Page 58 of Her Baby, Her Badge

Dutton couldn’t be sure, but he didn’t think the person had actually pinpointed Grace and him. The killer seemed to be firing gazes all around, not just in their direction, but the side from where the deputies were no doubt approaching.

Grace stopped, reached down and picked up a rock. She hurled it toward the clearing. It got the captor’s attention, and he whirled in that direction, causing the hood of his jacket to fall off his head.

Except it wasn’t ahe.

Dutton saw enough of the person’s hair and forehead then. Enough to know who the killer was.

Cassie.

His heart dropped, and the sickening dread washed over him. Cassie was killing because of him. He was the reason that Grace, their baby and everyone else in Cassie’s path were in danger.

And now he had to stop her.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Cassie spat out a string of profanities when the hood slipped off her head. She was wearing a stocking cap beneath it, but there was enough of her blond hair exposed that it was easy enough to tell who she was.

The killer.

Grace had no doubts about that now. Not with Cassie pressing the knife to Aileen’s throat.

Cassie yanked Aileen even harder against her, but while she was glancing around, clearly spooked, she didn’t seem to pinpoint Dutton and her. Maybe it was the deputies, though, since her attention seemed to be lingering in the direction they should be coming from.

“I don’t see a gun,” Dutton whispered.

“No,” Grace agreed. “But she could have a hired thug nearby.”

So very true. Lunsford was dead, but that didn’t mean there weren’t others. So this was either a standoff or a trap. Either way, people could be killed.

“Distract Cassie, and I’ll sneak up behind her,” Dutton muttered. “And please don’t argue with me about this. I don’t want you to end up having to tackle a killer with a knife.”

Grace looked at him, and she mouthed a single curse word under her breath. Then, she nodded. “Don’t you dare let her turn that knife on you,” she whispered. “And save my mother,” she added, brushing a quick kiss on his mouth.

Dutton didn’t linger with the kiss, though Grace would have liked holding on to him for a moment or two. Even a couple of moments could end up being fatal for her mother.

“Keep watch for any hired guns,” he said as his parting words, and Dutton began to make his way toward Cassie. He took more of those careful steps, obviously trying to stay quiet, but then Grace gave him some cover with her voice.

“Cassie,” Grace called out.

Dutton wouldn’t be able to see Cassie from his position, but she might be able to hear Dutton. The woman obviously heard her because Cassie pivoted in Grace’s direction. Hopefully, Dutton was staying down and out of sight just in case Cassie did have a gun or there were any of her henchmen around.

“You want your mother alive?” Cassie immediately responded. “Then, you and Dutton have to trade yourselves for her.”

“So you can kill us,” Grace concluded.

“You both deserve to die,” Cassie shouted. “Dutton loved me until you ruined things by getting pregnant. I could have worked things out with him. He would have come back to me, but no. You had to have him, and you played dirty by using that kid to make sure he was done with me.”

And there it was. The motive was all spelled out and wrapped in the rage he could hear in her voice.

Cassie seemed to have a battle with herself to regain her composure. “All I need is the two of you and a vehicle to get the hell out here, and Aileen will live.”

Grace doubted that. If it came down to it, Cassie would probably prefer to murder them all.

“You killed innocent people to get back at us,” Grace said. No rage in her tone. It was disgust, and she hoped Cassie’s confession wasn’t putting Dutton through a nightmare of a guilt trip.

“Innocent,” Cassie growled. “Andrea Selby was a dirty cop. She deserved to die.”

“Dirty?” Grace asked.

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