Chapter 11
“I wanted to come sooner to offer condolences,” Blake said as he parked on the street in front of the modest mid-seventies
brick home in Foley where Ivy’s grandmother lived. The landscaping was meticulous, and Karen Cook seemed especially fond of
azaleas and rhododendrons. “Mom said she called Karen once she was notified of Ivy’s death, and Karen wouldn’t talk to her.
She thought we’d skirted safety procedures. I’m hoping she’ll talk to us when we show up on her doorstep. Especially now that
we know Ivy was murdered.”
Paradise studied the property. “No vehicles in the driveway. Maybe she’s not home.”
“Only one way to find out.” Blake opened his door and got out, and Paradise did the same. He took her hand as they walked
to the door. “You sure you want to handle asking the questions?”
“She has probably heard by now that Ivy was being paid to find out info about me. I think Karen is more likely to tell me
than someone else since I was the one being targeted.”
She might be right, but Blake didn’t have to like it. He pressed the doorbell and heard it peal from inside. The breeze rustled the hanging basket of ferns on the porch as they waited. The door opened and Mrs. Cook’s welcoming smile vanished.
Her lips flattened and she said nothing, so Blake hurried to fill the silence. “We’re sorry to bother you in your grief, Mrs.
Cook, but we really need your help. I assume you know by now Ivy was shot with a tranquilizer gun? Some strange things are
happening at the park, and we’d like to talk to you.”
She regarded them through narrowed eyes for a long moment before she stepped out of the way to allow them to enter. Karen
was in her late fifties. She normally wore her blonde hair in a sleek bob and usually was well dressed. Today her hair was
flat on one side, and the yoga pants and tee she wore had food stains on them like she’d worn them for days. Maybe she had.
Blake had looked for her at church today, but she hadn’t shown up.
The curtains and blinds were all closed, and it took a moment for Blake’s vision to adjust to the darkened space. She led
them past the dining area and kitchen to a family room at the back of the house. The television was off, and the house echoed
with silence. An orange cat scuttled off to hide when it saw them. A flickering candle pushed the scent of vanilla into the
room.
“Have a seat.”
He and Paradise settled on the beige sofa. The hardwood floors were dusty, and so were the tabletops. Grief had hit the poor
woman hard.
Paradise glanced at Blake and leaned forward. “Mrs. Cook, I’m Paradise Alden.”
The woman’s hazel eyes flickered. “The vet.”
“That’s right. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“I still can’t believe it. Why would anyone want to kill her?” Her voice trembled. “You have no idea what it’s like to know
my Ivy was murdered.”
“My parents were murdered when I was nine, so I know how hard that kind of thing is to take. Even all these years later, I’m not over it,” Paradise said.
Karen’s interlaced fingers tightened. “I’m sorry I spoke to you like that. I’m not myself.”
“I understand, truly.” Paradise fidgeted on the sofa. “Did Ivy ever mention my name? My cousin is Rod McShea, and he’s the
sergeant in charge of the Bon Secour substation. He mentioned they’d found emails from someone who was paying Ivy to feed
them information about me. Did she ever mention those emails to you?”
Karen bit her lip and looked down as the orange cat made a reappearance. She picked up the large feline and petted it for
several long seconds. “She mentioned it just before she died. We had a fight because she asked me for money. Again. She had
gambling debts she needed to pay, and, well, there was no way I was giving my money to con artists and criminals. She promised
she’d repay it as soon as she was paid for finding out information on you. I never would have helped her get a job there if
I’d known she was going to spy on anyone.”
“I’m sure that’s true,” Paradise said in a soothing voice. “Did she give you any clues to the identity of who hired her or
why?”
“I asked her, and she said it was someone from your past who wanted to see what you were up to since you’d come back to town.”
“My past. I was a teenager when I moved away from here. I’m nobody important, so this makes no sense.”
The cat jumped down from Karen’s lap, and she brushed hair from her black yoga pants. “I’m a big fan of lists. Maybe you should
make a list of everyone you know from when you were a teenager. It might help.”
They’d still never gotten a lead on who killed Paradise’s parents.
At first they’d thought it was the former sheriff, Gerald Davis, since his shoe size fit with the impressions found at the scene of the murders, but his DNA wasn’t a match.
Their investigation had gone nowhere since then, and Paradise abandoned it to focus on getting the veterinary business on solid footing.
But what if the murderer was behind the break-ins and sabotage events? He might be trying to drive Paradise away before she
remembered his face. She hadn’t mentioned having more nightmares or snippets of memory of that night, but they’d been concentrating
on other things.
There were still plenty of people around who lived here at the time of the murders. He glanced at Paradise’s set face and
knew she would not be run off.
Someone I know hates me enough to stalk me.
While Paradise worked, the thought kept reverberating through her head. When her workday was over, she rushed to Jenna’s house
and went through the empty house to Blake’s office. In one of the bookshelves lining his wall she found the yearbook from
her sophomore year. She carried it out to the living room where she settled on the sofa with the kittens leaping on her legs
and burrowing into her lap.
Sweet little nuisances. She launched the Notes app on her phone, but the back door opened before she could start going through
the yearbook. Jenna’s voice called from the kitchen.
“I’m in here,” Paradise said.
Small bare feet slapped on the wood floors as the boys ran to her. Two warm little bodies swarmed into her lap, each one grabbing
up a kitten as they snuggled close.
Levi patted her cheeks with both of his hands. “I missed you, Simba.”
The boys had quickly taken to calling her by Blake’s nickname for her, and she didn’t correct him. “I missed you too.”
The seven-year-old had been gaining muscle and bulk in the past few weeks, and his weight was heavy on her leg. She didn’t
mind though. Before they knew it, the boys would be too grown up to want to snuggle on her lap. Five-year-old Isaac still
held on to his skinny little-boy frame.
Jenna appeared in the doorway. “I’ve got hummus and carrot sticks for you guys. If you eat all of it, you can have a brownie.”
The black bean brownies were tasty enough for the boys but healthy enough for their mom to allow as treats. The boys scattered,
taking the kittens with them to the kitchen, and Jenna joined Paradise in the living room. She nodded at the yearbook. “Blake
will be here any minute, and the two of us will help you make a list. He told me what Karen said. It’s disconcerting.”
“It’s hard to wrap my head around someone watching me, keeping tabs on where I am and what I’m doing. A cornered animal is
a dangerous one.”
Jenna winced. “Finding out Owen Shaw and Lacey Armstrong were behind what was going on here really shook my belief in people.
I never would have believed they could do what they did—Owen especially.”
The former vet had fooled everyone. Paradise opened the yearbook and paused when she heard Blake come in the door and speak
to his brothers before heading to join her. The afternoon wind and sun had roughened his skin and tousled his dark hair. She
was tempted to skip the research and kiss him instead, but the stray thought made her realize she was reluctant to find out
more about her adversary. It was unnerving to be so hated.
She patted the seat cushion beside her. “Let’s go through the yearbook and list people who still live here.”
He dropped down to her right. “You realize it could be a shopkeeper or one of your parents’ friends and not a student.”
“But this is a place to start and it might remind us of other people or circumstances we’ve forgotten.” She tried to ignore
how much she wanted to lean against him and forget all this. “Start at the beginning.” She held out the yearbook.
He took it and flipped it open. The first few pages were pictures of clubs and activity groups. “Hey, didn’t your mother sometimes
help at the pottery club at Tupelo Grove University? And she taught in the Art Department, so maybe something happened at
the college.”
“Yes, she did. The older girls were always sweet to me and sometimes braided my hair. I don’t think I would have remembered
it if you hadn’t mentioned it though.” She jotted down Pottery Club. “We should get a yearbook from back then and see if we can find out other parents who helped out.”
“One from TGU would be helpful.” Jenna frowned and leaned forward in the armchair. “Your mom had a blowup with a woman she
worked with at TGU. It wasn’t even about the pottery class but something else.” She rubbed her forehead. “I wish I could remember.”
“Do you know the woman’s name?” Paradise asked.
“No, but the yearbook might refresh my memory.”
“Hez’s girlfriend, Savannah, could get us the yearbooks.” Blake pulled out his phone and typed out a message to Savannah.
They went back to flipping pages, and by the time they were done, Paradise had a list of twenty names, including her cousins who were still around.
“I think I should talk to Lily again and ask about Mom’s friends.
I remember she and my dad used to play cards with another couple down the block, but I can’t remember their names.
” She vaguely recalled a woman with fiery-red hair.
Wasn’t her husband a police officer? She rubbed her forehead and wished her memories from back then were sharper.
Another image dropped into her head. “She created pottery with Mom. We could check pottery shops.”
Blake’s phone sounded. “Savannah has the yearbooks and said we could come get them anytime.”
“How about right now?”
“I’ve got a roast in the slow cooker, but it won’t be ready for another hour,” Jenna said. “And it will keep if you’re late.
In fact, take her out somewhere, Blake. It’s been a stressful few days. A seafood dinner on the water sounds like a great
idea.”
Paradise’s pulse kicked at the way Blake smiled. She couldn’t think of anything she’d rather do than watch the sunset glimmer
on the water and forget for a few minutes that someone wanted her dead.