Xo (Kathryn Dance 3)

"Sure, Daddy. Sure."

The tone of the evening had changed quickly but, oblivious to it, Bishop Towne rose like a buffalo climbing out of a stream he'd just forded and ambled inside. "Hey, M-G, whatcha baking?"

Kayleigh looked after him, grim-faced. Dance used the opportunity to fish into her purse and hand her the sealed envelope that contained Bobby's in-the-event-of letter and a copy of the adoption papers. The singer weighed it in her hand. Dance said softly, "That turned up in the investigation. I'm the only one who knows. You handle it however you want."

"What--?"

"You'll see."

The woman stared down at the slim envelope, clutching it as if it weighed ten pounds. Dance realized that she knew what it contained. "You have to understand. I just ..."

Dance hugged her. "It's not my business," she whispered. "Now, I'm going to get back to the motel. I've got a report to dictate."

Kayleigh slipped the envelope into her pocket, thanked Dance for all she'd done and went into the house.

Dance walked down to her SUV. She happened to glance back into the house and could see a bit of the kitchen, Suellyn and Sheri at the island, looking at a cookbook. Kayleigh scooted up onto a stool nearby, lifted Mary-Gordon to her lap. No kinesic analysis was necessary to tell from the girl's amused squirming that the embrace was particularly strong.

Driving down the lengthy, dim driveway, Dance was thinking not of the Towne clan but of the potential train wreck her personal life might be headed for. She thought back to kissing O'Neil and felt a twisting in her belly--radiating a perfect balance of joy and alarm.

She scrolled through her iPod playlist on the SUV's entertainment screen to find the song that had just come to mind, one of Kayleigh's, not surprisingly. "Is It Love, Is It Less?" The lyrics rolled out through the Pathfinder's resonant sound system.

Is it left, is it right? Is it east, is it west?

Is it day, is it night? Is it good or the best?

I'm looking for answers, I'm looking for clues.

There has to be something to tell me the truth.

I'm trying to know, but I can just guess,

Is it love between us?

Is it love, is it less?

Chapter 61

"GRACIAS, SENORA DANCE."

"De nada."

In the garage of Jose Villalobos, Dance clicked off the digital recorder and began to pack away the cables and the microphones. She'd spent the day not as a law enforcement agent but as a recording engineer and producer, and Los Trabajadores had just finished the last tune--a son huasteco, in the traditional style of music from northeastern Mexico

, featuring a resonant eight-stringed instrument like a guitar, a jarana, and a fiddle. The violinist, a wiry forty-year-old originally from Juarez, had played up a storm, even slipping into Stephane Grappelli Hot Club de France improvs.

Dance had been delighted at the bizarre, captivating journey of the music and had to force herself to keep from clapping time to the speedy, infectious tunes.

Now, just after 5:00 P.M., she shared Tecates with the band and then wandered back to the Pathfinder. Her phone hummed and she saw Madigan's text, asking if she would come in and review the transcript of her report about the Peter Simesky-Myra Babbage case, which she'd dictated last night.

She debated a moment--she was exhausted--but decided to get it over with. Scrolling through her iPhone she saw a missed call too.

Jon Boling.

She debated again about the "San Diego Situation," as she'd taken to calling it. And the first thing in her thoughts was the kiss with Michael O'Neil.

I can't call Jon, her mind told her.

As her finger hit REDIAL.