Chapter 71
CHAPTER
THE PLACE WOULD NOW ALWAYS be hallowed ground for Nash.
Fifteen miles away from her home Maggie’s remains had been found in this wooded area off a rural road that very few people would ever go down.
It had been a hunter, in fact, who had found what was left of her, the news had said.
Out searching for a deer he’d shot, he had come across something that he thought were animal remains, until he had seen the bones of a human hand.
Maggie’s hand, thought Nash as he pulled his truck to a stop behind some trees and well away from the spot where it was reported her remains had been discovered.
He got out and walked into the woods. The police had long since finished their forensic search of the area and had left with the remains of his daughter. A DNA test had confirmed it was her.
Remains of a daughter. Something no parent should ever have to contemplate.
The now big, strong Walter Nash stopped and leaned against a tree, trying hard to keep his legs from buckling.
She had apparently been killed not too long after the video was posted.
As Parker had noted, the police suspected Nash had found and killed her, then dumped her body here to rot.
They had found bones, some of her beautiful hair, and two of her teeth.
The rest, the police speculated, had been taken away by animals over the long passage of time.
That thought made him nearly vomit. As he was looking around for the actual spot where she had been found, he heard a car approach and Nash froze.
He quickly took up an observation post behind a large clump of holly bushes and waited. He thought it might be the police coming back for another look, but that didn’t make much sense, not after all this time. Maybe it was whoever had killed Maggie. His fingers curled into fists at the thought.
At first he didn’t recognize the person who stumbled into view a few minutes later.
The woman had on a hat pulled low. She was dressed in a billowy skirt. And despite the relative warmth of the night, she wore a heavy jacket. Her heeled shoes were not meant to be walking around muddy forest grounds. They sunk into the wet dirt, forcing her to tug them off and continue barefoot.
As she removed her hat, Nash saw that it was Judith.
She staggered up to a certain spot and dropped to her knees.
She settled her hands together, as though in prayer.
A moment later she let out a scream the likes of which Nash had never heard before from either human or beast. It seemed to be the release of her very soul.
She fell forward onto the dirt and clawed at it, her cries rising higher.
Part of Nash wanted to rush out, take the woman in his arms, and comfort her. Under any other circumstances, he would have. The tears slid down his cheeks from witnessing a mother’s complete and devastating agony.
And she believes I abused and then killed our daughter and then dumped her here. Married for over twenty years and she could think I was capable of that.
Judith lay there prone in the dirt until the sobs ceased, until the fingers stopped clutching at where her daughter’s remains had once been.
Then Judith slowly rose, picked up her hat and shoes, and said, “I’m so, so sorry, Maggie. I love you so much. I—” She couldn’t finish. She turned and staggered back out of the woods. A couple of minutes later Nash heard a car start up, and he stayed in hiding until it had driven off.
He came out from behind the bushes and walked over to the spot where his wife had been sprawled.
That was when he saw what she had left there.
There were actually several items: A bracelet that Maggie had given her.
A picture in a frame that Maggie had drawn for her when their daughter had been a young child.
A pom-pom that Maggie had used when she’d been a cheerleader in high school.
They all looked weathered, indicating they had been here awhile.
This was a shrine, Nash concluded, that his wife apparently visited regularly.
And then he saw it, off to the side. The bits of fresh dirt showed that this was the object Judith had left here just a few minutes before.
It was the necklace she wore around her neck, with the locket on it.
He squatted down, picked it up, opened the locket, and looked at the picture of his daughter from the day she had been born. He had both taken the picture and purchased the locket for his wife. She had worn it every day since then.
Until today.
His tears dripped down on the picture while he stared at his beautiful and now-deceased child.
Later, back at his motel room, Nash pulled up a corner of the tattered rug and hid the locket and necklace there.
He spent the next few hours going over the flash drive that Shock had provided him with intel on Victoria Steers.
Nash decided to set this up as a business problem to overcome.
That put him more in his comfort zone. His prior research had revealed the types of business maneuvers she had used to launder funds through Sybaritic Investments.
He had to think of a way to get back into those databases.
It would not be easy because he had long since lost all security privileges there.
What he really needed was Agent Morris and the FBI to come back into the picture.
With that thought in mind Nash sent Morris a message: Can we still work this? I need to prove my innocence and I have every incentive in the world to bring down Rhett Temple and Victoria Steers.
He waited a half hour for a reply but got none. Restless, he once more drove out in his truck and headed downtown despite the late hour.
He parked across the street from the building where Rhett had his penthouse.
He had been there several times for company functions and twice with Judith for dinner.
With what he knew now had gone on between them, he wondered if they had snuck a kiss or an intimate touch while he was in the next room and they had been together in the kitchen supposedly getting the food plated. The thought sickened him.
He crouched lower when a car pulled down the street, traveling fast. It was Rhett’s Porsche and the top was down. He was driving and there was a woman beside him. Her hair was swirling with the wind, but Nash had no problem recognizing Elaine Fixx.
The Porsche slowed to pull into the underground parking garage, and then the door closed behind the vehicle.
Nash imagined them getting out of the car and riding up to the very top, where they would get off at Rhett’s penthouse and… Well, he doubted they were going to be discussing mergers and acquisitions at two in the morning. And she was married. Rhett just seemed to relish that sort of thing.
He sat up when his phone buzzed.
Well, what do you know? thought Nash.
Special Agent Reed Morris had messaged him back.