Absolutely, Positively

push me around last night. You took advantage of my weakened condition.”

    “A deal's a deal.”

    “Yeah, yeah. You got what you wanted.” Leon paused. “How's Josh?”

    “Fine. He told everyone what you said to him last night. About how it's time for the Trevelyan men to start using their heads instead of other portions of their anatomies.”

    “Make him happy, d'ya think?”

    “Yes. You took a load off his shoulders.” Harry fixed his uncle with a meaningful look. “You gave him something I couldn't give to him. Something he'll have for the rest of his life.”

    “What's that?”

    “The knowledge that you're proud of him and that his father would have been proud of him, too. He no longer feels that he's being a traitor to the Trevelyan heritage.”

    “Yeah, well, maybe you were right. Maybe it's time for a new heritage, y'know?”

    Harry smiled. “What's this? Don't tell me that a little brush with death has given you a new philosophy of life?”

    “Nah. It just made me a little more practical. I've never made much money in the racing game, and as for Willy, well, we both know what happened to him. Be good if Josh tries something different.”

    “You surprise me, Leon. I don't know what to say, except thanks.”

    Leon squinted up at him. “Now that you mention it, there is something else you can do to show your undyin' gratitude.”

    “What's that?”

    “I'm gonna need a new truck.”

    Molly glanced at Harry as she buckled her seat belt. She was amused. “Leon wants you to buy him another truck?”

    “Leon has never been one to let a golden opportunity slide past without making a grab for it.” Harry eased the Sneath out of the hospital parking lot.

    He drove out onto the main road with a sense of satisfaction. It was seven-thirty. They would be back in Seattle in an hour. Molly would be at her shop in plenty of time to open it for the day.

    “Your uncle is a real piece of work.” Molly hesitated. “I couldn't help but notice that you definitely play hardball with him.”

    “If that's a polite way of saying that I put the screws to him last night when he thought he might die, I plead guilty. From past experience, I've learned that there is no other way to deal with Leon.”

    Molly was silent for a few minutes. Harry wondered what she was thinking. It occurred to him that she might not approve of the way he handled his relatives.

    “I know it's none of my business,” Molly said after a while. “But would you mind telling me what it is that you hold over Leon? Is he really afraid that you'll tarnish his image in Josh's eyes?”

    “Yes.”

    “What makes him think you could do that, assuming you would do it?”

    Harry flexed his hands on the wheel. She had a right to know, he thought. Maybe that was the real reason he had asked her to accompany him into Leon's room last night. Maybe he wanted to tell her the truth.

    “Leon and I share a secret. He and I are the only two people in the world who know that Josh's father died because the mechanic in charge of his motorcycle failed to give the engine a thorough going over the night before Willy did his last stunt. There was something wrong with the fuel lines. Something that the mechanic would have caught if he had done his job properly.”

    Molly turned slightly in the seat. “Who was Willy's mechanic?”

    “Leon.”

    “I had a feeling you were going to say that. What went wrong? Why didn't Leon check out the engine?”

    “Because he was too busy screwing the sheriff's wife in a motel room.”

    Molly looked stricken. “I remember your telling me something about Leon being in jail the day Willy was killed.”

    “He was. The sheriff made his arrest around ten that morning. Willy died at one o'clock that afternoon.”

    “How did you figure out that Leon hadn't done his job as a mechanic?”

    Harry concentrated on the road. “Because I examined the wreckage after the accident. When I went over the remains of the engine, I knew that something had gone wrong in the fuel lines.”

    She gave him a searching glance. “You just knew?”

    “I spent a lot of time with the bits and pieces that were left over after the explosion,” Harry said carefully.

    “You got one of your insights?”

    “You could say that.”

    “Is that what happened the day your parents were murdered?” she asked softly. “When you found their boat and the one the killers had used, did you know that something terrible had