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shocked at hearing such language as Dana was at having uttered it. She’d learned to temper her tart tongue the day she’d fallen in love with a minister. Ken had never voiced his disapproval of her tendency to curse, but she’d seen the disappointment in his eyes whenever a particularly foul word slipped out. She’d been home less than twenty-four hours and she’d been cursing a blue streak ever since. She doubted that Kate had ever said anything harsher than darn in her life.
    “Okay, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I can’t help it. It’s just that the thought of Rick Sanchez brings out the worst in me. He got Ken killed.”
    Kate was shaking her head before Dana could complete the sentence. “You know better than that. Ken was at Yo, Amigo because that was the kind of compassionate, caring man he was. He saw the good in those kids. He wanted them to have a chance. You wouldn’t have loved him if he hadn’t tried to live up to his own ideals, if he hadn’t put himself on the front line, no matter the cost to himself. Ken believed in that program. He believed in Rick Sanchez.”
    “And he died because of it,” Dana repeated. “I can’t forgive Sanchez for that. I won’t.”
    “Is he the one you can’t forgive, or is it yourself?” Kate asked quietly. “Are you sure you’re not taking risks to punish yourself?”
    Dana’s eyes brimmed with stinging tears, and her throat clogged up at the softly spoken question. That was the trouble with having a friend who knew your deepest, darkest secrets. All those confidences could come back to haunt you, Dana thought.
    “I should never have told you,” she whispered.
    “Yes, you should have,” Kate contradicted, automatically handing Dana a pristine hankie from her pocket. “If you hadn’t told me that you and Ken had fought that night, it would have eaten away at you. You have to forgive yourself, sweetie. Ken was going to Yo, Amigo that night, whether you two had argued or not. He’d made up his mind, and he was every bit as stubborn as you are. It wasn’t your fault he got killed.”
    “No,” Dana agreed, clutching the handkerchief and ignoring the tears that streaked down her cheeks. “But I shouldn’t have let him leave when he was so angry. Maybe that’s what made him careless. Maybe that’s why he didn’t see that there was someone there with a gun.”
    “And maybe he just got in the way of some drug-crazed kid,” Kate said. “That’s what the police think.”
    “One of the kids Rick Sanchez protects,” Dana countered bitterly, bringing the argument full circle.
    Kate sighed. “There’s nothing I can say to talk you out of this, is there?”
    “Nothing,” Dana agreed.
    Kate’s expression turned resigned. “Then tell me what I can do to help.”
    “Just be my friend.”
    “No, I want to do something constructive. You helped me when my life was a mess. Now it’s my turn. I can work a phone with the best of them. You’ve always said I could talk anyone into doing anything I wanted. Let me put those powers of persuasion to work for a good cause. We’ll be a team.”
    Dana laughed at the excitement sparkling in her friend’s eyes. “Kate, you are not a private investigator,” she pointed out.
    “Technically, neither are you.”
    Dana was taken aback for a minute, until she realized that Kate was right. She had long since let her license lapse. Hopefully her skills were a bit more up-to-date, though after last night’s disaster, she had to wonder. Not that she’d ever admit to such a thing.
    “What about your kids? What about the risks?” she asked, throwing Kate’s earlier arguments right back into her face.
    “One’s seventeen, the other’s nineteen,” Kate said dismissively. “They barely know I exist, anyway. Besides, I’m just going to be chatting on the phone, like I always do. How much danger can there be in that?”
    “Famous last words,” Dana retorted. “Are you really sure you want to help?”
    “I