Page 66 of Ambush

Lily shook her head. “Your mother was told not to tell anyone. I tried to worm it out of her—we were close after all—but she was terrified of Grandma. So was I, so I understood. All she admitted was she had a healthy baby boy. She met the parents and felt he was going to have a loving home. She never stopped mourning him though and lived for those letters and the occasional picture she got.”

“Why hide that information in the attic?”

“She didn’t want your father to know. He was from out of town, and by the time they married, she didn’t think anyone would bring it up to him. Grandma had shut down any speculation, and once your mom left school, the episode faded away. There were new things to gossip about, so she felt safe.”

Blake shifted by the door. “Do you know who the father was?”

Lily glanced his way. “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, maybe even fifteen or twenty. At first I thought it was a friend of Grandpa’s, but she leaned over and kissed him before she shut the door. The interior lights showed it was no friendly peck on the cheek. This guy wasn’t afraid to throw his money around a little. And like I said, he was much older.”

Which would explain the expensive jewelry box and jewelry inside. Mom probably had to hide all of that from her mother before she ever became pregnant. Grandma Penny would have taken a gander at any of those pieces and known Mom wasn’t dating a high school boy. No one in Pelican Harbor lavished so much money on their son that he could give gifts like that in high school. And Lily had seen an older man.

“Do you know where he lived?”

“No idea. I only saw him the one time, and your mom didn’tdisappear every weekend, so I don’t think his visits were common. Maybe every two or three weeks. Honestly, she was so secretive about him I thought he might be married. Why else keep it such a secret?”

“Because he was older?”

“But if he was wealthy, I don’t think Grandma and Grandpa would have cared about that. You were so young when Grandma died you probably never knew she grew up poor and pushed Becky and my mom to marry well. I don’t think your dad ever measured up in her eyes. Mine either, for that matter.”

“Did my dad ever find out?”

“Not that I know of.” Lily glanced at her watch. “I’d better get going unless you have another question?”

Paradise shook her head. “Thanks for your time. It helps me understand a little more.”

But it brought her no closer to finding her brother. She and Blake walked out with Lily and found Jenna and the boys waiting in Jenna’s van. The busy day stretched ahead, and Paradise hoped she’d be able to forget all about this for a while.

Chapter 31

Blake dropped his mom and brothers at the house. Then he and Paradise headed to the drugstore to buy her a DNA test. They grabbed one and hurried back to the van for their busy afternoon.

Paradise buckled her seat belt and turned her phone around. “Look.”

He saw the cute picture of Bertha yawning. The caption read:I’m tired of waiting for you to visit.“Cute.”

Her frown indicated it was anything but cute to her. “No, read the first comment.”

And we’re tired of having a murderer next door. Your sins will find you out.

He exhaled. “Wow, a hate message already. See who left it.”

“I already did and it’s not a real profile. The person duplicated someone in New York and the profile only has five friends, so it’s been done recently. It’s almost like someone was watching to see if we started using the socials again.”

“Can you delete it and block them?”

“Yep. I’ll do that now.” Her fingers moved across the screen.“Whoever is behind this campaign to smear us may make another account, but I’ll try to stay on top of it.”

“I’ll ask a few friends at church to make encouraging comments. And some of our loyal visitors may start commenting too. Thanks for doing this.”

“You’re welcome.” She dug out the DNA test and flipped it over to read the back. She groaned. “Oh man, it takes six weeks for results. I’d hoped to hear something quickly.”

“The time will fly. In the meantime we can continue investigating who might be targeting the park.” A pothole loomed in the road ahead, and he swerved to try to miss it, but one tire thumped hard into the crater. Something rattled under the seat and continued to clatter on the smooth highway. “Could you see what that is?”

She leaned over and reached back under the seat. “Ouch.” She withdrew her hand with one finger bleeding. “It’s got a sharp edge whatever it is.” She grabbed a napkin and blotted the drop of red from her finger. Then, using the napkin, she reached under again and gasped at the item in her hand.

Blake glanced down and automatically braked at the sight of an orange hunting knife in her hand. He swerved to the shoulder of the road and stopped the van. “Paradise, someone has planted the murder weapon in the van.”

The knife slipped from her fingers and hit the carpet by her feet. “What do we do?”

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