“I don’t like to be without my shoes. It’s a holdover from being a Marine—I never know when I’ll be called into action.”
“I’m sure they’re quite attractive.”
He held the door open for her. “How’d we start talking aboutmyfeet?”
“You introduced the subject.”
He pulled the door shut behind him. “Sheesh, a guy can’t give a girl a compliment these days.”
He loved the glow on her face from yesterday. They’d stayed up late talking about the wedding and the house, and his eyes felt gritty. He’d reclaimed his bed in the apartment over the garage while Drew was staying at the Dillard Ranch, but he had still tossed and turned.
Paradise climbed in the truck and laid the tablet on her lap as she buckled in. It fell to the floor when she twisted, and the top of the cover folded back enough for it to come to life. As he leaned over to grab it for her, he noticed something in the background of the picture that he hadn’t seen yesterday.
He folded the cover back fully and stared. “Babe, look over their shoulders at the building. You can see a little bit of something yellow in the window of the garage.”
She took it and tried to enlarge it with her fingers, but it didn’t work. “I wish I could make it bigger. You might be right. You think it could be the ’Cuda?” She shook her head. “That makes no sense though. It’s clearly a current picture of them, and that car has been missing for twenty years. Angela’s white hair is in the same style, and she wore that suit the first time they came here. Governor George looks the same too.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Maybe the governor has a yellow car and I’m grasping at straws.”
But he couldn’t convince himself of that as he drove to Fairhope. His mind kept playing through all the what-ifs. If itwasthe ’Cuda, how could it have ended up belonging to the governor?
The address was up ahead, and very few houses were around. “Are we sure about that address?”
She checked her phone and compared it to the back of the iPad. “Yes, it’s correct. Our turn is the next one to the right.”
He nodded and turned into the gravel lane leading to the address on the back of the iPad. There were steep ditches on bothsides of the driveway. He gripped the wheel and paid attention so he didn’t drive off the edge. “It’s really narrow. I would have expected it to be paved and manicured.”
“Maybe the governor likes her privacy and wants a place out of the public eye.” Paradise’s phone dinged with a text, and she glanced at it. “It’s Angela telling us the governor won’t be home and not to bother with the iPad. But we’re already here.”
No part of him wanted to go back, not yet. Something about this place didn’t pass the sniff test. “Don’t tell her that. Let’s see what’s up ahead. I can’t turn around here anyway.”
He continued to drive until the lane turned between two large oaks. The road ended at a large garage that probably held four cars. “Open that cover again.”
Paradise flipped it off the screen, and the picture appeared. “That’s the same garage, Blake.”
“I thought so.” He parked the truck. “Stay here. I’m going to look around.”
She shoved open her door. “Not without me, you’re not. I’m as curious as you.”
Birds sang overhead, and nothing about the setting felt dangerous, but every sense was on high alert and he didn’t know why. Maybe it was the possibility that the governor had something she was hiding. Maybe it was that glimpse of yellow through the window. Even from here he saw it.
It felt like overkill, but he pulled his gun from its holster anyway. “Stay behind me.”
“I think you’re overreacting.” But she sheltered behind him.
Weeds poked through the gravel, and the place had an unkempt air. The windows were dirty, and the grass around the building hadn’t been mowed yet this summer. It felt like they were a million miles from civilization out here. “Do you have your phone?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Get your camera ready. We might need pictures.” He approached the first window and peered inside to see the yellow hulk of an aging tractor. “Shoot, I was sure...”
“There’s a car covered in a cloth over here.”
He turned to find that she had gone to the end of the building. The glass was smeared where she’d swiped it with her hand. She knelt to wipe the dirt on her hand onto the grass. “Let’s see what’s under it.”
“The garage is probably locked.” And it was private property. But he couldn’t resist the urge to try. He yanked on the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Let me try the side door and the back one.”
The yard on the side of the garage was even more overgrown than the front. He brushed through the vegetation instead of trying to knock it down. He didn’t want to leave a trail. The doorknob twisted in his hand but got stuck. “I don’t think it’s locked.” He put his shoulder into it and nearly fell into the interior.
