Matthew hesitated. “I’m not the person you need.”
“What about the children who could have been helped with the funding?”
“I am not helping you find more evidence about a woman who’s defrauding her charity.”
“But that’s exactly it. I don’t know who took the money. Jasmine works with a lot of people. Any one of them could have taken the money.”
“I’ve got a ranch to run and a life back in Montana.”
“I can do most of the work from here, but I need someone to make sure I’m not followed.”
“Why me? You had more friends than anyone else I knew.”
“I haven’t kept in contact with many people. You’re one of the few people I’d trust with my life.”
Matthew took a deep breath. “How much money went missing?”
“Nearly half a million dollars.”
His eyes widened. “That could have helped a lot of children.”
“Exactly.” Ashley stood in front of him. “I know I treated you really badly, but I need your help.”
Matthew leaned against the kitchen counter, silently watching her as she struggled to find the words she needed to say.
“I’ve already started putting all the information together,” Ashley said. “It shouldn’t take too long to work out what happened with the money. Harry and Bonnie, my friends from work, will search for anything I can’t find.”
Matthew crossed his arms. “If I help you, it’s on my terms.”
She wasn’t sure what his terms would be, but they had to be better than staying in Buffalo on her own.
“I’ll help you, but not from here. You can fly home with me and work from Bozeman.”
Panic gripped her heart in a tight knot. “I can’t go back.”
“I’m booking the first flight out of here. If you’re not on the plane, you’ll be on your own.”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
Matthew reached into his pocket and handed her the silver ring. “I’ll be back soon. I need to get my phone out of my rental and make a couple of calls.”
He walked out of the kitchen and Ashley dropped her head into her hands. The thought of going to Bozeman brought back too many unhappy memories. If her mom hadn’t died, she might have felt differently, but there was nothing there for her.
She’d turned her back on Bozeman three years ago. Now she had a decision to make, and it shouldn’t have been this difficult.
