"What is it?" Dan asked, looking at her.

Carly handed over the last paper. "Winifred must have felt worse than she let on. She made certain I would get her papers and access to the ranch if she died before the family history was finished."

"Smart woman," Dan said, reading quickly. "This will help if the governor tries to get everything back and quash the history. If nothing else, it will give us time to copy all the papers and photos."

Gus looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"The governor didn't want any family history to be published until after the election in November," Dan said.

Carly took a final piece of paper from the envelope. Her eyes widened. "Looks like Melissa was right."

She passed the paper over to Dan.

"What do you mean?" Gus asked.

"Winifred finally lost it," Carly said. "She demanded that the governor prove he's a descendant of the Castillos."

Dan took the paper and read swiftly.

"It's in the public record," Gus said. "No problem."

"It was for Winifred," Dan said. "She's demanding a special test to prove the governor was a Castillo."

"What-bring back three golden apples from Olympus?" Gus asked.

"Nothing that mythic." Carly picked up the receipt and waved it. "She sent in saliva samples of her own and Sylvia's to Genedyne. That will give a comparison for the mtDNA."

"Translation please?" Gus asked.

"MtDNA is passed to children only from the mother," Carly said. "The father's mtDNA never makes it into the female's egg at conception. The mtDNA is carried in the part of the sperm's tail that falls off outside the egg."

"And?" Gus asked. "Help me here. I barely got through biology."

"Bottom line," Carly said, "is that any child of Sylvia Castillo Quintrell will carry her mtDNA, but only her female children will carry on the mtDNA to the next generation."

"So what? The governor has already inherited. What does Winifred think, that he was swapped in the nursery by passing aliens?"

"I think she wants to make as much trouble as possible for the governor," Carly said. "She was, um, real blunt on the subject of the Senator. Didn't like him a bit."

"If what she says is true, she had reason," Dan said.

"Because he liked women?" Gus asked.

"Because Sylvia tried to kill her husband and ended up a vegetable instead."

Gus stared at his brother. "You're joking."

"Nope." Dan stood up. "I'm going to talk to Mom."

"You're either meaner or braver than I am," Gus said.

"Getting shot does that to you." Dan dug his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Carly. "Here, you drive. I've got some people to call."

Chapter 56

ON THE ROAD TO TAOS

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

THE GOVERNOR'S PHONE VIBRATED AGAINST HIS THIGH AS HE DROVE THE WINDING winter road.

"Now what?" he muttered.

The caller ID said Mark Rubin.

Josh pulled over to the side of the road and answered. "Hello, Mark. I take it you saw Dykstra's latest?"

"The phone has been red hot since that show. Reporters clamoring for an interview with you, wanting a contact number for your aunt, wanting to interview everybody from grammar school friends to Vietnam buddies. What the hell is going on? When I asked you about possible land mines to be defused on the way to the presidency, you didn't say anything about your family."

"What's to say?" Josh asked wearily. "My aunt hated my father and transferred that hatred to me. End of story."

"Not this time. Everybody is saying if it's all kosher with your bloodlines, why not have the test? No big deal."

"You don't think it's demeaning for a presidential contender to jump through hoops when a fifth-rate gossip queen snaps her fingers?"

"Not getting a simple test gives her more ammo. Get in front of this story, Josh. Send in a sample. Spike that bitch's guns."

The governor smiled thinly. As always, his campaign manager's jugular instinct was on target. Josh fingered the thin, fresh scab on his neck. It galled him to give in to Dykstra.

But he would.

"Relax," Josh said. "I cut myself shaving this morning and mailed the bandage to Genedyne, just like my aunt wanted. I should have the results in a day or two."

"Do you want me to make an announcement?"

"To Dykstra?"

"Yeah," Rubin said.

"Not one word."

"But-"

"When the test results come in," Josh interrupted, "I'm going to make her eat them in front of a live camera."

Rubin was still laughing when Josh disconnected.

Chapter 57

TAOS

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

CARLY ONLY MADE TWO WRONG TURNS BEFORE SHE FOUND HER WAY TO THE DURAN house. Dan hadn't been much help. He'd been on the phone nonstop. She shut off the engine and waited for him to finish his conversation. From what she'd been able to figure out listening to one side of the conversation, in this latest call Dan was talking with someone called Cheryl, a Genedyne technician who also had connections to St. Kilda Consulting.

"That's right," Dan said. "They were mailed Wednesday, arrived Thursday."

"No sign of anything in the computer," Cheryl said. "Could it have been a special order?"

"Check everything you have."

"Checking as we speak."

Dan covered the receiver and said to Carly, "It will be a minute."

She turned the engine back on to keep the truck warm. There wasn't enough snow coming down for a whiteout, but it was edging closer. Occasional gusts of wind buffeted the truck and made snow dance crazily.

"Do you have any of the lab kits we need to send in samples for testing?" Dan asked Carly.

"I had a dozen sent to Winifred. She only asked for ten, but I figured some extra couldn't hurt. And I sent a dozen to your house. They should be in today's mail."

"You're brilliant," he said, pulling her close for a fast kiss. "No, not you, Cheryl. What do you have?"

"A yen to be called brilliant," the tech shot back.

"You're brilliant," Dan said instantly.

"Two samples, one labeled Sylvia Castillo, one labeled Winifred Castillo, mtDNA only."

"Is there enough of each sample to do more tests?"

"Sonny, you'd be amazed how much I can do with how little. What do you want?"

Dan looked at Carly. "Y-DNA, mtDNA, and…?" he asked, holding the phone out to Carly.

Carly took it and spoke quickly. "Go to at least twenty-five markers on the Y-DNA, and at a minimum, a maternal match and every other refinement you have for mtDNA, and I hope to God I can afford it."

"My treat," Dan said, taking back the phone. "Did you get that, Cheryl? Give the samples the works and bill everything to me. And don't let anyone know."

"Got it. How soon do you want it?"

"Somebody tried to kill me. How fast can you get it?"

Cheryl whistled. "Does Steele know?"

"No. It's personal."

"So is dying. I'll get back to you in twenty-four, max."

"Wait. I'll be sending more samples in. Same tests, same rush."

"Bring it on. We just got a dandy new machine that's so fast it scares me. Anything else?"

"No," he said.

"Then you're wasting my time and your money."

Dan didn't bother to say good-bye. Neither did Cheryl. He punched out and stared through the windshield.

"Something wrong?" Carly asked.

"Something else, you mean?" He took a long breath and adjusted the watch cap he wore to conceal the bandage on his hairline. "No, not yet. But it's coming."

Carly looked at the house, where lights glowed against the early twilight brought by snowfall.

"At least Dad isn't home," Dan said. "He's so protective of Mom that I have to fight him to get to her."

"Maybe we shouldn't-"