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really shouldn’t stay by yourself tonight. And you shouldn’t drive right now, either. I’m taking you home. Please. Besides, Mary Kate will beat me up bad if I don’t.”
    Gemma snorted and smeared tears across her cheek with flattened fingers. Mike loved to proclaim his five-foot-two-inch wife had made him a battered husband.
    “Okay? At least until we figure some of this out,” he said.
    She bit her lip and nodded. She didn’t think she could have squeezed a word through her throat just then.
    “Here, Brady.” Mike tossed his keys. “I’ll drive Gemma’s car. Meet you back at my house.”
    Brady gave him a nod that was barely more than a blink. “Mike, someone did get in last night and messed with the computer. Between three and four a.m. It’s probably a good thing no one was here. Whoever it was accessed a lot of files on Ned’s side. I got it cleaned up, got the passwords changed, for now.” He turned toward Gemma with a tight, enigmatic smile. “I’m sorry to meet you under these circumstances. I hope my being here didn’t make things worse.”
    “It’s okay,” she said. “Thanks for your help earlier. I’m sorry you got pulled into this whole mess.”
    “I’ll let myself out.”
    * * *
    Outside, Brady stood in the driveway beside Mike’s car, flipping the keys back and forth. This was a perfect opportunity to get some more answers. He started around to touch the driver’s side door of Gemma’s car. He’d learned over the years a dozen ways to make it look casual—like an accidental brush. At the last minute, he remembered how much energy he’d already used.
    Besides, it didn’t have anything to do with him. He’d sworn off redheads years ago. If he worked at it some, he could probably remember why.
    As he got into Mike’s car and touched the wheel, Mike’s personality sprang out at him. Steady, practical, good-humored. He got fractals of deep love for Mary Kate and little Timothy, a strong flavor of confusion and worry about Gemma. He could have dug for more details if he hadn’t run his abilities down so low. Probably just as well. It was none of his business, but if they were having trouble, he was sorry for it. Mike was one of the good guys, and one of the very few people in his life he could call ‘brother.’
    He took a cleansing breath and started the car. This was why he tried never to borrow other people’s shit—especially cars. Traffic was distraction enough. With any luck, he’d get some sense back before he hit the freeway.
    * * *
    “Sorry about that, Gemma,” Mike said when Brady had gone. “The timing sucked.”
    She leaned against Mike’s strong chest. Now the two of them were alone, she could let her guard down. “I’ve really missed you.”
    “I know, Brat.”
    Ned had separated her from her family—one more thing to hold him accountable for. “I can’t believe Ned’s really dead.” She sniffed. “I despised the son of a bitch, you know? So why do I feel so bad about this? I should be doing handsprings. It’s going to save me a lot of grief and a ton of money—”
    He pushed her sharply out to arm’s length, and his green eyes grew fierce. “Don’t say that. Not to anybody, understand? Not even to Mary Kate, or me. It’s going to occur to the cops soon, if it hasn’t already.”
    “Okay.” Her voice sounded small to her, no match for the terrified thudding of her heart. “I’m starting to feel scared.”
    “Well, I’m here now.” He wiped her cheek with one finger. “Just think before you open that smart mouth, okay?” he added with a grin.
    She caught a startled breath and started to shake again. Three to four a.m., Brady had said. “Mike, they didn’t ask me, the cops didn’t ask me where I was last night—which means Ned was already dead, right? So who was here? Who was in the house? If it wasn’t Ned...”
    Mike gave her another quick hug, and released her, but kept a warm, reassuring hand on her arm. “We’ll find out.