she close to her mom?”
“I don’t think so. You see, Ashley’s mom has a drinking problem, and a lot of the time she is really awful to Ashley.” Miranda rolls her tongue piercing around in her mouth.
“Can you think of a specific example of this?”
“Ashley told me she locks her out of the house for hours sometimes. And she grounds Ashley a lot for no good reasons. Just before Christmas I had a long talk with Ashley about her problems and stuff. You know what she said? She told me she wanted to run away, just get far away from all the stuff going on around her.”
The policewoman looks up from her notes and says, “A lot of adolescents are going through a tough period of adjustment. When most kids talk about getting away, they usually have some destination in mind. Maybe a friend’s or relative’s place. Somewhere safe, maybe. Did Ashley ever confide in you about that?”
“Not really.”
“Now I know you’ve already told me about Ashley having problems with her mother, but setting that issue aside for a bit, can you think of any other reasons Ashley would have for taking off?”
Miranda’s expression changes and she looks suddenly sad. “Yeah… She hates living where she lives and she hates the way most of the other kids have been treating her. She gets a lot of grief tossed at her every day. I mean, she is kind of rude and snobby a lot of the time, but they’re really mean to her.”
“When did this all start?”
“When Ashley told everybody that Mallori Weaver’s father had been touching her and stuff. But in the end it was never proven. The kids that thought she was lying got pretty mad at her. It caused a lot of hassles for awhile.”
“Miranda, think hard for me; is there anybody you know of that could or would want to hurt Ashley?”
The girl is quiet for a moment as she studies the floor, thinking. She looks up. “Her mom’s new boyfriend Dave lives there with them, but I don’t think Dave would ever hurt her. She actually likes him. He’s nice and buys her stuff. If you ask me, her real problem is Lori, her mom.”
Ironically, the second student to confer with Garcia in the counselor’s office is twelve-year-old Mallori Weaver. Mallori is one of Ashley’s closest friends and is the daughter of the man that Miranda Gaddis had spoken of. Garcia smiles when she asks, “How close are you to Ashley Pond?”
“Not so close now, but last year we were like sisters. My dad took care of her lots a times and in fact, Ashley even lived with us for a long time. She was like part of the family.”
Garcia nods. “So when was this? When was she a part of your household?”
“It was during sixth grade, and then that summer. She moved back to her mom’s at the beginning of seventh grade.”
“During the time she lived with you, how did she get along with your dad?”
“Great, really great. My dad was very nice to Ashley. He bought clothes for her. He even bought her a bike. He fed her and everything. And after all that, I can’t believe that she’d turn around and lie the way she did about him. It wasn’t fair.”
“A lie? What type of lie?”
“Just a few days before seventh grade started, she all of a sudden starts telling people that my dad had tried to rape her or something. After that he kicked her out and she had to go back to live with her sisters and her mom.”
“Mallori, do you remember any times in the past when Ashley ran away or mentioned running away?”
The child ponders a moment before responding. “Yeah, I think so. In fact I remember she did run away, for a few hours anyway.”
“Who found her?”
“Her mom and my dad found her behind the Foster Farms building. She hadn’t been gone that long. But that’s the only time I know about her running away.”
The detective makes a few notes. “Can you think of any reasons that Ashley would take off without telling anyone first?”
“If she ran away, I think it was because of Lori. Ashley couldn’t stand being home with her mom because of her mom’s drinking problem and the way it made her act.”
“You said you and Ashley had been close.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sure then that you must have confided a lot with each other like good buddies often do.”
“Sure.”
“Can you tell me any other reasons Ashley was unhappy?”
“Well…we both are on the dance team. We have dance practice every day after school to get ready for the competitions. Now, the rule is if you miss one practice you can still compete. But if you miss a second time, then you can’t. Ashley found out on Tuesday that she isn’t going to the next competition. She missed two practices. It made her very unhappy. The next day, yesterday, Wednesday, she was gone.”
“Thanks, Mallori, for all your help. It’s a big job when somebody goes missing so mysteriously like this. But I’m sure we’ll find Ashley.” The detective pauses and looks into the young girl’s eyes. “By the way, is there anything else you want to tell me about Ashley? Anything you can think of that I should know about?”
“Well,” she pauses and then goes on, “I guess so. There was something weird. It was around ten o’clock that same day she disappeared. Wednesday. Lori’s boyfriend, Dave, came over to our house looking for Ashley. While he was there, I asked him about dropping Ashley off at school when she was late, but he said he hadn’t ever been dropping her off at school. What was weird about it was Ashley had told me that Dave was giving her a ride to school on the days she’d missed the bus. And Ashley missed the bus a lot.”
“You live next to Newell Creek Canyon don’t you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And a lot of your friends, like Ashley and Miranda, live in the apartments adjacent to the canyon, is that right?”
“Sure.”
“Are there special places in Newell Creek Canyon where kids hang out?”
“Yeah.”
“Would you be able to show me where they are, if we went there together?”
“You mean right now, during school?”
“Yes.”
“Sure. I can show you, if you think it’ll help.”
“Okay, one little formality. I’ll have to call your parents to secure parental permission.”
“I live with my dad.”
“I see. And what’s his name?”
“Ward, Ward Weaver the third.”
“Do you have
