Free Body of Evidence by Lenora Worth Page B

“What happens if nothing happens, Anderson? How long can you stay here?”
    â€œUntil I find something,” he replied. “I’m gonna bunk down near the alligator pen every night.” Then he pointed to a big sack on the table. “First, I’m gonna make this place a little more secure.”
    â€œI told you, I can’t afford a security system right now. I have lights and cameras ready to be hooked up, but they’re not working yet.”
    â€œI’ll improvise,” he replied. “Don’t worry about it.”
    She stomped her boots. “I don’t have time to worry about it. I’m going to check on Ethel and the goats.”
    â€œOkay. I’ll finish up in here and find you. Then I’ll sweet-talk Ethel into staying here with you a bit longer so I can track down Ralph Chason.”
    â€œI don’t need a babysitter.”
    â€œI didn’t say that. I don’t want you alone right now.”
    â€œAs if Ethel could save me.”
    â€œYou said yourself she has sturdy orthopedic shoes.”
    She shot him another raised-eyebrow glance. “Well, she did use to be a marathon runner. And she knows how to use a shotgun.”
    â€œThere you go, then.”
    He watched her prance away, the mental image of Jennifer in a pretty dress by his side while they strolled along the Riverwalk causing him to shake his head. “Whoa, there, Anderson. No time for that kind of daydreaming.”
    And yet, he couldn’t get that image out of his mind. Maybe he should eat another muffin and be done with it.
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    â€œAnother day, another dollar,” Jennifer told Jacob later as they finished up for the day. All the animals had been fed and watered as usual. They rotated cleaning the cages on a daily basis and today’s cleanings had gone off without too much trouble—no animals escaping or getting ornery with them. Her favorites, the turtles, seemed to be thriving, too. Very important since hunters could get a non-game permit to capture turtles and export them to other countries as a delicacy. Jennifer rescued a lot of turtles from too-cold waters or from storms tossing them into shallow waters. That’s how she’d found her very first turtle when she was young.
    Remembering how gentle her father had been with the almost hypothermic creature they’d found in a shallow wash on Padre Island one brutal winter, Jennifer closed her eyes to the grief forming inside her soul. Her father had practically brought the comatose turtle back to life. So why had he let himself go and get killed in a boat that had flipped over into snake-infested waters?
    Because Martin Rodgers had lived for the thrill and the danger of his job. Same with Anderson Michaels. Anderson might not look for wild animals, but he did look for unscrupulous criminals. Did he live for the thrill and the danger of his job? Did he find it easy to walk away from any kind of intimate commitment?
    She should keep her mind on her turtles and not Ranger-man, Jennifer thought as she quickly opened her eyes to reality. Anderson wouldn’t stay around. He’dgo back to his own life once this case was over and solved.
    But her immediate concern still involved him. Anderson had been gone for over two hours. He was out there somewhere, trying to find a disgruntled neighbor. What if the neighbor had found him first?
    Jennifer had enjoyed the freedom earlier, glad that he wasn’t underfoot or front and center in her mind for a change. Jacob had come after school to help out and Ethel had stayed to lend a hand. She was in the front office right now, explaining to some tourist about the renovations and apologizing because they couldn’t take a stroll around the entire property. And if Jennifer knew Ethel, she’d also give them a discount pass for the grand reopening next spring. They needed to keep visitors aware.
    Ethel had stayed, all right, after meeting Anderson and preening like