stretch of asphalt with mature trees boasting large canopies lining both sides.
He parked and got out and noted the marks on the road and then the gouged dirt where Adams’s car had left the pavement.
There was a huge, dislodged chunk of earth where presumably the car had rolled.
The damage to the ground continued on until it ended at a massive oak that showed signs of a violent collision.
The car and body had obviously been removed, but there was police tape strung up, though Nash could see no marked car or sentry around.
Although he knew virtually nothing about these types of situations, it didn’t take a forensics genius to observe that there were the marks of another vehicle’s tread paralleling Adams’s.
He stooped to see if he could find any metal fragments that would show the two vehicles had actually collided.
But there was nothing; the asphalt looked as though it had been swept.
The police had probably collected whatever evidence there was from the scene.
“Looking for something?”
Nash turned and saw John Ramos sitting in a car across the road. How could he have not heard the man drive up? However, when he glanced at the car, he noted it was an EV.
He walked over to the detective. “There are two sets of tire tracks there. Did someone run him off the road?”
Ramos got out of the car and stood eye to eye with him. “Mr. Nash, you really need to leave this to the professionals. You’ve already potentially contaminated what might indeed be a crime scene.”
“That was not my intent,” retorted Nash. “I’m just trying—”
Ramos did not let him finish. “I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not helpful. So I would appreciate if you would get back in your vehicle and leave.”
Nash held up his hands in mock surrender. He walked back to the Range Rover, climbed in, and turned the SUV around. He was about to pull off when Ramos ran into the road with his hands up for Nash to stop.
“What is it?” called out a perturbed Nash. “I’m trying to leave like you ordered me to.”
“When did that happen, sir?” asked Ramos, pointing.
“When did what happen?”
“That!” Ramos was indicating something on the passenger’s side front fender.
Nash put the SUV in park, got out, and walked around to that side. He felt his gut tighten when he saw the large dent and jagged strip where the paint had been ripped away.
“Did you hit something?” asked Ramos in a tone that Nash did not like at all.
“No, I certainly would have noticed.”
Ramos bent down and examined the smears of paint. “Your Rover is burgundy, but there’s some blue in here.”
“Blue?”
“From whatever you hit. Maybe another car?” Ramos looked at where Adams’s car had gone off the road. “The deceased drove a blue Ford.”
“What?” snapped Nash.
Ramos stood. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to impound your car, Mr. Nash. I’ll call in a squad car to take you back home.”
“Impound my car? Why?”
“To see what you hit, sir. I’m sure you can understand the possible significance.”
“I… Look, I didn’t hit anything. I would have known. It would have been evident.”
“Yes sir, I’m sure you would have.” He gave another significant look at the torn-up earth where Adams’s car had flipped and then slammed into an oak.
“Wait, you’re not implying… I didn’t hit Billy’s car. I didn’t cause… this.” He waved his hand at all the destruction.
“Then you won’t mind us checking your car. Paint doesn’t match, you are good to go.”
“Look, if it does match, someone obviously took my car and did this.”
Ramos said incredulously, “Took your car? From your garage? And you wouldn’t know about it?”
“If Billy was killed shortly after he got off work, I was dead asleep at the time. But they could have taken it, done this, and then driven it back to my garage. My security strip would have gotten them back in the gate if the guard wasn’t there. And the garage remote is on the visor.”
“And you didn’t notice the damage?”
“Obviously not. It’s on the passenger side.”
“And no one else noticed it, while you were out driving?”
“Apparently not.”
“Nevertheless, the car is staying here. Your keys, please.” Ramos held out his hand.
Nash stared at the man’s open palm. “Don’t you need a search warrant or something?”
“There is more than enough probable cause for me to impound this vehicle. But if you want to engage a lawyer, feel free to do so. However, I am not going to let you take the vehicle, because you could then attempt to remove vital evidence.”
A weary and out-of-his-depth Nash rubbed his eyes and said, “Take it, if it’ll help you find out what happened.” He handed the keys to Ramos.
“Oh, I’m sure it will, sir.”
He looked at the detective and, in addition to everything else he was confronted with, Nash was now certain that he had just become the number one suspect both in his daughter’s disappearance and in Billy Adams’s death.