“No rush,” Steve told her. “The key’s around here somewhere. It’ll turn up.”

Elsie was in the family room watching television. “You just missed it,” she said to Daisy and Steve. “They broke into one of them news-talk shows to show pictures of Daisy saving the life of Abdul Something. And then they showed her with some congressman, and they ended up by saying how she was living with the heir to the Crow oil fortune.”

Steve shrugged out of his suit jacket and yanked at his tie. “Didn’t waste any time, did they?”

“How did they know I was living here?”

“I mentioned it to Aunt Zena,” Steve said. “She must have passed the information along.”

“My reputation has been besmirched,” Daisy said. And good Lord, she hoped her parents didn’t see that piece on the news.

He put his hand to her cheek. “That’s not the part that bothers me. I don’t like the media making you into a superhero at a time when some nutcase is threatening you. And even worse, I moved you here hoping he wouldn’t be able to find you for a while. The evening news just told a million people where you live.”

“I want to know about this oil fortune,” Elsie said.

Steve opened the top button on his shirt. “As far as fortunes go, the Crow fortune isn’t all that much, and my parents have always done their best to spend it.”

“Good for them,” Elsie said. “If I had money, I’d spend it, too.”

Daisy didn’t think Steve was such a slouch when it came to spending money either. He bought cars and houses in less time than it took her to select a pound of ground beef for supper. She pulled the earrings from her ears. “I guess I’d better hit the books.”

Elsie aimed the channel changer at the television. “Too bad you have to study. There’s a show coming on now about giraffes. I’ve been waiting all week for this show. Someday when I get rich I’m going to Africa to see a giraffe.” Her attention was caught by the sound of a car being gunned down the street. “Sounds awful close, don’t it?” Elsie said. “Sounds like it’s right up on the front lawn.”

They were in the family room, in the back of the house, and the crash of broken glass carried to them from the front. It was immediately followed by an explosion. Everyone stood in suspended animation for a moment before reacting, waiting to see if there was another explosion.