Mission: Cavanaugh Baby Read Online Free PDF Page A

herself. Lots of blood. More, he thought, than he would have expected from someone checking out the crime scene.
    “Why did you move her?” he asked.
    “I thought she was only wounded,” Ashley explained. “I didn’t realize that someone had cut out her baby.”
    His eyes narrowed. Aurora was supposed to be this peaceful little city. What the hell was going on? He studied the woman in front of him. “You saying she was pregnant?”
    Ashley nodded. As the dog began to whimper, she rocked slightly to soothe the animal in the same fashion a mother would rock to soothe a cranky child.
    “Yes.”
    Was there more going on here than he’d thought? “Did you know her?”
    Using small concentric circles to pet the animal she held against her, the policewoman shook her head. “No.”
    Had she just gotten caught in a lie? “Then how did you know she was pregnant?”
    “First thing that came to mind when I saw the nature of the wound,” she responded. “And then there were her final words—”
    “She was alive when you first saw her?” he asked, surprised.
    Ashley couldn’t figure out if the detective was mocking her or if he just didn’t have any people skills. For now, she gave him the benefit of the doubt.
    “That’s why I called for an ambulance,” she told him. “I tried to stop the blood.”
    She was supposed to be a professional, Ashley told herself. After all, it wasn’t as if she’d never seen blood before, or been around something that was dying or already dead. But what had gone down here this morning had her feeling as if she was walking in labored slow motion through a nightmare. A nightmare she should be able to wake up from.
    “That would explain the jacket,” he commented, glancing down at the blood-soaked article of clothing. “As well as the bloodstains on your knees.” He looked at her for a long moment, then asked, “Where were you again this morning?”
    There was no “again.” He hadn’t asked that question, Ashley thought. What was he trying to do here?
    “I went to work this morning. My lieutenant gave me this address, said a complaint had been lodged about a dog in the apartment that wouldn’t stop barking. The caller said the dog had been barking off and on for several hours.”
    Shane nodded at the almost docile dog in her arms. “That dog?”
    Without fully realizing it, she closed her arms protectively around the animal. “Yes.”
    “Seems pretty quiet to me,” he observed.
    Ashley continued stroking the dog. “I have a way with animals. Besides, I think he’s emotionally tired out.”
    He watched as she continued to stroke the dog. The animal seemed to be leaning into her, as if he thought he was safe.
    “‘Emotionally tired out’?” Shane repeated rather skeptically.
    His tone, she judged, was intended to get her to back away from her observation. She didn’t. “That’s what I said.”
    “Dogs have emotions.” It wasn’t a question so much as a mocking statement.
    Ashley forced herself to bite back a few choice words about the barely veiled sarcasm in his voice. She had a feeling that challenging the detective would only result in his becoming confrontational.
    Nonetheless, she stood her ground. “All animals have emotions,” she informed him coolly.
    “I’ll keep that in mind and try not to hurt his feelings,” he said, nodding at the terrier. Then his eyes shifted toward her. “Where were you before you came into work?”
    Her eyes met his. She refused to look away. Only guilty people avoided eye contact. “Home.” She said the word almost defiantly.
    “Can anyone verify that?” he asked.
    There hadn’t been anyone to verify anything about her since she was four. For most of her life, until she’d turned eighteen, she had just blended into the woodwork or been invisible to the people around her.
    “I’ve got two dogs, but they tend not to talk too much to strangers.” And then her flippant tone evaporated as she demanded, “Do you