Page 20 of The Perfect Accomplice

“Before you go,” Jessie asked, “how is the family doing?”

Marta paused several seconds before answering.

“It is hard to believe this is real,” she replied. “The children do not know what is happening. Alfie thinks his mother is on a trip. Baby Camilla is too young to understand any of it. Mr. Ashe uses his work to keep his thoughts busy. I wish I could do that.”

Jessie felt a pang as she imagined these children, who were so very young and whose memories of their mother would likely not survive into adulthood. She knew this from personal experience.

Her own mother had been murdered by her serial killer father when she was just six years old. That was older than either of these kids and yet she only had a few remaining images of her mom in her head. She circulated them on repeat, like home videos on an old VHS tape that had been played too often and was now fuzzy and full of static.

“What was Mrs. Ashe like?” Ryan wondered, snapping her out of thoughts.

Marta paused again before answering.

“She was a wife and a mother,” she finally said. “It was important to her to be thought of as good at both. It is sad that she will not be able to continue that journey. I will get Hayley.”

Jessie thought that the woman had given an impressively diplomatic answer which inadvertently revealed that Sydney Ashe might not have been great at either job. Once she was gone, Ryan looked at Jessie with raised eyebrows.

“If that’s the best she could do as a eulogy, Sydney Ashe must have been a real piece of work.”

He stopped talking when they heard Marta talking in the back.

“Hayley, more police are here to see you. I can watch the children while you talk to them.”

They heard another woman's voice whisper something unintelligible, to which Marta replied loudly, "I don't know."

While Jessie waited for Haley to appear, she glanced at several photos on a nearby table. One was a family portrait on the beach. In the photo, Sydney Ashe, frighteningly skinny, with long black hair, blue eyes and pale skin, offered a pinched smile for the camera.

A moment later, a young woman with brown hair and a pleasant, if bland bearing, stepped into the living room.

“I heard you wanted to talk to me?” she said nervously.

"That's right, Hayley," Ryan confirmed. "I'm Detective Hernandez. This is Jessie Hunt. We're taking over Mrs. Ashe's case from the original detectives, and we had a few questions for you. Have a seat."

Hayley sat on one of the cream-colored couches, and Ryan and Jessie took seats in plush chairs across from her. The nanny shifted uncomfortably for several seconds before sitting still.

“We understand that you found Mrs. Ashe,” Ryan began, “is that right?”

"Uh-huh," Hayley answered. "We—me and the kids—came back from the park. We'd been gone about two hours in all. Marta was still at the store. I put Cammie—Camilla—down for her nap. Mrs. Ashe likes to have lunch with Alfie, so I texted her that I was making his PB&J with the crusts cut off and baby carrots. She didn't answer, and Alfie was really hungry, so I tried calling her. I could hear her phone ringing upstairs, so I told Alfie that he could start on the carrots but to eat slow. Then I went up to tell her."

“Is that typically what you do?” Ryan interrupted.

“No,” Hayley admitted. “But I was torn. Mrs. Ashe wouldn’t normally like me going up to her bedroom. But the week before she had gotten mad at me because I didn’t tell her about lunch in time and Alfie was basically done by the time she got there. That’s what she considered one of her ‘connection times.’ She was big on special times when she could be with the kids and strengthen their bond. Meals were high on the list. Plus, earlier in the morning she had promised Alfie that they could cut their sandwiches into shapes. He wanted to do hearts with her, and I knew she wouldn’t want to miss that, so I risked going up.”

“What happened then?” Jessie asked.

"I got to her bedroom door, which was half-open, and called out to her without going in. When she didn't answer, I called her on the phone again to make sure I had the right room. I could hear it ringing inside, so I poked my head in. That's when I saw her on the balcony. She was in one of the chairs, and I could tell right away that something was wrong."

“How?” Jessie asked.

“Her neck was bent in a really awkward way that would never happen on its own,” Hayley answered, closing her eyes as if to blot out the memory. “I walked out there just to make sure and that’s when I saw that her eyes were open, but you know, not right.”

Hayley started to whimper softly as she continued.

"I wanted to scream, but I knew that I couldn't. It would have freaked out Alfie and woken up Cammie. Plus, Mr. Ashe was at his production office at the studio in Burbank and Marta was at the store, so I was alone. I was scared that whoever did this might still be around. So I grabbed Cammie from her crib, went downstairs, told Alfie that we were eating a picnic lunch, and we all went out front. That when I called 911. Marta came back a few minutes later, and the police arrived soon after that."

She stopped talking, and her whimpers turned into quiet sobs. Jessie tried to redirect her with an unemotional question.

“Hayley, the police got a list of all the service providers for the house from Marta yesterday but under the circumstances, they weren’t able to confirm its accuracy with Mr. Ashe. We were hoping you could look at it and see if she might have left anyone off.”

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