Page 67 of Ambush

“I don’t know. If we give it to a deputy, it’ll have your fingerprints and blood on it. With Greene’s determination to pin the murder on me, it would be more ammunition for him.” He reached for his phone. “I’d better see what Hez has to say about it.”

Before he called the number, Paradise put her hand on his wrist. “No, don’t. It’s not fair to put him in the position of telling you to do something illegal. We need to figure this out ourselves. We could wipe the knife and report it.”

“But then there’d be no evidence to glean from it.”

She sighed and stared down at it gleaming in the light streaming through the window. “What if we have it examined for evidence ourselves? Well, with Hez’s help.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” He placed the call, and Hez answered almost immediately. “Big problem here, Hez.” Without waiting for a hello from his cousin, Blake launched into the discovery of the knife.

“It’s your mom’s van?”

“Yeah, I only drive it when we all go to church together.”

“Whoever planted it might have tipped off the police to check it out, so we’d better move fast. Savannah’s best friend is a forensic tech here in Pelican Harbor. We’re having lunch with her in a few minutes. Can you bring it to me in the parking lot by Billy’s Seafood?”

“I’m only fifteen minutes away. We’ll be right there.” Blake ended the call and put the transmission in Drive. “Hez says we need to get this thing out of our possession. We’re meeting him at Billy’s Seafood.”

***

Paradise kept her foot away from the side of the knife as if it were a tarantula waiting to jump. If it had been planted after the murder, the evidence was likely very contaminated from rolling around under the seat for nearly three weeks. She couldn’t believeCreed hadn’t shown up with a search warrant. Or was someone waiting for the perfect moment to tell him about it?

“How’s your finger?”

“Fine. It was only a scratch.” She spotted Hez standing with a woman with shoulder-length auburn hair and green eyes. “That’s Savannah?”

“It sure is. I haven’t seen her in a while.” Blake pulled into a parking space beside them and got out to envelop Savannah in a hug.

Paradise left the knife on the floor and went around the front of the van to greet Hez. Fine lines fanned from his blue eyes, and he was still very trim and fit. The sea breeze lifted his dark hair, and somewhere out on the water a boat horn blared. “You’ve been such a big help, Hez. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

His voice, as deep as a cello, rumbled against her ear as he hugged her back. “Blake is my cousin as well as my best friend, so you’re part of the family by extension.” He released her. “This is Savannah.”

Paradise knew their tragic story and immediately bonded with Hez’s ex-wife. They were still dealing with their own problems. “It’s great to finally meet you. I’m sorry we’re butting into your lunch date.”

“I’m not. I told Hez yesterday I wanted to meet you.” Her smile faltered when she glanced toward the van. “I’m sorry there’s more trouble looming for you both. Nora should be here any minute. I told her to meet us in the lot by the pier and to bring an evidence bag. That’s not something Hez carries around with him, though he should.”

“With you two around, I’d better invest in a box of them,” Hez said. “There’s Nora now.”

A white Nissan pulled into the lot and parked on the other side of the van. A brunette with glasses got out and came around the van to join them. “You started the party without me.”

Hez introduced everyone. “Someone planted a knife in the van, Nora. Paradise found it under the seat, and it cut her so it’s going to be contaminated with her DNA. Just telling you that up front. We suspect it’s the Danielle Mason murder weapon.”

Nora’s brown eyes darted to Blake. “You should call the detective handling the case.”

“Greene has already told me he’s pinning this on me. He’d haul me in and toss me in jail. Someone planted that knife. I’ve never seen it before, and we found it accidentally.”

Nora chewed on her lip before she gave a reluctant nod. “I’d likely be the one who runs the evidence on it anyway. I can tell Sergeant McShea how it came into my custody.”

“Please run the evidence first, just to make sure Greene doesn’t yank it away from you and plant fake evidence on it.”

“You really don’t trust him, do you?”

Blake’s brows rose. “Do you?”

When Nora didn’t answer, Paradise took that as a yes. “I left it in the van and didn’t touch it with my bare hand again.”

“I’ll need to do a complete sweep of the vehicle as well.” She glanced at Savannah. “I won’t be able to join you for lunch. This will take some time.”

The woman didn’t seem disappointed, more determined and focused, so Paradise thought she didn’t mind the intrusion into her day too much. Nora went to her car and popped the trunk to extract a case of equipment that she carried to the van. She got out a pair of nitrile gloves and an evidence bag, then picked up the knife gingerly and dropped it into the bag.

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