“We suspected Bear after talking to him. He held a lot of animosity toward his brother. But there isn’t enough evidence to put out an APB on either of them. It’s all speculation. One other thing—have either of them mentioned having a black panther in captivity? Or any kind of leopard, really?”
“What an odd question. Bear loves big cats, but he’s not around enough to keep one.” Taps on a keyboard sounded in the background. “I might have something. I’ll call you back.”
Where could they look? Who might Bear have connected with around here?
Chapter 40
Almost there.Paradise gripped her bare toes into the ten-foot-high fence and, wincing at the metal biting into her bare skin, inched her way to the top. Her sandals awaited her on the other side—if she made it. The panther roared and hissed behind the higher fence separating them. Her right hand slapped the fence’s top rail, but the muscles in her arms burned from hanging on.
She forced herself to climb a little more until her left hand gripped the top as well. She gathered her strength for the final push, but her right hand slipped. She grabbed at the fence again and missed.
The frantic movement dislodged her from her perch, and she plummeted to the ground. The force of the fall left her gasping for air on the red dirt, and the jaguar leaped at the other side of the fence to try to grab her.
She sat up and brushed the dirt from her face and hair. “You’re a beautiful boy, aren’t you?” If she talked to it in a soothing voice, maybe the big cat would calm down. The sun on the cat’s fur picked out the detail of the spots showing through the black.
The collar.
She pulled the collar from her back pocket and held it toward the fence for him to smell. Instead of soothing him, it enraged him. He snarled and leaped at the fence again, and she scuttled back in the dirt.
The panther wasn’t paying attention to her though. Its striking blue eyes watched something behind her. She turned but saw nothing. Then the sound of an engine reverberated through the treetops and tires popped on gravel. Was Angela back to finish the job? Paradise stood and faced the vehicle, but it wasn’t the van that had brought her here.
The white truck wasn’t familiar, but the driver was. Creed Greene. Had he followed her while investigating?
“Creed! I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my life.” She went to the gate. “Do you have a key?”
“Looks like Abyss would like to meet you. Or eat you.”
He laughed at his joke, but something in his eyes made her pulse skip. “Creed? How did you know I was here?”
“Bear called me to tidy up his mess. Typical of him.”
“You know him?”
“My bank account knows him well. He paid well for terrorizing you with the rattlesnake and everything else. Warren’s an old friend from our teen years, and he enlisted my help. For a good price too. I’ve been the face behind everything—the texts, all the efforts to stop you. I can’t remember when I enjoyed something more than terrorizing you, but the best is yet to come.”
He came close enough for her to catch a whiff of his cologne. “Abyss likes to work for his food. We won’t make it easy for him.”
He intends to kill me.
“You don’t want to be dragged into a murder case, do you? Angela and Bear killed my parents, and Drew’s father.”
“You think that’s news to me? Bear enlisted my help when you first came back. We’d hoped you all would stay busy with the problems at the park and your obsession with digging into a twenty-year-old murder would evaporate, but you’re the persistent sort, aren’t you? Just remember, you brought this on yourself. We tried everything to convince you to let it alone.”
“Even training a leopard to track people?”
His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I share Bear’s passion for big cats. We had great fun training the two, but our jaguar is especially proficient at tracking prey. You’re about to find out just how good Abyss is.”
She suppressed a shudder. “You haven’t killed anyone yet, Creed. There’s no need to make yourself the focus of a murder now. Let me go and I won’t implicate you in anything. You’ll be the man who saved me, a hero in everyone’s eyes.”
“You think I’m stupid?” He slammed his palm against the fence, and it shuddered and clanged enough that the panther sprang away with a snarl. “I’m in too deep after I had to take care of Bea and remove evidence from the sheriff’s department. No loose ends. All the evidence is gone.”
He’d killed Bea. “You killed her for money?”
“What else? It’s her own fault. Bea thought Gerald was having an affair with Becky, so Bea had been watching the house. She saw the murders and decided to blackmail Angela. Bear finally had me put an end to the blackmail—and Bea.”
Paradise struggled for something to say, some way to convince Creed to let her go, but the words wouldn’t come. He’d been involved right from the beginning.
The indecision vanished from his face, and his eyes went hard. He didn’t speak but went along to the side fence and approached the big cat. The jaguar came close and made a chuffing noise ofhappiness at seeing him. “You’re hungry, aren’t you? Just a little longer, and you can have fresh meat.”
