Page 59 of Ambush

Understanding settled in his expression. “It was always when your dad was gone.”

So itwastrue. She nodded. “So I’ve heard. Did you hear anything that day? Screams, arguments, anything?”

Evan crossed his arms over his chest. “I saw the sheriff’s car there, but that was all. I’m sorry, Paradise. It had to be hard to come here.”

“It wasn’t as hard as I expected. You made it easy.” She turned toward Blake. “We’d better get back. I’ve got a grizzly to check out, and you’ll have some safari tours. Thanks again, Evan.”

“My pleasure.” He walked them to the door.

Paradise followed Blake out of the house and to the truck. She said nothing until he’d stowed the tub and was behind the wheel. “At least I saw it all. There’s nothing left of my family inside.”

He reached over and took her hand. “Are you convinced it was the sheriff?”

“I think so. I’m closer to closure at least.” She squeezed his fingers. “Let’s go home.”

***

Visitors wandered the high deck by the giraffes with leaves they’d purchased from the keeper. Angel, the park’s oldest giraffe, meandered over to take a bite of a little boy’s offering of vegetation. Blake grinned at the boy’s obvious delight. This group was his last safari of the day, and they’d been fun and interested in his jokes and animal stories.

He rounded them up for the final excursion back to the gift shop and counted heads on the bus to make sure he hadn’t left anyone. One short. Just great when he was already late. Mom had asked him to take the boys when he was done here so she could have an employee meeting about security changes with the keys.

He held up his hand at the front of the bus to ask for quiet. “Who’s missing? Anyone know?”

An older man, bald on top and with his lower hair in a ponytail, held up his hand. “That girl with the green hair. I don’t see her now, but she was sitting along the back.”

Blake remembered her. She’d asked a lot of questions at the lemur encounter and had been interested in volunteering. What was her name—Nancy? No, it was Nicole. Nicole Grant. “Did anyone see where she wandered off to?”

A kid about ten pointed toward the far fence. “She went that way with some leaves. I thought maybe she was going to try to feed Angel one last time.”

His mother waved her hand. “We need to return as soon as possible. I forgot some medicine for my son in the car, and it’s already past time for him to take it.”

Blake spotted the giraffe keeper, Zach Kelly, leaving with his cash box and stepped down outside the bus to beckon to him. “Zach, could you take this group back while I search for a lagging guest?”

Zach nodded and boarded the vehicle. The forty-year-old had been the source of a lot of advice after they took over. He’d worked here when the Steerforths owned it.

The African delta exhibit was the farthest enclosure from the gift shop, and they’d have to hoof it back, but sometimes that happened. He’d probably find Nicole sitting somewhere watching the giraffes and zebras. He waved to the guests and took off in the direction where she’d last been seen. He walked the length of the fence, clear to the back of the enclosure. Beyond that final fence was still preserve property, but they hadn’t built anything on it yet. The dream was to put up some yurts and glamping tents, but funds had been too tight for that just yet.

She wouldn’t have gone out onto bare land, would she? He turned and gazed out across the Africa area. He spotted water buffalo, giraffe, antelope, and zebra, but no green-haired girl. He did a complete circle and tried to catch a glimpse of anything out of the ordinary, but nothing stood out to him as problematic. The first sense of unease rippled down his back.

He pulled out his phone and texted Paradise.You done for the day? I have a missing visitor I can’t find.

Where are you? I can come right now.

Back of the African enclosure, east side. I’m on foot. Grab my Gator. Keys are in it.

Be right there.

He pocketed his phone and tried to decide where to search first. They couldn’t go into the enclosure on the Gator. Though the animals were friendly, sometimes they were a little too friendly and rubbed up against the vehicles out of curiosity. The water buffalo could tip over the Gator, and the zebras liked to kick and bite. He and Paradise could ride around the back of the enclosure, though, and check out the bare land behindit as well as drive to the other side and see if anything was awry there.

He checked the cameras he’d placed around the property. All seemed calm. Visitors, their arms full of stuffed animals from the gift shop, had begun to make their way to the parking lot. He closed the camera app when he heard the Gator’s engine. The wheels plumed red dust behind them on the dirt trail, and his spirit took a buoyant jump at the sight of Paradise’s curly mane of hair blowing in the wind.

She stopped the utility vehicle and smiled. “Need a lift, stranger?”

“My mother has always taught me never to accept rides from strangers, but she never warned me about a beautiful woman with twigs in her hair.” He reached over and plucked a sprig of pine entangled in her light brown strands.

He tossed it to the ground, but he couldn’t resist touching those soft curls again. “You’ve got the most amazing hair. One of these days I’m going to bury my face in it and not come up for air for days.”

Pink rushed to her cheeks. “It’s always a mess. Living with frizzy hair is one of the biggest trials of my life. And you’re spouting off compliments when we’re supposed to find a wandering guest.”

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