Chapter 3
Paradise tried to focus her gaze, but her eyes drifted shut despite the noise of beeping machines and the flurry of nurses
tending to her. Some kind of antiseptic odor stung her nose, and she reached up to touch her aching head. “Blake?” She wanted
him here, holding her.
“Right here, babe,” he murmured to her left.
She forced her eyes open again and blinked to try to focus on his square-jawed face. “What happened?”
His lips brushed her cheek. “You’re going to be okay. No need to remember anything now. Rest and you’ll feel better.”
She frowned. “My head hurts.”
“You have a mild concussion. The doctor is keeping you overnight for observation.”
She closed her eyes, and the next thing she heard were voices whispering around her. The words sedative and pain med. She opened her eyes and blinked. Morning light streamed through the open blinds of a quiet room. Blake sprawled in a chair
beside her with his head back at an awkward angle, and a slight snore escaped his mouth. She must have slept for hours.
An IV dripped fluid into her arm, but her mouth was dry. She raised the head of her bed and pulled the table over her lap, then reached for the water glass and gulped the tepid water. The moisture slaked her dry mouth and throat.
“You’re awake.”
She turned to Blake and smiled into his tired blue eyes. “You should have gone home and gotten some rest.”
“I wanted to be here. You don’t remember, but I rode in the ambulance with you yesterday.”
She had chaotic memories of a dark figure rushing toward her and the stench of trash. She sniffed the skin on her arm. “I
think I was in a dumpster. I still smell garbage.”
He grimaced and pointed out stains on his shirt. “It’s probably me. I was in there with you, but I didn’t get a fresh gown
like you.”
“Did the police find who attacked me?”
“You remember the attack?”
“Just impressions. I didn’t see his face.”
“He?”
She couldn’t bring the figure in her brain into focus. “It would have to have been a man to lift me up over the side of the
dumpster.”
He bent down to give her a lingering kiss. Her pulse jumped and she palmed his scruffy cheeks before wrapping her arms around
his neck and bringing his head down for a proper kiss. When he straightened, she smiled. “You’re whiskery and you smell like
rotten meat, but I love you anyway. And I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’ll remedy both of those as soon as I can. Is your head feeling better? You kissed me like you meant it.”
“I did mean it. The pain is better, and my vision isn’t blurry. I want to go home.”
The door opened and a male voice boomed into her room. “Did someone say they were ready to go home?” A balding doctor in his sixties with a congenial smile stepped into view.
She struggled to sit up. “That would be me. Can you bust me out of this joint?”
“What, you don’t enjoy the hospital food and the constant fussing?”
“If I could remember it all, I’m sure you took very good care of me.”
The doctor listened to her heart and lungs, checked her eyes, then stepped back. “I think we can let you go home, if only
to let Blake here get a shower. I could tell I was nearly to your room when I was twenty feet from the door. I’ll start the
paperwork.”
Blake raised a brow. “I can tell when I’m not wanted. I’ll take an Uber home and grab my truck, then come back to get her.
Once I’ve had a shave and shower, of course.”
“It will take about an hour to process her out. Plenty of time to get rid of that stench.” The doctor winked and turned toward
the door. “We’ll take good care of her until you get back.”
Blake followed the doctor to the door. “I’ll be right back with clean clothes for you, too, babe.”
The door closed behind them, and Paradise threw back the sheet and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She’d use the
restroom and get a shower herself. Her hair reeked of garbage, but it was sweet of the men to blame the stench on Blake. She
found a clean gown and towel on the bedside table and headed for the bathroom. The hot water and shampoo washed the horrible
odor out of her hair and off her skin, and she felt nearly human by the time she donned the clean gown.
The sound of the door shutting came from in her room and she called out, “Did you forget something?”
When Blake didn’t answer, she tied the gown as modestly as possible, which wasn’t saying much, then poked her head out the bathroom door.
The room was empty. Maybe a nurse had come in to check on her.
Paradise started for the bed, then realized the sheets would smell and veered in the direction of a chair instead.
A yellow sticky note on her pillow caught her attention.
She reversed direction again and reached for the note.
You know what you have to do if you want to live to get to know your brother. FINAL WARNING.
Chills shuddered down her back, and she let the note fall from her fingers. She could handle threats against herself, but
it was different when someone targeted her brother. Should she cancel his visit?
She reached for the phone, then drew back her hand. Drew wouldn’t change his plans for this. If anything, he’d be more determined
than ever to find the man who murdered her parents and his father. There had to be a connection, and this threat proved it.
Blake stood beside Jane and studied the video on the screen in the small security office of the hospital. He tugged the neck
of his tee. The space was claustrophobic and too hot. “Can you slow down the video?”
The tech nodded and the frame-by-frame rollout made it easier to see the figure draped in a blue surgical gown in the hallway of the hospital.
A disposable blue cap covered his hair and was pulled down low to conceal his eyebrows as well.
A mask hid his mouth and nose so that only his eyes were visible.
The angle of the video made it impossible to make out his eye color.
The figure slipped into room 211, and the closing door hid him from view until he emerged a few seconds later, still masked and gowned.
“That didn’t tell us much,” Jane said. “I’d guess he’s six-one or so. Nora is swabbing for prints and DNA, but he wore gloves
so I doubt we’ll get any hits.”
“I was afraid of that.” Blake turned toward the door. “I’d better get Paradise home so she can rest.” He’d left her in a different
room under the care of a guard at the door.
“Stay with her,” Jane called after him. “I don’t like this, not any of it. Two attacks in three days.”
At least Jane was taking the leopard sighting seriously too. He waved his hand and headed to the elevator to go back to the
second floor. He nodded to the guard, then stepped quietly into the room where Paradise rested in a recliner with her eyes
closed. Even bruised and traumatized, she was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.
He had to keep her safe, but she wouldn’t thank him for the call he’d made on the way back from his shower.
Her eyes opened. “Hey, you’re back. What did the video show?”
“Not much. A guy covered from head to toe in surgical garb. We couldn’t even tell his eye color. He was clever. No one would
have questioned him.”
She rose. “Let’s get out of here. I want to see the boys. They’re probably scared.”
She always thought about how his little brothers would react instead of herself. “I’ll bring the truck around while they take
you out in a wheelchair.”
“I can walk.”
“You know the drill.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She pressed the button to call the nurse.
He left her and hurried down the elevator and out the building to the parking lot. By the time he drove his truck to the hospital
exit, his phone was ringing. Right on time. “Hey, Drew, you on your way?”
“I’m on my way. How is she?”
“Getting released right now. I struggled with calling you, but I realized that while I tend to be overprotective, there’s
such a thing as doing the reasonable thing when it’s needed. She might kill me anyway.”
“You did the right thing. I was coming anyway—I just moved the trip up by a few days. I thought about flying so I could get
there right away, but you can handle protection for a few hours, right?”
“I’m taking her to my cousin’s house. Hez and Savannah have plenty of room, and I don’t think whoever is after her will think
to look there. Her apartment isn’t safe and neither is the refuge. I want her tucked away where no one knows to look. At least
until you get here and we can plan a strategy.”
“I’ll be there in three hours. Are you staying at your cousin’s too?”
“Yeah. Mom has some friends who will fill in for me at the park. See you soon.”
He spotted Paradise in the wheelchair with the nurse and guard and drove toward them. He parked and went around to help her
into the truck.
It was a big step up, but her jaw was tight when she waved away his help. “I can do it.”
He ignored her comment and took her arm to steady her. She climbed into the truck and flashed a triumphant smile. “Let’s get home. I want to see the boys.”
He thanked the nurse and climbed under the wheel. “We’re not going home. Hez and Savannah have a room all ready for you. I’ll
stay too until Drew gets here and we figure out how to keep you safe.”
The smile fell off her face, and he saw the wheels turning. He braced for the argument.
“I can’t say I’m happy about it since I wanted to go home. The boys need to see me, and I need to see them.”
That was a much milder reaction than he’d expected. “I asked Abby to bring them over. No one would likely follow her.” Her
best friend since childhood could keep a secret too. Abby was Roger Dillard’s daughter and had helped them every step of the
way the last few months.
Paradise sighed. “I’ve been figuring out that allowing other people to help me isn’t being weak—it’s being prudent when the
situation warrants it.”
He brushed her lips with his. “I’m proud of you for realizing that.”
“And it’s only for two days. Then we can get back to work.”
“It’s actually about three hours.”
“You called Drew?” she asked, her voice incredulous.
“Wouldn’t you want to know if something like this happened to him? He offered to come immediately. He’s your family.”
She absorbed the news and gave a reluctant nod. “You’re right. I don’t have to like it, but I would have immediately called
your mom if you were injured and she was out of town.”
He saw the way she absently rubbed her forehead. “You have a concussion, Paradise. If I hadn’t found you, you likely would
have died when the truck picked up the dumpster. This was no casual attack. I’m glad you’re taking this seriously.”
“I’d thought about telling Drew not to come at all.
I don’t want him in danger. But our brief relationship so far has shown me he wouldn’t listen.
He wants the truth as much as I do, and no threat will make me stop digging.
” She closed her eyes for a moment and pressed her fingers to her head.
“Would you get the boys right away? I want them to see I’m all right. ”
“Abby’s on her way to pick them up. Little-boy hugs will make you feel much better. They’re going to bring your kittens too.”
But those comforts wouldn’t ease his worry at all. At least he’d have Hez to help out until Drew arrived.