Always Time To Die (21 page)

“Have you done this before?”

“No, but I’ve sat around some strange campfires.”

And then Alma was in front of them. There were three untouched cups left, forming a triangle. Out of old habit, Dan reached across the bottom of the triangle and chose his own cup rather than take what was handed out. Alma started to object that the diamond was supposed to be taken in order, following the governor’s choice.

It was too late. Dan had already tossed back the contents, turned the cup upside down to show that it was empty, replaced it, and closed his eyes.

Alma looked at Winifred, who had coached her in the correct ritual. The old curandera’s eyes were still closed. Melissa, who had repeated Winifred’s coaching, was still struggling with the bitter brew and hadn’t noticed anything amiss. With a sigh of relief that the breach of ritual hadn’t been noticed, Alma offered the tray to Carly.

Two cups left.

Pretend it’s a raw oyster,
Carly told herself.
If you can swallow a mouthful of cold snot, you can do this.

Carly took the next to last cup and managed to get the contents down without choking.

Alma took the final cup, drained it, shuddered violently, and sat down again.

The room was so quiet Carly was certain everyone could hear her tongue scraping against her teeth as she tried to get rid of the taste.
Thank God stirrup cups went out of vogue.
She couldn’t have managed a second swallow.

The sound of the helicopter revving up signaled an end to the gathering, at least as far as the governor was concerned. He shook hands all around—even Carly and Dan this time—and left.

The two of them went to Winifred, saw that she was still praying for her sister, and waited.

They waited for a long time. When the old woman finally raised her head, Dr. Sands and the minister had already gone. Only the household staff remained.

The tears in Winifred’s eyes made Carly understand how futile words were. Yet they had to be said anyway, heard anyway, while everyone knew that words couldn’t describe the emptiness death left behind.

“I’m sorry,” Carly said gently.

Winifred nodded. “Tomorrow.”

Carly understood that Winifred didn’t want to talk now. Carly hadn’t expected her to.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” Dan said to Carly.

He didn’t say anything until they were out of the suite. He bent, picked up the cartons of photos they’d left outside Sylvia’s room, and faced Carly.

“I don’t want you staying here alone,” he said.

She didn’t answer for the simple reason that she wasn’t wild about the idea herself. “Nobody knew my car was fixed until I showed up here, so…” She shrugged.

“So nobody had enough lead time to get fancy with rats and paint, is that it?”

She nodded.

“Bullshit,” he said.

“Hey, you checked my room out and found nothing.”

“That was almost two hours ago.”

“Everyone was here for the service. Anyway, I already told Melissa that I was going to drive back to town tonight. I don’t feel right about staying here when the household has had so much sorrow.”

Dan knew Carly was right. He also knew he didn’t want to leave her alone, even just to drive her little SUV down the mountain. The part of his mind that kept adding up things was heading toward a bottom line that he couldn’t read yet but already knew he didn’t like.

With a muttered curse, he followed her toward the outside door.

“You know what I’d like?” Carly asked after a minute.

“A toothbrush?”

“There isn’t one big enough.” She grimaced and swallowed while something acid tried to crawl back up her throat. Whatever the potion had been, her stomach wasn’t thrilled with it.

“I’ve got water in the truck,” he said. “As soon as we’re out of sight you can gargle and spit as much as you want.”

“You’re a mind reader. I’ve always liked that about you.”

“I’ll remind you of that.”

He walked with her into the icy air. As they headed for her SUV, the governor’s helicopter leaped up, pivoted around an invisible center, and gathered speed down the valley.

Carly looked around the ranchland. Houses might be built and abandoned. Cattle might be born and grow and be sold. The valley would be grazed or plowed or left fallow, and the mountains would watch over all of it, unchanging. The land survived. Man didn’t. For all the power the Senator and his wife had wielded while alive, in death little remained but the ranch.

For the first time Carly began to understand Winifred’s obsession with Castillo land.

“What?” Dan asked.

“Just thinking.”

He waited.

“Nothing is left of Winifred’s family and their ambitions but the land,” Carly said as they walked toward her SUV. “The ranch is as close to immortality as the Castillos will ever get, and Governor Quintrell has put it up for sale.”

Dan nodded, started to say something, then thought better of it. Carly didn’t need to know what he already did. Immortality was worth killing for.

“Come home with me,” he said abruptly. “Leave your SUV here. I’ll bring you back in the morning. I don’t want you to be alone.”

She started to object, then saw the shadows and urgency in his eyes. Without a word she turned and started walking toward his truck.

QUINTRELL RANCHLAND
THURSDAY NIGHT

THEY HADN
’
T BEEN ON THE ROAD VERY LONG
,
BUT CARLY KNEW SHE
’
D THROW UP IF
Dan’s truck hit one more icy rut. Frantically she lowered the window on the passenger side. They were on the winding part of the ranch road, where it dropped out of the valley to snake along the far side of Castillo Ridge. There was nothing below the vehicle but darkness and nothing above but stars.

Dan watched her closely. He knew how she was feeling. His stomach wasn’t happy with whatever herbal concoction had been in those cups. He was feeling nauseated and light-headed. If it got any worse, he would pull over and get it all out of his system.

“Dan?” Carly’s voice was ragged. The world spun crazily. Despite the rush of icy air over her face, her stomach heaved.
“Stop.”

Dan slammed on the brakes without asking why. He didn’t have to. She was pale and sweating, her head wobbling unsteadily.

Carly managed to get her seat belt off but couldn’t wrap her fingers around the door handle. He dragged her across the center console and out his door. She pushed him away, fell to her hands and knees on the ground, and threw up again and again. Finally she tried to stand. Her knees wouldn’t cooperate.

“Easy, honey,” Dan said, biting back his own nausea and light-headedness, wanting to help her. Then training kicked in.

Throw up, fool. You’ve been poisoned.

He went down in the snow next to her and vomited repeatedly, ridding himself of Sylvia’s good-bye potion. His head spun but his stomach felt better immediately. He scrubbed out his mouth with a handful of snow, spit, and waited.

No more nausea.

Carly wasn’t so lucky. She was retching again, swaying even though she was on her hands and knees. He steadied her, held her head, and did everything he could think of to help her throw off whatever had been in the small cup.

Opium or heroin was his bet. Part of his training had required taking various drugs so that he would know his own limits—or know what was happening if somebody had slipped something into his coffee. When he was finished with that part of his training, he’d wondered why people spent good money to screw up their brain and body.

Finally Carly stopped vomiting.

“Better?” he asked her gently.

She tried to talk. Couldn’t. The world was turning around her. She tried to focus, but her eyes wouldn’t work. She tried to hold on to Dan but her fingers wouldn’t work. All her body wanted to do was sleep, right now, forever.

Dan’s heart stopped when Carly went slack in his arms. He carried her to the truck, propped her up against the hood, and took her pulse.

Weak, slower than it should be.

Same for her breathing.

Shit.

Her head thunked against his chest. He grabbed her chin, lifted one of her eyelids, and saw a pinpoint pupil. He opened her mouth. Despite the recent vomiting, her tongue was dry. The color of her lips was tending toward blue rather than pink. She had all the signs of an opium overdose.

No point in making her throw up; there was nothing left in her stomach. Mother Nature’s way of taking care of unwanted cargo. Traditional medical care was too far away and he was damned if he’d let anyone at the ranch house touch Carly.

Someone there had poisoned both of them.

But Dan was much bigger, more able to tolerate the drug without succumbing. Carly wasn’t. It had hit her like a falling building.

She was going under.

Fear slammed through Dan in a wave of adrenaline that made him forget his own light-headedness, his own slowed reactions. He pulled Carly away from the truck, clamped his arm around her, and tried to walk and shake her awake at the same time. He had to keep her moving until her system could cope with whatever drug she hadn’t already vomited.

She hung from his arm, sliding away.

“Carly!”

Her head lolled.

He grabbed her hair with his free hand, brought her face up to his, and shouted, “Carly! You have to wake up and move.
Do it now.
”

Her eyelids flickered. Her head jerked unsteadily. “Dan?”

“I’m here, Carly. Somebody gave you an opiate. You threw up most of it.”
I hope.
“Now you have to stay awake until your breathing is better. Walk, honey. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

She heard someone talking to her at a distance. A long way away. A dream. After some effort she identified the voice as Dan’s. No matter how many times she told him to go away, he wouldn’t stop shouting at her so that she could sleep.

Finally, slowly, her legs started to get the rhythm of walking. She couldn’t wholly support herself, but she at least could keep her feet under her some of the time.

“That’s it, Carly. Good. Good. Much better. Hang on to me, honey. We’re winning.”

Slowly she became aware of her feet, icy, and her body, heavier than wet sand. She didn’t see how she stood up. Then she realized she wasn’t standing, not really. Dan was supporting her and at the same time forcing her to put one foot in front of the other.

“Walk, love,” he said, rubbing his cheek on her hair. “Just walk. I’ll take care of the balancing act for both of us. It’s helping clear my head, too.”

Carly opened her eyes and understood that it wasn’t a dream. Dan was frog-marching her up one side of the frozen road and down the other. The truck jerked by her. No, the truck wasn’t lurching. She was. But with every step, every heartbeat, every breath, she felt more in control.

“When I catch the fucking coward who did this to you,” Dan continued, “I’m going to do the entire Colombian dance on him—necktie, cock and balls, the whole tortilla.”

She licked dry lips with a tongue only slightly less dry. “Sounds painful.”

Abruptly Dan stopped. “Carly?”

“I think so.”

He swept her up in a hug that told her how worried he’d been. His face was buried against her neck and he held her with the strength of desperation. His skin was clammy against hers.

“What…” She swallowed against the dryness of her throat.

“Someone dropped an opiate in our toast-the-dead cup. I threw it up before it could really take hold. You were more susceptible, but you threw up enough to keep from going under.”

“An opiate? You mean like heroin?”

“Yes.”

She swallowed again. A bit of moisture was finally returning. Her head was only spinning some of the time. She felt like she’d been beaten with a sock full of sand. The taste in her mouth would have gagged a skunk.

“You’re saying people pay to feel like that?” she asked in disbelief.

He grinned slightly. “Most people don’t take enough to get sick. They just get woozy and nod off.”

“I’m never getting close to that dog crap again.”

“You didn’t exactly volunteer this time.”

She leaned against him. “I still feel fuzzy.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” He took her pulse and listened to her breathing. “You’ll do fine.”

“Because of you.”

Dan had been trying not to think about that. If Carly had been alone when the narcotic hit, she could have driven off the road and died when her vehicle hit something hundreds of feet below. Even if she had realized something was wrong and managed to stop on the road and get out to be sick, she wouldn’t have been able to climb back in her SUV afterward. She would have passed out and frozen to death before anyone even noticed she was gone.

She sighed and leaned harder on him. “Sorry to be such a wimp.”

“Wimp?” He lifted his head and looked at her. “You don’t get it, do you?”

She just looked at him.

“You could have died,” he said harshly. “Overdose. Driving off a cliff. Passing out and freezing to death. Take your pick. That’s what somebody dished out to you when they filled your cup with drugs.”

“Maybe my stomach just didn’t like—”

“Bullshit, honey,” he cut in angrily. “Just plain bullshit. I know what opiates are like, what they do to me. We were drugged.”

The white plumes of his breath looked like smoke.

“I don’t live in a world where people try to kill me,” she said faintly. She still felt woozy, and beneath that she was plain scared. At least adrenaline was useful; it began to clear the fog from her brain. “People might frighten me and try to make me go away, but they don’t try to kill me. Besides, anybody could have picked up the cup I did. You could have.”

“I should have, but I jumped the queue. I got Alma’s dose.”

Carly blinked. “Huh?”

He started to explain how he’d taken the point of the remaining triangle rather than a cup from the base of the triangle. “Never mind. You’re still not up to par. Think you can sit in the truck and not fall asleep or do you want to walk some more?”

“Keep scaring me. Adrenaline helps me focus.”

“Adrenaline.” He smiled, lowered his head, and bit her neck with exquisite care. His hand roamed down her back to her buttocks, flexed, squeezed, caressed, rubbed her against him.

Her breath came in with a strangled sound. Her heart raced. Her breathing deepened.

“How am I doing in the adrenaline department?” he asked after a few moments.

“Overload.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and shivered. “Pure overload. Do it some more.”

“Time to get back in the truck. You’re cold.”

She laughed. “A little wobbly around the edges, but not cold.”

“You shivered.”

“It wasn’t from cold.”

Dan’s eyelids went to half-mast and he took a deep breath. “Right. Into the truck with you.”

She nuzzled against his neck. “You sure?”

“We’ll see how frisky you feel after the emergency room.”

“What emergency room?”

“The one I’m taking you to as soon as we get to town.”

“Wrong.”

He opened the truck door on the passenger side, lifted her in, and fastened her seat belt.

“If I had too much wine and threw up,” she said, “would you take me to a hospital?”

Without a word he shut her door and walked around the front of the truck.

“Well,” she said when he climbed in and slammed the door, “would you?”

“Not unless you passed out,” he said reluctantly.

“Ha. You went to college. How many of your buddies threw up, passed out, and woke up the next day with a hangover the size of Australia?”

“A few.”

“How many did you take to the ER?” she asked.

Dan started the truck.

“That’s what I thought,” Carly said. “Besides, what would you tell the doctor, that I ate the wrong brownie and things went south?”

“You’re thinking of hash or pot, not an opiate.”

“The point is the same. You go to the doctors, they find traces of heroin or whatever, and I get to explain to the sheriff how it got there. Imagine how he’ll react when I say, ‘Gee, it must have been that farewell cup for Sylvia. You know those Quintrells—notorious dopers every one of them.’ He’ll have me locked up in a hot second. Then I won’t be able to work on the Quintrell-Castillo history, which seems to be the whole point, doesn’t it?”

Dan felt like banging something against the steering wheel—her head, his head, both.

She was right, but he didn’t have to like it.

Without a word he drove the truck down the road, watching for lights in the mirror. Nothing but darkness. As soon as the road allowed, he pulled off and backed into the cover of the forest. When he was satisfied that he would be able to see the road but nobody could see him, he turned off the truck. Darkness slammed down around them.

Carly sat straighter and looked out the windows. “What’s the attraction—submarine races?”

Smiling, he shook his head. “You’re well on your way back to sassy.”

“Thanks to you.” She tried not to yawn. “Other than feeling more than a little buzzed, I’m fine. Do you have any more water?”

He reached under the seat and pulled out a fresh bottle. “Let me know if it makes you sick.”

“You’re such a Pollyanna.”

“It’s a gift.” Dan sat and watched his passenger from the corner of his eye. The rest of his attention was on the road.

After a bit of a struggle, Carly managed to open the water. She took a mouthful, let it dissolve the foul flavor in her mouth, and spat it out the open window. The third time she did it, her mouth tasted more like her own. She sipped and swallowed tentatively. Another sip. Another.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“So far. It’s not like having too much booze in my blood. Drinking water doesn’t make me feel worse.”

He waited.

After a final sip she capped the water. “Let’s see how that settles.”

“Good idea.” With that, Dan gave his full attention to the road. After five minutes, he glanced over at Carly again. “Doing okay?”

“I’m still fuzzy. But not like before. I can stay awake.”

He took her pulse. Slow, but nothing to worry about. She was just really, really relaxed. He turned the ignition key so that he could run up the passenger window.

“Here,” he said. “Sleep if you want to. It’s safe now.”

“You mean you aren’t going to jump me?”

“This minute? No.”

“Well, damn. Then why are we freezing our butts off out here?”

“Humor me.”

“But—”

“Do you really want to know?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m waiting to see who comes along.”

“I figured that out. But why?”

“Somebody might be curious about how well the dope worked. Or to finish the job if you’re still…” He shrugged.

Alive.

Neither said it.

Both thought it.