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anyway.”
    â€œGo away, Cal,” Gabe added.
    â€œGabe!”
    Cal laughed. “See you later, Sam.” He headed out of the kitchen and down the hallway to the guest bedroom.
    I looked back at Gabe. “That was rude!”
    â€œCome here.” He pulled me down to his lap.
    I settled across his thighs, hoping his brother wouldn’t come back out and see us. “What’s going on with you and Cal? Why were you fighting?”
    Gabe’s mouth thinned. “We weren’t fighting, we were sparring. And he’s a pigheaded idiot.” Then he grinned. “But I like you on top of me a hell of a lot better than Cal. Now tell me what’s up.”
    I studied his face. The trouble with Gabe was that he made everything look easy. But I knew he had to be concerned about his brother. Should I add this weirdness with Grandpa and Shane to it?
    â€œSam?” He put his hand on my thigh and searched my face.
    I faced the truth—I needed Gabe’s input. “You remember this morning I told you that Grandpa’s been all upset about the magician Shane Masters coming to town to perform his spoiler show this weekend?”
    He nodded.
    I tried to ignore the feel of his warm hand spread out on my thigh just below the line of my skirt. “Well apparently the place where Shane Masters is staying was broken into last night, and someone tried to kill him. One of Shane’s guard dogs bit the attacker and ran him off.” I took a breath.
    Gabe didn’t say anything. He waited.
    I went on. “Shane told the police that he believes the man who attacked him is a hit man and that Grandpa hired him.” I snapped my mouth shut. Just saying the words was absurd.
    â€œI see. And you saw Vance because he brought your grandfather in for questioning?”
    I nodded. “He apparently tracked him down at Jack in the Box and asked him to go down to the station in front of at least half a dozen gossip-loving seniors.”
    â€œWhat did Shane give Vance to back up his accusation?”
    That was Gabe. Coldly logical. “An e-mail. Grandpa sent Shane an e-mail that said something like Shane wasn’t welcome in Lake Elsinore, and a bunch of other people sent him e-mails with a similar message. And when Vance contacted a few of those who e-mailed Shane, they said it was Grandpa’s idea.”
    Gabe shook his head. “Barney didn’t hire a hit man, and Vance doesn’t believe he did. He’s fishing. But he must believe that it’s possible someone hired a hit man.”
    I was still annoyed about this part. “Grandpa wouldn’t tell Vance where he was last night.”
    Gabe’s expression didn’t change. “Do you know where he was?”
    I shook my head. “Last night he said he was going out, and I didn’t ask where. I assumed he was playing cards with his friends. I was reading in bed when he got home; he stuck his head in and said good night. I asked him where he was today, but all he would tell me was that he was with a friend and that I should trust him the way he trusts me.” I gritted my teeth and added, “And that I shouldn’t be like my mother.” That had been low.
    Gabe smiled. “Barney’s smart. He knows how to keep you out of his business. Maybe he’s got a girlfriend.”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t he just tell me?” The idea felt odd, but I wouldn’t be mad. I know how much my grandfather loved my grandmother, but she had been dead over two years now.
    Gabe’s face shuttered. “Barney might be wrestling with feelings of guilt or betrayal.”
    I studied the way his eyes lost focus and his jaw clenched with his own dark memories—memories of his wife who had loved and adored him. And depended on him so much that she hadn’t had enough of her own strength to save herself and their unborn baby. Did Gabe feel he was betraying her with me?
    God knows I didn’t feel I was