Settling an Old Score - Delores Fossen Page 0,17
gotten up before Cora so she could grab a quick shower so that she would be ready to go if something went wrong. And so that Eli wouldn’t walk in on her when she was wearing only a T-shirt that she’d slept in.
With his hands crammed in the pockets of his jeans, Eli walked in. Not too close, though. He stood there eyeing Cora while the baby eyed him. Ashlyn studied him as well and wished that she hadn’t.
Mercy, no one should look that good after the horrible night they’d had. Yet he managed it in his jeans that were snug and loose in all the right places. The gray shirt also had a too-good fit, and it was nearly the same color as his eyes. The top three buttons were undone, but in her mind it was as if it were fully open so she could see his chest—which she knew was as incredible as the rest of him.
He followed her gaze, nearly causing her to curse because he’d caught her gawking at him, but then Eli only shrugged. “I raided Jack’s closet for some clean clothes.”
Oh, so maybe he hadn’t realized the gawking after all. Good. There was enough heat still stirring between them without her adding that to the mix.
Cora made another of those cooing babbles and reached out a hand to Eli. Apparently, Cora had the knack for making Eli smile, too, because the corner of his mouth hitched, and he went to them, sinking down onto the floor. He stunned Ashlyn when he pulled Cora into his arms.
“She’s a cute kid,” Eli muttered. “And she smells good.”
It took Ashlyn a few seconds to get her mouth working. “Baby soap. There was some in the supplies that Gunnar brought in. I bathed Cora in the bathroom sink.” She paused. “You seem pretty comfortable holding a baby.”
He shrugged again. “I’ve had some practice with Owen’s daughter, Addie. She’s a year and a half old now, and we’ve all taken our turns babysitting.”
A surprise that Eli would involve himself in that, but then Owen’s wife had died in childbirth so he’d likely needed the help.
“Don’t puke on me,” Eli playfully told Cora as he lifted her into the air.
Cora didn’t puke, but she did act as if Eli was the greatest thing since baby formula. The playfulness didn’t seem right, not with everything else going on. Not with the old wounds that were still between Eli and her.
Not with the heat.
All the memories began to swirl together, and that’s when Ashlyn knew she had to get this back on track. “Any updates on the investigation?” she asked.
“A few. One big one,” he added a moment later. He looked at her. “Remy recently came into a lot of money, nearly a hundred grand. It’s an inheritance from his grandmother.”
She took a moment to process it. That was certainly plenty enough to hire those two gunmen. “When did Remy get this money?”
“A week ago, but he’s known it would be coming for several months now.”
So he’d had plenty of planning time. Even though she wasn’t a cop, Ashlyn had no trouble figuring out that Remy had means, motive and even the opportunity for the kidnapping and attack. Since Marta had been a criminal informant, Remy could have even used Marta’s old contacts to find the gunmen.
But Ashlyn immediately rethought that last part.
“Marta didn’t associate with violent people,” Ashlyn pointed out. “Yes, she’d had an arrest for drug possession when she was eighteen, but she’d turned her life around. She helped the cops. She helped you.”
“She did,” Eli readily admitted, but then he didn’t say anything else for several seconds. “But drugs and violence overlap. She knew Leon, who in turn knew Drake Zeller.”
Eli didn’t spell out for her that Drake had certainly been violent, since he’d been the one who’d shot both Marta and her. Even though Leon hadn’t fired any shots, he’d been convicted of setting up the ambush.
“Of course, Leon claims he didn’t personally know Drake,” Ashlyn reminded him under her breath.
Eli went silent again, and he handed Cora back to her before he stood. Ashlyn expected him to just walk out and put up that wall between them again. But he didn’t leave. He put his hands on his hips and glanced up at the ceiling before his attention came back to her.
“I’ve gone over every detail a thousand times of that night Marta was killed,” he said. “I’m sure you have, too.”
She had, and Ashlyn confirmed