Justice for Ashton

By D.A. Bollen

D. J. Douglas...owner of D. J.'s Bail Bonds... along with her crack Team of Fugitive Investigators, AKA Bounty Hunters, pull out all the stops to locate and apprehend their fugitives...their "bail jumpers!" This adventure has them trekking all over California and into Europe. But, first, they have to determine who is lying... and, who may be telling the truth! The Team develops some rather unconventional tactics to get to the truth and determine the actual location of their "skip!" It's fun to see what goes on behind the scenes to get a glimpse at the various strategies used in "running the fugitives" to the ground. It's an exciting ride! See if you can guess the outcome!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662484681

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Justice for Ashton

D.A. Bollen

Copyright © 2022 D.A. Bollen

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-6624-8471-1 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-8468-1 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

1

Happy Anniversary to Me!

2

Time to Get Back to Business

3

Here We Go Again!

4

Release the Hounds!

5

A Wine by Any Other Name

6

Good Old School Days

7

Now the Fun Really Starts!

8

Time to Hit the Road!

9

Up, Up, and Away!

10

The Big Plane Cometh!

11

Time to Really Close it Out!

Epilogue

Cheers to All of Us!

About the Author

1

Happy Anniversary to Me!

Lots of people on the sidewalk outside my office. Fun music playing, good old rock and roll! Balloons everywhere. The closer I got to my office, I started to see some familiar faces. Quite a few of my deputy buddies, three district attorneys, several defense attorneys, five judges that have become friends over the years, and my staff!

They all saw me approaching the office and started running toward me, gave me some real bear hugs and kisses, and then pulled me into my office.

I was overwhelmed at first, not knowing what was going on. Then I saw all the signs in the office: Happy Anniversary. Celebrating 20 years in the Bail Industry! More balloons and streamers hanging from the ceiling. What a surprise! I didn't know that anyone was paying attention to all my years in the business, but somebody was. I was so thrilled and honored.

I got so many congratulations from my friends and more hugs and kisses. I'll take it all! Nelly, my office manager, grabbed my hand and pulled me to the back of the office. I saw a huge array of dishes spread out over the conference table. Enough food to feed an army, wow! Platters of sandwiches, bowls of salads, and desserts galore! As everyone started heading toward the food table to grab some of this amazing cuisine, I heard a couple of my deputy buddies start yelling, Speech, speech!

Overcame with gratitude and love for all my friends, tears were starting to well up in my eyes. I'm not very good at making speeches. I gathered my composure as best as I could. Judge Tony Miller, whom I've known for at least fifteen years, came to my aid for support.

Fighting back some sniffles, I let everyone know how touched I was and how thoughtful they were. After all this time in the bail industry, we have had some ups and some downs, but I wouldn't have been able to succeed if it hadn't been for everyone in this room. I have learned so much from each and every one of them. And what a pleasure it is to call them friends.

Judge Miller went over to Nelly's desk and picked up a package and brought it to me. It was a beautiful plaque, eight by twelve inches. Engraved on it was:

Presented to

D. J. Douglas

D. J.'s Bail Bonds

for

20 Years of Distinguished Service

To Our Community

From All Your Friends

The tears and sniffles started coming back, so all I could say was, Let's eat!

Everyone knew everyone else; it's great to see the interaction and the camaraderie. I am so fortunate and so lucky to have the honor of working with all these wonderful people over these many years. Nelly was running around taking pictures of everyone enjoying themselves. She's planning on hanging them on our photo wall.

After about an hour, my friends started to slowly leave, heading back to their own offices and jobs. There was so much food left. I begged everyone to please take a doggie box with them, a snack for later.

The balloons and signs were still hanging in the office. I wanted to keep them up for at least a couple of days mainly to remind me of this wonderful day, but also, it would look impressive to any new clients.

I proudly hung my new plaque on our photo wall for all to see.

*****

Nelly along with Marla, my accounts receivable manager, were starting to clean up the office, making sure to put all the leftover food in the fridge for future snacks and lunches. Both of them were laughing. They evidently had been planning this surprise for over a month and couldn't believe they actually pulled it off.

Two of my four investigators were able to attend our shindig. They stayed behind to help Nelly and Marla get the office somewhat presentable. Plus, when there was food, they wouldn't be far away. Definitely doggie boxes to go!

I was sitting at my desk, watching all the activity with a great big smile on my face. I still couldn't believe that my friends did this for me.

Where had the time gone—twenty years! I started thinking about Uncle Mike. When I was only ten years old, he let me hang out in his office—his bail bond office. After he retired from the local police force, he opened up his bail agency. Over the years, he patiently explained everything about the bail process to me, detailing the importance of helping people and our community. Justice was always to prevail.

When I turned sixteen, Uncle Mike hired me to help him out in his office: filling out paperwork, entering information into his computer, and setting appointments for future clients. Not being a licensed bail agent yet (too young), I was not allowed to discuss any of the bail procedures with his potential clients.

Uncle Mike was my hero. He taught me everything that brought me to this point in my life. Thank you, Uncle Mike!

*****

With the cleanup completed and the office just about back to normal, Donny and Darren, my investigators, gave me one last hug and said goodbye. Back to work, they have some rascals or fugitives to find. Brushing away some of the remaining crumbs off my desk, I saw the mail that came in earlier. Bills as usual, nothing exciting. I passed the bills over to Marla so she could pay them.

Rock and roll music was still playing in the background from Marla's boom box. We were all humming along, happy as beavers building a dam.

Our reverie was broken by the ringing of the office phone. Nelly grabbed the phone. D. J.'s Bail Bonds, this is Nelly, how can I help you? She listened to the person on the line, jotting down notes and setting an appointment for the person to come in and talk with us. She hung up the phone, glanced at her notes, turned toward me, and walked back to my desk with a notepad in hand.

Nelly took a seat at my desk, laid the notepad down, looked at me, and smiled. I wondered what was going on.

She told me that she set an appointment for an Allison Bromley for 3:00 p.m. Mrs. Bromley didn't want to discuss her situation on the phone; she would rather sit down with us to thoroughly explain the entire situation. Now my curiosity was really peaked. It's 2:00 p.m. now, so we had an hour to await her arrival. I asked Nelly to check all the local jails to see if they had anyone with the name Bromley at their detention facility. It didn't take long. Nelly found a Bromley housed at our local jail. She was able to obtain all of the arrest details from our deputy buddies and any additional information listed in his jacket.

Nelly brought the info back to me, and together, we went over all of the information. If this was indeed our potential client, this would be very interesting and possibly quite profitable.

2

Time to Get Back to Business

Back in our professional mode. Nelly arranged the chairs at her desk and my desk to create a sense of privacy and comfort for our potential client.

It's now 3:00 p.m., awaiting Mrs. Bromley. We had papers on our desk and placed them all into neat piles. Besides, we needed to look busy as our hopefully new client walks through the front door.

I glanced toward the front door and made sure that my neon sign in the window was doing its job, announcing, D. J.'s Bail Bonds. Come In. All Welcome. All was good! I wanted to make sure that Mrs. Bromley knows she was at the right place and was definitely welcome.

She finally showed up about 3:10 p.m. and apologized for being late. I introduced myself: D. J. Douglas, the owner of the bail agency, and Nelly, my office manager.

We led her back to my desk and asked her to get comfortable in one of my desk chairs. She introduced herself as Allison Bromley, previously Mrs. Ashton Bromley. She divorced her husband, Ashton, about four years ago. They have one child, a daughter (Amelia), seven years of age.

I guessed Mrs. Bromley to be about thirty-six years of age. Approximately five feet five tall, no more than 115 pounds. She was clad in a very expensive beige designer pantsuit. Very stylish, ash-blonde hair, nails perfectly manicured, and decked out in tasteful jewelry: two gold necklaces, a simple gold bracelet, and two impressive gold and diamond rings.

Mrs. Bromley, Allison, explained that through the divorce decree, she and her ex-husband were to share custody of Amelia. The daughter was to live with Mrs. Bromley, and Mr. Bromley had the rights to visit every other weekend, plus the normal holiday schedule. She said that all was going so well, and each abided by the rules and schedules. Amelia seemed acclimated to the routine and loved spending time with her father. They always did something fun—a real adventure.

All was well until ten days ago. According to Allison, her husband had picked up Amelia on a Friday night, as usual, for his weekend visit. Everything seemed just fine. She hugged and kissed Amelia goodbye and told her ex-husband she would see them Sunday night and to have fun.

Sunday night rolled around, and no word from her daughter or her ex. She called his cell phone, his home phone, and Amelia's cell phone; no answer on any of the phones, and all went to voice mail. She left messages on all phones and waited for return calls. After hearing nothing for three hours, she contacted the local police and reported a possible kidnapping, explaining everything to the desk sergeant.

Mrs. Bromley then said that the police took over from there. They did a great job and found him four days later with Amelia. Evidently, he had bags packed, and it looked like they were planning on