St Kilda Consulting 01 - Always Time to Die

her.
    “Two days later she was dead,” Diana said in a raw voice.
    “What other man did she see?” Carly asked gently.
    “Cain.”
    Carly looked at Dan, who was watching his mother with sadness and pity combined.
    “Is that what your mother said?” he asked.
    “I remember. I remember the exact words. They live in my dreams. Nightmares.” Diana spoke quickly now, the past a river whose dam was crumbling, a torrent seeking release. “She said, ‘The dead walk and eat at my father’s ranch. Cain lives and Abel is dead.’ Then she started screaming and laughing and smashing everything she could reach, cutting herself on the glass, throwing knives and dishes and splashing blood everywhere, shrieking about a prodigal daughter finally getting even with God, and then she came at me with a knife and her hands were bloody and her eyes… her eyes… ”
    Diana’s throat closed as she stared through the present into a past no child should ever have seen.
    Dan caught his mother in a hug, trying to comfort her, hating himself and whatever had happened in his mother’s past.
    “I ran,” Diana said starkly, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I knew she needed help but I didn’t get help for her. I hated her and I hated the evil she sold me to, so I hid in the church and told no one.” A shudder racked her body. “The next thing I remember, she was dead. I could have helped her but I hated her too much. I wanted her dead. She was evil and the evil came down to me. No matter how much good I do, I am as evil as my mother and her brother were, and my grandfather who addicted her and turned her into a whore who sold her own child.”
    Dan bent until his cheek was on his mother’s hair. He held her, simply held her, hating the questions that had brought such pain.
    And that was all they’d brought. Nothing in Diana’s and his grandmother’s half-crazed memories of the past could help the present.
    “I’ve seen evil,” Dan said, tipping up his mother’s chin, kissing her cheek. “You aren’t it. You’re simply human. You were an abused, terrified child who grew up into a woman children run laughing to meet, knowing that they’re safe with you. You’re not evil at all. I love you and I’m very proud of you.”
    Diana’s sad, bitter smile made tears burn in Carly’s eyes.
    “I have only one more thing to say, then we will never speak of this again,” Diana said. “Ever.”
    Slowly Dan released Diana and looked down into the eyes of a woman who was both his mother and a woman he’d never known. “I can’t promise that, because I’m certain you haven’t told me all you could. Why?”
    “The words would choke me,” Diana said in a raw voice, “ and they would destroy you . Take your woman away from here. Evil wants her, and evil always wins.”

QUINTRELL RANCH
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
58
    MELISSA WAS PACKING AN OVERNIGHT CASE WHEN PETE CALLED HER .
    “The governor’s here,” Pete said. He stood in the doorway to their apartment in the big house.
    “What are you talking about? No helicopter would fly in this weather.”
    “He drove. I’ll bet he has our pink slips.”
    Melissa’s full mouth turned down. “We knew that was coming when we were told to pack up the house.”
    “How soon can we get our stuff out of here and head for the land of perpetual sun?” Pete asked. “I’m sick of this place.”
    “The furniture we own isn’t worth moving,” she said. “Same for dishes and stuff. It’d be easier to walk away and replace what we need at the other end than fuss with an international move.”
    “A few days? More?” Pete pressed.
    “What’s the rush?”
    “The governor isn’t the Senator. I’m having a hard time keeping my temper with him. It’s time to move on, begin the rest of our life.”
    Melissa’s dark eyes searched her husband’s face and found only impatience.
    “A week,” she said. “We need at least that much lead time or the plane tickets will cost a fortune.”
    Pete nodded. “Okay. A week. Then we’re gone. And if the books are a mess, the governor can just cope. I’m sick of this job and the ranch. Too many people dying.”
    “They were all as old as dirt.” She shrugged. “What do you expect?”
    The doorbell chimed.
    “I’ll get it,” Pete said. “You finish packing for our time off in town. It’s snowing pretty good. If we don’t get out in the next hour, we might not get out at all.”
    Melissa hesitated, then followed Pete down the hall