She hadn’t turned off the music and she listened to the familiar tune as the Phantom crooned about being inside her mind. That was what this faceless person wanted—to get inside her mind and confuse her. Why? What threat did she pose to anyone? Her reasons for being here were strong enough that no one was going to scare her away. If anything, she was more determined to find out who had killed her parents.
Her phone lit up with a message, and she picked it up. Her DNA results were in. Before they could disappear, she clicked on the link and went to the site and downloaded the document. She stared at the folder she’d saved. The subtle fear campaignhad started when she began to search for her brother. Why would someone be so determined to keep her from talking to her brother?
She changed the media input back to her Christian music station and put the car in Drive. When she got home, she’d call Blake and tell him about the incident. Maybe something would show up on the cameras in the parking lot. The kittens had awoken and were meowing in their crate. She moved her foot from the brake to the accelerator and heard a rustle—a rattle.
She froze. There was no mistaking the sound of a rattler. The noise reverberated in the enclosed space, and she wasn’t sure where it was coming from. The kittens were going crazy, too, scratching at the carrier and yowling. Could the snake get to them? Did she dare move?
Aware any noise could rile the snake, she silenced her phone before texting Blake.There’s a rattler in my car. What should I do?
Don’t move. I’m on my way.
There was a slithering sound, and she pinpointed the location. The snake had been under her feet and was moving beneath her seat to the back. The kittens were in danger. Blake would be here in five minutes, but she couldn’t wait.
She threw open her door and catapulted from her seat in one seamless movement. Her bad shoulder hit the pavement, and pain flared white-hot down her arm. She groaned and sat up, holding herself and rocking back and forth until the agony eased a bit.
Though all she wanted to do was not move until Blake arrived, she forced herself to her feet and took a step toward the open car door. The triangular head of an eastern diamondback rattler turned her way, and she paused before beginning to inch away. Maybe the snake would leave her car of its own volition.
When she was three feet from the car, the snake slithered down the side and disappeared under the vehicle, but she didn’t dare approach without knowing where it was. She went down on one knee and tried to see where the rattler had gone, but it was too dark.
Tires on the road growled from the bridge, and she needed to get out of the middle of the pavement. She moved to the other side in time to see Blake’s truck fast approaching. Relief left her lightheaded.
Chapter 10
Blake gripped the steering wheel of his truck so hard his hands ached, and he exhaled a sigh of relief when he spotted Paradise along the side of the road opposite where her car was parked. Visions of her nearly dead from a bite had haunted him on the short drive here. Especially after a worrisome phone call from Savannah.
He parked behind her Kia and leaped out to rush to take her in his arms. “Are you all right? Did the snake bite you?” The scent of her hair was a balm to his fear.
She rubbed her arm. “I got out when it moved under my seat. My shoulder took the brunt of it when I hit the pavement. I’ll soak it in the bath tonight.” A shudder ran through her. “It was next to my leg until it tried to get to the kittens. I knew I had to do something, so I moved fast. When I left the door open, it escaped and disappeared under my car. I’m not sure where it went.”
“I’ll look.” He guided her back across the road to his truck. A deer flicked its white tail and bounced away. “You can wait inside.”
“I need to make sure the kittens aren’t hurt. It could have bitten them and I didn’t know.”
From her determined tone he knew better than to try to dissuade her. He leaned inside his truck and grabbed a flashlight from the dash compartment. The beam of light pushed back the night, and he saw movement in the grass near the back passenger wheel. “There it is.”
The snake raised its head and flicked its tongue in the light before it disappeared into the tall grass. The vegetation rippled as it headed away. It was large—easily six feet long and probably eight pounds. Paradise wasted no time rushing to seize the carrier from the back seat. She opened the door and reached inside to stroke the kittens. The car engine was still running.
He joined her. “Are they okay?”
“They’re purring, so I think they’re fine.” She pulled her arm out of the carrier and shut the door.
“How crazy it got in. It was a big one too.”
“I think someone placed it in my car. That someone left me another present.” She sat on the driver’s seat and reached inside before opening her palm to reveal a USB drive. “It was in my sound system playing ‘The Phantom of the Opera.’”
The USB was a generic white like a million others. “I doubt we can trace where it was bought. Those are everywhere.”
She nodded. “And I probably shouldn’t have touched it. We could have had it checked for fingerprints.”
“We’ll do it anyway.” He grabbed it by the cord and carried it back to his truck, where he fished a plastic bag out from under the seat and placed the drive inside.
She followed him. “Let’s give it to Nora.”
Nora had been sympathetic to the way Creed Greene tried to sabotage every piece of evidence they gave him to investigate. If not for her, Blake would be in jail for a murder he had nothing to do with.
“Yeah, that’s what I had in mind. I don’t like this at all.”
“I was going to text you once I got home and have you check the cameras to see who might have put the drive in my car. That was before the snake made its appearance.”
