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The senator juers at me, which moved up the scale to full-sized swords as the senator turned and flashed his best azine-cover smile my way “Of course, Miss Mason,” he said He deftly twitched his fingers free of the handshaker, saying, “If you wouldn’tme, Councilman Plant, I need to confer with a ht back with you”

Fighting into the throng had taken al but the senator’s hand at the s as we made our way to the clear space to the left of the dais “Not that Ito worry about the structural integrity ofhere?” asked Senator Ryman, his voice pitched low “Last I checked, you’d stayed at the Center, which is why your brother’s been here annoying the staff and eating all the shri”

“I did stay at the Center,” I said “Senator, I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but—” Soratulations to the senator, who answered it with a grin and a broad thumbs-up It was a perfect photo-op moment, and I snapped the shot with ht about what I was doing Instincts Clearingfor son”

“You’ve told nized the is “It’s all so me down What I don’t understand is why this is suddenly so pressing that you need to rush over here and risk ht be one of the reat reat many These are the men who could hand me California, as you’d know, if you’d bothered to read the briefing papers and attend my speech” If you’d bothered to do your job, said his subtext, so clearly that it ht as well have been spoken aloud I’d let hi, which he’d con—the objective reporter, won over by his politics and his rhetoric—was supposed to have been there, and it wasn’t

The senator had heardfrequency in the ti tired of the frustrated with the faster now, in an effort to keep hi me out before I could finish, I said, “Senator, I’ve had two oftraces for weeks now on every bit of data we could find They’ve been following the money That’s what it always coed to find—”

“We’ll talk about this later, Georgia”

“But Senator Ryman, we—”

“I said we’d talk about this later” He was frowning now, his stiff, political s recalcitrant interns “This is neither the time nor the place for this discussion”

“Senator, we have proof Tate was involved in what happened to Buffy” The senator froze Finally sensing that he ht listen, I pressed my case “We’ve had audio for a while, but my team found the payments We found the contacts Buffy wasn’t the start Eakly was the start Eakly and the ranch—”

“No”

The as soft but iainst the side of that refusal like I’d just sla, “Senator Ryia, this is not the time, and it’s not the place, especially if those are the accusations you’ve come here to make” His face was cold I’d never seen him look that cold toward anyone asn’t a political rival “David Tate and I n trail, and God knows, I’ve always known there was no love lost between the two of you, but I’s about a hter’s funeral I can’t have that”

“Senator, that hter’s death as if he’d infected her himself”

Senator Ryman’s shoulders tensed, and his hand actually rose several inches before he forced it down He wanted to hit me; that truth ritten so clear across his face that even Shaun could have seen it He wanted to, but he wouldn’t Not here, not in front of all these witnesses

“It’s tiia”

“Senator—”

“If the three of you aren’t off the preht in the Sacramento County jailhouse, as I’ll have had your press clearance pulled” His tone was calm, even reasonable, but there was no kindness in it, and kindness was the thing I was et back to the Center, I’ll come by your trailer, and you’ll show me every scrap of proof you think you have”

“And then?” I asked, despiteto take this

“And then, if I believe you, I’ll back you up e call for the federal authorities, because what you’re saying, Georgia, what you’re accusing is terrorisets made without absolute proof behind it, well, there’s ht If it got out that the Ry a man who’d use Kellis-Amberlee as a weapon—hell, that a man who’d use Kellis-Amberlee as a weapon was actually on the ticket—it would ruin him His political enemies would never let the scandal die Some of them would probably say he’d supported Tate’s actions, even to the point of killing Rebecca, for the votes it bought him