“Now,” she whispered to Blake.
He unfurled the net and tossed it over the lemur, but the animal didn’t seem to mind. She handed Blake the blueberry container. “I think it was just hungry.”
Chapter 6
Blake got the lemur, grunting and shrieking, into the truck where it settled down when he draped a tarp over it so it didn’t see him and Paradise. The lemur’s scent glands had gone into overdrive, and the stench hung in the air.
Elowen, holding her toddler Tessa, followed them outside. The woman’s long blonde hair was mussed, and her blue eyes were shadowed. Dried blood caked the side of her hand.
“Let me tend to that scratch.” Blake opened his medical pack and took her hand to clean the wound. “Have a seat. This might sting a little.”
“He was mad.” Tessa hid her face in her mother’s shoulder.
Blake studied the wound. “I don’t think you’ll need stitches. Just antibiotic cream and a bandage. But have your doctor take a look.” He smiled at Tessa. “He’s just a little upset, but he’ll be fine. I didn’t know you had a lemur.”
“He’s not ours,” Elowen said. “He belongs to Creed.”
Creed Greene had been a thorn in Blake’s side ever since Paradise arrived. She’d rebuffed an advance from the detective, and he’d never forgiven her. Greene had focused on Blake for months,trying to pin a crime on him at every turn. The detective wouldn’t be happy they’d taken control of his lemur. And what was he doing with a lemur anyway?
“Did you try calling him?” Blake asked.
Elowen shook her head. “He and his family are out of town for another week, so there wouldn’t have been anything he could have done. He told us to keep him caged, but that felt so mean. He played nicely with Tessa a couple of days ago, so I thought we could let him loose to run around and get some exercise.”
“He’s still a wild animal, Elowen, and an unknown one,” Paradise said. “Once they reach sexual maturity, their behavior can change rapidly.” She peeked into the truck bed. “He’s calm now. Lemurs need their social structure, and they don’t make good pets. They don’t do well without other lemurs, and this often results in aggressive behavior like this guy just showed. I would guess he was taken from his mother too early as well, and he doesn’t know how to act. Do we have your permission to take him to the park and assimilate him into the lemur conspiracy?”
Elowen bit her lip. “Creed won’t be happy, but I can’t take care of him. King Julien bared his teeth at Tessa, and I had to wrestle him off. I threw him across the room, grabbed Tessa, and locked us in the bedroom when he came at us again.” Elowen squared her shoulders. “Creed shouldn’t have even had this animal, should he?”
“No,” Paradise said. “While it’s not illegal in Alabama to own wild animals, it’s not humane, especially for primates, and it’s bad for both the lemur and the owner. Lemurs can transmit diseases to humans and vice versa. They’re expensive to feed properly, and they need enrichment programs to keep them from getting depressed. And Julien shouldn’t have been caged like that.”
Paradise braced her hands on her hips. “Why on earth would Creed have a lemur? Do you know where he got it?”
“I think he won it in a poker game a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know why he didn’t just take it to you guys in the first place. He thought Julien was cute, and his son was crazy about him.”
Creed wouldn’t do anything that might benefit the park.Blake kept his opinion to himself. “We’ll deal with Creed when he returns.”
Paradise put her hand on the truck door handle. “I’ll need to check Julien out. We have to be careful not to transmit any diseases among the lemurs. An illness could have triggered his aggression. Maybe he just doesn’t feel well.”
Elowen shifted Tessa to her other arm. “Thanks for coming so quickly. I was a little scared. He’d been acting fine and suddenly started growling and making noises. He scratched me as well as the bite.” She extended her arm to show a long, oozing scratch.
“Make sure you clean that well with peroxide,” Paradise said. “I’m glad it bled well. Blake can clean it for you.”
“I can do it,” Elowen said. “You’ve helped enough.”
“Can we come see King Julien?” Tessa asked.
Paradise opened the truck door. “You sure can, but give him a few days. You’ll want to see him after he’s gotten used to us a bit and is able to be with his new family. We’ll see you soon.”
Blake said his goodbyes as well and got behind the wheel. He started the truck and pulled away from the Greene house. “Creed is going to be a problem.”
“I know. Is there anything we can do to keep him from taking the lemur? Maybe turn him in to the humane society or something?”
“I’ll check our options with Hez. It’ll be complicated because in normal circumstances, we’d report animal abuse to the sheriff’s department.”
“I could talk to Rod while Creed is gone.”
Her cousin Rod McShea was the sergeant over the Bon Secour sheriff’s substation. “That might be the best idea. We could get it accomplished before Creed gets back in town.”
“I’ll call him after I examine Julien. If there’s any evidence of mistreatment or disease, it will help our cause. If we get the lemur acclimated to our conspiracy, Creed probably wouldn’t be able to tell which one was which. King Julien looks like most every other ring-tailed lemur, and he hasn’t had the animal long enough to identify him. At least I doubt it. So he couldn’t just walk in and take him.”
