Gus whistled softly. "You okay?"

"I had enough body mass to dilute the dose. Carly didn't. If she'd been alone, she would have nodded off and frozen to death. Somebody was expecting her to be alone."

She felt the tension that didn't show in Dan's voice. Coolness slid over her skin. She didn't like remembering how close she had come to waking up dead.

"What?" Gus said. "How can you be sure? Wait. Forget I said that. You're like Mom, always knowing things. Shit, brother. Shit. Why would anyone want to hurt Ms. May?"

"Somebody doesn't want the Senator's family history researched and put into print. Things have happened to her since she arrived. Threats and vandalism."

"Are you talking about Governor Quintrell being the one behind it?" Gus asked cautiously.

Carly was curious about that herself.

"He's number one on my list," Dan said. "But there has to be someone else working with him."

"Why?"

"He didn't have a chance to slip anything into whatever Winifred prepared," Dan said.

"You're sure? From what the doctor said, it was a near thing for Winifred. If she's dead, the history won't get done."

"The governor never came near the stuff except to drink some. In any case, Carly has made it real clear that she's going to finish the history, no matter what."

She nodded vigorously.

"She can't finish it if she's dead," Gus pointed out.

Dan made a rough sound.

"What can I do?" Gus asked.

"Find out everyone who was born in this county three years on either side of Sylvia's stroke." Then, remembering his work with the photos, Dan added, "Stillbirths and miscarriages, too."

Gus didn't say anything.

Dan looked at Carly and saw the same question in her eyes that must have been eating at Gus.

"Mind telling me why?" Gus asked finally.

"I don't know."

"You don't know? Then how-"

"Call it a hunch, okay?" Dan interrupted.

"A hunch. Hell, bro. You and that silver forelock are going to make me crazy. You sure you're all right?"

Dan brushed a kiss over Carly's lips. "Never better."

"Then tell Mom. She knows where you were. Everyone knows there was something wrong with the food. She'll be worried and she's too stubborn to call you and ask. I'll let you know when I have the names."

"Thanks. And, Gus?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell anyone what you're doing for me. Anyone."

"You're saying you don't trust anyone, including family?"

Dan waited.

"Okay," Gus said. "Call me Zipped Lips."

The phone went dead.

"Why the births?" Carly asked when Dan hung up.

"Something sent Sylvia over the edge. Given the Senator's track record, I'm thinking it was one of his women. Question is why? And who? When we know that, maybe we'll know who wants you seriously inconvenienced, as in dead."

She winced. "You really think I should leave, don't you."

"Yes," Dan said instantly.

"No harm, no foul, just let the son of a bitch have his way?" she asked in a climbing voice.

"I didn't say that."

"Sure as sunrise the sheriff won't do anything about it. Or are you going to tell him?"

"Waste of time."

"You're going to do it all yourself," she accused. "Just shove the little woman in a closet and go bare-handed after some murderous dickhead."

"Talk about images you could live without."

She refused to be sidetracked. "Well?"

"I won't be bare-handed."

She remembered him standing by a window with a weapon held down along his leg. Her breath came out with a hoarse sound.

"I don't want you to get hurt over something that has nothing to do with you," she said.

"Everything is connected, Carolina May. Especially you and me."

"Then stop trying to get rid of me."

"I'm trying to keep you safe."

"And I'm trying to keep you safe."

He opened his mouth. Closed it. Shook his head. "I'm not believing this conversation."

"Then don't have it."

He laughed almost helplessly.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm picturing the reaction of my… friends if they could hear this." Dan's mouth turned up in a bemused curve. "Would it help you to know I've been trained in various kinds of self-defense, I'm fluent in five languages, and I've lived in failed and failing states for ten out of the last twelve years?"

"I'm happy for you, even though it sounds like you have a sucky, dangerous job."

"Sometimes. Mostly not."

"Maybe I should rescue you." She smiled.

"You're missing the point," he said.

"The point is I'm staying."

He looked at her smoky gold eyes and knew he wasn't going to win this argument.

"If you stay, there are going to be some ground rules," he said.

"There's no if about it. I'm staying. Wait," she said, sensing he was going to argue some more. "Let me finish. I'm not crazy or naive. I know how close I came to dying last night. But if I run off, whoever is behind this isn't going to just go back to playing with himself. Winifred is in danger right now. Anyone who asks the wrong questions is in danger. I can't just shrug and say, 'Not my problem,' and walk away. It's like you said. Everything is connected. I can't live with being the weak link that made someone else's life fall apart."

Dan couldn't argue with Carly. He felt the same way. It was one of the reasons he'd kept on doing a sucky, sometimes dangerous job.

"Okay," he said.

She blinked. "That's it? No argument? Just okay?"

"Keep it in mind when you start objecting to commonsense advice."

"You don't advise, you order."

He just looked at her.

She blew out a breath. "Okay."

Smiling, Dan kissed her quickly and shot out of bed before he changed his mind.

Or she did.

Chapter 38

TAOS

MONDAY MORNING

DAN PARKED IN FRONT OF HIS PARENTS' HOUSE, NEXT TO THE OLD CAR THEY HAD last seen in front of Lucia Sandoval's house.

"I won't be long," Dan said to Carly. "Wait here. I'll leave the engine running so you keep warm."

She gave him a sideways look. "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"I'm offering you a chance to avoid what might be an ugly family wrangle."

"About?"

"Opiates."

She reached for the handle and opened the door.

He cursed under his breath, got out, and held the little gate open for her. As she walked by, he took her arm and stopped her. "Whatever you hear doesn't go into Winifred's damned history without my mother's permission."

"I don't think your mother will give it."

"She has a right to her privacy. So does Lucia, whose only mistake was to fall in love with the wrong man."

Carly looked into Dan's eyes, shadowed and green and determined. "I'll respect their privacy."

"Thank you." He shifted almost angrily, releasing her. "I don't like doing this."

"Asking me to censor a family history?"

"That, too."

Dan knocked on the door and called out. His father's voice called back.

"Great," Dan muttered. "That will put a real gloss on this cluster-hug."

"Cluster-hug. Is that a word?"

"It is in my mother's house."

Carly bit her lip against a smile. The idea of a man like Dan tiptoeing around his mother appealed to her. "Gotcha."

The door opened. John grinned when he saw them. "Answered prayers. Your mother and Lucia are in the greenhouse talking about woman things."

"Carly is your answer," Dan said, gesturing her into the house. "I need to talk to Mom."

John's smile vanished. "It better not be about your great-grandfather."

"It isn't." This time.

"Fresh coffee in the kitchen," John said to Carly. "You want some, Dan?"

"No thanks. This will be short and sweet." I hope.

Dan went through the kitchen to the attached greenhouse. The temperature was about that of the kitchen. The humidity was higher.