Mission: Cavanaugh Baby by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-08-22T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Stepping back from the man they were questioning, Shane motioned for her to follow suit. When she did, he asked, “What makes you think he’s innocent?”

Ashley frowned at the wording he used. “I wouldn’t exactly call Simon innocent,” she returned. There was contempt in her eyes when she glanced over at the retching man. “He’s guilty of absolutely reprehensible behavior—but I don’t think he killed Monica Phillips.” She winced slightly as Simon went through another round of what by now amounted to dry heaves. “Nobody throws up on cue like that. Not without two fingers going down their throat or a dose of ipecac.”

Shane nodded. “I tend to agree with you,” he said. Looking over at their former suspect, he told the man, “We’re going now. Do yourself a favor and don’t leave town for a while.”

Simon made an unintelligible response, his throat obviously raw at this point.

“You realize that this brings us back to square one,” Shane told her as they left the victim’s former boyfriend’s studio apartment.

Ashley chewed on lower lip for a moment. “Not necessarily.”

Her assertion caught him off guard. What had he missed? “Okay,” he urged. “Enlighten me.”

She’d been wrestling with her thoughts about the heinous nature of the crime and why anyone would choose to do it the exact way they had rather than just hit the victim over the head, or better yet, stab her through either the heart or a major artery if they just wanted her dead. The method was very precise. “I think she was killed for her baby.”

Shane was open to anything. “You mean, like for a black market ring?” he asked. “I don’t know. Seems kind of barbaric to me. There are plenty of women willing to give up their unwanted babies, especially if there’s any kind of a monetary incentive involved. Sadly, there’s no shortage of unwanted babies,” he pointed out. “We see those kinds of headlines all the time—Baby Found in Dumpster—that sort of thing.”

She was still fairly certain she was right. “The fact that the killer took an unborn baby might mean that it was more personal. I don’t think this was a baby meant to be sold. This was one the perp was going to keep, or give to someone close to him or her who might have lost a baby.”

As she warmed to her subject—and grew more convinced that she was right—Ashley’s voice swelled in volume. “Whoever did this wanted an infant, a baby from ‘scratch,’ so to speak, so that the perp could raise it from the first moment it drew breath.” Her eyes met his, and she could see that he thought her theory had merit. “Could be someone who lost a baby during childbirth, and the need to replace that baby was just too overwhelming to ignore.”

Shane looked at her for a long moment. There was something in her voice that caught his attention; that made him think that this was more than just a theory for her. Did she

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