Ashley Needles

At last, it was time to stop for the night. The hotel was the cheapest we could find.  Angie excited to be with her dad jumped from one bed to the next. I would be sleeping on the floor tonight. Alice was running out of pills and her anxiety was climbing. She and Angie would be taking the beds.    A knock came, the hotel clerk delivering the extra room cards I'd requested. Angie dived into hiding. Alex gently convinced her to come out. Angie had been forced to hide for months. From neighbors, from cops, from the sun, and the carefree existence of childhood. My heart ached for her.  The trauma of the last few months and the excitement of being with her dad finally took its toll and she fell into a deep sleep.  At last, I could ask Alex about what happened at the courthouse.  Angie's grandmother accused Alex of vile perverted acts begging the court not to return Angie to her father. Angie's social worker took the stand denying the false claims and insisted it...

For part one please visit:  https://ashrienlives.blogspot.com/2019/08/no-greater-love.html We sat in the hotel room whispering excitedly about what the next day would bring, we discussed the last few months. Alex couldn't wait to spoil Angie rotten. As he talked about make-up-day and trips to seven eleven on payday, I thought about a long-ago lost love I reached out to after Angie disappeared. Lee grew up in the drug world, he went to prison and became a high ranking member of the eighty-eight, a white supremacist group. We'd gotten back in touch a few months prior to Angie's disappearance, but knowing how he felt about child exploitation and his extensive contacts I went to see him in person. Skilled with computers he conducted a search on the dark web looking for Angie. Each day he brought back no results. Each day Lee called his contacts across the country in the drug game looking for a lead. The members of the eighty-eight put out the word on Angie's d...