“I don’t care who knows we’re here,” Riley said as he climbed out.

Gracie agreed and followed him to the front door, which was standing ajar.

They both stared at the slight crack of space just begging to be entered.

“Is it a setup?” Gracie asked in a whisper. “Is she going to have us arrested for breaking and entering?”

“Prove that it wasn’t,” he said, nodding to her camera.

“Oh. Great idea.”

She snapped a picture of the half-open door, then winced at the loud click and whirr of the picture being shot out. She grabbed it and handed the picture to Riley to shove it in his jeans back pocket. Then he pushed the door open wider and they stepped inside.

Gracie’s first impression was of elegant furnishings and plenty of light. “Nice house,” she murmured.

Riley shot her a glance that said this wasn’t the time to be discussing Pam’s decorating ability, then motioned to her to follow him. He pointed to the hall.

Gracie wondered why until she heard a faint sound. A faint rhythmic sound that was familiar. And intimate.

“She’s doing it!” she whispered. “We’ve got to see who the guy is. Whoever he is, he’s helping her!”

Riley pressed a finger to his lips and led the way. The noises got louder. There was heavy breathing, a cry of “Oh, yes, I’m close,” from Pam, then a low groan.

“Get ready,” Riley mouthed, pointing to the camera.

They paused outside the half-closed bedroom door for a second, then Riley pushed it open and rushed inside.

Several things happened at once. As Gracie followed, the couple on the bed noticed the intrusion. Pam screamed, which made Gracie jump and maybe scream a little, too. But she was careful to keep her camera positioned.

Through the tiny lens she got an eyeful of Pam’s breasts, some guy’s back and then the guy turned and she found herself staring directly at the still-erect private parts of Franklin Yardley.

“Oh, yuck,” she yelled, even as she started clicking pictures.

“Get out!” the mayor demanded.

He grabbed for the blanket, jerking it off the bed, but not before Gracie got several pictures of him and Pam in what could only be described as compromising circumstances. The ever-lovely Mrs. Yardley was not going to like this.

Riley was careful to catch the pictures as they popped out of the camera.

“Interesting,” he said with a grin. “It’s about time someone else starred in the local paper. I’m getting tired of all the notoriety.”

Yardley grabbed for the pictures, but Riley kept them out of reach.

“You’ll pay for this,” Yardley said.

“How?” Riley asked. “A picture’s worth a thousand words.” He looked at Pam, who had pulled the sheet up over her breasts. “When did your taste get so lousy?”

She glared at him. “Don’t talk to me about lousy taste, you bastard. You’re the one sleeping with Gracie.” Her face tightened and her voice rose. “How could you want that bitch?”

Gracie jumped. “I’m not a bitch.”

“You’re disgusting and horrible,” Pam yelled. “I hate you. Do you hear me? I hate you. I hate everything about you. I wish you were dead. You ruined my life. All those damn articles back when we were in high school. Everyone thought you were so sweet and I was just the whore who wanted to marry Riley for the money. You ruined my wedding. It was supposed to be my day, do you hear me? My day. And it was all about you. All everyone could talk about was Gracie Landon. ‘Do you think she’ll show up?’” Pam said in a mock high voice. “‘What will precious Gracie do’?”

Pam narrowed her eyes. “I wanted you punished back then, but I couldn’t find you. So I waited and planned and I’ve got you now.”

“Pam!” Yardley move away from the bed. “You’re unbalanced. What have you done?”

Pam turned on him. “What?” she shrieked. “Oh, don’t you dare pretend you weren’t in on this from the beginning.”

Yardley’s eyes widened. “I swear, I have no idea what she’s talking about. Pam, have you broken the law?”

Pam screamed. “Don’t you play innocent with me, you old goat. You’re in this up to your eyeballs.”

Yardley turned to Gracie. “I swear, I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

Pam swore. “Fine. If that’s the way you want to play it.” She turned on Riley. “Oh, this is good. I might have to go down, but I’m taking your precious Gracie with me.” She swung her attention to Gracie.

“I ruined you,” she said with glee. “I ruined your precious business and now you have nothing.” She turned back to Riley. “I’ve ruined you, too and I’m glad. You know why? Because when you left me, you said Gracie was right. I’ve never forgiven you for that.”

Gracie turned to Riley. “You said that?”

He shrugged. “You were.”

“Wow.”

Pam screamed. “I never got a penny out of that divorce and I want my money now. Do you hear me?”

“Pam,” the mayor said. “Be quiet. You’re obviously not feeling well. I had no idea you were harboring all of this anger.”

“Anger?” Pam started screaming and crying and laughing. Gracie wondered if she had gone over the edge.

“I hate you both,” she said as she sank back on the bed. “Dammit, I worked so hard. I hate you all.”

“Pam!” Yardley sounded shocked. “I don’t know you anymore.”

“Oh, like you ever did,” Pam said, sounding defiant. “I only ever slept with you because you’re getting most of the estate when Riley fails. I was planning to take half of it and run as soon as we were married.” She looked at Riley. “He keeps a separate set of books in his office. He has a secret drawer in his desk. He’s been skimming money for years.”

“Pam, no!” Yardley protested.

She stood and jerked the sheet free, then wrapped it around herself. “I nearly got everything.” She glared at Gracie. “I suppose you’re feeling fine.”

“Sure. Why would you…” Gracie stared at her, remembering her sudden illness. “What did you do to me?”

“Mixed some very old mayonnaise in your stupid tuna salad. My God, how can you eat that? It smells like cat food. I wanted to get you out of the way and I did. I planned everything.” She kicked Yardley. “Until you messed it all up. I’ll never forgive you.”

Riley took Gracie’s arm. “This is our cue to leave.”

Yardley stared at Pam as if he’d never seen her. “But I loved you.”

“Oh, sure. That’s why you screwed all your assistants. You’re old and you can barely get it up and you’re lousy in bed.” She turned her attention to Riley. “You’re crap in the sack, too.”

With that she stomped into the bathroom, closed the door and clicked the lock.

Riley led Gracie out of the bedroom. She couldn’t believe all that she’d heard.

“It was them all the time,” she said, feeling as if she’d just watched a very intense live show. “The photographer, the cake mixes. Everything.”

“Looks that way.”

“She tried to poison me and it worked. I can’t believe that.”

“I’m sure the sheriff will want to talk to her about that.”

She glanced at him as he walked them out of the house. “You’re not really lousy in bed.”

He grinned. “Thanks.”

BACK AT HIS HOUSE, Riley fixed a pot of coffee and then spread the pictures out on the long kitchen counter. There was plenty of evidence-unfortunately it wasn’t the kind he could use.

“You’re going to call Mac, right?” Gracie asked as she took the mug he offered and sipped. “He can arrest Yardley today. And Pam, although I care less about her. We’ll ignore the sexual stuff, because sleeping with his assistants is gross but not illegal, but he’s been stealing money for years. Isn’t that great?”

“Uh-huh.”

He turned his back on the pictures and stared out the window at the large backyard.

Funny how he’d hated this house when he’d first arrived in Los Lobos. The big space had represented everything he’d hated about his uncle. But in the past few months, he’d grown to like the house. The room, the quiet. Just as he liked the bank. He enjoyed working with numbers, making things right for people. He enjoyed the challenges of playing the funding market, getting the best deal for his customers. He would miss it.

Gracie shook his arm. “Are you listening to me?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

He looked at her face, at the dark blue of her eyes, the easy smile, the way she lit up when they were together. He couldn’t think of a single thing he didn’t like about her. She was…perfect. Or at least perfect for him.

“I was saying that as soon as the mayor is charged, you have to go on the radio and talk to the town. You can tell everyone it will be a smooth transition and they’ll really like having you as mayor.”

“It won’t work,” he said.

“What?”

“Yardley’s accused me of some things. Now I’m going to accuse him of worse things. Who are the voters going to believe? Someone they’ve known for sixteen years, or me?”

“But the charges.”

“It’ll take a couple of days to get him formally charged by the D.A. It’s Sunday. Nothing’s going to happen until well into next week and the election’s Tuesday. Yardley can stall long enough to tell everyone the truth about my uncle’s will. Once they know why I’m running, do you think they’ll care about what he’s been doing? It’s all true, Gracie. I was only doing it for the money.”

“But…but…No! We have to come up with a way.” She set down her coffee and grabbed his arm. “You’ve worked so hard. I won’t let this happen to you. Can’t you want to stay and be mayor? You could say you’ve had a change of heart.”

He smiled at her. “I have, but who’s going to believe me?”

“I will. I’ll-” She opened her mouth, then closed it. Color flooded her face. “Marry me. That’s what the town wants. Their happy ending. So marry me. We’ll have Jill draw up some papers right now. I don’t want any of your money and I’ll say that in writing. We’ll get married today. We can fly to Vegas and be back tonight. Then we make a big announcement tomorrow. You’ll win for sure. Then we can split up later. It could work.”