Tuesday
Dawn
Powered mostly by adrenaline, Keri got off the 210 Freeway near La Canada-Flintridge and headed north on the Angeles Crest Highway. The sun was rising on her right and she could see the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the distance as she followed the winding two-lane road into the Angeles National Forest.
Within minutes, the huge city just to the south was forgotten and she was surrounded by towering trees as she made her way up the side of a steep, craggy mountain. At a little after 6:30 she reached her destination, a rest station and bathroom on a small dirt road just west of Woodwardia Canyon.
Down a quarter of a mile, four police vehicles faced a black van. Two were LAPD and two more were LA County Sheriff. A CSU truck was there too and she could see investigators poring over the vehicle, collecting evidence. Ray and Hillman were off to the side of the road, talking. Detectives Sterling and Cantwell were there too, listening intently.
Keri got out and headed over. She wished she'd remembered a jacket. At this hour in the mountains it was chilly, even during a heat wave. She shivered slightly, unsure whether it was the cold or the sight in front of her.
The van's doors were all open. Inside, there was no blood or signs of a struggle. The ashtray was full of butts. In the back, a brown bag full of granola bars, chips, Gatorade, and crackers had split open. The keys were in the ignition.
Ray saw Keri and walked over.
"They were running away," he said, showing her a handwritten note inside a clear evidence bag.
I'm going to start a new life.
All I want is for everyone to leave me alone.
If you bring me back I'll just run away again.
Ashley
Keri shook her head.
"This is bullshit."
"No, it's legit," Ray said. "We took a photo of it and texted it to Mia Penn. She says that's definitely Ashley's handwriting. Also, the piece of paper is stationery that Ashley got for her birthday. The note was pinned to the dash with an earring, which was also definitely Ashley's."
"I don't buy it," Keri said.
"Look around, Keri," Ray said. "You're on the Angeles Crest Highway headed northeast. My guess is they planned to avoid the authorities by staying on it until about Wrightwood, then hook up with the Fifteen Freeway north to Vegas. From what we can tell, they stopped here to use the facilities. When they got back to the van, it wouldn't start."
"How do you know?"
"We tried, watch." He led her over, adjusted his gloves, and cranked the key. Nothing happened. "The battery terminal is caked with corrosion. The battery's not making contact with the cable."
"Hell, all you have to do is work it off and scrape the inside with a key and then twist it back on."
"You know that, I know that, but a fifteen-year-old girl doesn't know that," he said. "It didn't start and they hitched their way out of here."
"You keep saying 'they.' Who was she with?" she asked.
"God only knows with this girl."
Keri stood quietly, trying to make sense of it.
Then she said, "Who does the van belong to?"
"Dexter Long."
Keri had never heard the name before.
"Who's he?"
"He's a college kid at Occidental College," Ray said. "The van is registered to him. Someone apparently stole it from a campus garage. The kid didn't even know it was gone. He lives in a dorm and hasn't even driven it in over a month."
"He didn't lend it to anybody?"
"No."
"Then how did someone get the keys?"
"He leaves them up in the visor."
"With the door unlocked?"
"Apparently so."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
"So, are you getting prints?"
"They already did," Ray said. "But if she's with another teenager who's not old enough to drive, unless the kid's got a record, they won't have anything to match them to."
Hillman came over and said, "We've been spinning our wheels for nothing."
Keri frowned.
"You think it's legit? That Ashley ran away?"
He nodded.
"There's nothing else to think," he said. "I don't know with who, or why, exactly, but I don't really care at this point. As far as I'm concerned, it's no longer an LAPD case."
"What do you mean?"
"It's no longer in our jurisdiction. County has offered to coordinate with the FBI when they officially take over," Hillman said. "We're all going back to cases where people are actually missing. There's no shortage of them."
"But-"
Hillman cut her off.
"No buts," he said. "We're off the case. Don't defy me on this, Locke. You're on thin ice as it is. By my count you've been in physical altercations with at least three people in just the last twelve hours. And that's only the ones I know about. All this renegade stuff, it's going to stop. I'm trying to make this as clear as I can because I'm deadly serious."
Ray put a hand on Keri's shoulder.
"I think Lieutenant Hillman may have a point on this one," he said. "We pursued every lead. But nothing definitively shows that Ashley Penn was even abducted, Keri. Meanwhile, we have lots of stuff that suggests she ran away."
"That could have been planted."
"Anything's possible, I guess. But if so, County and FBI will determine that. Let it go, Keri. Ashley Penn isn't your daughter. She's a troubled girl but she isn't our problem anymore."
"If you're wrong, then we're wasting valuable time."
"I'll take the heat for that," Hillman said before walking off.
Yeah, but you're not the one who will be having nightmares.
