“I’m sorry, Paradise.” Trisha glanced at the clock on the wall. “I need to tend to some things in the back. I’m sorry I couldn’t be helpful, but you should forget about it.”
She would bolt any minute. Blake cleared his throat. “Did Becky ever talk about leaving Granger? We’ve heard rumors she might have been having an affair.”
“You’re not investigating that old murder by yourselves, are you? You must have a death wish. I don’t want to be involved in any of it.” She hustled toward the door to the back without a backward glance.
Another dead end. Paradise and Blake exited the alley, and she pointed out University Grounds. “I could use a pick-me-up. I’d hoped for a lot more from her.” What kind of family connection could be so terrifying to Trish?
The aroma of espresso and steamed milk felt like a warm hugwhen Paradise stepped into the coffee shop. They placed their orders and took their drinks outside to a patio table on the wide front porch. Paradise nursed her mocha with tiny sips while she contemplated what to do next. A customer across the street waved at her and another one honked as he drove by. Little by little she was becoming part of the community again.
She set her cup on the black iron table. “Every door I go through to try to find my brother gets slammed in my face. I don’t get it.”
Blake’s brows rose. “That same thought crossed my mind. It feels like our efforts are scattered right now too. Do we find your brother or work on tracking down who killed your parents?”
Paradise ran her finger around the rim of her cup. She wanted both things, but it made sense to focus on one. “We have the murder at the park to figure out too—Greene won’t get anywhere. And finding out Adams was the one who sabotaged the fence changed everything, don’t you think? It feels like someone is trying to drive me away before I remember the night my parents were murdered. At first I thought someone didn’t want me to find my brother, but maybe that’s not it.” She rubbed her head. “It’s all so confusing.”
Blake reached out and took her hand. “The attacks keep coming. I’m weary, and I know you are, too, but we have to keep going and figure this out. Someone wants you gone and the park closed. Why? We have to know or this won’t end.”
What he wasn’t saying was that Greene seemed determined to pin a crime on Blake. The attacks on her were meant to scare her away. If Blake ended up being charged with murder, he wouldn’t have the luxury of moving away and leaving it all behind. “The priority is the park. I got distracted by the crazy things like the snake in my car and creepy music. That’s probablywhat the intruder wanted. The future of the park rests on finding out who killed Ivy. Greene will have you charged, tried, and convicted if we don’t figure it out. Let’s not lose our focus.”
“I’m not so sure the person after you isn’t dangerous though, babe. The snake wasn’t a prank but an effort to harm you. I’d give up the park before I stood back and let someone hurt you. I’d even go to jail first.”
She returned his squeeze on her fingers, and her eyes burned with the effort not to cry. Blake always put the people he loved first. His example of selflessness was something she wanted to follow. “I’ve come through it all unscathed. Here are my priorities. One, make sure the park is safe. Two, find my brother. I can’t bring back my parents, but I can build a relationship with my only sibling. Three, bring whoever killed my parents to justice.”
“And four, we start a new life with all this behind us.”
A smile curved her lips. “We can’t get through the others fast enough for me. I’m ready to step past all this.”
“Me too,” he said. “Me too.”
Paradise squatted beside the large red wolf, Czar, she’d just sedated. The rest of the wolf pack watched through the fence separating her and Blake from the inner and outer perimeters of the enclosure, and the wind carried their musky scent toward her. The winner of the fight that had caused the gash on Czar’s flank seemed particularly interested in what they were doing.
She sterilized the wound and began to suture it. “We’ll need to keep him crated with a cone for a few days. He won’t like that.”
The call from Blake about the injured wolf had come in before six, and Paradise had rushed immediately to the enclosure. Theinjury was deep and four inches long. She finished the sutures and put a cone around his neck, then Blake eased him into the large crate. It was sheltered from the sun by a large oak tree. She filled a water bowl for him and planned to withhold food for a few hours until she was sure his tummy was okay from the anesthesia.
Blake embraced her and kissed the tip of her nose. “You do good work, Dr. Alden.”
She smiled and gave him a real kiss, one she felt clear down to her toes. The man had a way with kisses. Someone called his name, and he released her with obvious reluctance to turn toward the male voice.
Clark rolled toward them in the Gator. There was a figure in the passenger seat, but the sun was in Paradise’s face and she couldn’t see much more than it was a woman until Clark braked and she recognized the private investigator who had pretended to be a student at TGU. Nicole Iverson held her chin up and met Paradise’s gaze with a challenging glint in her green eyes. The green hair was gone, replaced with a more natural brown shade. And a pantsuit replaced the casual college attire she’d worn last time.
Clark stepped from the Gator. “I found this lady wandering around in the back pasture. She’d cut the fence.” His big hands were fisted at his sides, ready for any threat to Blake or Paradise.
“Thanks, Clark, I’ll take it from here.” Blake’s expression went grim as his gaze swung to the woman. “Still looking for oil and gas, Ms. Iverson?”
She flinched and her smile faded at his use of her real name. She got out of her seat and stood with her shoulders squared and her chin up. “Not gas or oil. I think you know what you have out there, Mr. Lawson. Rare earth elements.”
Paradise bit back a gasp at the woman’s knowledge of the report. Clark eyed them all before getting back in the Gator to return to his job.
Blake tensed beside her, but he studied Nicole for a long moment before he put his hands on his hips and took a step closer to her. “Did you break into the house and see the report?”
“What? Of course not. I got the information the same way you did—with a soil sample.”
“If you already got a soil sample, why were you in the field again?”
“I wanted to see if you knew what you had yet. I saw where your soil sample had been taken, so I planned to come see you anyway before your goon grabbed me.” She rubbed her forearm.
“Cut the act,” Blake said. “There’s nothing wrong with your arm. Clark is a good man and was doing exactly what he was hired to do, which is take care of the property.”
