Always Time To Die

Chapter 27

QUINTRELL RANCH

WEDNESDAY MORNING

MELISSA COVERED HER FACE WHILE THE HELICOPTER SETTLED ONTO THE SMALL PAD and shut down. She didn't step forward until the rotors stopped turning and the air settled down.

"Governor, what an unexpected pleasure," Melissa said. Her expression asked what was wrong. She raised her hand, signaling to one of the ranch employees. "Jim just brought the mail in from Taos. He'll take care of your luggage."

Josh rubbed his face wearily. He and Anne had spent a long night hashing out the least politically destructive way to handle the Jeanette Dykstra situation. He hadn't planned to move this quickly after the Senator's death, but he didn't have any choice now.

"Thanks, Jim," Josh said, shaking the man's hand. "How's the hunting?"

"Real slow. The drought has cut way back on the predators."

"Good news. I could use some."

"Yeah, you look kinda like you been rode hard and put away wet."

Josh almost laughed. "Good thing you're a hell of a shot. You'd never make it in politics."

"That's the Lord's truth." Jim scooped up the single duffel the chopper pilot unloaded. "Traveling light."

"Yes."

Josh's tone didn't invite conversation, but he knew Jim wouldn't be insulted. The wolfer's job kept him away from people most of the time. If Jim didn't like being solitary, he would have found other work.

Biting her lip, feeling fear clench her stomach, Melissa followed the governor to the main house.

"Is the doctor finished with Sylvia?" Josh asked.

She glanced at her watch and then at the driveway. The doctor's Mercedes was still parked to the side, dusty from the ride in.

"He'll be through soon," she said. "As you requested, I told him to wait for you."

Josh grunted. As soon as they were inside, he headed for Sylvia's suite. When he got there, he walked in without knocking.

Winifred glanced up, frowned, and then turned to Sylvia again, rubbing in more smelly goo. Though no one could tell it, Winifred was impatient for everyone to leave. In the mail Jim had brought there was a package from a DNA testing group. She wanted to get the samples mailed as quickly as possible.

And as quietly.

Dr. Sands removed his stethoscope, draped it over his neck, and straightened up from his exam of his patient.

"Well?" Winifred asked the doctor.

"She's slipping. It's fairly slow, but it's sure. Pulse is shallow and rapid, same for breathing, dry skin, barely any flesh."

"You said that last week."

"I meant it then. I mean it now. It's a miracle she's still alive. I should send that stinking cream you use to a lab for analysis."

For a moment, Winifred closed her eyes. She knew more than the doctor how close her sister was to death. Only Winifred's all-day, every-day care kept her alive. Damn that womanizing son of a bitch to the deepest circle of hell. And damn his son, too. She opened her eyes and gave Josh a bleak look.

He said, "I think it's time to admit Sylvia to a care facility."

Whatever Winifred had been expecting, it wasn't that. "No!"

"Yes." Josh's voice was like he was, calm and immovable, a man used to being heard.

The doctor busied himself putting away the blood pressure cuff and other gear.

"I've kept her alive for years," Winifred said.

"We're grateful. Unfortunately, you've traded your health for hers. Most nights you spend sleeping in a chair next to her. Now, even five feet away from you, I can hear the difficulty you have breathing." Josh looked at the doctor, who nodded.

"I'll check Miss Winifred before I leave," Dr. Sands said.

"It's nothing," she said. "My lungs just got cold when I went out for more firewood, that's all."

The doctor looked at her and frowned. "If you don't take care of yourself, you'll have pneumonia. Sounds like you're more than halfway there right now."

"In any case, we can't have you close to Sylvia when you're ill," Josh said. "She's too fragile. Dr. Sands, I want you to arrange medical transport for Sylvia to Oasis Nursing Home in Santa Fe as soon as possible. Surely within the next few days."

"I'll-" began the doctor.

"No, I won't allow it!" Winifred cut in fiercely. The force of her statement was spoiled when she went into a fit of coughing.

Dr. Sands listened to her and shook his head. "Do you still have the oxygen apparatus the Senator used?"

Josh turned and looked toward the hallway, where Melissa waited in case she was needed.

"Yes," Melissa said. "I kept it to have on hand in case Sylvia's breathing deteriorated anymore."

"Bring the equipment, please," the doctor said. "I'll set it up in Miss Winifred's room after I've listened to her lungs." He looked at Winifred. "Come with me to your room, unless you would prefer to be examined right here."

"I don't want to be examined at all."

"Until Dr. Sands declares you to be free of any communicable disease," Josh said evenly, "I can't allow you near your sister."

Winifred went very still. Then she walked slowly to Josh. Though he was tall, she was nearly at eye level with him. She looked at him for a long, tense moment.

"Melissa's right," Winifred said in a low voice. "You're going to clear us out and sell the ranch."

"I kept the ranch going for the Senator. He's dead. We can't afford the losses any longer."

"You mean you'd rather spend your money in the city. This is Sylvia's ranch."

"And I'm her guardian. If I feel my mother's best interests would be served by living in a city with first-class medical care, then I'll sell the ranch and use the money to ease whatever of her life remains."

"You say that like you've been rehearsing it for the cameras," Winifred said bitterly.

He didn't bother to answer.

She looked at his blue eyes, so like the Senator, so determined, so cold. She coughed once and couldn't stop. And then she knew it was all slipping away, the plans and the hopes, the victory and the just vengeance of Castillo against Quintrell.

The room began to spin slowly, going gray.

"I'll see you in hell," she said hoarsely.

Josh didn't doubt it.