Page 156 of Proof of Guilt

Eli didn’t have a stone heart, so that got to him. So did the fact that an innocent little baby was somehow involved in this. Whatever this was.

“Keep talking,” he insisted while he continued to keep watch. Ashlyn had left on her car headlights so that helped him see the road that led to his house. “Tell me what happened.” And then he would almost certainly need to call Kellan. First, though, Eli wanted to hear the specifics so he’d know what to relay his brother.

“I was in bed at my house. Cora was asleep in the nursery.” Ashlyn’s voice got shakier with each word. So did she. Whatever had happened had spooked her, and he was positive that she wasn’t faking it. “Two men broke down the door. Cops,” she spat out, aiming a glare at him. A glare that quickly softened as if she’d heard what she’d said and realized it didn’t ring true.

“Two cops broke into your house?” He didn’t bother to take out the skepticism. “Did they have a warrant? Did they ID themselves?”

Ashlyn shook her head. “They were wearing uniforms, badges and all the gear that cops have. They used a stun gun on me.” She rubbed her fingers along the side of her arm, and the trembling got worse. “They took Cora, but I heard them say they were working for you.”

Eli’s groan was even louder than she one she made. “And you believed them.” The look he gave her was as flat as his tone. He didn’t spell out to her that she’d been gullible, but he was certain Ashlyn had already picked up on that.

She squeezed her eyes shut a moment. “I panicked. Wasn’t thinking straight. As soon as I could move, I jumped in my car and drove straight here.”

The drive wouldn’t have taken that long since Ashlyn’s house was only about ten miles away. She lived on a small ranch on the other side of Longview Ridge that she’d inherited from her grandparents, and she made a living training and boarding horses.

“Did the kidnappers make a ransom demand?” he pressed. “Or did they take anything else from your place?”

“No. They only took Cora. Who brought her here?” Ashlyn asked, her head whipping up. “Was it those cops?”

“Fake cops,” Eli automatically corrected. “I didn’t see who left her on my porch, but they weren’t exactly quiet about it. She was probably out here no more than a minute or two before I went to the door and found her.”

He paused, worked through the pieces that she’d just given him, and it didn’t take him long to come to a conclusion. A bad one. These fake cops hadn’t hurt the child, hadn’t asked for money or taken anything, but they had let Ashlyn believe they worked for him. There had to be a good reason for that. Well, “good” in their minds, anyway.

“This was some kind of sick game?” she asked.

It was looking that way. A game designed to send her after him.

“They wanted me to kill you?” Ashlyn added a moment later.

Before Eli answered that, he wanted to talk to his brother and get backup so he could take Ashlyn and the baby into Longview Ridge. First to the hospital to confirm they were okay and then to the sheriff’s office so he could get an official statement from Ashlyn.

“You really had no part in this?” she pressed.

Eli huffed, not bothering to answer that. He took out his phone to make that call to Kellan, but he stopped when he saw the blur of motion on the other side of Ashlyn’s car. He lifted his hand to silence her when Ashlyn started to speak, and he kept looking.

Waiting.

Then, he finally saw it. Or rather he saw them. Two men wearing uniforms, and they had guns aimed right at the house.

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