Donovan(24)

“Could have been,” Ash said. “Warren says the detectives don’t think Miss Thompson is in any actual danger.”

“Even though she clearly witnessed a crime.”

“She doesn’t remember it.”

“The perp doesn’t know that.”

Ash had to agree with that. “Poor guy doesn’t know what he’s getting into though. That woman is quite a firecracker.”

David’s eyebrows rose, as he watched his brother head to the kitchen. “You never said how your discussion with her went.”

Ash padded into the kitchen and filled a mug with water, needing a little caffeine if he was going to be up all night dealing with this.

“Coffee?” he called to David.

“Not that instant crap you drink.”

Ash just shrugged, popping the mug in the microwave and pulling down the tall, thin canister of instant coffee crystals. It didn’t taste all that bad to him, but to each his own.

“So spill the beans. What is Donovan’s long lost love like?”

“Stubborn,” Ash said. “And beautiful. A dangerous combination if there ever was one.”

“How stubborn?”

“She refused to cancel some party she’s supposed to go to this weekend.”

“We’ve had marks do that before.”

“Yeah, well, they were usually doing it for important reasons. I think she was just doing it because she resented me telling her how much of her privacy and freedom we were going to steal from her.”

“You do bring out the best in women sometimes.”

Ash grunted. “Somehow I don’t think it was just me. You should have seen how she reacted to seeing Donovan for the first time after all these years.”

“Did he ever tell you why she blames him? I mean, it was just a schoolyard fight that went too far, right? How is that Donovan’s fault?”

Ash thought it was kind of funny that David would be the one to point that out. A strong argument could be made for the fact that the accident that killed their parents was only an accident. The car hit black ice. No one could have predicted that. No one could have prevented it. Yet, because he was driving, David carried around a lifetime of guilt.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I think it has something to do with why the boys targeted her brother. She seems to think it was because of something Donovan had done. And I think, to a certain degree, he agrees with her.”

“He shouldn’t. I looked up the case file.”

“David…”

“There was nothing illegal about it. The file falls under the public information act.” He typed something into his computer keyboard. “It says that the fight was initiated because one of the perps said something to the victim about his sister.”

“Where’d you get that?”

“Witness statement. I guess one of the party goers saw the initial confrontation that took place an hour or so before the actual attack.”

Curiosity peaked, Ash carried his coffee mug over to David’s workstation and read over his shoulder.



WITNESS: Joshua was sitting on a blanket on the beach, waiting for his girlfriend to get them some drinks. The boys approached—

DETECTIVE MORGAN: That would be John Kyle, Reese Connor, and Tony Smith?

WITNESS: Yes.

DETECTIVE MORGAN: Continue.

WITNESS: One of the boys asked where Donovan Pritchard was. Joshua said he was supposed to join them later in the evening. But he didn’t want there to be any trouble. John said he’d take care of Donovan later. That he had a plan to get back at him. Joshua told him to let it go. At least they would all get their diplomas. Reese agreed with Joshua, telling John that maybe it would be better to let it go. Then Tony said something I couldn’t quite hear. Joshua got up and asked him what he’d said. John laughed and said he just called your sister a slut. Joshua pushed John and told him to watch his mouth. John said that Kate was probably off…I guess I shouldn’t say what he said.

DETECTIVE MORGAN: It’s fine. Use any language you feel comfortable with.

WITNESS: Well, he said she was probably off screwing some boy. Not that word, but you know…and then he told Joshua how they saw her slipping out from under the bleachers in the gym a week before school got out. Joshua told him he was a filthy liar and shoved him again. John got mad and shoved Joshua. Then Amanda, Joshua’s girlfriend, walked up and told them to stop. John laughed again, accusing Joshua of hiding behind his girl. Joshua spit on him. I thought John would kill him right there and then, but Reese pulled him back, whispering something in his ear. Then John nodded and walked away without saying anything else.



“Sounds like it had nothing to do with the prank Donovan pulled.”