Page 7 of Ruthless Regret

“No. Nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“The house alarm was set, so no one was in here when we arrived. I didn’t go out into the back garden until after I heard Ashley scream. I had no reason to. Could someone have been out there? Yes, but I wouldn’t have seen them.”

“Okay. So, you heard Ashley scream, then you called me and went outside. Then what happened?”

“I couldn’t see anything. There was no sign of her.”

I thought for a second that maybe she’d run away again.

“I followed the path around the house, which leads to the front. Then she screamed again. I retraced my steps and saw her near the back wall struggling with someone.”

“Do you remember anything about them?”

I shake my head. “His face was covered.”

“His?”

“The build and height suggests it was male. Ashley fought against his hold on her. I called her name. It distracted him long enough for her to get free. She tripped and fell. And that’s when he …” My voice falters, the image of her on the ground, with himabove her, knife in hand flashing through my mind. “He had a knife.”

“You’re sure?”

“Of course I’m fucking sure. I shouted her name again, and ran across the grass. When he saw me coming, he ran. He was over the wall before I could catch him. I was going to follow, but I wanted to make sure Ashley wasn’t hurt first.”

“I assume she’s not hurt.”

“Only her feelings.”

Which I shouldn’t care about. I don’t care. She didn’t care about my feelings …

“Yes, I picked up on that. I assume she had no idea about the stunt you were planning to pull with that interview?”

“No.”

“Then how did you get her to agree to marry you? I thought you had a plan set up before you came to see me.”

“I did. But it had nothing to do with marrying her.Thatwas part of a different plan. But … things changed, and I haven’t had time to explain it to her yet.”

“So, going into the interview she had no idea that we’d brought someone in for questioning?”

“No, the first she knew about it was when I announced there had been an arrest during the interview.”

He sighs. “It wasn’t an arrest. It was a request for a chat. We don’t have enough evidence or cause for an arrest.”

“But you can hold him for forty-eight hours, and question him.”

“Which we were trying to do.”

“Whatever. What the fuck happened today? Why wasn’t anyone here?”

“Well, like I said, we had to reach out to the Franklin Bay police department to request help. And we had to be careful because we didn’t want word getting out before we were ready.But in all honesty, there was no reason to think anything was going to happen. Bringing officers in to watch your house was a precaution, based on the fact someone clearly doesn’t want you back in town.”

He’s referencing the brick through the window at my other house.

“We didn’t think someone would attack you or your wife.” He leans forward, elbows on his knees. “Which brings me to my next question. Why did she think you were using her as bait? And bait for what?”

I shrug. “She has a temper, and she likes to accuse me of things I haven’t done.”

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