ithin moments of reentering the ballroom, I was waylaid by Campbell.

“What just happened?” she asked. “And don’t tell me that you and my grandfather were simply overcome with a need for fresh air and chitchat.”

“He didn’t want me asking about his interaction with Victor Gutierrez in public.” I let that sink in, then imparted the other piece of information I’d gained. “Your grandfather admitted to paying Ana off. He was trying to bribe her into an adoption. A quiet one.”

“You should have let me come with you,” Campbell insisted. “I could have gotten him to tell us more.”

“There might not be any more to tell,” I replied. “If Ana took his money, if she was keeping the pregnancy quiet…what motive would anyone have had to hurt her?”

Campbell didn’t have an immediate response. I glanced around the room, looking for the others, and realized that Sadie-Grace and Boone were on the dance floor.

“Where’s Nick?” I asked Campbell. I had a sinking feeling about what she was going to say before she replied.

“He said to tell you that you suck at favors, and then he left.” She made a tsking sound. “Don’t look so disappointed. Nick’s not a boy you rely on, Sawyer.” She gave the faux sympathy a rest and offered me a wicked smile. “But he is an awful lot of fun.”

I wouldn’t know. Before I could dismiss the alien sense of disappointment that accompanied that thought or tell Campbell that Nick and I weren’t really dating and she could stop marking her territory, a third party entered our conversation.

“Did someone mention fun?” Victoria said, sliding in between us.

Campbell eyed her. I wondered if she was thinking about Ana, but what came out of her mouth was: “Done flirting with my brother?”

Victoria was undaunted by the question. “It was just one dance,” she said. “And Lily doesn’t own him.”

Sometimes, I thought, a dance is more than a dance.

“And I suppose your interest in Walker has nothing to do with whatever ax your family has to grind against mine?” Campbell asked Victoria sweetly.

“No more than my interest in you,” Victoria replied. She tilted her chin up slightly. “For the record, I didn’t come over here to talk about Walker.” She brought her hand to her lapel, and I realized that she was wearing a pin. Silver. A snake wrapped around a rose.

“Kind of hard to top our last rendezvous,” I commented dryly.

Campbell batted her eyelashes. “Discovering a twenty-year-old corpse really does have a certain flair.”

“Twenty-five,” Victoria corrected.

“What?” I said.

“My father’s been keeping tabs on the investigation,” Victoria told us casually. “The body has been dated back twenty-five years. And, yes, the authorities do suspect foul play.”

Not twenty years. I tried to wrap my mind around that. Twenty-five.

Victoria let her hand go to the pin on her lapel again. “You two and Sadie-Grace might want to check out the valet stand,” she advised us. “And don’t tell Lily.”