Finding Ashton Quick

Bar Harbor, ME

He was a haggard old man who always appeared to be malnourished and disoriented. His was a familiar face around the area near the pantry. No one knew his real name, so everyone sort of agreed to call him Bob. It was a one syllable deal and easy to remember. Bob didn’t seem to mind. He just showed up one day and everyone assumed he had lived on the streets for a while. No one knew where he came from, if he had kin in the area, or much of anything else about him. He was scruffy, but mild tempered and bothered no one. He never seemed to want or need anything. Mostly, he kept to himself and seemed happy just to have made it through another day.

Every once in a while, someone would get curious and try to engage him in conversation, hoping to find out what his background was, or if he had family. People genuinely cared about old Bob. He wasn’t much of a talker, so attempts to reach him were usually unsuccessful. On the rare chance that someone broke through, he spoke of a family he had lost, and about how times of his era were good. Both unintentional fabrications. No one, including Bob, knew that he was an extraordinarily wealthy man whose rightful place in this world was in an affluent neighborhood in the 04609 zip code on West St. in Bar Harbor.

The one thing that people closest to Bob could determine was that he had no recollection of his life prior to about ten years ago? A couple of middle-aged Internet sleuths took it as a personal challenge to find out what they could about old Bob. Their names were Keith Ellers and Parker Shelby. They would both end up dead before their unofficial investigations grew legs. Apparently, someone very well connected had an interest in seeing Bob remain right where he was. What that someone didn’t know, however, was that where he was, was not where he was supposed to be. Someone somewhere made a major faire une gaffe and a big tub of crap was about to hit an industrial sized fan.

When some kids found Keith and Parker’s naked bodies floating in the Skilings river, most people, including the police, figured it was just two lovers got wasted one evening and wandered into the water. It wasn’t nearly that simple, of course, but they were a couple of loners, the narrative fit, and everyone sort of went with it. Their names quickly faded and everything kind of got back to normal, except… “the two lovers got wasted and wandered into the river” thing didn’t quite explain the fact that someone shot them inside their respective homes before they went into the river. It seemed a mystery was afoot, and the race was on to figure it out.

When Bob experienced memory flashbacks, he’d see small snippets, visions that he could not explain. He didn’t get them often, but each time brought with it a little more detail. He didn’t know what was going on and it would be sometime still before the visions made sense.

⁂

Ashton Quick and Elle Sparks met on a cruise ship. They were both professionals and on vacation alone. They shared drinks at the bar one evening, got along well, and agreed to dinner the following evening. After dinner they agreed to drinks, and then met in his cabin and made passionate love. He liked it… a lot. After the cruise, they disembarked, hugged and said goodbyes on the pier. They agreed never to see each other again.

When Ashton got home that evening, he sat in his study and checked messages on his phone. He saw one was from Elle and his heart sank. She wanted to rescind her promise to never to see him again. Apparently, she was smitten. Just then Ashton’s wife, Tricia, walked in, gave him a peck on the cheek, and asked about the cruise. Ashton’s face turned beet red, partly from guilt, and, well, actually totally from guilt. Tricia understood what his reaction meant, but didn’t let on. She simply gave him another peck on the cheek, told him dinner would be ready in five, and walked out.

Ashton was an educated man. He was wise to worldly things and such, but he was terrible at hiding guilt. Tricia, sitting alone on a chaise longue in the living room, put a finger to the side of her lips and thought, “Well now, what little cruise adventure is my hubby trying to hide?” She wouldn’t wait long for an answer, as two days later, Ashton announced he had filed for divorce. Tricia, as heartbroken as she was, remembered he was very wealthy. She got over her heartbreak quickly as she began counting dollars she’d get for spousal support. She forgot, however, that she was fairly wealthy as well, had a lucrative job, and there were no kids.

Ashton had scheduled movers to arrive pretty much as soon as he broke the news to Tricia. They moved her and her stuff out. Elle moved in a couple of days later.

⁂

The investigation into the deaths of Keith and Parker had just gotten under way and it had already gotten twisty. The murderer shot both victims in the head, execution style. Assigned to the case was Detective Dan Marlow, a seasoned investigator. A thorough search of each victim’s apartments revealed no real clues. At first glance, each murder looked like a random act. But Dan wasn’t buying it. He knew there had to be another explanation. Dan called his team together for a meeting.

“Guy’s, trust me, these murders were not random. Something links these two victims to something bigger. Let’s not lose sight of that as we progress.”

Dan’s team had gathered all the evidence they could from the victim’s apartments. So they began combing the streets, looking for friends/colleagues who may have had information they could use. They got little information during the first couple of days. A neighbor told Dan that both Keith and Parker were loners, nerds, who fancied themselves accomplished Internet sleuths and that they mostly hung out with each other.

When Dan learned this, he put pressure on his lab guys to focus on their computers and phones. Within hours, they got back to him with news that there were a lot of searches related to some homeless guy named Bob. He hung out over by the Food Pantry that operated out of the YWCA over on Mt. Desert. Dan thanked them for the quick response and he headed in that direction.

It didn’t take long for Dan to locate Bob. But he quickly found that he wasn’t firing on all cylinders, had no identification, and had no idea where he was. Dan, though tempted to write him off as just another homeless guy, knew there had to be more to him. He began looking for people in the area that may have had insight into Bob’s mental state and where he originally came from.

⁂

Ashton and Elle married as soon as his divorce to Tricia was final. She spent precious little time establishing herself as head of household and demanded to be included in all financial matters. Ashton knew at that point he’d made a mistake, that Elle had bamboozled him, scammed him, targeted him.

“Honey,” he said sarcastically, “that ain’t happening. We may be married, but you get taking over finances out of your pretty little head right now.”

His tone angered her and he got his first glimpse into the mind of the monster that now called herself his wife.

Over the next few days, Ashton received messages from various financial institutions requesting authorization to add Elle to his accounts. He declined them all. She went ballistic.

“How dare you exclude me from activities related to this household? I have a right to know where we stand financially.”

Taken aback by her tone, it made him look beyond his lust and admit they barely knew each other. He realized what a colossal mistake he had made by bringing her into his life.

“You have a right?” He asked defiantly. “You have a right? You have a right to nothing at this point. And I’ll thank you to mind your tone with me.”

Ashton couldn’t remember a time when he’d been so angry. Suddenly, it hit home he was a target of a giant scam. Visions of his fortune changing hands were foremost in his mind. And for good reason. That changing of hands was, in fact, about to begin.

“Okay, dear,” she responded calmly. “If that’s the way you want it. Fine,” she said as she stormed out of the room.

Elle had been at this game for a long time. Her modus operandi was to render her victims mentally unfit for her care, and to have them committed after she had gained access to their fortunes. Through various other relationships, she had people in her pocket to provide whatever she needed. She had muscle to apply physical pressure when it was called for. She had doctors to approve any medication she asked for. And she had lawyers who would gen up any legal documents she needed.

Her plan for Ashton would be a medical one. She would slip him doses of temazepam over the period of a few months until she noticed a fair amount of cognitive decline, after which she’d stop and the use Maine’s involuntary commitment statute to have him committed. Because of her influence, no one would question her intent. He’d be out of her hair and she’d have access to his fortune, much like she’d done to other victims. By the time Ashton got out, if he ever did, she’d be long gone, along with his fortune.

⁂

Dan Marlow had asked several people about Bob and was not getting very far. Bob himself was no help, but that would soon change. A couple of days had gone by and Dan received a call from a friend in another department.

“Dan, this may seem like a long shot, but I’ve read reports of an escapee from the Northern Light Acadia facility a few weeks ago. You might want to check it out.”

After describing the escapee, his friend had described Bob to a tee. Except his name wasn’t Bob. It was Ashton Quick. Dan looked up the name and found that Bob, or rather Ashton, had a wife living right there in Bar Harbor. Dan paid her a visit. It did not go as expected.

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about, Detective. I don’t know anyone named Ashton, and I’m most certainly not married to him. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help,” Elle said as she closed the door.

Dan stood at the closed door, perplexed, but not really surprised. Strike that. Her lies surprised him. She was sloppy, and that surprised him. He had seen scams like hers many times over the years. But her failure to do even the basics of covering her tracks told him she had an arrogance that was off the charts. And he would use that arrogance to have her behind bars in short order.

Dan began by having her bank accounts frozen. As he suspected, her first move was an attempt to secure her finances. He then got a search warrant and searched the house. He confiscated her passport and driver’s license, marriage certificate, and various other personal documents. Elle screamed and shouted and hurled expletives at him that would put drunken sailors to shame. Unfazed, Dan’s next move was to go up to Northern Light and try to piece together what happened. There, he found all the evidence he needed to arrest Elle Quick.

Dan had more than enough evidence to charge her with endangering the life of her husband, Ashton Quick, filing false documents to have him involuntarily committed, and for the murders of Keith Ellers and Parker Shelby. He then contacted Ashton’s previous wife, Tricia, and explained the situation. He asked if Ashton had any relatives that could take care of him while he recovered. She insisted she would be by his side.

Bob’s visions were making more sense, and he was recovering at a steady pace. He could soon give Dan Marlow all the information he still needed and give him the background on how Elle came into his life. It was not the happiest of endings, but Ashton got his life back and luckily, Tricia forgave him and they remarried as soon as the annulment to Elle finalized. Elle Sparks Quick would spend her remaining years at the Maine State Prison. Ashton never went on another cruise.

K.R. Eaton - Finding Ashton Quick

Short Stories by K.R Eaton