Chapter 27
Holding Paradise by the hand, Blake walked the two blocks to Hez’s condo with her. Smiling people surged along the sidewalks
toward seafood tents down along the water, but the party atmosphere failed to rouse him from his funk. Even the aroma wafting
from Petite Charms didn’t draw him out of his worry.
Paradise tugged him toward the entry door. “Let’s take some beignets to Hez and Savannah.”
He allowed her to guide him in that direction, but the thought of eating anything else turned his stomach. He bought a dozen
beignets, and then they turned left out the door to access the black iron staircase up to Hez’s condo above the bakery.
Savannah met them at the entry, and the dogs crowded behind her to greet them as they stepped into the great room with its
white kitchen. The remnants of a pepperoni pizza was on the breakfast bar, and its aroma lingered in the air. Savannah’s nephew
Simon and Hez sat at the dining room table with dominoes scattered on the tabletop. Simon had been living with Savannah since
his mother died in a car explosion. He began to put the tiles away in a metal tin as Hez rose to meet them.
Savannah’s welcoming smile faded when her green eyes took in the box of beignets and their expressions. “If it’s bad enough to bribe Hez, I’m glad I made coffee to go with those.” She closed the door behind them.
Hez accepted the box of pastries Blake offered and set it on the table. “You just saved me from a whupping. Simon plays a
mean game of dominoes.”
The boy did a fist pump and strutted toward the living room like he’d just scored a touchdown. The dogs bounced after him.
Savannah carried mugs of coffee to the table, then returned with small dessert plates. With her auburn hair up in a ponytail,
she looked younger and more vulnerable. Love had relaxed her full lips into gentler lines, and Blake glanced at Paradise.
Since the two of them had reconciled, she wore the same content expression he saw on Savannah’s face.
Blake warmed his hands on the cup and inhaled the strong coffee aroma. “Paradise gleaned some information from Mom today.
Go ahead, babe.”
Paradise perched on the edge of a chair and took a sip of coffee. “Jenna heard something about a will before they bought the
property.” She laid out the information she’d gotten from his mom.
Hez absorbed the news quietly. His expression gave nothing away, but Blake knew his cousin was too professional to show any
dismay. Hearing Paradise recite it again ramped up Blake’s anxiety though.
Hez reached for a beignet and set it on his plate.
A fine dusting of powdered sugar coated his fingers and scattered on the plate.
“Rumors are like this powdered sugar. They can dirty anyone around and cover the truth. If that will is found, you might be implicated, Blake. Aunt Jenna will need to be very clear on what she heard, where she heard it, and what she did to make sure she was purchasing the property legally.”
“Or we lose everything.” Though the words were bleak, Blake’s heart felt even worse. If the court found that Mom bought the
property knowing it might be fraudulent, they’d have no recourse. There would be no way to recover the money spent. Worse,
the animals would all have to be rehomed in zoos and other refuges, which would be a huge task. Those that couldn’t be given
or sold to other places would have to be euthanized. His gaze locked with Paradise’s, and he saw the same despair in her amber
eyes.
He gathered his composure. “How do we prove Mom believed it was a legitimate sale?”
Hez swiped some powdered sugar off the plate. “How do you squelch rumors? It’s hard. The best thing you can do is go on the
offensive. For justice you need to get at the truth. Find out if Dean killed his uncle. Talk to Mary and find out what she
did to try to find the will. See if your mom called attorneys herself or at least consulted an attorney. I don’t think she
did. I would have been the one she would have asked about this, and she never mentioned it to me.”
That grim summation of the purchase was enough to elevate Blake’s blood pressure. Mom wouldn’t have talked to anyone but Hez.
He was always the first one she turned to, other than Blake himself. And she hadn’t mentioned any of this to him either. He’d
been deployed, but they’d had a chance to talk about the sale before it happened, and she hadn’t mentioned any possible problem
with the purchase.
“I’ll talk to her,” he said. “And to Mary. Paradise found out Dean has Allen’s truck, and she discovered white paint on the passenger door and back bumper. We thought we’d check junkyards to see if we can find what happened to Dean’s old white pickup.”
“If he was smart, he put it in storage somewhere,” Hez said. “He’d want to hide it. Does Mary have any other property with
an extra garage around?”
“I’ll ask,” Paradise said. “Anything else we should work on?”
Hez steepled his fingers. “What about the will? Dean seems to think it’s on your property. Could he be right?”
“I haven’t looked.” Blake didn’t want to try to find it because he wouldn’t like what God would tell him he needed to do if
he found it. He’d need to turn it in even if it meant losing everything.
His gaze turned to the woman he loved more than his own life. If they had to start all over, he’d be helping his mom and brothers
longer than he’d planned. The necklace his mother had given him was with a jeweler friend now, and he hoped to have a ring
for Paradise in another month or so. He wasn’t sure he could bear more years of waiting to start their life together.
Savannah always made Paradise feel welcome and wanted. The sparkle in Savannah’s eyes matched the ring on her finger—a halo
of rubies around a gorgeous diamond. While Hez and Blake went to get Allen’s accident report in the office, Paradise went
into the kitchen with Savannah to wash the powdered sugar from their fingers. She took one final lick of the sweet stuff,
then washed her hands with something that smelled like coconut.
Paradise dried her hands on a blue kitchen towel. “Your ring is gorgeous.”
Savannah displayed it under the overhead light. “The diamond is from my original engagement ring, but the rubies and the design are new. I love it.”
“Blake said he took pictures of Hez popping the question. Wedding plans are underway?”
“If we can ever get there.” Savannah dried her hands. “There’s been so much to do at TGU, but things will settle down soon
and I’ll be able to concentrate. Hez has been consumed with keeping us all safe too.”
“The cousins are so much alike. Blake is still a Marine at heart and wants to wrap me in cotton.”
“It sounds like you’re not sure that’s a good thing.”
“It’s a little stifling at times.”
“Sometimes it takes a while to settle into a relationship and find the balance. I’ve seen the way Blake looks at you, and
you’re the center of his universe.”
“I share the spot with his mom and brothers. I’m not sure when we’ll be able to make plans for the future. There are so many
problems at the park.”
“Everything doesn’t have to be perfect before you make a life together. Sometimes you have to reach the realization that plans
are overrated. Things are far from perfect with us, too, but we’re bobbing in the currents as best as we can. At least we’re
doing it together, just like you and Blake are. The waves might get high, but you’re holding fast to each other.”
Paradise hadn’t thought of it like that, but Savannah was right. Blake had worked at trying to make things better for all
of them, and he’d made sure they had time together even in the midst of the tsunami of bad news crashing over them. He’d managed
to keep them all afloat.
The guys returned with a cardboard box that Hez began to unload on the kitchen table, and Paradise followed Savannah over to join them. “I haven’t had a chance to go through the evidence yet since I picked this up two hours ago.”
There was a file of pictures, and Paradise quickly glanced away from the autopsy photos and skipped to the report. Blake handed
the pictures to Hez, who leafed through them. The report was straightforward. “The coroner found an injection mark in Allen’s
left antecubital fossa, a common site for meth users.”
“English?” Blake asked with a smile.
“His left elbow vein,” Hez clarified. “The coroner found no scarring though. If he was a frequent user, there should have
been evidence of that. You’d think the police would have flagged that as suspicious.”
She glanced at Hez. “Anything surprising in the police report?”
“The most surprising thing is how skimpy it is. I think some pages might be missing. There’s no mention of Mary’s assertion
that she told the detective she suspected foul play and nothing about her belief that Allen had been forced off the road.
No record of interviews with Dean or Mary at all. Didn’t she say she even told the detective she suspected Frank?”
“That’s what she told me,” Paradise said.
“Do we know who investigated Allen’s death?” Blake asked.
Hez flipped to the first page again, and his jaw hardened. “Greene, of course. He’s completely incompetent. Or intentionally
covering something,” Hez said. “There’s something about that guy that sticks in my craw. I think he’s dirty.”
Blake riffled through the papers. “But how do we prove it? Rod doesn’t see it. He thinks he’s overworked, not incompetent
or on the take. Is there anything in here we can take to Rod and ask for a fresh investigation?”
Hez frowned. “Do you want to do that though? He’ll want to know why you’re interested after five years.
The fewer people who know you’re worried about a will showing up, the better.
We don’t know what Dean is trying to pull behind the scenes.
And with Aunt Jenna now implicated in hiding what she knew about the will, it could be problematic. ”
Paradise wished she’d never said anything. Jenna would never hide something on purpose. “She didn’t really know anything.
Mary assured her it was fine.”
“And Mary had something to gain from the sale. A court might believe Mary rushed it to sale and Aunt Jenna was in on it. Since
Dean is looking so hard for that will, I have to believe there’s some truth behind it. He wouldn’t risk being arrested for
breaking and entering if he wasn’t sure he could find the will.”
“If it was a legitimate will, wouldn’t an attorney have a copy? That’s the part I don’t understand,” Paradise said. “He could
call around and try to find it that way.”
Hez put the loose papers back in the green folder. “There’s no database where wills are recorded. He would have to call every
attorney in the country. It’s possible Allen used an online source and had it notarized, then hid it.”
The best they could hope for was that the will stayed hidden. If there was a will.