Chapter 17
The aroma of Old Bay seasoning in the shrimp boil bubbling away wafted on the breeze. The yard bustled with family members
greeting each other. Paradise hung back with Drew, waiting for the hubbub of laughter and initial excitement to die down,
though she was eager to introduce him to everyone. She wished Blake was by her side, but he was tending to the food.
As they waited she pointed out various members to Drew. “That’s Mom’s cousin Lily.” Lily’s lustrous shoulder-length salt-and-pepper
hair gleamed in the sunlight. “And that’s Rod. He’s the sergeant in charge of the Bon Secour sheriff’s substation and is Lily’s
son. You’ll have a lot in common with him. His wife is Sheila.” She motioned to the smiling woman with red hair and brown
eyes. “His sister is Molly, the one with brown hair and hazel eyes. You can’t miss her because she and Rod look so much alike.
She’s a schoolteacher.”
Drew stood with his hands in the pockets of his khaki shorts. “They seem happy to see each other. Who will be most helpful
for me to learn more about our mom?”
“Probably Lily. She was always a little jealous of me for some reason and has been less than forthcoming, but there’s a good chance she’ll open up to you.
Let’s start there.” Paradise walked with him across the freshly mowed grass to intercept her cousin.
“Lily, I know you’re as eager to meet Drew as he is to get to know you. This is Drew Bartley.”
Lily’s hazel eyes narrowed before she smiled. “I heard you found him, but I didn’t expect the two of you to look so much alike.
You both take after your mom.”
Drew gave her a quick hug when she opened her arms, then stepped back. “I heard you and our mom were very close.”
Lily nodded. “First cousins. We were more like siblings though. Her death devastated me.”
But not so much that Lily had been willing to spare Becky’s child from foster care. Paradise kept the words locked behind
her teeth. The past couldn’t be changed now, and she’d forgiven Lily.
“What was she like?”
“Becky was wonderful. Terribly creative—she made pottery and quilts. Any kind of craft interested her. She did a lot of baking
and took pies and cookies to neighbors.”
“Who was my dad?”
Paradise tensed when Drew spilled the crucial question. Lily had always claimed she didn’t know, but if she was like a sister
to their mother, wouldn’t Mom have told her things she didn’t tell anyone else?
Lily thought for a moment. “I don’t know his name, but I saw him pick her up in a shiny new Camaro after volleyball one night.
He had to be ten years older than she was. At first I thought it was a friend of my dad’s, but she leaned over and kissed
him before she shut the car door. The interior lights showed it was no friendly peck on the cheek.”
Paradise was already aware of those details. “We heard his first name was Ben and Mom called him Benny. Did you ever hear that name?”
Lily hesitated before inclining her head. “I really can’t say. It was a long time ago.”
“I appear to have some siblings from my father’s marriage as well,” Drew said.
“I’m not surprised. I always wondered if he was already married. He was old enough to be.”
“There’s one thing we’ve been puzzling over.” Paradise pulled out the baggie holding the cuff link. “We found this mixed in
with Drew’s baby clothes. Does the C ring a bell on Ben’s name?”
Lily pursed her lips. “That man she was seeing wore a fancy suit, so I would imagine cuff links might accompany one. But I
don’t know Ben’s last name.”
Paradise quelled the shaft of disappointment. She should have known better than to get her hopes up that Lily would be more
forthcoming. “I’d love to get that box of items that belonged to my parents. You mentioned it a few weeks ago.”
“I brought it with me. It’s in the trunk. Here comes Rod. I’ll have him get it.”
Rod came their way and stopped to extend his hand to Drew. “So you’re the new cousin. I could have picked you out anywhere.
And I heard you’re a police detective in Atlanta. You must get a lot of interesting cases.”
Drew gripped his hand. “We see our fair share. I deal with homicides, and we have way too many of those. We’ve been working
to get drugs and gangs off the streets, and our homicide rate has been falling.” His hand fell back to his side.
Paradise glanced over at the food table and caught Blake’s gaze. He gave a nod as if to say she should go ahead and ask her cousin about Creed. “Um, Rod, Creed came out here mad as a hornet. He wanted his lemur back, and we didn’t give it to him.”
“He came to me about it too, and I told him to let it drop or face charges. He stomped out of my office, and I haven’t heard
any more out of him about it.”
“That’s a relief. There’s one more thing though. We’ve seen a loose leopard roaming here on park property. It wears a collar
and isn’t ours.”
Drew folded his arms across his chest. “And what Paradise is not saying is that she seems to be a target. We have drone footage
of Creed’s property that shows some interesting fencing and possible meat chunks behind an enclosure that make us think Creed
might be the one keeping the leopard as a pet. We’d like to get on the property and find out.”
“No pictures of leopards, no indication he actually has one?” Rod shook his head. “I don’t think I can get a court order without
more proof. And you know he won’t agree to letting you roam there.”
“What if you urged him?” Paradise asked.
Rod lifted a brow. “You’ve met Creed Greene, right? I keep hoping he’ll quit, but he hangs in there, and I don’t have grounds
to fire him.”
And that would be the end of it unless they could get more proof. Maybe a drone video at night with an infrared camera would
be in order.
“Rod, would you get that box I brought for Paradise out of the trunk?” his mother asked.
“Be right back with it.”
Paradise had to check the impulse to go with him. There would be no time to look through it until late tonight or tomorrow.
The food had been eaten, and one by one family members said their goodbyes and left.
Blake hadn’t been able to keep his attention off Paradise as she moved from person to person.
She’d changed so much since she arrived nearly six months ago.
She’d been wary, a little angry, and a whole lot off-putting.
Now her place in the community was firmly established, and it showed in the glow of her amber eyes and the confident smile on her face.
Twilight softened the edges of the trees and buildings, and the scent of impending rain hovered in the air. Paradise sat on
the deck glider with a little boy on each side of her as she read them a story. Her presence had been a balm for all of them.
She closed the book and caught his intense gaze. A blush settled in her cheeks, and she smiled. “Isn’t it time to feed the
predators?”
“It is. Want to come with me?”
“I’d love to.” She hugged his brothers. “Time for you guys to take a bath and brush your teeth. I’ll be back in time to tuck
you in.” They protested but slid off the cushions and headed for the door. She descended the steps to where he stood and took
his hand. “What a great afternoon. Thank you for making it happen.”
“I saw you talking to Rod. Did you get anywhere with searching Greene’s property for the leopard?”
She shook her head. “Not enough evidence. I’d like Mason to try the drone at night with his heat-seeking camera.”
“I’ll text him.” Blake released her hand to tap out a quick request to Mason, who answered immediately. “He’s already on the
road near the house waiting for full darkness. Good kid! Let’s hope if he’s got a big cat, it’s roaming outside and not in
the building.”
Hand in hand, he and Paradise fell into step to head for the park.
By the time they reached the predator area, the darkness had deepened.
They neared the small building where the food storage fridge was housed, and he peered through the darkness.
“Someone left the door open.” Blake held her forearm. “Wait here.”
He tried to flip on the light, but nothing happened. A power outage? He turned on his phone’s flashlight and shone it around
the space. Everything looked normal in the sweep of the light. He stepped to the breaker box and opened it. The breaker was
off, so he flipped it and the overhead light came on. Nothing appeared out of order. He unlocked the cabinet for the tranq
guns and found them safely nestled inside. The predator food appeared intact inside the fridge.
“Blake?” A tremor shook Paradise’s voice.
He ran for the door and found her staring into the trees across the lane that meandered to different buildings. “What’s wrong?”
She pointed. “Aim your light into the branch of that tree.”
He didn’t have to do that to catch the gleam of a big cat’s eyes. It lay stretched out on the hefty branch with its gaze fixed
on Paradise. The cat’s tail wasn’t twitching though and its ears were alert and interested, not laid back. “Back away to the
building. Text Clark.”
Evan had gone home for the day, but Clark Reynolds lived on the property. He’d quickly become an indispensable part of the
park workforce and a man as dependable as his twin brother, Kent, who had served with Blake in Afghanistan until his death.
“I think it’s best if I don’t move. I can text Clark though. Get the gun.”
Stubborn woman. Blake returned to the storage building and unlocked the gun cabinet to retrieve a rifle, then grabbed several darts preloaded for big cats and loaded the weapon as he returned to her side.
The big cat hadn’t moved, but its tail had begun to lash, and its eyes tracked movement to their left. Clark eased along the
fence with his rifle in one hand and a tranq pistol in the other. He stopped and dropped to one knee, then aimed the pistol
at the big cat.
The dart struck the leopard in the right shoulder, and it growled as it bit at the offending object sticking out of its skin.
It would take at least ten minutes for the tranquilizer to take effect.
Clark motioned for them to move away, so Blake took Paradise’s arm and pulled her behind him while they waited. He could have
shot a dart as well, but he didn’t want to overmedicate the animal. The overdose might kill it.
Paradise stirred behind him. “It’s the same cat.”
“I noticed the collar looks like the one you recovered from the footbridge.” The leopard stood and stretched, then leaped
from the tree to the ground, falling awkwardly and heavily into the high grass. It curled up and closed its eyes, but Blake
didn’t approach. Not until he was sure it was completely out.
Clark moved closer though, his pistol loaded with another dart. His expression radiated satisfaction at a job completed.
Paradise moved to Blake’s side, and he put his arm around her waist, relishing the feel of her in his arms. His idea of a
romantic stroll in the moonlight had been obliterated. “We might not know who it belongs to, but we’ll have the cat safely
penned and can check it out. It’s possible the owner tagged it.” But not likely. Whoever owned it wouldn’t want their identity
revealed.
Blake glanced at his watch. Ten minutes. It might be safe to approach, but he readied another dart before he walked toward
Clark and the prone cat. Paradise walked with him, but he restrained her from going to the leopard first. “Let me.”
“I’m the vet.”
“And I’ll let you take over once I’m sure he’s out.” Blake reached the big cat and grabbed a fallen stick to prod it with.
It didn’t move so he tried its muzzle. Still no reaction. “It’s out. Good job, Clark.”
“I was scared I’d miss.” His voice trembled.
This close Blake realized it was a huge male, bigger than he’d thought. He guessed the cat to be five feet long, not counting
the tail, and easily 100 pounds. “I’ll get a crate and we can load him. You saved us tonight, Clark.”
At least the huge cat wasn’t stalking Paradise any longer.