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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?”

“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 believe Creed 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.

It was the best view they’d had of the hunting knife, and Para dise had never seen one like it. The bright orange blade would stand out, and it would be a deadly weapon.

“That’s some knife,” Blake said. “It’s not military issue.”

Nora studied it through the plastic. “It’s a Benchmade Raghorn.”

Blake started to step toward her, then stopped and put his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Not familiar with the brand,

but then, I’m not a hunter.”

“I’m not either, but Greene will find out more about it.” Nora laid it aside and pulled out her phone. “I’ll call for help

to process the vehicle. Go ahead and have lunch.”

“You and Paradise want to have lunch with us?” Hez asked. “You’re going to be stuck here awhile anyway. Savannah and Paradise

can get acquainted a little better.”

Blake glanced at Paradise, and she nodded. Hez might know more about her brother, though she assumed if he’d discovered anything,

he would have dropped that news already.

Paradise watched Nora begin gathering hairs and fibers at the driver’s door. This could be the moment that turned the investigation

around. It might clear Blake and point to the real killer.

Or it could be another boulder on his back that would sink him, and they’d all go down with him.