Page 81 of Ambush

Blake did indeed.

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Though Paradise knew Quinn was ten, she looked about fourteen. Her curly red hair fell nearly to her waist, and she was already outgrowing her gangly awkwardness. She sat cross-legged on the living room floor with nail polishes and nail stickers spread out in front of her.

“Quinn, these are some friends of mine,” Roger said. “They’d like to talk to you for a minute.”

A slight frown marred the perfection of the girl’s face, and she didn’t glance up. “Just a second, Grandpa. I’m almost done with my polish.” She layered another coat of bright blue on her pinky nail before glancing up at Paradise and Blake.

Paradise settled on the hardwood floor in front of her. “I went to school with your mom. My name is Paradise.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the men walk toward the kitchen and heard Roger say something about coffee.

Quinn’s turquoise eyes widened. “That’s a bussin’ name. Did your parents name you that, or did you find it yourself?”

“My parents called me that. I was born in Hawaii when my dad was in the military. I don’t remember it though because we moved here when I was a baby.” Paradise did some calculations in her head. “You’re in fifth grade? Middle school?”

“Uh-huh.” The girl blew on her nails.

Maybe bluntness would receive a reaction. “Why did you let the activists into your grandpa’s back pasture?”

Quinn continued to blow on her nails for a long moment. “Grandpa never cares what I do.”

“Why did they want in there?”

“They wanted to make a video.”

That was unexpected. “Why there?”

“It was a video about how wrong it is to use horses. It was pretty cringe. I love our horses and they love me. That’s when I realized that group was ick.”

At least they hadn’t misled the girl for long. She might beyoung, but she was more astute than she seemed. “Did you hear them say anything about the animal park?”

“The Sanctuary? Sure, they wanted to shut it down and turn all the animals loose.” Her red curls fell across her face, and she pawed them away with the back of her hand so she wouldn’t smear her wet nails. “They got into a fight that day about who got to pretend to be dead.”

“Pretend to be dead? How was that supposed to work?”

“One of them was going to have fake blood smeared all over her and have this big orange knife sticking out of her chest. They were going to use the horses. They were salty about old Moses going to the park.”

“So they planned all along to have one of them get in the trailer with Moses and pretend to be dead?” And an orange knife was used. That was a very interesting detail considering the knife planted in the van was orange. Was it originally in the possession of the activist group?

Quinn nodded. “And then it wasreal. I don’t know what happened.”

“Did you ever see anyone else with them—someone local?”

Quinn frowned as she thought. “Well, the vet was there.”

“Dr. Shaw? Out to check on the horse?”

“I don’t think so. He was talking with them and never examined Moses. We all knew the old guy had a strangulated bowel and couldn’t live. He was in pain too.”

“Did you hear what Dr. Shaw talked to them about?”

“He seemed to be agreeing with them that the park should be shut down.”

“Did he say why?”

“No, but the rest of them seemed to think he had inside information about how the animals were mistreated or something. You’re the vet out there, aren’t you?”

Paradise nodded. “The animals have great lives there. They’re well-loved with lots of enrichment times and fun things for them to do. They seem very happy.”

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