Page 6 of Ambush

The clinic was housed in a metal building with painted concrete floors. It held the smell of various animals being treated here, and she caught a whiff of big cat. Her throat tightened and she hurried past the room where the animal had been.

A perky brunette in her early twenties turned to greet her with a bright smile. “Hi, I’m Lacey Armstrong, your vet tech. I’m so glad you’re here.” She gestured at the cage. “This is Rosy.She’s favoring her right paw, and I think it’s sprained. She’s very domesticated and friendly. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with her.”

“Fennec foxes have fragile bones and are prone to sprains. Hopefully, that’s all it is.” Paradise glanced around the space. “Do we have an X-ray machine?”

Lacey nodded. “And an ultrasound machine. A vet’s office in Mobile donated an old CT machine as well. We’re pretty well set up even though we operate on a very tight budget.”

Paradise opened the cage. “Hello there, Rosy. How are you doing?” The tiny fox stared at her with a mournful expression. “Not so well?” She reached slowly into the cage and the little creature let her gently touch her head. Rosy let out a protesting squeak when Paradise touched the injured paw. “Let’s get this x-rayed.”

“I’ll do that for you.” Lacey scooped Rosy out of the cage with gentle care and whisked her away to another room.

While she was gone, Paradise peeked in all the drawers and cabinets and found the exam room well equipped. Working here would be a pleasure as long as she didn’t have to treat a big cat. At least not until she was ready to face that task.

Lacey returned and settled Rosy back in the cage. “All done. You can see the X-rays on the computer.”

Fennec foxes preferred not to be touched, though they tolerated being handled, so Paradise let the little fox lay quietly until she saw the X-rays. “It’s not broken, so that’s good. I’ll wrap it.”

“We have a hospital area where injured animals are kept overnight, but there’s no one to man it right now,” Lacey said. “I live in town. Would you be able to check on her after hours? No other animals are in the hospital.”

“Not a problem.” In fact, she just might take Rosy home to keep her company.

***

Blake was never one to bury his head in the sand, and the current circumstances were severe enough that he had to act. After the first expedition, he sat on the fence by the wolf enclosure and pulled out his phone to call his cousin Hezekiah Webster. Hez was an attorney in the area and gave The Sanctuary ten free hours of legal advice a month. They hadn’t had to use him that often, but the past few weeks had been challenging, and Blake might already be pushing that limit.

Hez answered on the first ring. “Hey, Blake, how’s it going?” His cousin’s deep voice held the calm strength of a man used to commanding center stage in a courtroom.

“Not so great, Hez.” Blake launched into the discovery of the body. “I think I’m going to be their top suspect. And with good reason. She and I had a couple of altercations.” He reminded Hez what had happened even though he’d consulted with his cousin when it all went down. “On the surface it would appear I had motive.”

“This doesn’t sound good. Let me see what I can find out about the case,” Hez said. “For now, I’d suggest detailing your whereabouts the day before and the morning of the murder. Do they have a time of death?”

“The autopsy isn’t back yet.” Blake thought back to his schedule so far this week. “I think I’ve got a solid alibi. I’ve been staying at Mom’s to help with the boys, and she and I watched a movie until late the night before. Isaac slept with me in my apartment that night too. Security cameras scattered around Mom’s cottage should show I never left the upstairs apartment.”

“That will help. Don’t answer any questions without me present, and don’t offer any information on your own. If you’ve got a detective gunning for you, things can get twisted.”

“Will do. Thanks for the hand-holding. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll figure out who really did this.”

“Once they find the scene of the crime, they should uncover more information. Do you know if they’ve searched the ranch where the meat originated?”

“They aren’t telling me much.”

“No, I suppose they aren’t. How’s Aunt Jenna holding up?”

“She’s worried. We were already trying to make it on a shoestring, and now we have this to worry about.” Blake slid off the fence and kicked at a weed with his boot. The action didn’t do anything for his frustration level. “And if this isn’t bad enough, Mom hired a new vet.”

“That should be helpful.”

“It’swhoshe hired. Paradise Alden.” A long pause followed, and Blake knew his cousin was trying to place the name. “My first girlfriend.”

“The girl next door who was in foster care? The one you...?”

“Exactly,” Blake said grimly. “And Mom didn’t even warn me. When Paradise walked through the door, I thought maybe I was hallucinating. I haven’t seen her in fifteen years.”

“And how’d she seem?”

“As beautiful as ever. And as prickly. She’ll be as easy to work with as a porcupine. She assumed Mom had told me about hiring her and was none too pleased to be dumped into a surprise situation. The funny thing is—I’m not sure why she’s here. She’s got horrific scars on her arm and seems jittery around the animals. She was mauled by a black panther—a jaguar.”

“That would make anyone skittish. Hmm, strange she’d come back after all this time.”

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