Chapter 37
Jane smiled when Paradise arrived at her office door. “That was fast. I only texted you fifteen minutes ago.”
Paradise shut the door behind her and followed Jane to her desk. She spotted the envelope of pictures beside Jane’s keyboard.
“I was already on the way here. I thought I’d hang out until they were ready.” She sniffed the aroma of Costa Rican coffee.
“That smells fresh.”
“It’s still brewing. I texted you, then started a fresh pot.” Jane stepped past Paradise and picked up the pictures. “I haven’t
examined them yet. I meant to have a peek first, but I got called to the interrogation room to try to shake information out
of Adams. It was an interesting conversation.”
“What was he looking for at the Dillard Ranch? Do we know if he and Roger played any role in the murders of my parents?”
“It was totally unrelated. Roger had a folder of people who owed him ‘favors.’” Jane used air quotes on the last word. “Adams
was desperate to get ahold of it and see if he could find someone to help him disappear by using the information in the folder.”
“That’s what he was looking for at the ranch?”
Jane nodded and gestured to the chair before she reached for the prints. “You can look these over and hand them to me as you finish.”
“I hope there’s something we can use.”
The coffeepot beeped, and Jane turned toward the sound. “I’ll get us coffee. Want anything in yours? I have all kinds of flavors
and heavy whipping cream.”
“You have peppermint mocha creamer?”
“I do.” Jane stepped to the pot and poured them both steaming mugs. She handed one to Paradise, then settled in her chair.
“The report said there were fifteen pictures.”
A shiver of excitement settled along Paradise’s spine. She opened the envelope’s flap and slid out fifteen eight-by-ten glossies.
“Thanks for getting them so large.”
The first one was a close-up of the Barracuda. The cover was gone, and a bright overhead light illuminated the gleaming seats
with the convertible top down. The car looked like new, and maybe it was. “No date or location on these?”
“No, the tech thinks they came from an older 35-millimeter camera. A time stamp was common in the eighties but not everyone
replaced cameras all that often unless they were photographers.”
Paradise studied the photo. The floor and seats were empty, and the close-up didn’t reveal much about the surroundings other
than the concrete floor. It could have been in the garage where they’d found it, but she couldn’t be sure. She handed it to
Jane and picked up the next picture. It was more distant and caught the car in all its glory plus the back wall. “It’s at
Governor George’s garage. I recognize the picture hanging behind it.”
And that picture in the background was what had nagged at her.
She carried the photo to the window and wished she had a close-up of just that.
It appeared to be a photograph of woods with buildings situated nearby.
She squinted to try to see the structures.
One looked suspiciously like an animal pen of some kind similar to the way The Sanctuary held big cats.
The view wasn’t good enough to say anything to Jane about it, because it could have been a fence that held in anything—cattle, sheep. The detail was blurry that far out.
Why did it draw her? It could be anywhere, but it felt so familiar. There were some woods around The Sanctuary. Could it be
one of those areas? That might explain its familiarity, but she couldn’t be sure.
The trees were loblolly pine so the location could be anywhere in the South from East Texas to Florida. There were no identifying
markers. She passed the photo to Jane without comment and picked up the third picture. This one was someone’s hand over the
frame with very little detail around it. She tried to make out anything on the sides but could identify nothing. The rest
of the pictures offered no better view of that photograph on the wall she wanted to see. Only the car from various angles.
She handed Jane the last picture. “This feels like a bust. Why would Bea leave these to me?”
“The car has to be a clue of some kind. I think I can get a search warrant since the car is stolen.”
“Even with it in the governor’s possession?”
Jane fell silent, then grimaced. “I’d have to at least give her a chance to explain how it came to be in her possession. I
can’t go in with guns blazing the way I’d like.”
“That’s what I thought.” Paradise rose and gathered up the pictures, then put them back in the envelope. “Maybe the guys will
see something we missed. Do you have copies of these?”
“I do.” Jane walked her to the door. “I’ll see if I can talk to the governor.
I might start with the Collins family and see if they gave it to the governor and haven’t told her the truth about it.
It’s an election year. I have to make sure we’re not accused of trying to sway the election with false claims.”
Paradise nodded and walked back to her car. The promise she’d felt last night ebbed, leaving her deflated. She stepped into
the bright sunshine and felt her spirits surge with an idea. She could go out to the garage. It should still be unlocked.
A quick jaunt in and out, and she could get a better view of the photograph on the wall.
She got in her car and headed back to Fairhope. Blake would be working for several hours yet, and Drew was going to be on
a conference call with his partner back in Atlanta until after lunch. She turned her radio up and the thirty-minute drive
went quickly.
There was no traffic on the rutted county road back to the dirt driveway. She put her foot on the brake and idled a minute
as she evaluated whether anyone had been here since the first time she’d seen it. The weedy track didn’t look like it had
seen tires since Blake drove back here. She took her foot off the brake and drove back toward the garage over the massive
potholes and close calls with branches and weeds.
It was as deserted as she’d expected. She parked and got out, then went back through the tall weeds to the side door. It was
still unlocked, and she slipped inside, then went directly to the picture hanging on the wall. She took out her phone and
snapped a picture before studying it closely.
And the memory she’d tried to pull out emerged full blown.
It had been a few days before her parents died, and her mother wanted to go for a drive.
They stopped at the bookstore, Paradise’s favorite place, and she’d been allowed to buy a book before they drove into the countryside.
The drive had taken them near the Dillard Ranch because Paradise had begged to stop and see Abby, but her mom said they didn’t have time for a visit.
Her mother had stopped at a woods and had made her stay in the car while she got out to speak to a woman. They’d argued, and
the woman had shoved her mom. Mom had fallen into the weeds, and when the woman turned, Paradise had seen her face.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
Paradise whirled at the voice and turned to see the woman she’d finally remembered.
Paradise should have been back by now. It was after two o’clock and Drew was waiting with Blake on the back patio. The boys
were out with Mom checking on the new beavers. Drew had been closemouthed about what he’d found out at the police department
since he wanted to unpack it with Blake and Paradise together, and he paced the cedar boards.
Blake had tried calling her, and it had gone to voice mail. “I’ll see when she left Jane’s.” Jane answered on the first ring.
“Paradise isn’t still with you, is she?”
“She left an hour and a half ago. I thought she was going home.” Jane’s volume went up with alarm. “You can’t find her?”
“She’s not answering her phone.” She should have been back here in fifteen minutes, twenty if she had a lot of traffic. “Did
she say if she had another stop?”
“No, I thought she was heading back to The Sanctuary. Paradise and I studied the photographs, and a picture on the wall of the governor’s remote garage seemed to trigger a memory or alarm in her.
She seemed eager to discuss it all with you and Drew.
Maybe the call isn’t going through. I’ve been having trouble with calls today. There’s been sunspot activity.”
“I’ll check the tracker app on her phone. If I run into trouble, I’ll let you know.” He ended the call and launched the app,
then pinched the screen to figure out where she was by nearby roads. His pulse blipped when he located the crossroads. “She’s
near Fairhope at the senator’s garage where we found the Barracuda.”
“Maybe the call isn’t going through,” Drew said. “But just in case let’s head that way.”
“According to the app, she’s been there nearly an hour.” He handed his phone to Drew. “You keep an eye on her location. We’re
only about forty-five minutes away.”
Drew carried his computer with him and launched the hot spot on his phone in the truck. Blake kept an eye on his screen from
the corner of his eye as he headed toward Fairhope. “Do you think it’s Bear?”
Drew glanced up. “Yeah, yeah, I do. The police have camera footage of him at a gas station meeting up with a known drug dealer
three days before Ben died. While they can’t prove he bought Vicodin, the drug could have been acquired then. The dealer ended
up dead before they could talk to him. I think Bear is as dirty as they come. The police couldn’t gather enough evidence to
charge him, but the file is still open.”
“Try Paradise again,” Blake said.
Drew nodded and laid Blake’s phone down to pull out his own. After a few moments, he shook his head and took the phone from
his ear. “Still no answer. I got her voice mail.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I’m trying to believe the call isn’t going through, but I’ve got a knot in my stomach.”
Drew’s voice mail alert sounded, and he read the message. “Huh, this is interesting. They got a hit on where the leopard collars were sold. They were dog collars that were bought by the park gift shop.”
Blake frowned. “They were sold through The Sanctuary?”
“That’s what Rod says. Maybe Warren had the leopard. We’ll never know since he’s dead, but it’s worth checking out any property
he owns. He was renting his house, but he could have owned land somewhere and kept animals out there. If he did, they could
be in a bad way if they’re not being fed and watered.”
Blake hit the brakes at an accident ahead. There was no road to get around it, and they were stuck.