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could eat while we re here, she suggested. Then, if I could impose on you to drive me by the
hospital...?
Tank said as he slid into the booth, I ll go, too.
Clara, Rourke began after they d ordered barbecue plates, when Carson was out placing his
surveillance units, did you leave the house at all?
She blinked. Why, yes, just to run by the drycleaners and leave a comforter. I wasn t gone five
minutes. Why?
Tank and Rourke exchanged glances. Tank nodded.
Don t say anything in the house that you d mind being overheard, Rourke told her. You must be
extraordinarily clever. I m not going to remove the bug he s just placed. Let him think we re too dim
to realize it s even there.
Bug? I don t understand, she began.
Tank explained how they thought the bug was placed, and how the intruder knew where Merissa
kept her headache medicine.
Oh, goodness, Clara said heavily. I opened my big mouth. Just like I did, telling them where Bill
was, and I got him killed, she added sadly. Then there s that other man. The one Merissa told us
about, that she saw in her mind, a man who knew about this intruder and was going to tell on him...
You can t save the world, Rourke said heavily. He gave her a weary smile. I know. I ve been
trying.
She smiled weakly. I see your point. It s very hard, though, to know something and not be able to
warn anyone.
In that case, Tank told her, you have to consider that some things just happen the way they re
meant to. We can t see very far down the road. God can.
Okay.
Carson came back in. He slid into the booth beside Clara. I ve put some things in motion, he said.
There s been a development back home.
What? Tank asked.
It seems that Cash Grier managed to track down the man who attacked Carlie s father with a knife.
He turned up in the morgue in San Antonio. He was poisoned.
Good grief! Tank exclaimed. Merissa told him that there was a man who knew him and was
thinking about going to the authorities. He said he knew who it was and he d take care of him. He
groaned. It s going to hit her hard.
Rourke s one eye narrowed. Don t tell her.
The man had a rap sheet seven pages long, Carson added. One of his arrests was for rape. He s
no loss to the world.
Did he talk to the authorities? Tank asked. Do you know?
He made a phone call before he died. It was to a police officer in San Antonio. They re trying to
contact the officer to see if a conversation even took place. One more minor detail.
Yes? Tank asked.
The man was taking a prescription medication for allergies. The capsules were tampered with.
Like to take a guess at what sort of poison was in them? Carson mused.
Don t tell me, Rourke said. Malathion.
Exactly. He had access to it on the ranch, didn t he? Carson asked Tank.
He was in and out of the barn where we keep it, but it s in a locked shed room, Tank replied.
You keep your keys hanging just inside the back door in the house, Rourke recalled. Does one
of them fit that storeroom?
Tank s eyes closed. She warned me about those keys the first day she came to the house, he said.
She said, he ll find them there.
She s very perceptive, Clara remarked gently.
I wish I d listened! Tank groaned.
He d have found another way, Carson said. Anything can be used to poison someone, even
common household items.
Like hand grenades? Rourke said, tongue-in-cheek. I believe El LadUon s convoy was treated to
a few of those...?
The convoy of El LadUon was accidentally blown up by a few equally accidentally tossed hand
grenades. He looked perfectly innocent.
Nice aim, Rourke said, grinning.
Carson grinned back. I get in some practice from time to time.
Tank started to ask a question when the jukebox, a holdover from the past, started up. The sounds of
rock music filled the restaurant.
Try talking over that, Carson groaned.
The song was an old hard rock tune by Joan Jett, called I Love Rock n Roll. It had a hard, heavy
beat and it had been a favorite of the Kirks mother when she was still alive. It brought back memories
for Tank. He smiled as he listened. And then, quite suddenly, he frowned.
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