explained. "Just...complicated." She lifted her hands off the keyboard as Kerry crawled into bed next to her and pecked out a few commands.

"Uh huh," Andrew grunted. "Well, anyhow, you having a happy birthday?"

Dar examined the blonde sprawled in her lap. "Yeah, it's great," she replied. "Kerry and I have been shopping and...um...relaxing all day."

"Relaxing?" Kerry murmured. "I certainly wasn't relaxed...

Yipe!" She squirmed as Dar pinched her. "Stop that." She ran a finger along the inside of Dar's very bare thigh, snickering when she heard Dar's voice break.

"N...no, Dad, honest. We're fine." Dar cleared her throat. "I've got everything under control." She bit the inside of her lip as Kerry tickled her thigh again. "Almost everything."

"Wall, you be careful," Andrew warned. "Hang on."

The phone rustled, then a lighter voice came on. "Dar?"

"Hi, Mom," Dar said.

"I'm not going to pretend I have a clue about what's going on, so I'm just going to wish you a happy birthday."

Dar chuckled. "Thanks."

"And I hope you're having a good, annual, hyper- commercialized, forced exchange of personal resources, too."

"Merry Christmas to you, too, Mom."

"Merry Christmas, Mom!" Kerry leaned back and called out.

"Good Solstice."

"Tell Kerry I said thanks, and thank her for the card," Ceci said. "You kids be careful, hear?"

Kerry finished her transmission, then scooted out of bed and ambled back over to the table, before Dar's close, bare proximity spurred her to further amorous adventures.

"We'll be fine, Mother," Dar exhaled. "How's Chino?"

"She's just fine," Ceci a.s.sured her. "The place is fine, the island hasn't sunk, your stock is up two dollars, and I do believe your father has just opened a bottle of champagne, so I'll just have to let you get on with your celebration."

"Have a great night," Dar told her. "Call us if you need anything."

"How about you call us if you need anything?" Ceci countered.

"G'night, Dar."

"Night."

Dar had just closed the phone when a knock came at the door.

"Ah. Bet that's our friend," she commented. "Let him in."

Kerry turned, putting one hand on her hip. She gazed at Dar with both eyebrows lifted.

Dar stared back at her, then realized what she was looking at.*215 "Oh." She put the laptop aside and stood up, shedding her bed sheets and padding across the wooden floor. She opened her bag and pulled out a pair of shorts and a shirt.

Kerry went to the door and leaned on it. "Just a second," she called, peeking through the eyehole to make sure it was Bob and not something even skunkier.

"Okay." Dar returned the bed and retrieved her laptop, then settled into an armchair.

Kerry opened the door. "Hi." She stepped back to allow Bob to enter. "C'mon in."

He was dressed in pressed chinos and a neatly ironed polo.

"Hi." He gave Kerry an eager smile, his eyes flicking over her head to Dar and then back. "Thanks for calling me. I was hoping I could find you guys again. I really need to talk to you."

"Ah," Dar murmured. "That's good, because we need to talk to you."

Bob hesitantly walked over and took the seat across from Dar.

"I'm sorry, I'm interrupting your dinner?"

Kerry had returned to the table. "It's okay. We're used to eating during business meetings." She examined Dar's plate, then walked over and handed it to her. "Bob, you know, I'm really p.i.s.sed off at you."

Dar set the plate on the arm of the chair and continued her work, letting Kerry do the talking as they'd planned.

"M...me?" Bob sounded very surprised. "What did I do?"

"You left two friends of ours in a really bad place last night."

Kerry gazed seriously at him. "They got hurt." She sat down on the edge of the window and rested her elbows on her knees. "Why did you do that?"

For a moment, the only sound was the soft, rapid-fire rattling of Dar's laptop keys.

"I thought they'd be fine," Bob finally muttered. "I thought the thugs would come after me, not them." He shifted uncomfortably.

"I didn't mean for them to get hurt."

Well, Kerry considered, that was actually marginally logical.

"Why did you think they'd go after you?" she asked.

Bob got up and paced, visibly nervous. "Why? I'm the one they're after. I'm the one who keeps trying to get down to that wreck. If we'd gotten anything, it'd have been on that boat. Sure, I thought they'd go after me."

"But they didn't," Kerry said.

"No, I..." Bob stared out the window. "I thought I got lucky."

He turned. "Hey, it'd be the third time, you know? Besides, Bud and Charlie looked like they could take care of themselves. What could I have done, anyway?"

Kerry stared steadily at him.

216*

"Hey, I admit it-I'm no hero." Bob lifted his hands. "I'm not like you. I'll save my own skin first, and that's just the truth, okay?"

Kerry looked at Dar. Dar rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Kerry sighed and took a bite of her dinner. "So, why were you looking for us, then?" she asked. "Did you need another diversionary target?"

Bob apparently felt his grilling was over and that he'd won a point. "No." He gathered his confidence again. "Look, I realized I was going about this the wrong way. I need resources, and help."

He faced them. "So, here's the deal."

Dar rested her elbow on the chair arm while Kerry leaned forward attentively.

"I want to make you my partners," Bob said. "Is that a good deal or what?"

Blue and green eyes met across the inn room. Kerry sighed.

"Bob?"

"Yeah?" He grinned at her. "I know, it's a big sacrifice for me, but-"

"Did you get dropped on your head a lot as a kid?"

"Huh?"

"I should have stayed naked," Dar commented, shaking her head sadly. "He'd never have noticed."

"Huh?"

"Another explicit reason why stupid people shouldn't breed."

"What are you guys talking about?"

"I think we should just tie him up and leave him in the closet,"

Kerry decided.

"Hey!"

Chapter.

Twenty.

"OKAY. HERE'S THE scenario as I see it." Dar paced in front of the window, her hands in her pockets.

Bob was sitting in the corner, keeping as far away as he could from Bud, who'd arrived not long before. Kerry was seated on the bed cross-legged, and the only thing missing was a whiteboard and markers.

Dar was actually quite a good situational a.n.a.lyst, as Kerry had decided some time ago. She tended to toss out all the irrelevant details and concentrate on the core issues, and if you were smart, you let her finish before you asked any questions.

"But, wait." Bob spoke up. "Don't you think I should explain my part of this first?"

"No," Dar said. "As I was saying...here's the scenario." She paused. "We have a ten-year-old wreck in pretty rough condition, just east of Charlie and Bud's place. We have one certifiable nutcase trying to bring up bits of it, and another certifiable nutcase trying to blow it up."

"Hey!" Bob protested.

"Shut up," Bud drawled. "Or I'll stick a chair leg down your throat."

"Nutcase two has the resources to achieve his objective." Dar consulted a piece of paper on the table, now cleared of its tray. A pot of tea, however, squatted mutely in the center. "He also has the easier task." She turned to Bob. "Are you ready to tell us what you're looking for?"

Bob squirmed a little as all eyes fastened on him. "Um." He swallowed, an audible sound in the silent room. "Well, you know, that's a... Y'see, I don't know if I can, um..."

Dar walked over and put her arms on his chair, fixing him with her dourest look. "Kerry risked her life to save your a.s.s. Don't even think about not trusting us."

"Uh." Bob leaned back in the chair. "It's not that, it's...

just...I..."

"You don't know, do you?" Kerry spoke up. "You have no idea 218*

what you're looking for."

Dar looked at Kerry, then looked at Bob. The expression on his face spoke volumes. "Is that true?"

"Um." Bob gulped. "Sorta."

Dar straightened and walked over to the window, lifting both hands and letting them drop in eloquent silence.

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h," Bud snorted. "No wonder you told us to show you everything we done brought up," he said. "I thought that was a weird-a.s.s story about lookin' for pieces of some puzzle."

"See." Bob sat up. "I told you I shoulda explained first. Here's the deal." He took a breath. "My grandma-"

"She's not your grandmother," Dar interrupted. "You're not even related to her. You're trying to impress her granddaughter, who you want to marry."

Bob looked at her in consternation.

"You're from Ohio," Kerry added with a brief smile. "Your family raises alpacas."

"Who are you people?" Bob asked, looking from one to the other. "Cops?"