“One from TGU would be helpful.” Jenna frowned and leaned forward in the armchair. “Your mom had a blowup with a woman she worked with at TGU. It wasn’t even about the pottery class but something else.” She rubbed her forehead. “I wish I could remember.”
“Do you know the woman’s name?” Paradise asked.
“No, but the yearbook might refresh my memory.”
“Hez’s girlfriend, Savannah, could get us the yearbooks.” Blake pulled out his phone and typed out a message to Savannah.
They went back to flipping pages, and by the time they were done, Paradise had a list of twenty names, including her cousins who were still around. “I think I should talk to Lily again and ask about Mom’s friends. I remember she and my dad used to playcards with another couple down the block, but I can’t remember their names.” She vaguely recalled a woman with fiery-red hair. Wasn’t her husband a police officer? She rubbed her forehead and wished her memories from back then were sharper. Another image dropped into her head. “She created pottery with Mom. We could check pottery shops.”
Blake’s phone sounded. “Savannah has the yearbooks and said we could come get them anytime.”
“How about right now?”
“I’ve got a roast in the slow cooker, but it won’t be ready for another hour,” Jenna said. “And it will keep if you’re late. In fact, take her out somewhere, Blake. It’s been a stressful few days. A seafood dinner on the water sounds like a great idea.”
Paradise’s pulse kicked at the way Blake smiled. She couldn’t think of anything she’d rather do than watch the sunset glimmer on the water and forget for a few minutes that someone wanted her dead.
Chapter 12
Savannah Webster popped the trunk lid of her car parked in her driveway under a giant live oak tree draped with lacy moss. “I wasn’t sure how many years you needed, so I grabbed all of them from when your mom worked at TGU, Paradise.”
Blake grabbed the handles of the cloth bag. “That was a great idea. It might help us know who to talk to about her mom. She likely had friends among the faculty.”
The wind blew Savannah’s shoulder-length auburn hair around her head, and she batted it out of her face. “I just thought of someone who might be able to help you. Don Phillips was head of HR for forty years. He’s retired now, but I’m sure he would remember your mom.” She pulled out her phone. “I’m texting you his number and address, and I’ll let him know to expect to hear from you.”
“Thanks so much,” Paradise said. “This is the best lead I’ve had.”
“I’m happy to help.” Savannah shut the trunk and walked with them to Blake’s truck. “Let me know if there’s any other way I can help.”
“We sure will.” Blake opened the passenger door for Paradise, then set the bag of yearbooks on her lap before going around to the driver’s side. “What years do we have there?”
Paradise had them out on her lap. “We have 1989 through 2005, which was when my parents were murdered.”
Blake inhaled the scent of old paper permeating the truck as she leafed through the first book.
“Are you sure we should be spending time doing this?” Paradise asked. “It’s a distraction from getting the park on its feet and finding out who’s trying to shut you down.”
“Now that we know someone from your past is targeting you, we have to, babe. You’re more important than anything else.” He put the truck in Drive and headed toward Pelican Harbor for dinner. “Are you sure you’re ready for the truth? Is that what this is all about?”
She closed the book and set it back on the stack. “I’m afraid, Blake. Afraid the nightmares will come back, afraid I’ll find out I caused their deaths in some way.”
He reached over and took her hand. She held tight with cold fingers. “You were nine. It’s not possible it was your fault.”
“I’d like to believe that, but the nightmare always leaves me feeling guilty.” Her long lashes swooped down and masked the pain in her amber eyes. “What if I don’t like what I find out?”
“Let’s bring the truth out of the shadows. Things hidden are always scarier. We’ll do this together.”
“You already have so much on your plate.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “Greene is trying to pin Ivy’s murder on you, someone is sabotaging the park, and receipts are suffering from the backlash of those things. My parents’ murder was a long time ago. I want to find the truth—it’s why I came back. But securing the park’s future is more important for the boys.”
“I’ll take care of the boys even if we must sell the park. That’s not an issue. So we have a lot of arrows aimed at our heads. The question I keep coming back to is that maybe they’re related, Paradise. What if your arrival here triggered all of it, and the attack on the park is really an attack on you? Someone wants you gone. I think we have to find that person in the shadows.”
Her chin came up and she nodded. “I’d thought of that, but it seemed too ludicrous to believe.”
“So we go to the root of the problem—the person who paid Ivy Cook to spy on you. Once we find that out, a lot more pieces might fall into place.”
Pelican Harbor’s city limits sign was just ahead. “Moreau’s Seafood sound good?”
“It sounds perfect. I can already smell the grilled oysters.”
