CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

 

Ashley Leighton winced as she sipped her tea. It hurt to even move her lips. Her face was still swollen and she could only imagine what her colleagues would say if they saw her now, which is why she had taken a few days off. She didn’t need the added pressure of twenty questions, and she didn’t want to tell so many lies that she lost track of the truth.

Ashley felt like she was letting down the department at a time when they needed everyone working to solve the Woods Strangler case. And she desperately wanted to be part of the team, believing that police work was in her blood.

But she wouldn’t be much use to anyone in her current condition.

Ashley sat in the Great Room of her house, surrounded by Palladian windows, hanging ferns, and more loneliness than she’d ever thought possible. Nobody knew how she truly felt. Certainly not her husband. Robert only cared about himself, and keeping her under his control.

And though she knew it was wrong, Ashley had been unable to break away from the cycle of violence that had plagued so many other abusive marriages. She hoped things could still work out between her and Robert, without having to sacrifice the career she had worked so hard at. Or incur his wrath whenever the mood struck his fancy.

Glancing at the TV, Ashley saw a news report on the fire at S.A.W. House. The anchor was saying that the cause of the fire had yet to be determined, but arson was suspected.

That caught Ashley’s attention. Someone set S.A.W. House on fire? The mere notion made her sick. She had considered going back there. Now this. Why would anyone try to burn down the shelter? She wondered if Robert was capable of such a cowardly act. Would he stoop to such lows to punish her? It seemed beyond him, even if he abhorred the thought of her seeking refuge there.

Ashley decided to give him the benefit of the doubt—for now. Thinking otherwise was simply too painful.

She took another sip of tea and shuddered at the prospect of Robert coming home this afternoon and using her as a punching bag again to release his anger.