Page 9 of Two Hearts Reunited

“I think she’s hungry,” Eric observed, touching her mouth gently. “She’s trying to use my finger as a pacifier.”

“I’ll go heat up her bottle,” Ashley said, grabbing the empty coffee cups. “She’s already eating some solids including finger foods, but at this point, it’s more convenient to feed her during the day in her high chair where it’s easier for me to clean up after her.”

A few minutes later, Ashley returned with a bottle and bib.

As she reached out for the baby, Eric asked, “Is it alright if I feed her?”

“Why, sure,” Ashley replied, looking surprised as she glanced at Brian.

Brian shrugged, grinning. “Mom’s going to get a kick out of this.”

“Both moms will,” Ashley said dryly, laying the bib under Ashley’s chin and assisting Eric with the bottle as he gently stuck the nipple into Arielle’s mouth.

Eric gave Arielle a tender smile as she ate. It didn’t take long for her to finish the bottle, and soon she’d dozed off.

“Want me to put her in the playpen?” Ashley asked.

“Nah, I’m kind of enjoying this,” Eric admitted gruffly, gently twirling Arielle’s wavy blond hair around one of his fingers. “Blond hair and deep blue eyes. Where did she get the blond hair from? The two of you are both dark.”

“I had white-blond hair when I was young,” Ashley replied.

Eric nodded.

A few minutes later, he glanced at Ashley and Brian. “Is this the wrong time for me to ask what happened with the traffickers situation last year?”

Brian had turned on the television a little earlier when they’d been drinking their coffee to watch Monday night football but had turned down the volume.

Brian settled back in his chair. “This is as good of a time as any.”

Ashley nodded her agreement. “Would you like more coffee, Eric?”

“Maybe I’ll have one more cup. Thanks, Ashley.”

When she left for the kitchen, Brian began to go over the bare bones of the story. “You remember Jeff Barton and Michelle Ashford?”

“Of course. They were your best friends,” Eric replied.

“Basically, it came down to this. Michelle’s father didn’t commit suicide ten years ago. After a second autopsy, they realized he was murdered, but didn’t spread the word. I think that I already told you some of the story, but Michelle’s father had been pushing a property investment scheme which his silent partner had lied to him about. Michelle was so relieved to be able to clear her father’s name. We believe that the money that was being collected was really going to be used to reestablish a new human trafficking connection here in Crystal Rock.”

Ashley returned with his coffee, resting the mug on the coaster on the end table before sitting across from him near the fireplace.

“Everyone assumed that when Michelle’s father, Mr. Ashford, was killed it was for the money, because it all disappeared. That’s why Mom and Ashley’s dad, Mr. Mitchum, had to pretend they’d gone off together. It made it look like they were the ones who took the money because Mr. Mitchum hadapparently been at the real estate office for an appointment on the same day before Mr. Ashford was killed, and our mom, as his secretary, was there working in the office at the same time. Whoever killed Mr. Ashford thought that he’d told both of them the truth about the investment scheme, so they were both in danger.”

“In fact, they were both even shot at,” Ashley muttered. “It turned out that there were some notebooks filled with names and figures that Mr. Ashford had hidden in his office at their home, where he was found dead. Jeff and Michelle discovered one of them when they began the restoration of her old family home on the lake when she returned to town early last year.”

“Let me guess,” Eric said, becoming thoughtful. “They think that the names in the notebook were actually trafficking connections or clients who were supposed to remain confidential. But they only found one notebook? How do they know there were more?”

Ashley pursed her lips. “I can’t remember. So much has happened during the past three or four years since I returned to town to take the job I was offered at the Inn. I think Jake Loughlin was the one who told us that there were three more missing. You remember Jake, don’t you—the owner of the Dragonfly Pointe Inn?”

“And former FBI special agent,” Brian added.

“Really?” Eric replied pursing his lips. “I don’t think I knew that he was a special agent. Then again, he was the one who was helping us out when we left town ten years ago, so maybe I kind of guessed that he was more than he seemed to be.”

“Supposedly, his investigation into the trafficking is ongoing. Every time a group of people are arrested, it seems like others are eventually sent to replace them,” Brian admitted. “After all these years, Jake has yet to determine why this town seems to be so important to the traffickers.”

“What about the missing money?” Eric asked.

“They found it in a secret account belonging to Michelle’s grandfather, her mother’s dad,” Brian responded. “I gather he was a real jerk, but they don’t know if he was the one who killed Tom Ashford, or if he came upon Mr. Ashford after he was dead and happened to find the funds, so he took advantage of the situation.”

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