“Always,” she said softly.
Chapter 15
We’re missing something.Paradise punched her pillow and glanced at the clock: 2:00 a.m. The pain in her shoulder hadn’t been conducive to sleep either. She’d soaked it in the bath and iced it, but it still throbbed.
Greene had been every bit as difficult as they’d feared, and it was after eleven when Blake left and she crawled into bed. Watching all that film data had felt a little creepy, and she was jumpy. She should have let Blake sleep on the sofa. He’d offered, but she thought she’d be fine.
The kittens curled by her feet, and she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes to practice deep breathing. Six would come way too soon. A memory slammed into her before she could drift off to sleep.
It was dark, so dark. Paradise crouched in the closet with herRosyshineCuddleBritepuppy clutched to her chest. She could barely hear through her heart pounding in her ears.
She wished Mama was still with her reading Paradise’s favorite story,Where the Wild Things Are, but the door opened, didn’tit? She clutched her stuffie and burrowed in the back of the closet where she could smell the vanilla sachet her mom had put in last week.
She rocked back and forth and whisper-sang the little ditty her mother had taught her. “No monsters under my bed, not with angels watching my head. No monsters under my bed, not with angels watching my head.”
The song failed to drive away the terror that encased her like ice. She swallowed hard and tried to make sense of what had just happened. Mama whispered for her to hide, and Paradise had done just that. She slipped out the side of the bed farthest from the door and slid under the bed.
She saw her mother’s bare feet hit the carpet and saw a baseball bat leaning in the corner lift away before Mama’s toes turned to face the door.
Paradise slid out on the floor on the other side and crawled into the back of the closet. She closed her eyes and covered her ears when Mama screamed, but the sound of a smack of the ball bat penetrated anyway.
Paradise covered her head with her hands and stifled the scream trying to bubble up from inside.
And waited for the man to find her. But he never came.
Paradise struggled to remember the man’s face as he’d come through her bedroom door but failed.
She sat up and wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks. It was the most detail of that terrible night she’d remembered so far. The man’s face eluded her, but she knew he’d been slim and strong. Not big and bulky like Sheriff Davis. And her mother had picked up the baseball bat. He must have taken it from her and used it on her and Paradise’s father.
But nothing had been her fault, so why did she feel such a sense of guilt? She’d been nine and no match for a grown man.
There would be no sleep now. Paradise got out of bed and went to the kitchen for some cheese and crackers. Maybe a bit of food would calm down the way her heart threatened to beat right out of her chest.
She so desperately wanted to remember, to bring the murderer to justice. This small memory was an encouragement, but it wasn’t enough. She had to remember that face.
Blake had bought cubes of cheddar and her favorite crackers, so she prepared a plate and ate on the sofa without tasting the food. The kittens, delighted she was up, played around her feet. Did all of this even connect, or was everything happening separately? She didn’t see any threads of the current events connecting to the murders, but the danger had ramped up when she’d tried to find her brother.
Chad from the DNA center hadn’t returned her call yet from the other morning, and she made a note on her phone to try calling again when the place opened. He’d been so responsive before, and it was odd he hadn’t called her back, but maybe he was out of the office. Someone else might be able to help, though, if she couldn’t get him. She wanted to figure this out.
She hugged herself and wished she could talk to Blake, but he should be sleeping. She opened the Photos app on her phone and scrolled through all the pictures she’d taken since she came to The Sanctuary. Every picture was a precious reminder that no matter how events changed minute by minute, her life here held fresh and new adventures. Jenna had sent her a shot she’d taken of Paradise staring up at Blake and him looking down at her. The love on both their faces brought a lump to her throat.
She sighed and put the phone down to carry the plate back to the kitchen. Merlin put one black paw on her foot, and she paused to extricate it so she didn’t step on him. A creak came from the outside entry steps. Without stopping to think, she raced for her bedroom and snatched up the SIG Sauer in her bedside drawer, then stood in her bedroom a moment to gather her courage. She slipped to the door and peered back into the living room. The door was closed, and she heard nothing more until a message pinged on her phone.
She kept her gun up and ready as she went to get her phone on the coffee table. It was a message from Blake.Are you up? I saw the lights on. I’m outside on the steps.
Her limbs loosened. Blake was here. Why wasn’t he home in bed? She rushed to the door and threw it open before launching herself into his arms. “You scared me. I heard your feet on the steps.”
His strong arms sheltered her, and he held her close before glancing around and leading her back into the apartment. “I was trying to sleep in my truck. I didn’t like leaving you alone now that we know Adams is around.”
Ever the protector. She both loved that he was eager to protect her and hated that she needed protection when she wanted to stand on her own. He’d never thought she could hold her own against Adams, and maybe she was fooling herself that she was sure she could.
By 3:00 p.m. Blake was feeling the effects of very little sleep last night. He’d spent 2:30 to 5:00 a.m. on Paradise’s too-short sofa, and he didn’t think he’d closed his eyes. But at least she was safe.This morning he’d also found the binoculars left behind by the intruder and had asked an employee to run them to Jane. Maybe they would provide some kind of information.
He parked the safari vehicle in the utility truck lot and chatted with his passengers as they disembarked and left tips in the coffee tin. Several had been generous, and his small stash of cash for an engagement ring was growing. Still not enough, but he had to start somewhere.
Most of his salary he redirected back into the business. The fear in his mom’s eyes had been increasing, and he wanted to do what he could to lessen her worry about the future. What would any of them do if they lost The Sanctuary? A couple of donations had come in this past week, but it still wasn’t enough to overcome the bad publicity Ivy’s death had brought to the park.
He gathered the tips from the can and stuffed the cash in his pocket. His phone dinged with a message, and his pulse blipped when he read what his cousin Hez had sent over.
