St Kilda Consulting 01 - Always Time to Die

her great-great-grandmother’s uncanny way with plants.”
    “Is Mrs. Duran related to you?” Carly asked, startled. “She wasn’t on the list of relatives you gave me.”
    “If your family has been here for more than three generations, everyone’s related, one way or another,” Dan said before Winifred could. “Like any other old village, you have all kinds and degrees of cousins under every bush.”
    Winifred’s mouth thinned. “You wouldn’t believe how close to the bone some of the old families bred.”
    Carly’s eyes gleamed gold. “I’d love to do a DNA study of—”
    “What’s that?” Winifred cut in.
    “You remember the Dillons of Phoenix? You mentioned them when you first called me.”
    Winifred nodded. “I heard about them on Behind the Scenes. When I called you and you sent me the article on the Dillons, I ordered your family history of them, and hired you on the spot. There was something about DNA in the article, and how it helped them to connect up parts of their family they didn’t know about.”
    “Right,” Carly said eagerly. “They were looking for a lost great-grandfather, so they traced the Y-DNA, which is passed down through the male germ cell. Turns out that they were related to Thomas Jefferson through—”
    “I should have figured the test would only be for men,” Winifred cut in. “I’m interested in my family’s women. Men get more than their share of everything just by being men.”
    “That’s true,” Dan said quickly, trying to cut Carly off.
    It didn’t work.
    “If you’re more concerned with female relatives,” Carly said over his words, “you work with mtDNA, which comes down only from the female germ cell. Mothers pass it to daughters, who pass it to their own daughters, and so on. If a woman doesn’t have any daughters, her mtDNA line dies out.”
    Don’t take the bait, Winifred, Dan urged silently. More people are hurt by having too much knowledge than by having too little.
    “Wait.” Winifred frowned and tried to concentrate. The small fever she was running didn’t help. “Are you telling me that you can know who is or isn’t related to a woman by using special DNA tests? Does it work for men, too?”
    “Yes.”
    “How?” Winifred asked, intrigued despite herself.
    “The male’s germ cell can’t carry his mtDNA to the female germ cell, so the only way you get mtDNA—man or woman—is from the maternal line.”
    “Is the test expensive or painful?” Winifred asked.
    “No pain at all,” Carly reassured her. “There are several labs around the country that specialize in just such tests. It’s not cheap, but if genetic certainty is important to you, then it’s worth the cost.”
    For a moment, more than fever brightened Winifred’s dark eyes. “What do you need for the test?”
    “Almost anything will do. A swab from the inside of your cheek, a few drops of blood, the root of a hair. If you like, I’ll order the test packet.”
    “Do that. Order a bunch.”
    “A bunch? Four? Six? More?”
    “Ten. Ten should do it. Get them here quick. I’ll pay for it.”
    Ten? Carly thought. Is she going to test everyone in the household? But all she said was, “They’ll be here by Wednesday.”
    “Send them in my name.”
    “Of course.”
    Winifred nodded curtly and turned her attention to the herbs Dan had brought. “Thank your mother for me.”
    “I will. She asked after Lucia’s two youngest kids. They missed her weekend reading classes.”
    “Alma was complaining that Lucia didn’t come in to work today. Bet the kids are sick.” Winifred sighed. “I’ll check on them first thing in the morning.”
    “I’ll do it on my way home,” Dan said. “You shouldn’t be out in the wind until you’re better.”
    Winifred looked like she was going to object, but didn’t. “I don’t like leaving Sylvia alone. I have a feeling…” Her voice died. She rubbed her gnarled hands together. “Saw a raven flying alone over the cemetery. Not a good sign.” She glanced at Carly. “Go with Dan to the Sandovals. The men haven’t been worth a damn, but the women have lived in the valley since the Rebellion. Maybe they’ll be able to answer some of your local history questions.”
    “They might not want company right now,” Dan said quickly.
    “Why?”
    “Armando just got busted for cockfighting.”
    Winifred said something in the old Spanish that Carly had been struggling with in the archives. Then Winifred sighed and went to