“You got one…?” Cort asked slowly, all at sea.

“Hi, Cort,” Darly Coolidge said, pausing to shake hands. “Were you here when all this was going down?”

“No, I just got home from a business meeting,” Cort said blankly. “I don’t understand any of this!” He looked at Mina. “You shot a man? I didn’t know you had a gun!”

“I have a .45 Colt ACP,” she told him. “Well, the sheriff has it right now. It’s evidence in a shooting.”

“And we need a statement from you, if you’re feeling up to it, Mrs. Grier,” he added with a smile.

She smiled back. “I’m all right now. I just have periodic morning sickness, usually at night,” she laughed.

“You have a .45 automatic,” Cort was still trying to process the information.

She nodded.

“Talk about living your novels,” the sheriff chuckled, shaking his head. “Come on down when you’re ready,” he added to Mina, who smiled and nodded.

“Okay,” Cort said, pale brown eyes flashing as he faced his wife. “What’s going on?”

She grimaced. “It’s sort of a long story. Couldn’t we sit down and have coffee and I’ll try to explain it?”

He was tired and confused and ill at ease with strangers crawling all over his house. Vic and Sandra seemed to be having the time of their lives.

Cort drew Mina to his side and walked her around the blood and into the living room.

“Cort! What an adventure you missed!” Sandra exclaimed, pausing to hug him. “I still can’t believe who you married. Honest to goodness, Willow Shane, of all people, and her book just hit number four on the New York Times bestseller list! Or it will, next week. Her agent gets advance notice of the postings.”

Willow Shane. SPECTRE. His head seemed to turn in slow motion toward his wife, who loved to knit and read romance novels. She was flushing and looking very uncomfortable. Bart had a friend who was a successful novelist. There had been a party for her in Catelow. Willow Shane. The book jacket said that she went on missions with a group of commandos, that she could shoot a gun and had a high belt in a Korean martial art.

He just gaped at her.

The deputy had taken statements from the commandos and was talking to the sheriff. Vic and Ry joined Mina.

“Well, it will be a story to tell your grandchildren,” Vic chuckled as he hugged his son. “What a night! We caught the drug smugglers who’ve been using our southern border for a freeway, and two would-be kidnappers are on their way to a long sentence on federal charges. What a night!” he repeated, laughing as he drew Sandra close.

“You two are back together?” Cort asked. His mind was whirling like a top.

“I bribed her,” Vic said. He grinned. “With your wife.”

“With my wife?”

“Mina’s her favorite author. I told Sandra if she’d give me a second chance, I’d introduce her. The guys there were a bonus.” He indicated Ry and the others, just joining them.