She handed Jane the last picture. “This feels like a bust. Why would Bea leave these to me?”
“The car has to be a clue of some kind. I think I can get a search warrant since the car is stolen.”
“Even with it in thegovernor’spossession?”
Jane fell silent, then grimaced. “I’d have to at least give her a chance to explain how it came to be in her possession. I can’t go in with guns blazing the way I’d like.”
“That’s what I thought.” Paradise rose and gathered up the pictures, then put them back in the envelope. “Maybe the guys will see something we missed. Do you have copies of these?”
“I do.” Jane walked her to the door. “I’ll see if I can talk to thegovernor. I might start with the Collins family and see if they gave it to the governor and haven’t told her the truth about it. It’s an election year. I have to make sure we’re not accused of trying to sway the election with false claims.”
Paradise nodded and walked back to her car. The promise she’d felt last night ebbed, leaving her deflated. She stepped into the bright sunshine and felt her spirits surge with an idea. She could go out to the garage. It should still be unlocked. A quick jaunt in and out, and she could get a better view of the photograph on the wall.
She got in her car and headed back to Fairhope. Blake would be working for several hours yet, and Drew was going to be on a conference call with his partner back in Atlanta until after lunch. She turned her radio up and the thirty-minute drive went quickly.
There was no traffic on the rutted county road back to the dirt driveway. She put her foot on the brake and idled a minute as she evaluated whether anyone had been here since the first time she’d seen it. The weedy track didn’t look like it had seen tires since Blake drove back here. She took her foot off the brake and drove back toward the garage over the massive potholes and close calls with branches and weeds.
It was as deserted as she’d expected. She parked and got out, then went back through the tall weeds to the side door. It was still unlocked, and she slipped inside, then went directly to the picture hanging on the wall. She took out her phone and snapped a picture before studying it closely.
And the memory she’d tried to pull out emerged full blown. It had been a few days before her parents died, and her mother wanted to go for a drive. They stopped at the bookstore, Paradise’s favorite place, and she’d been allowed to buy a book before they drove into the countryside. The drive had taken them nearthe Dillard Ranch because Paradise had begged to stop and see Abby, but her mom said they didn’t have time for a visit.
Her mother had stopped at a woods and had made her stay in the car while she got out to speak to a woman. They’d argued, and the woman had shoved her mom. Mom had fallen into the weeds, and when the woman turned, Paradise had seen her face.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
Paradise whirled at the voice and turned to see the woman she’d finally remembered.
Paradise should have been back by now. It was after two o’clock and Drew was waiting with Blake on the back patio. The boys were out with Mom checking on the new beavers. Drew had been closemouthed about what he’d found out at the police department since he wanted to unpack it with Blake and Paradise together, and he paced the cedar boards.
Blake had tried calling her, and it had gone to voice mail. “I’ll see when she left Jane’s.” Jane answered on the first ring. “Paradise isn’t still with you, is she?”
“She left an hour and a half ago. I thought she was going home.” Jane’s volume went up with alarm. “You can’t find her?”
“She’s not answering her phone.” She should have been back here in fifteen minutes, twenty if she had a lot of traffic. “Did she say if she had another stop?”
“No, I thought she was heading back to The Sanctuary. Paradise and I studied the photographs, and a picture on the wall of the governor’s remote garage seemed to trigger a memory or alarm in her. She seemed eager to discuss it all with you andDrew. Maybe the call isn’t going through. I’ve been having trouble with calls today. There’s been sunspot activity.”
“I’ll check the tracker app on her phone. If I run into trouble, I’ll let you know.” He ended the call and launched the app, then pinched the screen to figure out where she was by nearby roads. His pulse blipped when he located the crossroads. “She’s near Fairhope at the senator’s garage where we found the Barracuda.”
“Maybe the call isn’t going through,” Drew said. “But just in case let’s head that way.”
“According to the app, she’s been there nearly an hour.” He handed his phone to Drew. “You keep an eye on her location. We’re only about forty-five minutes away.”
Drew carried his computer with him and launched the hot spot on his phone in the truck. Blake kept an eye on his screen from the corner of his eye as he headed toward Fairhope. “Do you think it’s Bear?”
Drew glanced up. “Yeah, yeah, I do. The police have camera footage of him at a gas station meeting up with a known drug dealer three days before Ben died. While they can’t prove he bought Vicodin, the drug could have been acquired then. The dealer ended up dead before they could talk to him. I think Bear is as dirty as they come. The police couldn’t gather enough evidence to charge him, but the file is still open.”
“Try Paradise again,” Blake said.
Drew nodded and laid Blake’s phone down to pull out his own. After a few moments, he shook his head and took the phone from his ear. “Still no answer. I got her voice mail.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I’m trying to believe the call isn’t going through, but I’ve got a knot in my stomach.”
Drew’s voice mail alert sounded, and he read the message.“Huh, this is interesting. They got a hit on where the leopard collars were sold. They were dog collars that were bought by the park gift shop.”
Blake frowned. “They were sold through The Sanctuary?”
