“So you don’t think they really have anything to do with kidnapping Ashton?”
“No. For one thing, I don’t see those guys hanging around the nature park waiting to kidnap Ashton without someone noticing them and thinking they looked suspicious.”
“Yeah, you may be right,” I said between bites of meat. Although the steak was great, I would have preferred it on a bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mustard—no mayonnaise. However, I was pretty sure asking for that would amount to some kind of social blunder.
“And besides,” Brett said, “if these two were actually involved in taking Ashton, I’m sure the police would’ve released something about it to the press by now.”
I’m like, “The police?”
“Of course. After you reported what happened, they probably checked those guys out.”
“Oh yeah,” I said. No reason to mention how I didn’t inform the authorities. Nash and Brett probably wouldn’t be able to relate to my fear of the police.
“There have to be hundreds of people after that reward,” Nash said. “From what I hear, the police are getting so many tips they can’t keep up with them all. Everyone wants a piece of the action. It’s like they think finding Ashton is the same as hitting the lottery. They’ll collect that sad little hundred-thousand-dollar check and it’ll change their lives. They’re not like you, Dylan. They don’t really care about Ashton. They just want the money. But I know you do care about her.”
“I do,” I said. “I really do.” And I did, but also that reward didn’t seem so sad or little to me. Plus, I’d done a lot of pondering on how a hundred thousand bucks could change my life.
“But what those people don’t know,” Nash said, “is that the police already have a pretty solid suspect. They just haven’t released anything about it to the media yet.”
I’m like, “What?”
“You haven’t heard about that?” Brett asked. “I thought Mr. Browning might have said something to you about it.”
“He didn’t tell me anything about a new suspect.”
“Yeah,” Brett said. “Tres told me and Nash about it. The story came straight from his dad, so you know it’s reliable information.”
“I can’t say I’m really surprised,” Nash said. “I always thought she was weird, so it’s no shocker to find out her dad’s a pervert.”
I’m like, “Whose dad?”
“Trix,” Brett said. “Trix Westwood.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“That’s right,” Nash said. “The word is her father has a thing for young girls. Apparently, he sent out a bunch of nude photos of himself to girls’ cell phones. And I’m talking about girls seventeen and under. A couple of them have admitted to having sex with him.”
“And not only that,” Brett said, “but where he and Trix used to live in California? One of her friends was murdered, and the police are looking into that to see if he had anything to do with it.”
“But she told me about that murder. The pool guy got arrested for it.”
“That’s her version,” Brett said. “But you know what I think? I think Trix is in on it with her dad. I’ll bet she lures girls over to her house so he can pick his favorites.”
“Isn’t that creepy?” Nash said, and I go, “I can’t believe it. I’ve hung out with Trix, and she seemed pretty cool. Except for the murder-in-California connection.”
“Well, I’d stay away from her if I were you,” Brett said.
“Yeah,” I said. “I guess I should.” But I wasn’t worried about myself. I was thinking about Audrey. She was probably with Trix right now. Maybe at her house meeting her father.
CHAPTER 31
I excused myself to go to the bathroom, where I immediately dialed Audrey’s number. “Come on, pick up, pick up,” I muttered into the phone, but she didn’t. She was probably afraid I’d spoil her “romantic evening.” So I called her mom and found out she was at an outdoor jazz concert in a little park not far away. Jazz. Audrey didn’t even like jazz.
There was nothing to do but go back to the table and explain to Nash and Brett that Audrey was with Trix and that we had to head to the park right now. They didn’t even argue. They could see how upset I was. And here is another thing that struck me about how cool Nash was—he didn’t worry about all the expensive food we left on our plates. He just paid the bill, and we were on the road in five minutes.
“Can’t you go faster?” I asked Brett, and she’s like, “Faster? You were way freaked over the way I was driving before, and now you want me to go faster?”
“But this is important.”
“Calm down,” Nash said. “If she’s at a public park, I’m sure she’s safe.”
I dug my fingers into the edge of my seat. “I just hope she really is there.”
At the park, the good parking spaces were all taken, so Brett let me out while she went to look for one. By now the sun was down, but there were plenty of lights shining on the small stage and the crowd of maybe a hundred and fifty people. It wasn’t hard to spot Audrey and Trix perched in lawn chairs about two rows back from the stage. They were snuggled pretty close together, but at least they weren’t holding hands or anything.
I squeezed down the third row until I came to Audrey from behind. I tapped her shoulder and she jumped.