Paradise’s heart rate dropped to its normal level. “You think it was Dean?”
“Probably. I have more video for us to examine to find proof of Dean’s breaking and entering. If we could get him arrested, thismight be over soon. He only has a month to find anything, and we could put this behind us.”
“Any word on proving Adams killed Ivy?”
“Jane was closemouthed about it. Greene talked to all our employees, and they’ve got Mason’s videos, but I don’t think they have enough evidence yet. They want to question Adams, but they haven’t been able to find him.”
She leaned against him and caught a whiff of lemur scent. “Did the boys have another scent fight?”
“Is it that bad?”
She poked him. “I’ve smelled worse, but I’ll wait while you shower. Where are we going tonight?”
“I thought we’d go to Mac’s. I’m in the mood for shepherd’s pie.”
They hadn’t been to the Irish pub in Pelican Harbor in quite a while, and she smiled at the thought of an evening alone with him. “You shower and I’ll go chat with your mom and brothers.”
“I’ll expect a warmer welcome when I smell better.”
He brushed his lips across hers, and she wanted to pretend to recoil at the odor, but she couldn’t resist him and wrapped her arms around his neck and sank into the tenderness of his kiss. She palmed his face and relished the slight rasp of his whiskers that would soon be replaced by a smooth-shaven cheek.
He released her with obvious reluctance, and they walked back to Jenna’s cottage. “I’ll be right back.”
She watched him bound up the stairs before she climbed the stairs to the porch of the cottage. Jenna spotted her through the window and opened the door before she could knock. “The boys were just asking about you.”
Both boys rushed to greet her, and Isaac climbed into her arms. “I missed you both,” she told them. “How was your day?”
“We saw bear cubs,” Isaac said. “And the lemurs had a stink fight.”
“I think your brother was in the middle of it.”
Levi wrinkled his nose. “He didn’t smell very good.”
She set Isaac back on the ground, and both boys went back to their homework. “I could use a sweet tea.” She and Jenna went to the kitchen and Jenna filled two glasses with ice and tea.
Jenna handed her a glass. “I meant to ask Blake if he talked to Hez about the will situation.”
“He called him as soon as I told him about Mary. Hez is concerned, but as long as you didn’t know about the will, we should be okay.” She told Jenna what could happen if she’d bought the property knowing a will existed.
“Mary said Allen might have had a will once, but it had never been found. She said he’d left everything to her, which was normal, so I didn’t worry about it.”
Was that enough? “Hopefully Nora can find evidence that Dean has been trespassing. If we get him behind bars, this will be over. He has less than a month to track it down. If there’s even anything to track down. We only have Dean’s word that Allen left a will in his favor.”
“Mary wouldn’t be able to pay us back. She put the sale money into her house. I don’t know what we would do.”
Mary could be forced to sell her house to pay off the debt, and Paradise hated to think of the older woman being without a place to call home. It was all such a mess, but if the will was never found, the issue was done.
“I went to see Mary today. And I checked out Allen’s truck, the one that was in the accident.”
His hair still damp from the shower, Blake came in the back door. “I heard that. Where did you find the truck?”
“Dean has it. Mary gave it to him after the accident.”
“You went to Dean’s? What if he saw you poking around?”
“I went to Chet’s BBQ during lunch-hour rush. I saw the line out the front door, and he would have been too busy to see me in the lot behind the restaurant.”
Blake’s frown deepened. “You have to be careful, babe. I think he’s dangerous.”
