Catching Ashley

The train was running a bit late, but that wasn’t anything unusual. A man on the platform sipped his coffee and wrapped his coat jacket around him as the wind was starting to pick up.

A young girl with the curly blonde hair and big blue eyes was shy against her tired mother’s feet.

“Are you excited for the train to come? It should be here any minute now.” I said with a gentle smile. I could usually get anyone to talk to me. I knew I could be that friendly face that everyone looked for. The person who knew everything, who could say anything and not get in trouble.

The young girl looked at me with wide eyes, and her mother turned to me. “Don’t be shy Ashley, say hello to this nice man.”

“It’s fine. She knows it’s not okay to talk to strangers, or at least I assume you taught her that.”

The mother looked to Ashley and then looked down the tracks to see if the train was coming.

“Do you know when the train is coming? I need to make sure that we get on it. We are looking forward to going to the Aquarium, isn’t that right, sweetie.”

The mother was pretty enough. Her honey blonde hair and brown eyes didn’t look fazed out or on something.

“Should be here any moment, now. Look, here it comes now.”

Sure enough, the large, sleek, silver coated with big, bold, blue stripes came slowly into the station. The conductor looked at me and gave me a nod as I let Ashley’s mother go on the train ahead of me.

I gave a nod to the other gentleman who was sipping his coffee and he got on the same car as us.

“Do you have any candy, mister?” The little girl wasn’t all that shy after all.

“I’m sorry, no. I don’t, but maybe your mom has some in her purse.”

The little girl shrugged her small shoulders at me and sat in the window seat. I made sure I sat at the end of the row across from them.

The guy who was sipping coffee sat behind me and took out his phone to check the latest news or Facebook feed.

“Tickets!” The conductor started to walk down the aisles of the narrow pathway.

Ashley’s mother’s face looked ashen as she realized she didn’t have any tickets with her. “Crap, can I purchase tickets on the train? How much are they?”

“Well, the little one is free, but you’ll need to pay full price, ma’am.” The conductor smiled at her gently as to not startle her.

“How much is that, and I only need one way please.”

“If you are going all the way into Boston, then that’s eleven dollars, please.”

“I don’t even have that much money on me.” The lady’s voice trembled slightly.

“Don’t worry about it, miss, I can pay for you if you like.”

“That’s very sweet of you, I would appreciate that greatly.” I said with my warmest smile.

The guy next to me tapped on a text. “We think we have her in our sights, location found.”

I handed over the money to the conductor. I didn’t want this lady to get spooked or to figure out that we were on to her.

Ashley crawled over the lady’s lap and sat closer to me. “That was awfully nice of you mister.”

“It’s no problem. How old are you Ashley?”

“I’m four.” She held out her little hand and showed me four fingers.

“Is that right? Wow, you are pretty smart.” I knew that this was the right little girl that the APB had out for an Amber alert. “I’m Leroy. Leroy Jenkins. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Ashley.” The girl turned to the lady and whispered something in her ear.

“No. You can not tell him your last name sweetie, that’s between us, right? Remember what I said?” The lady’s eyes got wide with fear.

I knew it was time to make our move, but we had to do this quietly so that the other passengers wouldn’t get upset or worried. I nodded to my seat mate and he texted again, “Going for it, waiting for next stop. Meet us with parents and have car ready to take her in for questioning.”

The train came to a stop and then I got out of my seat. I whispered as quietly as I could to Ashley, “Ashley, is this really your mommy?”

Ashley looked at me with her big blue eyes and I saw a tear coming down her little cheek. I knew that fear all to well.

I let Ashley out of the seat first and then stopped the other lady as she was getting out of the seat.

“I’m sorry, miss. You’ll have to come with us. We know that you aren’t her mother.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Of course, I’m her mother. Let me go!” The lady looked upset and her eyes looked like they would throw daggers at me.

“What’s Ashley’s last name and I need to see your license please.”

“Her last name is Smith, same as mine. Now, either arrest me or let me go! I want a lawyer.”

“License please, miss. I don’t want to make this worse for you.” I said as gentle as I could. This was not an ideal situation. Most of all the other passengers had already gotten off the train.

I nodded to my seat mate again. “Jack, call for an attorney, please. We’re going to book her as soon as we get off this train.”

As she turned to me, her license read: “Janet Boling.”

“Come on, Janet. We know that this isn’t your daughter. There’s been an amber alert all morning. We just want to see little Ashley home to her parents that’s all.”

“They don’t love her. Not the way I do. You don’t understand. She was in trouble, she told me herself.”

“Janet, the girl is only four years old. You have to understand that this is a scary situation for her.” I said as I nodded this time to the conductor.

“You got this under control, chief?”

“Yes, come on, Janet. Let’s take you to the station and I’ll read you your rights on the way to the station.”

THE END