St Kilda Consulting 01 - Always Time to Die

Senator never knew who was hosing him,” Dan added. “Somehow the governor found out, probably when he took over the ranch accounts after the Senator died.” Dan shrugged. “I cracked the laundry and got Pete’s name.”
    “How did you do that?” Gus asked.
    “Do what?” Carly and Dan said at once.
    Gus opened his mouth, closed it, and listened.
    “I’m sure the governor has access to forensic accountants,” Dan said, “so he could have found out who was blackmailing him. Again, not provable without the governor’s confession. I’m not holding my breath for that one.”
    “The happy blackmail lasted until Pete and Melissa died in a car accident,” Carly said.
    “But it wasn’t an accident,” Gus said.
    “No,” Dan said. “Did I mention that Randy Mullins was a damn good sniper in Vietnam?”
    “I have a headache,” Gus said, rubbing the back of his neck.
    “So did I,” Dan said, touching the place where a bullet had trimmed his hairline a little too close. “That’s how the governor got the blood he sent to Genedyne to prove he had Castillo mtDNA. He knocked me down with a bullet, waited for me to crawl off with Carly’s help, and then he picked up a sample where I’d bled into the snow.”
    “I’ll bet he wishes now that he’d killed you,” Gus said.
    Dan’s smile was all teeth. “Yeah, I’ll bet he does. But at the time it looked too risky. A little blood on the snow from a poacher is no biggie. A dead body requires a lot more police work.”
    “So how did you catch him?” Gus said.
    Dan squeezed Carly’s hand, silently asking her to let him be the one to pick out the truths and half-truths for his brother. “Carly spotted a slight difference in the mtDNA profile between Mom and Sylvia. That was the bomb that blew the governor’s murderous game to smithereens.”
    “What was?” Gus asked impatiently.
    “Genetically, the governor is carrying the same mtDNA as Melissa. Susan Mullins’s mtDNA.”
    “So that’s why you had her exhumed. Why didn’t you have Liza exhumed at the same time? Was it Mom?”
    “There wasn’t any need to put her through it,” Dan said, a half-truth if ever one had been spoken. What he didn’t say was that he’d done some partial exhumations one frozen night in the Quintrell graveyard. “Given the nuptial agreement the Senator signed, his bastard child has no more legal right to the Quintrell ranch than your average Martian.”
    “How did Genedyne get a sample of the Senator? I sure can’t see the governor agreeing to it.”
    “You’ll have to ask St. Kilda Consulting,” Dan said without a pause.
    “Will they tell me?”
    “Doubt it.”
    “Genes aside,” Carly said quickly, not wanting Gus to look too closely at the genetic histories, “St. Kilda Consulting also uncovered numerous discrepancies in various military and school records relating to Randy and Josh, as well as campaign money from illegal sources for both the Senator and the governor, and some land swaps that benefited the Quintrells more than the citizens of New Mexico or the United States.”
    Gus’s eyebrows climbed.
    “Once you have a reason to go looking, you can find some incredible things in the records,” Carly said.
    “St. Kilda Consulting again,” Gus said, looking at his brother like he hadn’t seen him before. “I’d love to do a story on—”
    “No,” Dan cut in. “The people who matter already know. The rest watch the six o’clock news.”
    Gus looked at the file in Carly’s hand. “I don’t suppose I could take that with me?”
    “Sorry,” Dan said. “Background only. Deep background. But you’ll find that Sheriff Montoya will be real cooperative. And if he isn’t, let me know.”
    There was a knock on the front door.
    “I’ll get it,” Gus said, winking at Dan with Carly on his lap. “You look too comfortable to disturb.”
    Dan tightened his arms around Carly. “You ready for this?” he whispered.
    “For you, always.”
    “For Mom. I’m guessing it’s her knocking at the door. She knows the report came in today.”
    “Do you want me to disappear?” Carly asked.
    “Not unless you want to.”
    Carly kissed his jawline. “Only if you want me to.”
    He tipped her chin up and looked into her eyes. “Stay with me, Carolina May.”
    Before she could say anything, Diana and John walked into the bedroom. Diana looked worn yet somehow stronger. John looked like a man protecting his woman.
    Dan stood up, taking Carly with him