Page 134 of Starcrossed Colorado

He won’t be able to get rid of me.

As I tried to gently set the frame back on the chest of drawers, a slip of paper fell out from inside it. Another photo, this one much smaller and printed on thin paper. It fluttered to the floor. I twisted, looking down at it.

And froze.

This photo showed Elias again, but he was grown. He had the same haircut as now. But the woman beside him was Lori O’Neal. The shape of her face, her green eyes… It was unmistakable. Even if I hadn’t seen pictures of Lori at Ashford’s apartment, I would recognize the resemblance to both Maisie and Ayla.

They had their arms around one another, cheeks pressed together. Not in a friendly way, either. It was an intimate pose. One of Elias’s arms was extended like he was taking the photo.

I picked up the photo from the floor and turned it over. Someone had writtenL + Elin a feminine scrawl with a hand-drawn heart beneath.

“There’s no way,” I whispered. But what other explanation could there be?

L wasn’t an initial. It was E-l, short for Elias. He and Lori had been seeing one another before she died. This photo was the proof.

The front door closed downstairs. Footsteps thudded across the entryway. I jumped, the photo nearly slipping from my fingers.

Elias was back.

THIRTY-THREE

Emma

Elias wasLori’s mystery man. He could’ve been there that night when Lori died. Could’ve pushed her.

And he was heading up the stairs right now.

Stella went to the open bedroom door, growling low. “Quiet,” I whispered. I shoved the snapshot of Elias and Lori in my back pocket, then stuck the broken picture frame beneath the chest of drawers. If he found it there later, he would probably just assume it had fallen. Or maybe it wouldn’t matter.

I had to tell Ashford. But first, I had to get Maisie and myself out of this house.Now.

Grabbing Stella by the collar, I switched off the light and hurried out into the hallway. Elias was just reaching the landing when I made it to the top of the stairs. Stella growled and barked, while I struggled to hold her back by her collar.

“Sorry!” I said. “She snuck up here while I was getting Maisie ready for bed.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Aside from the fact that I have a very naughty dog?” I tried to laugh, and it sounded forced. “I’ll take her back down to Maisie’s room. They both need to settle down for bedtime.”

Elias said nothing. And he didn’t move, either. I even thought about letting go of Stella, but she was no attack dog. Elias might hurt her.

He might do a lot worse.

With this photo, plus Ayla’s testimony, there would be enough evidence for the police to reopen the investigation into Lori’s death. Even if Elias hadn’t actually pushed her, he’d kept the secret of their affair from Ashford and the rest of the town for three years.

How far would he go to keep anyone from knowing? If he’d kept this kind of secret from Ashford, what else was he hiding?

“No worries.” Elias slowly stepped aside, watching me. Stella and I went down the stairs. My heart pounded. I felt his eyes on me the whole way.

My pulse was racing, my vision feathering at the edges as I took Stella into Maisie’s room and closed the door. It didn’t have a lock.

“Emma, I brushed my teeth! I’ve been doing just like you told me.” Maisie was lying in bed with the covers pulled up, reading one of her chapter books.

My chest filled with deep affection for her. This sweet, innocent little girl.

I knelt beside the mattress, feeling the photo of Lori crinkle in my back pocket. Stella stayed by the door to the hallway, growls still rumbling in her throat.

“Guess what, Maisie-doodle?” I whispered. “We’re going to have an adventure.”

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