Chapter 3
Why did Greene have to be so unpleasant? Blake couldn’t figure out why the man walked around with a chip on his shoulder the
size of their rhino. Not everyone was a criminal like the detective assumed.
Blake stopped at the enclosure and opened the gate with his key. The stench of a big cat mixed with blood blew toward him
on the wind. “I came in to see if Raj had been fed. I could tell Ivy hadn’t gotten to all the animals.” Her body was still
in the corner of the field where he’d found her, and he averted his gaze.
Greene stepped into the outer perimeter. “Was that a usual occurrence?”
“She’s only worked for us a couple of weeks, but she was very reliable. Showed up on time, was pleasant.” Was. A sad word he didn’t like to say. The three letters wrapped up a world of lost opportunities and a life cut too short.
Greene’s eyes narrowed. “Did you know her outside of work?”
“Never met her until she was hired. Ivy’s grandmother was a friend of Mom’s.”
Greene nodded and turned to survey the space. “Walk me through your actions.”
Blake bit back a groan and showed the detective every step he took until he finally led him to where Raj still roamed on the
other side of the shelter door. The tiger chuffed, then roared, and Greene flinched before he stepped back. “It wasn’t until
I had Raj secured that I was able to check Ivy’s status. She had no pulse.”
“You touched the body?”
“Of course. Any paramedic would do the same. If there was any hope of saving her, I would take it.”
“Uh-huh.” Despite the agreeable word, Greene’s raised brow conveyed his skepticism. Several vehicles pulled into the lot,
and he gestured. “Forensic techs are here. I want to take a look first.” He didn’t wait for Blake to take him to Ivy’s body
but moved past him. “Stay here. I don’t want any interference in my investigation.”
What did the guy think Blake would do? Pick her up, move things around? Greene needed to get a clue. Blake thrust his hands
in the pockets of his jeans and hung back to catch two people in light blue uniforms approaching from the forensic van. He
lifted a hand in greeting as Nora Craft and a man he didn’t recognize approached. “Glad you’re here, Nora.”
She poked her glasses up on her nose and glanced toward the enclosure. A frown creased her forehead, and Blake pressed his
lips together to avoid agreeing with her obvious disdain. “I think he’ll be done shortly.”
“Once he establishes his dominance like a cat marking his territory,” she muttered.
Blake had always liked the forensic tech. She was in her thirties with brown hair and brown eyes and had a no-nonsense manner. She’d circumvented working with Greene several times and cared more about getting to the truth than following the detective’s orders.
Greene turned as if he’d sensed her discontent and moved toward them. “The body is all yours, Craft. I saw no sign of any
foul play, but the autopsy will tell us for sure.” He didn’t wait for a reply and brushed past them. “I’m going to talk to
Jenna to find out what she knows about the victim.”
Blake fell into step behind him. “I don’t think she knows much.”
“We’ll see. I won’t need your help with this.”
Blake swallowed back the retort hovering on his lips and reversed direction toward the capybara enclosure. It was easy to
find the boys—all he had to do was follow the sound of giggles. Those guys loved capybaras, and there was nothing cuter than
the pups.
He grinned when he heard Isaac regurgitating everything he knew about capybaras to Paradise—which was extensive even though
he was only five. His brothers were on the grass inside the capybara enclosure beside Paradise, and they all held pups. Another
two babies snuggled closer to their mom, who looked on.
“They’re the largest rodent in the world,” Isaac said.
She listened intently as if she’d never heard any of this. “Is that anything like the Rodents of Unusual Size mentioned in
The Princess Bride?”
Isaac petted the little pup on his lap. “I think those are bigger. People used to think they were water pigs, but I don’t
think they look like pigs, do you?”
“Only a little bit.”
“Not at all,” Levi put in. The pup he held squirreled under his arm. “They look more like beavers. Or guinea pigs, only cuter.” He petted
the back end of the pup he held, which was all he could reach with the capybara trying to wiggle under his arm.
Paradise examined the pup she held. “You’ve taken good care of them.”
“I want to be a capybara keeper when I grow up,” Isaac announced.
“You’d be very good at it.”
Blake stepped out of the tupelo tree’s shadow. “There you guys are. Is there room for me?”
Paradise patted the spot beside her. “I’d even share the pups with you.”
“You can’t have my pup,” Isaac said. “His name is Dale.”
“Like the famous chipmunk?”
His little brother nodded. “And Levi’s is Chip. They’re best friends like we are.”
“That’s pretty perfect.” Though he was itching to talk to Paradise alone, he hid his impatience. The boys needed calm and
assurance after the trauma of what had happened. He picked up the closest pup and settled it on his lap. “What’s this one
called?”
Isaac eyed the pup. “That’s Gaston. Paradise has Newt and the other one is Pug.”
“Excellent names.”
Tension radiated through Paradise’s form, and she kept glancing at her phone. What was up? He set the pup back on the grass.
“I think we’ve probably handled them enough today. They need to go see their mama, and Mom has some lessons waiting for you.”
Levi set his pup down. “Is it painting? Mom said we could paint this afternoon.”
Isaac nodded. “She did.” After moving the pup off his lap, he jumped up and both boys ran off toward the house.
Blake leaned back on his hands. “What’s wrong? Well, other than Greene is an idiot and he’ll be pinning Ivy’s death on me
before he’s done.”
The capybara on her lap hopped off and went to join its siblings. Paradise reached for her phone. “I got DNA results back but haven’t had a chance to see if there’s a match.”
He scooted closer as she called up her mail program. A frown crouched between her eyes. “The email is there, but earlier there
was an attachment with the results. I know I saw it.”
“Let’s check your computer. Maybe your phone ate it.” He got up and held out his hand to help her to her feet. “It has to
be there somewhere.”
Paradise settled on the sofa beside Blake with her MacBook and called up the DNA website on her browser, but it showed no
results, just like on her phone. “Blake, it’s not there, but there’s an email telling me the results are in.”
“Maybe it went out in error?”
“Maybe.” She went back and reread the email, which clearly stated the results were available. “I think I’ll call them.” She
punched in the digits for customer service and explained the situation to the friendly man on the other end.
“This is quite strange,” he said. “Our system shows the results were received, but when I try to call them up, the document
is missing. Yet I can see where we had something last night when the email went out. I suggest waiting another day and seeing
if it shows up. Maybe we have a glitch on our end.”
“I’ll do that.” She ended the call and updated Blake. “He seemed puzzled too.” She snuggled against Blake’s side and inhaled
the scent of his eucalyptus soap and spicy cologne. “How are you doing? Finding Ivy had to be hard.”
He tensed. “It’s hard to get that image out of my head. And you know Greene will try to make this our fault somehow. Lacey and Owen are behind bars, facing charges for Danielle Mason’s murder, but it’s clear Greene isn’t convinced we had nothing to do with it.”
“He makes up his mind and tries to find evidence to support his viewpoint. That’s not the way investigations should work.”
“And we were just recovering from the media storm after the Mason woman’s body was found here. This new incident will ramp
up the social media nightmare again.”
“I’ll work on new posts. What is our official stance when asked?” She watched the wheels turn in his head. What did someone
say about this kind of awful discovery? It would be better to say nothing, but they likely didn’t have that luxury.
“Maybe we should put out a statement about it. I’ll ask Hez to help me craft something.”
“Good idea.”
Chairs scraped across the kitchen floor, and moments later his little brothers burst into the room waving painted pictures.
Isaac had painted a sloth, and Levi showed them a picture of a giraffe. What must it be like to grow up in such a close family—and
on a wildlife refuge like this with all those wonderful animals in their backyard? The boys had no idea how blessed they were,
but they’d all look back on these magical days with nostalgia.
“I love your pictures,” she told the boys.
Isaac thrust his in her face and Levi presented his big brother with his giraffe. “You each can have one,” Levi said. “Want
me to stick it on the wall so you can see it in the night? Aren’t you getting tired of sleeping on the sofa?”
Blake took the picture before his brother could go in search of a pushpin. “It’s worth it to have Paradise here, don’t you
think?”
“I thought she was going to move to town.”
“I’m in no hurry for her to do that.”
Paradise lifted the seven-year-old to her lap. “Are you getting tired of me, Levi?”
He gave a vehement shake of his head. “I don’t ever want you to leave, but have you seen Blake get up in the mornings?” He slid off her lap and bent over like an old man and
put his hand on his back. “He’s like this and he kind of hobbles to the bathroom.”
“Hey, buddy, it’s not that bad. I’m just a little stiff.”
“It looks like a lot stiff,” Levi said.
Isaac turned back toward the kitchen. “Mommy said we could have a brownie since dinner won’t be for a while. I didn’t get
one.”
“I didn’t either.” Levi followed his brother.
“Don’t listen to a word they said.” Blake wrapped one of her tawny curls around his finger. “You don’t have to go anywhere.
I can move back upstairs now that you’re not in danger any longer. I’ve just been too lazy to haul my things.”
“The new paint is going on tomorrow in the apartment above the vet clinic. I can move over the weekend. It’s time for me to
let the boys return to normal life.”
He made a face but didn’t object. “How’d your first morning go?”
“I’m still learning where to find everything. Honey was wonderfully encouraging, and the pet owners all wanted to chat. They
didn’t look at me like I had four eyes or anything. One of them was a former schoolteacher from fourth grade.” The woman’s
kind manner had been a balm in the middle of a frantic day of learning. “I thought about asking her what she remembered from
when I was little. I think I need to find people who knew my parents over twenty years ago. Mom surely has some good friends
who still live here. Someone might remember more than my cousin did.”
His breath whispered across her cheek as he leaned in closer. “That’s a great idea. We could go to the library and look at old yearbooks.”
She couldn’t think with him so enticingly close. Before she could lean in for a kiss, the boys burst back into the room. They
each had a brownie in one hand and a second brownie on a plate in the other. “We brought you a snack too,” Isaac said. “But
Mommy said we could only have one because we’re going to Jesse’s for dinner in an hour.”
She accepted the still-warm and chocolaty brownie. Maybe having her own space wouldn’t be so terrible. She loved the boys
dearly, but she and Blake would have a little more privacy, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.