TAOS
MONDAY AFTERNOON
HUNCHED AGAINST WIND AND BLOWING SNOW, GUS KNOCKED HARD ON THE DOOR
of Dan's rental and simultaneously turned the doorknob. It was locked, even though his truck was out front. Gus shook his head. His brother was the only person he knew who locked his doors when he was home.
"Dan, it's Gus! I'm freezing my butt off out here!"
Thirty long, miserable seconds later, the front door opened. Carly peeked out, stepped aside, and slammed the door shut again one second after Gus got in the living room. Even so, Carly heard Dan swearing as various genealogical charts and papers went flying, courtesy of a frigid gust of wind.
"Sorry," Gus said. He gestured to the boarded-over window. "What happened?"
"Brick meets glass. Glass breaks," Dan said. "Snarky renter gets plywood and covers the hole."
"Somebody deliberately broke your window?"
"Yeah."
"What did the sheriff say?" Gus asked.
"You're kidding, right?" Carly said, disgusted. "I don't think we bothered him with that incident."
"We didn't," Dan said, "because there were others we did report and he didn't care. That's why she's living here rather than at the ranch."
"Dang, and here I was getting ready for nieces or-"
"Gus, shut up," Dan cut in.
Gus made muffled sounds like he was talking around a hand over his mouth.
Carly snickered.
Dan shot his brother a green glance that was halfway from amused to outright irritated.
"Okay, okay," Gus said. He turned to Carly. "When my older-much, much older-brother gets that look in his eyes, he's about to kick something. I don't want it to be me." He reached inside his snow jacket and pulled out a big envelope with the newspaper's logo on it. "This is a list of all the children in the area who were born within ten months of a visit from the Senator. The ones with an asterisk by the file name were born to women of the right age to attract the Senator."
"Puberty to menopause?" Carly asked.
"Near as I can tell, he didn't have many women who were over twenty-nine," Gus said. "Certainly none who looked it. The older he got, the younger he liked them, if you can believe gossip."
Carly thought of the picture of the middle-aged Senator with his hand on his thirteen-year-old daughter's leg. "Oh, I can believe it. What I can't believe is that nobody ever called him on it."
"Just one of the prerogatives of power," Dan said.
"Like leaving office richer than when you went in?" she retorted.
"Just like it." Dan opened the envelope, saw the CD he'd loaned his brother, plus a new CD. "How many names?"
"Didn't count," Gus said cheerfully. "Too many. We're a fertile bunch in Taos."
"You see Mom lately?" Dan asked.
"This morning."
"How's she doing?"
"She's pretty shocked about losing Pete and Melissa, but-"
"Losing?" Carly interrupted, startled. "Did the governor fire them?"
Gus looked from one to the other. "You don't know." It was a statement, not a question. "They were killed in a car accident yesterday on the way into town."
Carly just stared at him.
"Where?" Dan asked flatly.
"Do you know where the ranch road comes around the toe of Castillo Ridge and winds back along it on the way to the highway?"
Carly stopped breathing.
"I know it," Dan said. "What happened?"
"They must have been running late, because Pete was going along too fast. He hit ice, lost it, and went over the edge. They weren't found until early this morning. The Sneads were coming in with some emergency supplies for the line cabins, so if someone got lost they could survive until help came."
Dan nodded. It was a common, and decent, thing for ranchers to do.
"The Sneads saw light glowing under the snow at the bottom of the ridge, on the town side. It was headlights. They went down and found Melissa." Gus shook his head. "Took them a while to find Pete, about a hundred yards uphill from the truck. He must not have worn a seat belt. If the wind hadn't been blowing snow around, and Jim's dog hadn't had a good nose, no one would have found Pete until spring."
"What does the sheriff have to say about it?" Dan asked.
"There hasn't been a formal autopsy yet, but all the injuries look like what you'd expect from a nasty wreck. Why?"
Carly barely heard. All she could think of was the sniper on Castillo Ridge, able to fire toward the ranch or toward the far side of the ridge.
She looked at Dan.
He shook his head slightly. "Thanks for all your help, Gus. Now go back and spend time with your family. Give them all hugs for me, okay?"
"Here's my hat, what's my hurry, is that it?" Gus asked Dan.
"Yes. Don't call me, Gus. Don't be seen with me. And I'd stay clear of Mom, too. Just for a while."
"What's going on?" Gus demanded.
"I don't know. Until I do, stay away from me, and from her."
"What about Carly?" Gus asked.
"Same goes," she said in a low voice. "Stay away. Think of it as a temporary quarantine." At least I hope its temporary.
"Please," Dan said to his brother. "Think of your kids."
"You're serious." Gus stared at his brother. "You're really serious."
"Yes."
"Does Mom know?"
"Don't ask her," Dan said. "Don't ask anyone. Don't trust anyone."
"Even-"
"Anyone," Dan said curtly.
Gus blew out a breath, turned, and stalked to the front door. "See you around, bro. And when I do, you'd better have an explanation for me. A good one."
The door closed behind him. Hard.