Chapter 35
Astride a gentle bay mare, Paradise galloped across the field beside Abby. The wind tore at Paradise’s hair, but it stayed
put in its braid. She drew in a breath of hayfields and horse. It should have relaxed her, but it was hard not to dwell on
Abby’s situation.
Abby reined in her black gelding and dismounted beside a pond surrounded by tupelo and oak trees, and Paradise did the same.
They led their horses to the water for a drink, then Abby dug string cheese out of a pouch and handed a stick to Paradise.
“I’ve got water too.”
Paradise smoothed a few loose strands out of her eyes. “I’d forgotten how free I feel when riding. Like the horse and I are
one creature exploring all-new territory. Thanks for making me do it.” She turned to examine the pond and surrounding terrain.
“We used to catch bream in the pond. Best fried fish in the world. I’ve missed this place.”
Abby gave her a once-over from head to toe. “There’s the country girl I remember. The jeans fit well. How are the boots?”
“I never want to take them off.” She released her mare’s lead and settled on a low wooden bench. “I needed this. Things have been, well, stressful.”
Abby plopped beside her. “That’s an understatement. You’ve been attacked from every direction, and The Sanctuary is teetering
on the edge of destruction. It’s a wonder you’re not curled up in a corner somewhere refusing to talk.”
Paradise ran her fingers through the soft grass and inhaled the aroma of the pond and trees, a fresh scent unlike any other.
“I don’t know what to do to help resolve all this. I’ve been putting up social media posts, trying to combat the continually
bad press, and that seemed to be working—especially after Governor George’s visit with her grandson hit the news. But this
whole contested sale thing is monumental. We’re all scrambling to figure out if it’s even true, but it feels very ominous.”
Abby reached down and picked several leaves of mint, then offered some to Paradise. “I hope you find out it’s a forgery.”
“Blake was going to take Allen’s signature sample to Hez for him to get analyzed. I can’t believe Mary would be part of trying
to pull something like this, and I feel terrible that I suspect her. I mean, I know her. You and I spent a lot of time over at Steerforths’ roadside zoo.”
“You always want to believe the best in people. Even with all you’ve been through, you have hope in their better instincts.”
Paradise chewed on a mint leaf and the tang sharpened her thoughts. There was an undercurrent in Abby’s tone, a reserve that
Paradise had never heard before. Or maybe she hadn’t been listening closely enough. “You want to tell me something, but I’m
not good at riddles. Just spit it out. Am I wrong to suspect Mary is involved?”
Abby rolled the mint leaves in her palm. “I think you’re very astute. Go with your gut. I wish I could say more, Paradise, but it wouldn’t be ethical. Your instincts are on target.”
“But how do I find out? I know nothing about figuring out anyone’s financial situation.”
“Check out the online places that will do the work for you. It’s not that expensive. Even a cursory look will—” She clamped
her mouth shut, then tucked the mint leaves in her mouth. “Things are always changing in life.” Her brown eyes took on a faraway
expression. “I love the ranch so much, but even Dad is talking about it becoming too much for him. He doesn’t say so, but
I can see he’s thinking of selling it. I don’t know what I would do if he did, but I would adjust and adapt. We all do. Change
is hard no matter how it happens.”
Was Abby telling her she needed to stop trying to control things in life so tightly? Paradise had always known she tended
to cling to the familiar because she’d experienced so much change when she was younger. The cataclysmic upheaval that could
be barreling toward them wasn’t anything any of them would welcome.
Paradise reached for more mint leaves. “I can’t imagine your dad selling this place. It’s such a wonderful haven.”
“Something’s up with him. He’s aged quite a bit the last three months. I worry he’s ill, like, seriously ill. But he’s always
kept his problems closely guarded, so it would take something unprecedented for him to tell me anything. But he’s managed
this ranch and this county by sheer force of will, and I don’t think he could ever sign his name to a sale document. I’m probably
worrying for nothing.”
“Quinn is great. She’s your only child?”
“She’s ten going on fourteen. I think that says it all right now. Friends assure me she’ll be human again soon. Remembering the drama we went through at that age gives me hope.”
“How will you handle telling her . . . about Jason’s remarriage?”
Abby’s smile faded. “I have no idea. She adores Jason and already feels like she doesn’t see him enough. I have to do it today
though. Confrontations are hard.”
“They are. I need to talk to Adams, but I haven’t been able to force myself to do it.”
“That’s a job you should delegate to Blake or Jenna. He probably sees you as that vulnerable fifteen-year-old and he wouldn’t
listen anyway. A big guy like Blake might be able to get him to back off.”
“While you’re right that he might underestimate me, that could be in our favor. He might think I’m no threat and tell me something
he wouldn’t if Blake cornered him. I need to be the one to confront him. Blake offered, but I told him he needed to let me
stand on my own two feet.”
“Independence is highly overrated. We are all stronger together. Blake loves you. I mean, he really loves you. He wouldn’t change anything about you. That’s so rare. It’s not weakness for the two of you to bolster each other
when you need to, to be the one who comes alongside and helps the other stand when your knees want to give out. I never felt
that with Jason.”
Paradise had never thought of it that way, but it made sense. She glanced at her phone. “I need to get back. I want to hear
what Blake found out from Hez.”
When Blake left the Dillard Ranch, Paradise had run off with Abby to change clothes and go on a horseback ride. He drove to Tupelo Grove University and found Hez’s office in Connor Hall. It was quitting time, but recovering or not, his workaholic cousin would still be in the office.
Blake parked in the lot near the pond and spotted the old gator Boo Radley sleeping in the grass. Students chatted in small
groups and glanced his way as he entered the building and found the office for the Justice Chamber.
Hez hadn’t been wrong to warn him that the tiny room was the second-worst office on campus. The scarred oak door stood open,
and his cousin sat at a tiny desk with a computer that should have been in an antique store. A small printer perched on one
corner of the desk, and a shiny coffeemaker, emitting the aroma of strong coffee, occupied another corner. Four mismatched
chairs completed the room. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead since the drafty trefoil window didn’t do much to push back
the shadows.
Hez hadn’t seen him yet, and Blake studied the plaque on the wall behind the desk. He had to read it aloud. “‘But let justice
roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!’ Amos 5:24.”
Hez glanced up and his harried expression morphed to a smile. He rose and came around the desk. “Blake, I wasn’t expecting
you.” His shaved dark hair was beginning to grow back around the scar.
Blake gestured at the plaque. “I like the verse. I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“You’re saving me from digging deep into a case that makes no sense, but that’s what we do at the Justice Chamber. The plaque
was a gift from Savannah. I like it too. Have a seat.”
Blake settled on a cracked plastic seat closest to the desk and handed over the envelope containing the copy of the card Quinn had found as well as the will. “We managed to get a sample of Allen’s handwriting. I hope you’ll be able to have the writing analyzed to see if the will is a forgery.”
“Great thinking. We can start with scanning them and uploading them to an online program for preliminary scrutiny. If the
program sniffs out a rat, we can go a step further.” Hez took the card to the printer. He plugged in a USB drive. “I’ll scan
them and we’ll see what we’ve got. Fingers crossed.” The scanner hummed to life, and the light swept the underside of the
printer top. When it was done, he plugged the USB drive into his computer to upload. “This will take a few minutes. Any other
clues to this mess?”
Blake told him about the video of Dean at the park and about Clark’s trailer exploding. “I told Jane that Abby had seen Adams’s
car at Bea Davis’s house and that Paradise and I saw it at Mary’s. They’re looking hard for him.”
Hez had winced at the news of the explosion. “Coffee?”
“Sure.” He accepted the mug Hez handed him. “We went to see Mary after church yesterday morning. I didn’t pull in right away
but stopped down the street. Adams pulled out from under her house. Paradise was suspicious and started analyzing what we
know. We decided not to tell Mary we’d found the will. Instead we asked her about Dean’s friends and got a couple of names.”
Blake unloaded all the events of the last two days.
“I always knew I liked Paradise. This sounds very suspicious, Blake, and I’d proceed with caution.
If Mary is working with Dean in a plot to defraud you of the property and split the proceeds between them, they will be formidable.
The minute Mary gets that will, she’s likely to address the probate court and throw her support behind overturning the sale.
It would go right through, and Aunt Jenna would have to find somewhere else to go.
If they would be this underhanded, they might even conspire to say she knew all along there was a will and chose to ignore it. She’d never get her money back.”
Blake sank back in the chair. “That’s my biggest fear. Abby suggested we check out Mary’s finances. I’m not sure how we do
that.”
“A simple credit check would tell us a lot.” Hez jiggled his mouse and stared at the screen, then typed a few words. “This
won’t take long.” The seconds ticked by and a frown settled on his forehead. “She’s got a terrible credit score and her house
is in pre-foreclosure. She initially paid cash but got a mortgage a few years ago that’s in default.”
Blake absorbed the news. “If she joined in with Dean to regain the property, it could change everything for her too. They
could split the millions and both end up with much more money than she got initially. It all makes sense.”
The computer dinged and drew Hez’s attention again. “This is what I’d hoped to see. The program thinks Allen’s signature is
a forgery. It will take time to get an expert to weigh in, but you’d have ammunition to go to Mary and Dean and tell them
you know what they’re trying to do.”
“Should I do that or continue to investigate? I don’t want Dean to get away with murdering Allen either. We spoke to Dean’s
former best friend and girlfriend, who happen to be married now.” He told Hez about Elowen’s behavior. “Paradise thinks she’s
hiding something, and she might be able to pry it out of her when she sees her without her husband.”
Hez leaned back in his chair. “Creed Greene’s brother—that’s an interesting connection.
Based on this new information, you should wait to talk to Mary or Dean and see what you can find out.
In the meantime I’ll get to work on finding an expert to give us an official opinion on the signature.
We might be able to nip this at the source before we get mired in litigation. ”
Hez’s buoyant expression lifted Blake’s hope, which had been sagging about as low as a sow’s belly. “I think I’ll take the
family somewhere to celebrate. The boys have been feeling the weight of our worry. We haven’t told them, of course, but kids
feel that stuff.”
Hez nodded. “Simon’s the same way. He picks up on the smallest things.”
Blake swallowed the last of his coffee and stood. “I’m glad I got to see the famous Justice Chamber. Whoever attracts your
attention is lucky you’re working on their case. Me and Mom would be in manure as deep as the haymow if we didn’t have you.”