She was taken to the visitors’ room, and Shane Miller was there, waiting.
He rose as Ashley entered. “Ashley…”
Her heart began to pound. “Oh, Shane!” She had never been so glad to see anyone in her life. Somehow she had known that he would come and free her, that he would arrange for them to let her go.
“Shane, I’m so glad to see you!”
“I’m glad to see you,” Shane said awkwardly. He looked around the drab visitors’ room. “Although I must say, not under these circumstances. When I heard the news, I—I couldn’t believe it. What happened? What made you do it, Ashley?”
The color slowly drained from her face. “What made me—? Do you think that I—?”
“Never mind,” Shane said quickly. “Don’t say any more. You shouldn’t talk to anyone but your attorney.”
Ashley stood there, staring at him. He believed she was guilty. “Why did you come here?”
“Well, I—I hate to do this now, but under—under the circumstances, I—the company—is terminating you. I mean…naturally, we can’t afford to be connected with anything like this. It’s bad enough that the newspapers have already mentioned that you work for Global. You understand, don’t you? There’s nothing personal in this.”
Driving down to San Jose, David Singer decided what he was going to say to Ashley Patterson. He would find out what he could from her and then turn the information over to Jesse Quiller, one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the country. If anyone could help Ashley, it was Jesse.
David was ushered into the office of Sheriff Dowling. He handed the sheriff his card. “I’m an attorney. I’m here to see Ashley Patterson and—”
“She’s expecting you.”
David looked at him in surprise. “She is?”
“Yeah.” Sheriff Dowling turned to a deputy and nodded.
The deputy said to David, “This way.” He led David into the visitors’ room, and a few minutes later, Ashley was brought in from her cell.
Ashley Patterson was a complete surprise to David. He had met her once years ago, when he was in law school, chauffeuring her father. She had struck David as being an attractive, intelligent young girl. Now, he found himself looking at a beautiful young woman with frightened eyes. She took a seat across from him.
“Hello, Ashley. I’m David Singer.”
“My father told me you would be coming.” Her voice was shaky.
“I just came to ask a few questions.”
She nodded.
“Before I do, I want you to know that anything you tell me is privileged. It will just be between the two of us. But I need to know the truth.” He hesitated. He had not intended to go this far, but he wanted to be able to give Jesse Quiller all the information he could, to persuade him to take the case. “Did you kill those men?”
“No!” Ashley’s voice rang with conviction. “I’m innocent!”
David pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and glanced at it. “Were you acquainted with a Jim Cleary?”
“Yes. We—we were going to be married. I would have had no reason to harm Jim. I loved him.”
David studied Ashley a moment, then looked at the sheet of paper again. “What about Dennis Tibbie?”
“Dennis worked at the company I worked for. I saw him the night he was murdered, but I had nothing to do with that. I was in Chicago.”
David was watching Ashley’s face.
“You have to believe me. I—I had no reason to kill him.”
David said, “All right.” He glanced at the sheet again. “What was your relationship with Jean Claude Parent?”
“The police asked me about him. I had never even heard of him. How could I have killed him when I didn’t even know him?” She looked at David pleadingly. “Don’t you see? They have the wrong person. They’ve arrested the wrong person.” She began to weep. “I haven’t killed anyone.”
“Richard Melton?”
“I don’t know who he is either.”
David waited while Ashley regained control of herself. “What about Deputy Blake?”
Ashley shook her head. “Deputy Blake stayed at my apartment that night to watch over me. Someone had been stalking me and threatening me. I slept in my bedroom, and he slept on the couch in the living room. They—they found his body in the alley.” Her lips were trembling. “Why would I kill him? He was helping me!”