Carson came from around the side of the house. “I’ve got cameras on top of cameras...” He stopped, staring uncomprehending at the others. “What’s happened?”

“You didn’t hear the ambulance?” Tank asked, astonished.

Carson scowled. “What ambulance? No, I’ve been all over the property putting up sensors...” He stopped and stared at them. “Oh, my God. Merissa?”

“She’ll be all right, the doctor thinks,” Tank said worriedly. But he looked at Clara and she was nodding and smiling. He relaxed a little.

“I was only gone for thirty minutes,” Carson groaned. “I didn’t realize it would take so long. God, I’m sorry!” he told Clara.

“It’s all right,” she said. “She’s going to be fine.”

“The sheriff’s on his way,” Tank told Carson. “With his investigator. Don’t touch anything.”

Carson’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll go along with the investigator if there’s a trail. I can track an ant.” He moved closer to Tank. “You can slug me, if you like.”

“You were trying to protect them,” Tank said heavily. “I might have done the same thing. At least she didn’t die.”

“What happened to her?” Carson asked, still grim.

“She took what she thought was a prescription medicine for a headache,” Clara said, “but someone had substituted Malathion for the drug in the capsules. It’s a miracle it didn’t kill her. She only took one capsule, thank God.”

“I don’t think that was his purpose at all,” Mallory repeated. “I don’t think he meant to kill her. He’s toying with Tank.”

Carson’s eyes narrowed. “I knew a guy like that once, who worked in spec ops,” he said, frowning curiously. “Eb knew him. He came along for a special job overseas. He was an independent contractor for the government, like us. His specialty was covert assassination, but not with military hardware. He was an expert at disguising poisons as medicine. He was assigned to take out a military strategist, but he did it over a period of days, using different everyday poisons to torment the man before he gave him the final dose. None of us liked the way he worked. He enjoyed killing.”

The brothers looked at each other with sudden inspiration. “What did he look like?” Tank asked.

“Insignificant sort of man,” he replied. “Medium height, nasal drawl. The only thing about him that stood out was his hair. It was a flaming orange color.”

“I can see how that would help him camouflage himself,” Cane said facetiously.

“I always thought he did it to draw attention away from his face,” Carson replied. “His hair was concealed when he went out at night anyway, not much risk of anyone seeing it. He did wet work with knives, as well. He bragged about one job, but when he saw the reaction he was getting from us, he clammed up.” His face hardened. “Anybody who enjoys killing needs help. I did it for ideological reasons, to help save innocents. He did it for fun.”

“This man,” Tank said slowly. “Did he have a nick on one ear?”

Carson blinked. “A what?”

“Did he have a cut on one ear, a scar?”

“I don’t remember. I can’t say I noticed.” He smiled faintly. “I was too occupied with the sight of that flaming mop of hair.”

Tank’s cell phone rang. It was the hospital. In fact, it was the doctor herself, whom he’d given his phone number.

“She is awake,” she told him, “and feeling somewhat better now.”

“I’m on my way,” Tank replied.

“Go,” Mallory said when he hesitated, because they’d come in one ranch vehicle. “Here.” He tossed him the keys. “We’ll get Darby to take us back to the ranch.”

“Okay. Thanks!” He ran for the truck.

“Don’t speed!” Cane called after him. “One tragedy a day is enough!”

“I’ll keep it under a hundred!” Tank called back.

Cane groaned. He’d been in a terrible wreck before he and Bolinda had been married. He took speed very seriously.

“I feel bad that this happened on my watch,” Carson said. “I was careless. I won’t be again.”

“We all slip from time to time,” Mallory assured him.

Two vehicles approached the cabin as Tank drove rapidly away with a wave. It was Sheriff Banks and his investigator.

They greeted the men, asked questions of Clara and started investigating Merissa’s room. It soon became apparent that her window was unlocked and someone had come through it quite recently. There was moisture from melted snow on the sill, and a partial footprint outside the window, among the leaves. A mold was taken of the print.

When the investigator had collected what evidence he could find, and another officer had been sent to the hospital to retrieve the bottle of capsules and enter them into the chain of evidence, Carson and the investigator started backtracking the faint trail through the woods.

Mallory and Cane returned to the ranch to update the wives on what was happening.

* * *

AT THE HOSPITAL, Tank sat beside Merissa in the intensive care unit, holding her hand.

“Scared me to death, baby,” he said softly.

She managed a wan smile. “I feel awful.”

“You’re going to be all right,” he said firmly. “Nobody’s coming near you, or touching you again, no matter what I have to do to keep you safe.”

“So sick,” she groaned.

“I’m sure they’re giving you something to make that better.”

“Yes. They said so. How’s Mama?” she asked suddenly. “She was so scared!”

“She’s fine,” he replied. “She came in with us to talk to the doctor.”

“Do you know what happened to me?” she asked.

He turned her hand over and traced the palm. “Someone doctored the capsules you were given for migraine headaches,” he said grimly. “We don’t know how yet, but we’re pretty sure who did it.”

She drew in a shaky breath and fought down the nausea. “Wow. I only took one capsule,” she whispered. “I remember Mama asked me when the ambulance came. I went out like a light pretty soon after that.”

His hand tightened on hers. “Thank God you didn’t take more.”

“What did he put in it?”

“Malathion,” he muttered. “It’s dangerous. Very dangerous. We have to use precautions when we put it out on the ranch. Once we had a guy covered with it. We had to have him decontaminated and we had to call the EMTs. That was an accident. What happened to you wasn’t. The sheriff’s investigator will probably want to talk to you, too.”

“I’ll tell him anything I can.” She looked up at Tank. “I remember that the blinds in my room were sort of crooked. I didn’t think anything about it... I just straightened them before I lay down. My head was throbbing. Oh, and the pills weren’t in my drawer. Why didn’t I say something? I never leave them sitting out...and there was an odd odor to them, but I thought it was the headache making me smell things.”

“Your head was hurting.” He smiled gently. “You gave us a real scare.”

She smiled. “Sorry.”

His expression became grim. “We have to get this guy, before he does something worse.”

“I totally agree. Unfortunately I won’t be able to help you run him down and hog-tie him,” she teased. “The way my doctor talks, I’m going to be here for several days.”

“You’ll be safe here.”

“Yes.” She sighed. “But tomorrow’s Christmas Eve,” she moaned. “Mama will be all alone.”

“Don’t worry about Clara,” he added before she could speak. “We’ve got people watching her.”

“Okay.”

“Carson offered to let me punch him,” he then told her. “He felt bad that he was out of sight and sound when it happened.”

“He was trying to keep us safe,” she said. “Don’t be mad at him.”

He frowned. “Don’t tell me he’s working that magic on you, too?”

“Excuse me?”

He averted his eyes. He hadn’t thought of Carson as a rival. Now, remembering the man’s way with women, he was stunned. Merissa had been almost his until Carson came back with him. Now, she was backing away. Because of Carson?

He glanced at her. “You and Carson, you’ve been talking, haven’t you?”

She nodded. “He isn’t what he seems,” she said softly. She smiled. “He’s had a very hard life.”

“He told you about it?”

“Yes. He isn’t the sort of man who tells anybody private things, I think. But he told me a lot. I felt really bad for him.”

“I see.”

“So don’t blame him,” she said softly. “I know he feels terrible, like he let me down. But it could have happened anytime. This man seems to know very well how to get to people,” she added quietly. “He’s like a snake. He can get in anywhere, without being noticed.”

“We’ll find him.”

She turned her head on the pillow. “You have to be very careful,” she said. “If you have medicines that you take, check them.”

“I’m way ahead of you there,” he assured her. “But there’s no way anyone could get into my house without being noticed.”

“Don’t assume that,” she said. “It’s what we assumed, too. And here I am.”

He grimaced. “You could have died.”

“Yes. But he miscalculated,” she said. “That will hurt his confidence. It will make him pause and rethink his methods. It will give you an opportunity to find out who he is.” She squeezed his hand. “Dalton, he’s done this before. Not exactly like this, but he’s killed someone. Someone important. That’s your key. That’s what you have to look for...” She swallowed, hard. She let go of his hand. “Sorry. I’m so...sleepy.”

“It’s all right. You rest. I’ll be back to see you tomorrow.”

She nodded. “Thanks.”

He smiled, when he’d never felt less like smiling. “Hey, what are friends for?” he asked her softly.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. Something flashed there, something odd. But she only smiled back and said, “That’s right.” Then she closed her eyes again.