“Not at all. I just meant siblings are sometimes very different. I never had the luxury of finding out firsthand until this year.” Drew’s smile settled on Paradise. “First Paradise and now Taylor, Gray, and Parker. It’s an abundance of riches. So about the car?”
The fire in Bear’s eyes dimmed a bit. “It was all Amelia’s doing back when we were in college. We ran into her and her dad at oneof the car shows. Her dad had a car there in the competition, and she told Ben he had to see it. He took one look at it and fell in love. It had to be his. Dad laughed and told him he’d have to earn the money to buy it. Even back then when it wasn’t worth much, it was more than Ben could afford. After the show Amelia’s father gave it to Ben.”
“Wow, that was generous.”
“Ben had to promise to work for him as an intern during his first summer of college. He learned a lot and his future in politics was set. Amelia’s dad knew a lot of people, and he helped to launch Ben’s first run for state congressman. He even found Ben his campaign manager, Angela Burns. You’ve probably met her, right?”
“Oh yes. She came to the park with the governor. She’s a powerhouse.”
“She’s never lost an election for her bosses. When Ben died, she went to work for Amelia and has been with her ever since. She’s the loyal sort.”
“Yes, she is,” Drew said. “Did Ben and Amelia ever date?”
“In college, but it was never serious. But then, Ben was rarely serious about anyone.” Bear’s voice turned acerbic. “Ben had a short attention span when it came to women. Cars were another matter. Most of the cars in the garage he’d had for years. The ’Cuda was his first and favorite.”
“Do you have any idea why someone would take that car and only that car?”
“It was worth the most money.” Bear shrugged and reached for his tea. “Or maybe someone had always wanted one and couldn’t afford it. It would be worth several million dollars today. Of course, the killer couldn’t sell it. It would immediately implicate him.”
Paradise leaned forward. “What size shoe did Ben wear?”
Bear lifted a brow. “Strange question, but he wore a ten. So do I. That was the only way we were alike.”
“Did he have a favorite brand of sneaker?”
“Nike,” Bear said. “He was particularly fond of Air Jordan 4.”
Paradise forced her expression to go blank. The same shoe that was found at her parents’ murder scene. But Ben was dead by then. Had someone tried to frame him?
Blake walked along the sand of the Gulf with Paradise and Drew in the twilight. Their feet were bare, and the cool sand felt good against his soles. The whitecaps rolling to the shore in the dimming light could have been on a postcard. They’d stopped before leaving Pascagoula to talk about what they’d learned from Bear and Taylor, but they’d all been curiously quiet about starting the discussion.
Blake had seen it in combat. The intensity of battle could cause a need to retreat from reality in jokes, cards, and books. The past months for them had been intense, but he could sense the resolution was nearly ready to step out of the shadows. Closure was coming.
Paradise let go of Blake’s hand and ran to dip her feet in the waves. The wind blew her tawny hair around her face in a halo. She kicked at the waves before twirling in a circle with her arms above her head, the picture of joy. He smiled as he watched. She had no idea how entrancing she was.
Drew watched too. “You’re a lucky guy, Blake. You take good care of my sister. She’s one of a kind.”
“I plan to spend the next fifty or sixty years doing just that.”
A smiling Paradise returned to his side. “That was refreshing.” She headed for a grassy park area with benches ahead, and the men followed.
Blake was alert and ready to unpack what they’d learned. Paradise settled on a long bench. Drew sat on her left side and Blake on her right. “A rose between two thorns,” he said.
Her laugh sounded forced. “We might as well talk about it. I’m not convinced Bear had nothing to do with the murders.” She turned her attention to Drew. “He got hostile and defensive when you mentioned Cain and Abel.”
“I noticed that too. While I’m not ready to throw cuffs on him, he looks good for it.”
“When he comes on Saturday, let’s be ready with more questions. He clearly hated Ben, and it probably had to do with Pamela.”
“I think it’s more than that,” Blake said. “Bear said they were oil and water. I suspect there was a lot of jealousy going back to childhood.”
Drew moved restlessly. “I found out something today. My former partner in Atlanta has a friend who works at the Pascagoula PD. She told him she’d get me in to take a look at Ben’s murder files, and I’m going to do that as soon as I can, hopefully next week. But the most interesting piece is that the toxicology report showed Ben was as high as a kite on Vicodin.”
“Did he have a prescription for pain?” Blake asked.
“Nope. It’s something the police held back from the news and the family. Someone could have dosed him with it before attacking him with the golf club. Bludgeoning is a very up-close-and-personal type of murder. It indicates rage, and I’d say Bear has a lot of that pent up about his brother.”
Paradise shuddered and hugged herself. “It’s hard for meto wrap my head around anyone wanting to hurt their own brother.”
