Justice at Cardwell Ranch
Justice at Cardwell Ranch
B.J. Daniels
Jordan moved quickly through the gravestones until he found the one stone that was newer than the others, only six years in the ground.
The name on the tombstone read Mary Justice Cardwell.
“Hello, Mother,” he said removing his hat as he felt all the conflicting emotions he’d had when she was alive. All the arguments came rushing back, making him sick at the memory. He hadn’t been able to change her mind, and now she was gone, leaving them all behind to struggle as a family without her.
He could almost hear their last argument whispered on the wind. “There is nothing keeping you here, let alone me,” he’d argued. “Why are you fighting so hard to keep this place going? Can’t you see that ranching is going to kill you?”
He recalled her smile, that gentle gleam in her eyes that infuriated him. “This land is what makes me happy, son. Someday you will realize that ranching is in our blood. You can fight it, but this isn’t just your home, a part of your heart is here as well.”
“Like hell,” he’d said. “Sell the ranch, Mother, before it’s too late. If not for yourself and the rest of us, then for Dana. She’s too much like you. She will spend her life fighting to keep this place. Don’t do that to her.”
“She’ll keep this ranch for the day when you come back to help her run it.”
“That’s never going to happen, Mother.”
Mary Justice Cardwell had smiled that knowing smile of hers. “Only time will tell, won’t it?”
Dear Reader,
It was so much fun for me to return to Cardwell Ranch. Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch has been read by more than two million readers, so it was a treat to go back and find out what happened to the Justice and Cardwell families in the sequel. Justice at Cardwell Ranch is a story I’ve wanted to write for a long time.
When I was a girl, we had a cabin just down the road from where these books take place. I have such wonderful memories of the Gallatin Canyon. My brother and I had a fort out in the woods and spent hours exploring in what is now a wilderness area. I skied at Big Sky many times, and have hiked with a friend to Ousel Waterfalls, where part of this story takes place.
I hope you enjoy this return trip to the “canyon.”
BJ Daniels
www.bjdaniels.com
About the Author
USA TODAY bestselling author BJ DANIELS wrote her first book after a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist and author of thirty-seven published short stories. That first book, Odd Man Out, received a four-and-a-half-star review from RT Book Reviews and went on to be nominated for Best Intrigue that year. Since then, she has won numerous awards, including a career achievement award for romantic suspense and many nominations and awards for best book.
Daniels lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, and two springer spaniels, Spot and Jem. When she isn’t writing, she snowboards, camps, boats and plays tennis. Daniels is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Kiss of Death and Romance Writers of America. To contact her, write to BJ Daniels, PO Box 1173, Malta, MT 59538, USA, or e-mail her at bjdaniels@mtintouch.net. Check out her website, www.bjdaniels.com.
Justice at Cardwell Ranch
BJ Daniels
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
This book is dedicated to my amazing husband.
He makes all this possible along with inspiring me
each and every day. Thank you, Parker.
Without your love, I couldn’t do this.
Prologue
Nothing moved in the darkness. At the corner of the house she stopped to catch her breath. She could hear music playing somewhere down the street. Closer, a dog barked.
As she waited in the deep shadow at the edge of the house, she measured the distance and the light she would have to pass through to reach the second window.
When she’d sneaked into the house earlier, she’d left the window unlocked. But she had no way of knowing if someone had discovered it. If so, they might not have merely relocked it—they could be waiting for her.
Fear had her heart pounding and her breath coming out in painful bursts. If she got caught— She couldn’t let herself think about that.
The dog stopped barking for a moment. All she could hear was the faint music drifting on the night breeze. She fought to keep her breathing in check as she inched along the side of the house to the first window.
A light burned inside, but the drapes were closed. Still, she waited to make sure she couldn’t hear anyone on the other side of the glass before she moved.
Ducking, she slipped quickly through a shaft of illumination from a streetlamp and stopped at the second bedroom window.
There, she waited for a few moments. No light burned inside the room. Still she listened before she pulled the screwdriver from her jacket pocket and began to pry up the window.
At first the old casement window didn’t move and she feared she’d been right about someone discovering what she’d done and locking the window again.
When it finally gave, it did so with a pop that sounded like an explosion to her ears. She froze. No sound came from within the room. Her hands shook as she pried the window up enough that she could get her fingers under it.
Feeling as if there was no turning back now, she lifted the window enough to climb in. Heart in her throat, she drew back the curtain. She’d half expected to find someone standing on the other side lying in wait for her.
The room, painted pink, was empty except for a few pieces of mismatched furniture: a dresser, a rocking chair, a changing table and a crib.
She looked to the crib, fearing that she’d come this far only to fail. But from the faint light coming from the streetlamp, she could see the small lump beneath the tiny quilt.
Her heart beat faster at the thought that in a few minutes she would have the baby in her arms.
She heard the car coming down the street just seconds before the headlights washed over her. Halfway in the window, there was nothing she could do but hurry. She wasn’t leaving here without the baby.
Chapter One
The breeze rustled through the aspens, sending golden leaves whirling around him as Jordan Cardwell walked up the hill to the cemetery. He wore a straw Western hat he’d found on a peg by the back door of the ranch house.
He hadn’t worn a cowboy hat since he’d left Montana twenty years ago, but this one kept his face from burning. It was so much easier to get sunburned at this high altitude than it was in New York City.
It was hot out and yet he could feel the promise of winter hiding at the edge of the fall day. Only the memory of summer remained in the Gallatin River Canyon. Cold nightly temperatures had turned the aspens to glittering shades of gold and orange against the dark green of the pines.
Below him he could hear the rushing water of the Gallatin as the river cut a deep winding course through the canyon. Across the river, sheer granite cliffs rose up to where the sun hung in a faded blue big Montana sky.
As he walked, the scent of crushed dry leaves beneath his soles sent up the remembered smell of other autumns. He knew this land. As hard as he’d tried to escape it, this place was branded on him, this life as familiar as his own heartbeat—even after all these years.
He thought of all the winters he’d spent in this canyon listening to the ice crack on the river, feeling the bite of snow as it blew off a pine bough to sting his face, breathing in a bone-deep cold that made his head ache.
He’d done his time here, he thought as he turned his face up to the last of the day’s warmth before the sun disappeared behind the cliffs. Soon the aspens would be bare, the limbs dark against a winter-washed pale frosty sky. The water in the horse troughs would begin to freeze and so would the pooling eddies along the edge of the river. The cold air in the shade of the pines was a warning of what was to come, he thought as he reached the wrought-iron cemetery gate.
The gate groaned as he shoved it open. He hesitated. What was he doing here? Nearby the breeze sighed in the tops of the towering pines, drawing his attention to the dense stand. He didn’t remember them being so tall. Or so dark and thick. As he watched the boughs sway, he told himself to make this quick. He didn’t want to get caught here.
Even though it was a family cemetery, he didn’t feel welcome here anymore. His own fault, but still, it could get messy if anyone from his family caught him on the ranch. He didn’t plan to stick around long enough to see any of them. It was best that way, he told himself as he stepped through the gate into the small cemetery.
He’d never liked graveyards. Nor did it give him any comfort to know that more than a dozen remains of their relatives were interred here. He took no satisfaction in the long lineage of the Justice family, let alone the Cardwell one, in this canyon—unlike his sister.
Dana found strength in knowing that their ancestors had been mule-headed ranchers who’d weathered everything Montana had thrown at them to stay on this ranch. They’d settled this land along a stretch of the Gallatin, a crystal clear trout stream that ran over a hundred miles from Yellowstone Park to the Missouri River.
The narrow canyon got little sunlight each day. In the winter it was an icebox of frost and snow. Getting up to feed the animals had been pure hell. He’d never understood why any of them had stayed.
But they had, he thought as he surveyed the tombstones. They’d fought this land to remain here and now they would spend eternity in soil that had given them little in return for their labors.
A gust of wind rattled through the colorful aspen leaves and moaned in the high branches of the pines. Dead foliage floated like gold coins around him, showering the weather-bleached gravestones. He was reminded why he’d never liked coming up to this windblown hill. He found no peace among the dead. Nor had he come here today looking for it.
He moved quickly through the gravestones until he found the one stone that was newer than the others, only six years in the ground. The name on the tombstone read Mary Justice Cardwell.
“Hello, Mother,” he said removing his hat as he felt all the conflicting emotions he’d had when she was alive. All the arguments came rushing back, making him sick at the memory. He hadn’t been able to change her mind and now she was gone, leaving them all behind to struggle as a family without her.
He could almost hear their last argument whispered on the wind. “There is nothing keeping you here, let alone me,” he’d argued. “Why are you fighting so hard to keep this place going? Can’t you see that ranching is going to kill you?”
He recalled her smile, that gentle gleam in her eyes that infuriated him. “This land is what makes me happy, son. Someday you will realize that ranching is in our blood. You can fight it, but this isn’t just your home. A part of your heart is here, as well.”
“Like hell,” he’d said. “Sell the ranch, Mother, before it’s too late. If not for yourself and the rest of us, then for Dana. She’s too much like you. She will spend her life fighting to keep this place. Don’t do that to her.”
“She’ll keep this ranch for the day when you come back to help her run it.”
“That’s never going to happen, Mother.”
Mary Justice Cardwell had smiled that knowing smile of hers. “Only time will tell, won’t it?”
Jordan turned the hat brim nervously in his fingers as he looked down at his mother’s grave and searched for the words to tell her how much he hated what she’d done to him. To all of them. But to his surprise he felt tears well in his eyes, his throat constricting on a gulf of emotion he hadn’t anticipated.
A gust of wind bent the pine boughs and blew down to scatter dried leaves across the landscape. His skin rippled with goosebumps as he suddenly sensed someone watching him. His head came up, his gaze going to the darkness of the pines.
She was only a few yards away. He hadn’t heard the woman on horseback approach and realized she must have been there the whole time, watching him.
She sat astride a large buckskin horse. Shadows played across her face from the swaying pine boughs. The breeze lifted the long dark hair that flowed like molten obsidian over her shoulders and halfway down her back.
There was something vaguely familiar about her. But if he’d known her years before when this was home, he couldn’t place her now. He’d been gone too long from Montana.
And yet a memory tugged at him. His gaze settled on her face again, the wide-set green eyes, that piercing look that seemed to cut right to his soul.
With a curse, he knew where he’d seen her before—and why she was looking at him the way she was. A shudder moved through him as if someone had just walked over his grave.
LIZA TURNER HAD WATCHED the man slog up the hill, his footsteps slow, his head down, as if he were going to a funeral. So she hadn’t been surprised when he’d pushed open the gate to the cemetery and stepped in.
At first, after reining her horse in under the pines, she’d been mildly curious. She loved this spot, loved looking across the canyon as she rode through the groves of aspens and pines. It was always cool in the trees. She liked listening to the river flowing emerald-green below her on the hillside and taking a moment to search the granite cliffs on the other side for mountain sheep.
She hadn’t expected to see anyone on her ride this morning. When she’d driven into the ranch for her usual trek, she’d seen the Cardwell Ranch pickup leaving and remembered that Hud was taking Dana into Bozeman today for her doctor’s appointment. They were leaving the kids with Dana’s best friend and former business partner, Hilde at Needles and Pins, the local fabric store.
The only other person on the ranch was the aging ranch manager, Warren Fitzpatrick. Warren would be watching Let’s Make a Deal at his cabin this time of the morning.
So Liza had been curious and a bit leery when she’d first laid eyes on the stranger in the Western straw hat. As far as she knew, no one else should have been on the ranch today. So who was this tall, broad-shouldered cowboy?
Dana had often talked about hiring some help since Warren was getting up in years and she had her hands full with a four- and five-year-old, not to mention now being pregnant with twins.
But if this man was the new hired hand, why would he be interested in the Justice-Cardwell family cemetery? She felt the skin on the back of her neck prickle. There was something about this cowboy … His face had been in shadow from the brim of his hat. When he’d stopped at one of the graves and had taken his hat off, head bowed, she still hadn’t been able to see more than his profile from where she sat astride her horse.
Shifting in the saddle, she’d tried to get a better look. He must have heard the creak of leather or sensed her presence. His head came up, his gaze darting right to the spot where she sat. He looked startled at first, then confused as if he was trying to place her.
She blinked, not sure she could trust her eyes. Jordan Cardwell?
He looked completely different from the arrogant man in the expensive three-piece suit she’d crossed paths with six years ago. He wore jeans, a button-up shirt and work boots. He looked tanned and stronger as if he’d been doing manual labor. There was only a hint of the earlier arrogance in his expression, making him more handsome than she remembered.
She saw the exact moment when he recognized her. Bitterness burned in his dark gaze as a small resentful smile tugged at his lips.
Oh, yes, it was Jordan Cardwell all right, she thought, wondering what had made her think he was handsome just moments before or—even harder to believe, that he might have changed.
Six years ago he’d been the number one suspect in a murder as well as a suspect in an attempted murder. Liza had been the deputy who’d taken his fingerprints.
She wondered now what he was doing not only back in the canyon, but also on the ranch he and his siblings had fought so hard to take from their sister Dana.
DANA SAVAGE LAY BACK ON THE examining table, nervously picking at a fingernail. “I can’t remember the last time I saw my feet,” she said with a groan.
Dr. Pamela Burr laughed. “This might feel a little cold.”
Dana tried not to flinch as the doctor applied clear jelly to her huge stomach. She closed her eyes and waited until she heard the heartbeats before she opened them again. “So everything is okay?”
“Your babies appear to be doing fine. Don’t you want to look?”
Dana didn’t look at the monitor. “You know Hud. He’s determined to be surprised. Just like the last two. So I don’t dare look.” She shot a glance at her husband. He stood next to her, his gaze on her, not the screen. He smiled, but she could see he was worried.
The doctor shut off the machine. “As for the spotting …”
Dana felt her heart drop as she saw the concern in Dr. Burr’s expression.
“I’m going to have to insist on bed rest for these last weeks,” she said. “Let’s give these babies the best start we can by leaving them where they are for now.” She looked to Hud.
“You can count on me,” he said. “It’s Dana you need to convince.”
Dana sat up and laid her hands over her extended stomach. She felt the twins moving around in the cramped space. Poor babies. “Okay.”
“You understand what bed rest means?” the doctor asked. “No ranch business, no getting up except to shower and use the bathroom. You’re going to need help with Hank and Mary.”
That was putting it mildly when you had a four- and five-year-old who were wild as the canyon where they lived.
“I’m sure Hud—”
“You’ll need more than his help.” The doctor pressed a piece of paper into her hand. “These are several women you might call that I’ve used before.”
Dana didn’t like the idea of bringing in a stranger to take care of Hud and the kids, but the babies kicked and she nodded.
“Doc said I was going to have to watch you like a hawk,” Hud told her on the way home. Apparently while she was getting dressed, Dr. Burr had been bending his ear, down the hall in her office. “You always try to do too much. With the kids, the ranch, me—”
“I’ll be good.”
He gave her a disbelieving look.
“Marshal, would you like a sworn affidavit?”
He grinned over at her. “Actually, I’m thinking about handcuffing you to the bed. I reckon it will be the only way I can keep you down for a day let alone weeks.”
Dana groaned as she realized how hard it was going to be to stay in bed. “What about Hank and Mary? They won’t understand why their mommy can’t be up and around, let alone outside with them and their animals.” Both of them had their own horses and loved to ride.
“I’ve already put in for a leave. Liza can handle things. Anyway, it’s in between resort seasons so it’s quiet.”
September through the middle of November was slow around Big Sky with the summer tourists gone and ski season still at least a month away.
Dana knew October was probably a better time than any other for her husband to be off work. That wasn’t the problem. “Hud, I hate to see you have to babysit me and the kids.”
“It’s not babysitting when it’s your wife and kids, Dana.”
“You know what I mean. There are the kids and the ranch—”
“Honey, you’ve been trying to do it all for too long.”
She had been juggling a lot of balls for some time now, but Hud always helped on the weekends. Their ranch manager, Warren Fitzpatrick, was getting up in years so he had really slowed down. But Warren was a fixture around the ranch, one she couldn’t afford to replace. More than anything, she loved the hands-on part of ranching so she spent as much time as she could working the land.
When she’d found out she was pregnant this time she’d been delighted, but a little worried how she was going to handle another child right now.
Then the doctor had told her she was having twins. Twins? Seriously?
“Are you all right?” Hud asked as he placed his hand over hers and squeezed.
She smiled and nodded. “I’m always all right when I’m with you.”
He gave her hand another squeeze before he went back to driving. “I’m taking you home. Then I’ll go by the shop and pick up the kids.” Her friend Hilde had the kids in Big Sky. “But I’d better not find out you were up and about while I was gone.”
Dana shook her head and made a cross with her finger over her heart. She lay back and closed her eyes, praying as she had since the spotting had begun that the babies she was carrying would be all right. Mary and Hank were so excited about the prospect of two little brothers or sisters. She couldn’t disappoint them.
She couldn’t disappoint anyone, especially her mother, she thought. While Mary Justice Cardwell had been gone six years now, she was as much a part of the ranch as the old, two-story house where Dana lived with Hud and the kids. Her mother had trusted her to keep Cardwell Ranch going. Against all odds she was doing her darnedest to keep that promise.
So why did she feel so scared, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop?
Chapter Two
Jordan watched Deputy Liza Turner ride her horse out of the pines. The past six years had been good to her. She’d been pretty back then. Now there was a confidence as if she’d grown into the woman she was supposed to become. He recalled how self-assured and efficient she’d been at her job. She was also clearly at home on the back of a horse.
The trees cast long shadows over the stark landscape. Wind whirled the dried leaves that now floated in the air like snowflakes.
“Jordan Cardwell,” she said as she reined in her horse at the edge of the cemetery.
He came out through the gate, stopping to look up at her. “Deputy.” She had one of those faces that was almost startling in its uniqueness. The green eyes wide, captivating and always filled with curiosity. He thought she was more interesting than he remembered. That, he realized, was probably because she was out of uniform.
She wore jeans and a red-checked Western shirt that made her dark hair appear as rich as mahogany. She narrowed those green eyes at him. Curiosity and suspicion, he thought.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” she said, a soft lilt to her voice. She had a small gap between her two front teeth, an imperfection, that he found charming.
“I don’t know why you’d be surprised. My sister might have inherited the ranch but I’m still family.”
She smiled at that and he figured she knew all about what had happened after his mother had died—and her new will had gone missing.
“I didn’t think you’d ever come back to the ranch,” she said.
He chuckled. “Neither did I. But people change.”
“Do they?” She was studying him in a way that said she doubted he had. He didn’t need to read her expression to know she was also wondering what kind of trouble he’d brought back to the canyon with him. The horse moved under her, no doubt anxious to get going.
“Your horse seems impatient,” he said. “Don’t let me keep you from your ride.” With a tip of his hat, he headed down the mountain to the ranch house where he’d been raised.
It seemed a lifetime ago. He could barely remember the man he’d been then. But he would be glad to get off the property before his sister and her husband returned. He planned to put off seeing them if at all possible. So much for family, he thought.
WHEN DANA OPENED HER EYES, she saw that they’d left the wide valley and were now driving through the Gallatin Canyon. The “canyon” as it was known, ran from the mouth just south of Gallatin Gateway almost to West Yellowstone, fifty miles of winding road that trailed the river in a deep cut through the mountains.
The drive along the Gallatin River had always been breathtaking, a winding strip of highway that followed the blue-ribbon trout stream up over the continental divide. This time of year the Gallatin ran crystal clear over green-tinted boulders. Pine trees grew dark and thick along its edge and against the steep mountains. Aspens, their leaves rust-reds and glittering golds, grew among the pines.
Sheer rock cliffs overlooked the highway and river, with small areas of open land, the canyon not opening up until it reached Big Sky. The canyon had been mostly cattle and dude ranches, a few summer cabins and homes—that was until Big Sky resort and the small town that followed at the foot of Lone Mountain.
Luxury houses had sprouted up all around the resort. Fortunately, some of the original cabins still remained and the majority of the canyon was national forest so it would always remain undeveloped. The “canyon” was also still its own little community, for which Dana was grateful. This was the only home she’d known and, like her stubborn ancestors, she had no intention of ever leaving it.
Both she and Hud had grown up here. They’d been in love since junior high, but hit a rocky spot some years ago thanks to her sister. Dana didn’t like to think about the five years she and Hud had spent apart as they passed the lower mountain resort area and, a few miles farther, turned down the road to Cardwell Ranch.
Across the river and a half mile back up a wide valley, the Cardwell Ranch house sat against a backdrop of granite cliffs, towering dark pines and glittering aspens. The house was a big, two-story rambling affair with a wide front porch and a brick-red metal roof. Behind it stood a huge weathered barn and some outbuildings and corrals.
Dana never felt truly at home until they reached the ranch she’d fought tooth and nail to save. When Mary Justice Cardwell had been bucked off a horse and died six years ago, Dana had thought all was lost. Her mother’s original will when her children were young left the ranch to all of them.
Mary hadn’t realized until her children were grown that only Dana would keep the ranch. The others would sell it, take the profits and never look back until the day they regretted what they’d done. By then it would be too late. So her mother had made a new will, leaving the ranch to her. But her mother had hidden it where she hoped her daughter would find it. Fortunately, Dana had found it in time to save the ranch.
The will had put an end to her siblings’ struggle to force her to sell the land and split the profits with them. Now her three siblings were paid part of the ranch’s profit each quarter. Not surprisingly, she hadn’t heard from any of them since the will had settled things six years before.
As Hud pulled into the ranch yard, Dana spotted a car parked in front of the old house and frowned. The car was an older model with California plates.
“You didn’t already hire someone—”
“No,” Hud said before she could finish. “I wouldn’t do that without talking to you first. Do you think the doctor called one of the women she told you about?”
Before Dana could answer, she saw that someone was waiting out on the broad front porch. As Hud pulled in beside the car, the woman stepped from out of the shadows.
“Stacy?” She felt her heart drop. After six years of silence and all the bad feelings from the past, what was her older sister doing here?
“SURPRISE,”STACY SAID WITH a shrug and a worried smile. Like Dana, Stacy had gotten the Justice-Cardwell dark good looks, but she’d always been the cute one who capitalized on her appearance, cashing in as she traded her way up through three marriages that Dana knew of and possibly more since.
Just the sight of her sister made Dana instantly wary. She couldn’t help but be mistrustful given their past.
Her sister’s gaze went to Dana’s stomach. “Oh, my. You’re pregnant.”
“We need to get Dana in the house,” Hud said, giving his sister-in-law a nod of greeting. Stacy opened the door and let them enter before she followed them in.
Dana found herself looking around the living room, uncomfortable that her sister had been inside the house even though it had once been Stacy’s home, as well.
The house was as it had been when her mother was alive. Original Western furnishings, a lot of stone and wood and a bright big airy kitchen. Dana, like her mother, chose comfort over style trends. She loved her big, homey house. It often smelled of something good bubbling on the stove, thanks to the fact that Hud loved to cook.
Dana preferred to spend her time with her children outside, teaching them to ride or watching a new foal being born or picking fresh strawberries out of the large garden she grew—just as her own mother had done with her.
As she looked at her sister, she was reminded of some of her mother’s last words to her. “Families stick together. It isn’t always easy. Everyone makes mistakes. Dana, you have to find forgiveness in your heart. If not for them, then for yourself.”
Her mother had known then that if anything happened to her, Jordan, Stacy and Clay would fight her for the ranch. That’s why she’d made the new will.
But she must also have known that the will would divide them.
“It’s been a long time,” Dana said, waiting, knowing her sister wanted something or she wouldn’t be here.
“I know I should have kept in touch more,” Stacy said. “I move around a lot.” But she’d always managed to get her check each quarter as part of her inheritance from the ranch profits. Dana instantly hated the uncharitable thought. She didn’t want to feel that way about her sister. But Stacy had done some things in the past that had left the two of them at odds. Like breaking Dana and Hud up eleven years ago. Dana still had trouble forgiving her sister for that.
Stacy shifted uncomfortably in the silence. “I should have let you know I was coming, huh.”
“Now isn’t the best time for company,” Hud said. “Dana’s doctor has advised her to get off her feet for the rest of her pregnancy.”
“But I’m not company,” Stacy said. “I’m family. I can help.”
Hud looked to his wife. “Why don’t you go. It’s fine,” Dana said and removed her coat.
“So you’re pregnant,” her sister said.
“Twins,” Dana said, sinking into a chair.
Stacy nodded.
Dana realized Hud was still in his coat, waiting, afraid to leave her alone with Stacy. “Are you going to pick up the kids?”
He gave her a questioning look.
“I thought you probably had more kids,” her sister said. “The toys and stuff around.”
Dana was still looking at her husband. She knew he didn’t trust Stacy, hated she’d been alone in their house while they were gone and worse, he didn’t want to leave the two of them alone. “Stacy and I will be fine.”
Still he hesitated. He knew better than anyone what her siblings were like.
“Stacy, would you mind getting me a drink of water?” The moment her sister left the room, Dana turned to her husband. “I’ll be fine,” she said lowering her voice. “Go pick up the kids. I promise I won’t move until you get back.” She could tell that wasn’t what had him concerned.
He glanced toward the kitchen and the sound of running water. “I won’t be long.”
She motioned him over and smiled as he leaned down to kiss her. At the same time, he placed a large hand on her swollen stomach. The babies moved and he smiled.
“You have your cell phone if you need me?”
Dana nodded. “The marshal’s office is also on speed dial. I’ll be fine. Really.”
Stacy came back in with a glass full of water as Hud left. “I’m glad things have turned out good for you. Hud is so protective.”
“Thank you,” she said as she took the glass and studied her sister over the rim as she took a drink.
“I would have called,” Stacy said, “but I wanted to surprise you.”
“I’m surprised.” She watched her sister move around the room, touching one object after another, seeming nervous. Her first thought when she’d seen her sister was that she’d come here because she was in trouble.
That initial observation hadn’t changed. Now though, Dana was betting it had something to do with money. It usually did with Stacy, unfortunately.
Years ago Dana had found out just how low her sister would stoop if the price was right. She had good reason not to trust her sister.
“The place hasn’t changed at all,” Stacy was saying now. “Except for the pile of toys in the sunroom. I heard Hud say he was going to pick up the kids?”
“Hank and Mary, five and four.”
“You named your daughter after mother, that’s nice,” Stacy said. “I thought you probably would.” She seemed to hear what she’d said. “I want you to know I’m not upset about mother leaving you the ranch. You know me, I would have just blown the money.” She flashed a self-deprecating smile. “And you’re pregnant with twins! When are you due?”
“Eight weeks.” When she finally couldn’t take it anymore, Dana asked, “Stacy, what are you doing here?”
“It’s kind of a strange story,” her sister said, looking even more nervous.
Dana braced herself. If Stacy thought it was a strange story, then it could be anything. Her sister opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted.
From upstairs a baby began to cry.
“What is that?” Dana demanded.
“I haven’t had a chance to tell you,” Stacy said as she started for the stairs. “That’s Ella. That’s my other surprise. I have a baby.”
LIZA PARKED HER PICKUP ACROSS the road from Trail’s End and settled in to wait. She had a clear view of the small cabin Jordan had rented. Like a lot of Big Sky, the string of cabins were new. But it being off-season and the cabins’only view being Highway 191, she figured they weren’t too pricey. She wondered how Jordan was fixed for money and if that’s what had brought him back here.
Pulling out her phone, she called Hud’s cell. He answered on the third ring. She could hear the kids in the background and a woman’s voice. Hilde, Dana’s best friend. He must be at Needles and Pins.
“How’s Dana, boss?” she asked.
“Stubborn.”
She laughed. “So the doctor did prescribe bed rest.”
“Yes. Fortunately, I know you can run things just fine without me.”
“Probably more smoothly without you around,” she joked.
He must have heard something in her voice. “But?”
“Nothing I can’t handle,” she assured him. “But you might want to give Dana a heads-up.”
“Dana already knows. Stacy’s at the house right now.”
“Stacy?”
“Who were you talking about?” Hud asked.
“Jordan.”
She heard Hud swear under his breath.
“I saw him earlier on the ranch, actually at the family cemetery,” Liza said.
“What’s he doing in the canyon?”
“He didn’t say, but I found out where he’s staying. He’s rented a cabin past Buck’s T-4.” Buck’s T-4 was a local landmark bar and hotel. “I’m hanging out, watching to see what he’s up to.”
“Probably not the best way to spend taxpayers’ dollars, but I appreciate it. As far as I know, he hasn’t contacted Dana.”
“Let me know if he does. In the meantime, I’ll stick around here for a while.”
“You really need to get a life, deputy,” Hud said. “Thanks. Let me know if you need help.”
“So Stacy’s here, too?”
“We haven’t heard from any of them in six years and now two of them are in the canyon? This doesn’t bode well.”
That had been her thought exactly.
“I don’t want them upsetting Dana,” he said. “All we need is for Clay to show up next. This couldn’t come at a worse time. I’m worried enough about Dana and the babies. I have a bad feeling this could have something to do with that developer who’s been after Dana to sell some of the ranch.”
“The timing does make you wonder,” Liza said.
“I’m going back to the ranch now.”
“You stick close to Dana. I’ll let you know if Jordan heads for the ranch.” Hanging up, Liza settled in again. She knew it could be a while. Jordan might be in for the night.
The canyon got dark quickly this time of year. With the dark that settled over it like a cloak came a drop in temperature. She could hear the river, smell the rich scent of fall. A breeze stirred the nearby pines, making the branches sway and sigh. A couple of stars popped out above the canyon walls.
The door of the cabin opened. Jordan stepped out and headed for his rented SUV parked outside. He was dressed in a warm coat, gloves and a hat, all in a dark color. He definitely didn’t look like a man going out for dinner—or even to visit his sister. He glanced around as if he thought someone might be watching him before climbing into his rental.
Liza felt her heart kick up a beat as she slunk down in the pickup seat and waited. A few moments later she heard the SUV pull out. She started the truck, and sitting up, followed at a distance.
To her relief, he didn’t turn down Highway 191 in the direction of the Cardwell Ranch—and his sister’s house. Instead, he headed north toward Big Sky proper, making her think she might be wrong. Maybe he was merely going out to find a place to have dinner.
He drove on past the lighted buildings that made up the Meadow Village, heading west toward Mountain Village. There was little traffic this time of year. She let another vehicle get between them, all the time keeping Jordan’s taillights in sight.
Just when she started speculating on where he might be headed, he turned off on the road to Ousel Falls. They passed a few commercial buildings, a small housing complex and then the road cut through the pines as it climbed toward the falls.
Liza pulled over, letting him get farther ahead. Had he spotted the tail? She waited as long as she dared before she drove on up the road. Her headlights cut a gold swath through the darkness. Dense pines lined both sides of the mountain road. There was no traffic at all up this way. She worried he had spotted her following him and was now leading her on a wild-goose chase.
She hadn’t gone far when her headlights picked up the parking lot for the falls. Jordan’s rental was parked in the empty lot. She couldn’t tell if he was still in the vehicle. Grabbing her baseball cap off the seat, she covered her dark hair as she drove on past.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the SUV was empty. Past it near the trailhead, she glimpsed the beam of a flashlight bobbing as it headed down the trail.
A few hundred yards up the road Liza found a place to pull over. She grabbed her own flashlight from under the seat, checked to make sure the batteries were still working and got out of the truck.
It was a short hike back to the trailhead. From there the path dropped to the creek before rising again as it twisted its way through the thick forest.
The trail was wide and paved and she found, once her eyes adjusted, that she didn’t need to use her flashlight if she was careful. Enough starlight bled down through the pine boughs that she could see far enough ahead—and she knew the trail well.
There was no sign of Jordan, though. She’d reached the creek and bridge, quickly crossed it, and had started up the winding track when she caught a glimpse of light above her on the footpath.
She stopped to listen, afraid he might have heard her behind him. But there was only the sound of the creek and moan of the pines in the breeze. Somewhere in the distance an owl hooted. She moved again, hurrying now.
Once the pathway topped out, she should be able to see Jordan’s light ahead of her, though she couldn’t imagine what he was doing hiking to the falls tonight.
There was always a good chance of running into a moose or a wolf or worse this time of a year, a hungry grizzly foraging for food before hibernation.
The trail topped out. She stopped to catch her breath and listen for Jordan. Ahead she could make out the solid rock area at the base of the waterfall. A few more steps and she could feel the mist coming off the cascading water. From here, the walkway carved a crooked path up through the pines to the top of the falls.
There was no sign of any light ahead and the only thing she could hear was rushing water. Where was Jordan? She moved on, convinced he was still ahead of her. Something rustled in the trees off to her right. A limb cracked somewhere ahead in the pines.
She stopped and drew her weapon. Someone was out there.
The report of the rifle shot felt so close it made the hair stand up on her neck. The sound ricocheted off the rock cliff and reverberated through her. Liza dove to the ground. A second shot echoed through the trees.
Weapon drawn, she scrambled up the hill and almost tripped over the body Jordan Cardwell was standing over.
Chapter Three
“You have a baby?” Dana said, still shocked when Stacy came back downstairs carrying a pink bundle. “I’m just having a hard time imagining you as a mother.”
“You think you’re the only one with a maternal instinct?” Stacy sounded hurt.
“I guess I never thought you wanted a baby.”
Stacy gave a little shrug. “People change.”
Did they? Dana wondered as she studied her sister.
“Want to see her?” Stacy asked.
Dana nodded and her sister carefully transferred the bundle into her arms. Dana saw that it wasn’t a blanket at all that the baby was wrapped in, but a cute pink quilt. Parting the edges, she peered in at the baby. A green-eyed knockout stared back at her.
“Isn’t she beautiful?”
“She’s breathtaking. What’s her name?”
“Ella.”
Dana looked up at her sister, her gaze going to Stacy’s bare left-hand ring finger. “Is there a father?”
“Of course,” her sister said with an embarrassed laugh. “He’s in the military. We’re getting married when he comes home in a few weeks.”
Stacy had gone through men like tissues during a sad movie. In the past she’d married for money. Maybe this time she had found something more important, Dana hoped, glancing down at the baby in her arms.
“Hello, Ella,” she said to the baby. The bow-shaped lips turned up at the corners, the green eyes sparkling. “How old is she?”
“Six months.”
As the baby began to fuss, Stacy dug in a diaper bag Dana hadn’t seen at the end of the couch. She pulled out a bottle before going into the kitchen to warm it.
Dana stared at the precious baby, her heart in her throat. She couldn’t imagine her sister with a baby. In the past Stacy couldn’t even keep a houseplant alive.
As her sister came out of the kitchen, Dana started to hand back the baby.
“You can feed her if you want.”
Dana took the bottle and watched the baby suck enthusiastically at the warm formula. “She’s adorable.” Her sister didn’t seem to be listening though.
Stacy had walked over to the window and was looking out. “I forgot how quiet it is here.” She hugged herself as a gust of wind rattled the old window. “Or how cold it is this time of year.”
“Where have you been living?”
“Southern California,” she said, turning away from the window.
“Is that where you met the father?”
Stacy nodded. “It’s getting late. Ella and I should go.”
“Where are you going?” Dana asked, alarmed, realizing that she’d been cross-examining her sister as if Stacy was one of Hud’s suspects. She couldn’t bear the thought of this baby being loaded into that old car outside with Stacy at the wheel.
“I planned to get a motel for the night. Kurt’s got some relatives up by Great Falls. They’ve offered me a place to stay until he gets leave and we can find a place of our own.”
Dana shook her head, still holding tight to the baby. “You’re staying here. You and Ella can have Mary’s room. I don’t want you driving at night.”
LIZA SWUNG THE BARREL OF HER gun and snapped on her flashlight, aiming both at Jordan. “Put your hands up,” she ordered.
He didn’t move. He stood stock-still, staring down at the body at his feet. He appeared to be in shock.
“I said put your hands up,” she ordered again. He blinked and slowly raised his gaze to her, then lifted his hands. Keeping the gun trained on him, she quickly frisked him. “Where is the weapon?” She nudged him with the point of her gun barrel.
He shook his head. “I didn’t shoot him.”
Liza took a step back from him and shone the flashlight beam into the pines. The light didn’t go far in the dense trees and darkness. “Who shot him?”
“I don’t know.”
She squatted down to check for a pulse. None. Pulling out her phone, she called for backup and the coroner. When she’d finished, she turned the beam on Jordan again. “You can start by telling me what you’re doing out here.”
He looked down at the body, then up at her. “You know I didn’t kill him.”
“How do I know that?”
True, she hadn’t seen him carrying a rifle, but he could have hidden one in the woods earlier today. But how did he get rid of it so quickly? She would have heard him throw it into the trees.
“What are you doing here at the falls in the middle of the night?”
He looked away.
She began to read him his rights.
“All right,” he said with a sigh. “You aren’t going to believe me. I was meeting him here.”
“To buy drugs?”
“No.” He looked insulted. “It’s a long story.”
“We seem to have time.” She motioned to a downed tree not far from the body but deep enough in the trees that if the killer was still out there, he wouldn’t have a clear shot.
Jordan sighed as he sat down, dropping his head in his hands for a few moments. “When I was in high school my best friend hung himself. At least that’s what everyone thought, anyway. I didn’t believe he would do that, but there was no evidence of foul play. Actually, no one believed me when I argued there was no way Tanner would have taken his own life.”
“People often say that about suicide victims.”
“Yeah. Well, a few weeks ago, I got a call from …” He looked in the direction of the body, but quickly turned away. “Alex Winslow.”
“Is that the victim?”
He nodded. “Alex asked if I was coming back for our twenty-year high-school reunion.”
“You were?” She couldn’t help her surprise.
He gave her an are-you-kidding look. “I told him no. That’s when he mentioned Tanner.”
“Alex Winslow told you he was looking into Tanner’s death?”
“Not in so many words. He said something like, ‘Do you ever think about Tanner?’ He sounded like he’d been drinking. At first I just thought it was the booze talking.”
He told her about the rest of the conversation, apparently quoting Alex as best as he could remember.
“Man, it would take something to hang yourself,” Alex had said. “Put that noose around your neck and stand there balancing on nothing more than a log stump. One little move … Who would do that unless they were forced to? You know, like at gunpoint or … I don’t know, maybe get tricked into standing up there?”
“What are you saying?”
“Just … what if he didn’t do it? What if they killed him?”
“They? Who?”
“Don’t listen to me. I’ve had a few too many beers tonight. So, are you sure I can’t talk you into coming to the reunion? Even if I told you I have a theory about Tanner’s death.”
“What theory?”
“Come to the reunion. Call me when you get into town and I’ll tell you. Don’t mention this to anyone else. Seriously. I don’t want to end up like poor old Tanner.”
“That could have just been the alcohol talking,” Liza said when he finished.
“That’s what I thought, too, until he wanted to meet at the falls after dark. Something had him running scared.”
“With good reason, apparently. Alex Winslow is a former friend?”
Jordan nodded.
“You weren’t just a little suspicious, meeting in the dark at a waterfall?”
“I thought he was being paranoid, but I played along.”
“You didn’t consider it might be dangerous?”
“No, I thought Alex was overreacting. He was like that. Or at least he had been in high school. I haven’t seen him in twenty years.”
“Why, if he knew something, did he wait all these years?”
Jordan shrugged. “I just know that Tanner wouldn’t have killed himself. He was a smart guy. If anything he was too smart for his own good. I figured if there was even a small chance that Alex knew something …” He glanced over at her. “Apparently, Alex had reason to be paranoid. This proves that there is more to Tanner’s suicide.”
She heard the determination in his voice and groaned inwardly. “This proves nothing except that Alex Winslow is dead.” But Jordan wasn’t listening.
“Also it proves I wasn’t such a fool to believe Alex really did know something about Tanner’s death.”
She studied Jordan for a moment. “Did he say something to you before he was shot?”
His gaze shifted away. “I can’t even be sure I heard him right.”
“What did he say?”
“Shelby.”
“Shelby?”
He nodded. “We went to school with a girl named Shelby Durran. She and Tanner were a couple. At least until Christmas our senior year.”
HUD HAD JUST RETURNED with the kids when he got the call about the shooting.
“Go,” Dana said. “I’ll be fine. Stacy is here. She said she’d have the kids help her make dinner for all of us.”
He mugged a face and lowered his voice. “Your sister cooking? Now that’s frightening.”
“Go,” his wife ordered, giving him a warning look. “We can manage without you for a while.”
“Are you sure?” He took her hand and squeezed it. “You promise to stay right where you are?”
“Promise.”
Still, he hesitated. He’d been shocked to walk into the house and see Dana holding a baby. For a few moments, he’d been confused as to where she’d gotten it.
“Has Stacy said anything about where she’s been?” he asked, glancing toward the kitchen. He could hear the voices of his children and sister-in-law. They all sounded excited about whatever they were making for dinner.
“Southern California. She’s headed for Great Falls. There’s a military base located there so that makes sense since she says the baby’s father is in the military.”
“If Stacy can be believed,” he said quietly.
Dana mugged a face at him. But telling the truth wasn’t one of her sister’s strong suits. It bothered him that Dana was defending her sister. He figured the baby had something to do with it. Dana was a sucker for kids.
“Stacy seems different now,” she said. “I think it’s the baby. It seems to have grounded her some, maybe.”
“Maybe,” he said doubtfully.
“Go on, you have a murder investigation to worry about instead of me.”
“You sound way too happy about that.”
LIZA ALREADY HAD THE CRIME scene cordoned off when Hud arrived. He waved to the deputy on guard at the falls parking lot as he got out of his patrol SUV. The coroner’s van was parked next to the two police vehicles.
“The coroner just went in,” the deputy told him.
He turned on his flashlight and started down the trail. Hud couldn’t help thinking about his wife’s siblings trying to force her to sell the family ranch. They’d been like vultures, none of them having any interest in Cardwell Ranch. All they’d wanted was the money.
Jordan had been the worst because of his New York lifestyle—and his out-of-work model wife. But Stacy and Clay had had their hands out, as well. Hud hated to think what would have happened if Dana hadn’t found the new will her mother had made leaving her the ranch.
He smiled at the memory of where she’d found it. Mary Justice Cardwell had put it in her favorite old recipe book next to “Double Chocolate Brownies.” The brownies had been Hud’s favorite. Dana hadn’t made them in all the time the two of them had been apart. When they’d gotten back together six years ago, Dana had opened the cookbook planning to surprise him with the brownies, only to be surprised herself.
Two of her siblings were back in the canyon? That had him worried even before the call from his deputy marshal that there’d been a murder. And oh, yeah, Liza had told him, Jordan Cardwell was somehow involved.
Now as he hiked into the falls, he tried to keep his temper in check. If Dana’s family thought they were going to come back here and upset her—
Ahead he saw the crowd gathered at the top of the falls. He headed for the coroner.
Coroner Rupert Milligan was hugging seventy, but you’d never know it the way he acted. Six years ago, Hud had thought the man older than God and more powerful in this county. Tall, white-haired, with a head like a buffalo, he had a gruff voice and little patience for stupidity. He’d retired as a country doctor to work as a coroner.
None of that had changed in the past six years. Just as Rupert’s love for murder mysteries and forensics hadn’t.
“So what do we have?” Hud asked over the roar of the falls as he joined him.
Rupert answered without even bothering to look up. “Single gunshot through the heart. Another through the lungs. High-powered rifle.”
“Distance?”
“I’d say fifty yards.”
“That far,” he said, surprised. The killer would have needed the victim to be out in the open with no trees in the way to make such a shot. Like at the top of a waterfall. “Any idea where the shot came from?”
Rupert had been crouched beside the body. Now he finally looked up. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s dark out. Once it gets daylight you can look for tracks and possibly a shell casing. And once I get the body to Bozeman for an autopsy I might be able to tell you more about the trajectory of the bullet. Offhand, I’d say the shot came from the other side of the creek, probably on the side of the mountain.”
“So either it was a lucky shot or the killer had been set up and waiting,” Liza said, joining them. “The killer either picked the meeting spot or was told where the victim would be.”
Rupert shifted his gaze to her and frowned. Being from the old school, the coroner made no secret of the fact that he didn’t hold much appreciation for women law enforcement. If he’d had his way, he would have put them all behind a desk.
Hud liked that Liza didn’t seem to let him bother her. His deputy marshal’s good looks could be deceiving. Small in stature, too cute for her own good and easygoing, Liza often gave criminals the idea that she was a pushover. They, however, quickly learned differently. He wondered if Jordan Cardwell thought the same thing about the deputy marshal. If so, he was in for a surprise.
“Which could mean either that the victim was expecting to meet not only Jordan Cardwell up here, but also someone he trusted,” she continued. “Or—”
“Or Jordan told the killer about the meeting,” Hud interjected.
Liza nodded and glanced over to the stump where Jordan was waiting. “That is always another possibility.”
“One I suggest you don’t forget,” Hud said under his breath. “If it’s all right with you, I’ll take our suspect down to the office.”
She nodded. “I want to wait for the crime scene techs to arrive.”
Hud hadn’t seen Jordan for six years. As he walked toward him, he was thinking he could have easily gone another six and not been in the least bit sorry.
“You just happen to come back to the canyon and a man dies,” he said.
“Good to see you again, too, brother-in-law. I guess my invitation to the wedding must have gotten lost in the mail, huh?”
“What are you doing here, Jordan?”
“I already told your deputy marshal.”
“Well, you’re going to have to tell me, too. Let’s get out of the woods and go to my office. You have a rifle you need to pick up before we go?”
Jordan gave him a grim, disappointed look. “No, I’m good.”
THE DOOR OPENED A CRACK. “Oh, good, you’re awake,” Stacy said as she peered in at Dana. “I brought you some still-warm chocolate chips cookies and some milk.”
“That was very thoughtful of you,” Dana said, sitting up in the bed and putting her crossword puzzle aside. Earlier, before her doctor’s appointment, Hud had made her a bed in the sunroom so she wouldn’t have to go up the stairs—and would be where she could see most of what was going on. She patted the bed, and her sister sat down on the edge and placed the tray next to them.
“I’m just glad you let me stay and help out. It was fun baking with Hank and Mary. They are so cute. Hank looks just like a small version of Hud and Mary is the spitting image of you. Do you know …” She motioned to Dana’s big belly.
“No,” she said, taking a bite of cookie. “We want to be surprised. Did you find out ahead of time?”
Stacy had cautiously placed a hand on Dana’s abdomen and now waited with expectation. The babies had been restless all day, kicking up a storm. She watched her sister’s face light up as one of the twins gave her hand a swift kick.
Stacy laughed and pulled her hand back. “Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?”
Dana nodded, studying her older sister. Stacy had changed little in appearance. She was still the pretty one. Her dark hair was chin-length, making her brown eyes the focus of her face. She’d always had that innocent look. That was probably, Dana realized with a start, why she’d been able to get away with as much as she had.
“So did you know ahead of time you were having a girl?” she asked again.
Stacy shook her head and helped herself to a cookie. “It was a surprise.”
“Speaking of surprises …” She watched her sister’s face. “Jordan is in town.”
“Jordan?” Had Stacy known? “What is he doing here?”
“I thought you might know.”
Stacy shook her head and looked worried. “I haven’t heard from him since we were all here six years ago.” She made a face. “I still feel bad about trying to force you to sell the ranch.”
Dana waved that away. “It’s history. The ranch is still in the family and it makes enough money that you and our brothers get to share in the profits. You know I think my lawyer did mention that he’d received notice that Jordan was divorced.”
“I wonder how much of his ranch profits he has to give to Jill? That woman was such a gold digger.” Stacy laughed as she realized the irony. “I should know, huh? Back then I figured if I was going to get married, I might as well get paid for it.” She shook her head as if amazed by the woman she’d been. “Have you heard from Clay?”
“No.” She helped herself to another cookie and sipped some of the milk. “He hasn’t been cashing his checks lately. My attorney is checking into it.”
“That’s odd,” Stacy agreed. “Well, I need to clean up the kitchen.”
“Thanks so much for giving the kids their baths and getting them to bed.” Mary and Hank had come in earlier to say good-night and have Dana read a book to them before bed. They’d been wearing their footie pajamas, their sweet faces scrubbed clean and shiny. They’d been excited about helping their aunt Stacy cook.
“Thank you so much for all your help,” Dana said, touched by everything Stacy had done.
“I’m just glad I was here so I could.” She smiled. “I didn’t know how fun kids could be.”
“Wait until Ella is that age. Mary loves to have tea parties and help her daddy cook.”
Stacy nodded thoughtfully. “Let me know if you need anything. Knowing you, I can guess how hard it is for you to stay down like this.”
Dana groaned in response. She couldn’t stand the thought of another day let alone weeks like this. “Thanks for the cookies and milk. The cookies were delicious.”
Stacy looked pleased as she left the room.
Chapter Four
Hud walked out with Jordan to the road, then followed him to the marshal’s office. Once in the office he got his first good look at his brother-in-law. Jordan had been only two years ahead of Hud in school, three years ahead of his sister Dana. His brother-in-law had aged, but it hadn’t hurt Jordan’s looks. If anything the years seemed to have given him character, or at least the appearance of it.
“Why don’t you have a seat and start at the beginning?” Hud said dropping into his chair behind his desk.
“I thought Liza was handling this case?”
“Liza? You mean Deputy Marshal Turner?” He shouldn’t have been surprised Jordan was on a first-name basis with the deputy. He, of all people, understood the charm of the Justice-Cardwell genes. Dana could wrap him around her little finger and did.
“Don’t think just because she’s a woman that she isn’t a damned good marshal,” Hud said to his brother-in-law. “She’s sharp and she’ll nail you to the wall if you’re guilty.”
“If you have so much confidence in her abilities, then why are you here?”
Hud gritted his teeth. Jordan had always been difficult. At least that hadn’t changed. “Several reasons. None of which I have to explain to you. But—” He held up a hand before Jordan could speak. “I will because I want us to have an understanding.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “One, I’m still the marshal here. Two, Liza has her hands full up at the site. Three, I want to know what happened on that mountain. And four, your sister is my wife. I don’t want her hurt.”
With a smile and a nod, Jordan ambled over to a chair and sat. “Dana doesn’t have anything to worry about. Neither she nor the ranch is why I’m back in the canyon.”
“Why are you here?” Hud asked, snapping on the recording machine.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with family.”
“But it does have something to do with Alex Winslow.”
“Alex was a good friend from high school. I didn’t kill him.” Jordan sighed and looked at the ceiling for a moment.
Hud noticed that he was no longer wearing a wedding ring. He vaguely remembered Dana mentioning that she’d heard Jordan was divorced from his ex-model wife, Jill. The marriage had probably ended when Jordan didn’t get the proceeds from the sale of the ranch.
“If Alex was your friend, I would think you’d be interested in helping us find his killer,” Hud said. “Not to mention you’re neck deep in this. Right now, you’re the number one suspect.”
Jordan laughed. “Does that work on most of your suspects?” He shook his head. “I came back because Alex called me. He hinted that he might know something about Tanner’s suicide but it was clear he didn’t want to talk about it on the phone. He said he’d share his theory with me if I came to our twenty-year high school reunion. The next time I talked to him, he sounded scared and wanted to meet at the falls. That’s it.”
That was a lot. Hud wasn’t sure how much of it he believed. But at least he had some idea of what might have brought Jordan back to town—and it wasn’t family.
“Tanner Cole committed suicide when the two of you were seniors in high school. Why would that bring you back here after all these years?”
“When your best friend commits suicide, you never stop thinking you could have done something to stop him. You need to know why he did it.”
“Unless that person leaves a note, you never know. Tanner didn’t leave a note, as I recall.”
Jordan shook his head.
“Did you talk to Alex before he was shot?”
“As I told your deputy, I heard the shot, he stumbled toward me, there was another shot and he went down. All he said was the word Shelby. At least that’s what I thought he said.” Jordan shrugged. “That was it.”
Hud studied him openly for a moment. “Maybe the bullets were meant for you and the killer missed.”
Jordan sighed. “What are you insinuating?”
“That maybe Tanner didn’t commit suicide. Weren’t you the one who found his body?”
Anger fired Jordan’s gaze. “He was my best friend. I would have taken a bullet for him.”
“Instead, another friend of yours took the bullet tonight,” Hud said. “You’re telling me you came all this way, hiked into the falls in the dark, just for answers?”
“Why is that so hard for you to understand?”
“What about Alex Winslow? Don’t I remember some falling-out the two of you had before you graduated?”
“It was high school. Who remembers?”
Hud nodded. “Is Stacy in the canyon for the same reason?” Stacy had been in the grade between the two of them.
“Stacy?” Jordan looked genuinely surprised. “I haven’t seen or talked to her in years.”
“Then you didn’t know that not only is she back in the canyon, she also has a baby.”
Jordan laughed. “Stacy has a baby? That’s got to be good. Look, if that’s all, I need to get some sleep.”
“Once Liza allows you to, I’m sure you’ll be leaving. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t upset Dana before then. She’s pregnant with twins and having a rough go of it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jordan said, sounding as if he meant it. “Don’t worry, I won’t be bothering my sister. Either of my sisters,” he added.
“Then I guess we’re done here.”
A WHILE LATER, DANA HEARD HUD come in. She heard him go upstairs to check on the kids, before coming back down to her room. He smiled when he saw her still awake and came over to her side of the bed to give her a kiss.
“So everything’s all right?” he asked.
“I’m the one who should be asking you that. You said there’d been a shooting?”
He nodded. “Liza’s got everything under control. The crime techs are on their way from Missoula.” He sounded tired.
“Stacy kept a plate of dinner for you. She made chicken, baked potatoes and corn,” Dana said. “Then she and kids baked chocolate chip cookies.” She motioned to the cookies on the tray next to the bed.
Hud gave her a who-knew-she-could-cook look and took one of the cookies.
Who knew indeed? Dana couldn’t believe the change in her sister. She felt horribly guilty for not trusting it. But even Stacy was capable of changing, right? Having a baby did that to a person. But Stacy?
Unfortunately, the jury was still out—given her sister’s past.
“Did she mention how long she’s staying?” Hud asked, not meeting her gaze.
“She was planning to leave earlier, but I asked her to stay. I’m sure she’ll be leaving in the morning.”
Hud nodded. She could tell he would be glad when Stacy was gone. Dana couldn’t blame him. Her sister had hurt them both. But she desperately wanted to believe Stacy had changed. For Ella’s sake.
Unfortunately, like her husband, Dana had a niggling feeling that Stacy wasn’t being completely honest about the real reason she’d come to the ranch.
EXHAUSTED, JORDAN WENT BACK TO his cabin, locked the door and fell into bed with the intention of sleeping the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, Deputy Marshal Liza Turner had other plans for him.
“What do you want?” he said when he opened the cabin door a little after eleven o’clock that morning to find her standing outside. He leaned a hip into the door-jamb and crossed his arms as he took her in.
“What do I want? Sleep, more money, better hours, breakfast.”
“I can’t help you with most of that, but I could use food. I’ll buy.”
She smiled. “I know a place that serves breakfast all day. We can eat and talk.”
“No murder talk until I’ve had coffee.”
“Agreed.”
Liza drove them to the upper mountain. The huge unpaved parking lots sat empty. None of the lifts moved on the mountain except for the gondolas that rocked gently in the breeze.
“It’s like a ghost town up here,” he commented as they got out of her patrol SUV.
“I like the quiet. Good place to talk. Most everything is closed still. Fortunately, there are enough locals that a few places stay open.”
The café was small and nearly empty. Liza led him outside to a table under an umbrella. The sun was low to the south, but still warm enough it was comfortable outside. A waitress brought them coffee while they looked at the menu.
Jordan ordered ham and eggs, hashbrowns and whole wheat toast.
“I’ll have the same,” Liza said and handed back the menu. As soon as the waitress was out of earshot, she said, “You didn’t mention last night that you and the victim were no longer friends at the end of your high school years.”
“So you spoke with Hud.” He looked toward the mountains where snow dusted the peaks, making them gleam blinding bright. “It was a stupid disagreement over a woman, all right? Just high school stuff.”
She nodded, not buying it. “What girl?”
“I don’t even remember.”
Liza’s look called him a liar, but she let it go. “I’m still confused why he contacted you. He must have had other friends locally he would have talked to.”
“Obviously he must have talked to someone locally. One of them knew where he was going last night and killed him.” Jordan said nothing as the waitress served their breakfasts. He picked up his fork. “Look, do we have to talk about this while we eat? I feel like I got him killed.”
“You can’t blame yourself, or worse, try to take the law into your own hands.” She eyed him for a long moment. “Why would I suspect that’s what you’re planning to do?”
He chuckled. “If you talked to my brother-in-law he would have told you that I’m not that ambitious. Anyway, you’re the deputy marshal. I’m sure you’ll find his killer.”
She took a bite of toast, chewed and swallowed before she said, “You contacted Tanner’s girlfriend from his senior year in high school.”
Jordan took her measure. “Why, Liza, you’ve been checking up on me. I contacted Shelby before I went up to the falls last night. She said she had nothing to say to me about Tanner. That was high school and so far back, she barely remembers.”
“You didn’t believe her?” Liza asked between bites.
Jordan laughed. “High school was Shelby’s glory days. Just check out our yearbook. She is on every page either as president or queen of something. Not to mention she was dating Tanner Cole, the most popular guy in school. She was in her element. I’d bet those were the best days of her life and that nothing she has done since will ever compare.”
Liza considered that for a long moment before she asked, “So you talked to Shelby before last night. Before the only word Alex got out after he was shot was her name?”
“Like I said, she and Tanner dated.”
“When you talked to Shelby, did you mention Alex or where you were meeting him?”
He gave her an exasperated look. “Do you really think I’m that stupid? Alex was acting terrified. I wasn’t about to say anything until I talked to him.”
“And yet you called Shelby.”
“Yeah. I just told her I was in the area as if I was here for the twenty-year reunion and worked Tanner into the conversation. I didn’t realize then that anything I might do could put anyone in danger, including her.”
“That’s so noble. But I thought you didn’t like her. In fact, I thought you were instrumental in breaking up her and Tanner.”
He shook his head and took a bite of his breakfast. “You’re determined to ruin my appetite, aren’t you?”
“Is it true?”
“I couldn’t stand Shelby and that bunch she ran with. But you’re wrong. I had nothing to do with breaking her and Tanner up, no matter what Hud thinks, as I’m sure that’s where you got your information.”
Liza lifted a brow. “You weren’t the one who snitched on her?”
“Wasn’t me.” He met her gaze. “Why keep questioning me if you aren’t going to believe anything I say?”
“I don’t want you involved in my investigation,” she said. “That includes asking about Tanner among your old friends—and enemies.”
He smiled. “What makes you think I have enemies?”
She smiled in answer as she smeared huckleberry jam on a piece of her toast.
He watched her eat for a few moments. He liked a woman who ate well and said as much.
“Does that line work on women?” she asked.
He laughed. “Every time.”
They finished their breakfast in the quiet of the upper mountain. She was right about it being peaceful up here. He liked it. But once winter came, all that would change. The parking lots would be packed, all the lifts would be running as well as the gondola. The mountain would be dotted with skiers and boarders, the restaurants and resorts full. He recalled the sounds of people, the clank of machinery, the array of bright-colored skiwear like a rainbow across Lone Mountain.
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B.J. Daniels
Jordan moved quickly through the gravestones until he found the one stone that was newer than the others, only six years in the ground.
The name on the tombstone read Mary Justice Cardwell.
“Hello, Mother,” he said removing his hat as he felt all the conflicting emotions he’d had when she was alive. All the arguments came rushing back, making him sick at the memory. He hadn’t been able to change her mind, and now she was gone, leaving them all behind to struggle as a family without her.
He could almost hear their last argument whispered on the wind. “There is nothing keeping you here, let alone me,” he’d argued. “Why are you fighting so hard to keep this place going? Can’t you see that ranching is going to kill you?”
He recalled her smile, that gentle gleam in her eyes that infuriated him. “This land is what makes me happy, son. Someday you will realize that ranching is in our blood. You can fight it, but this isn’t just your home, a part of your heart is here as well.”
“Like hell,” he’d said. “Sell the ranch, Mother, before it’s too late. If not for yourself and the rest of us, then for Dana. She’s too much like you. She will spend her life fighting to keep this place. Don’t do that to her.”
“She’ll keep this ranch for the day when you come back to help her run it.”
“That’s never going to happen, Mother.”
Mary Justice Cardwell had smiled that knowing smile of hers. “Only time will tell, won’t it?”
Dear Reader,
It was so much fun for me to return to Cardwell Ranch. Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch has been read by more than two million readers, so it was a treat to go back and find out what happened to the Justice and Cardwell families in the sequel. Justice at Cardwell Ranch is a story I’ve wanted to write for a long time.
When I was a girl, we had a cabin just down the road from where these books take place. I have such wonderful memories of the Gallatin Canyon. My brother and I had a fort out in the woods and spent hours exploring in what is now a wilderness area. I skied at Big Sky many times, and have hiked with a friend to Ousel Waterfalls, where part of this story takes place.
I hope you enjoy this return trip to the “canyon.”
BJ Daniels
www.bjdaniels.com
About the Author
USA TODAY bestselling author BJ DANIELS wrote her first book after a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist and author of thirty-seven published short stories. That first book, Odd Man Out, received a four-and-a-half-star review from RT Book Reviews and went on to be nominated for Best Intrigue that year. Since then, she has won numerous awards, including a career achievement award for romantic suspense and many nominations and awards for best book.
Daniels lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, and two springer spaniels, Spot and Jem. When she isn’t writing, she snowboards, camps, boats and plays tennis. Daniels is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Kiss of Death and Romance Writers of America. To contact her, write to BJ Daniels, PO Box 1173, Malta, MT 59538, USA, or e-mail her at bjdaniels@mtintouch.net. Check out her website, www.bjdaniels.com.
Justice at Cardwell Ranch
BJ Daniels
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
This book is dedicated to my amazing husband.
He makes all this possible along with inspiring me
each and every day. Thank you, Parker.
Without your love, I couldn’t do this.
Prologue
Nothing moved in the darkness. At the corner of the house she stopped to catch her breath. She could hear music playing somewhere down the street. Closer, a dog barked.
As she waited in the deep shadow at the edge of the house, she measured the distance and the light she would have to pass through to reach the second window.
When she’d sneaked into the house earlier, she’d left the window unlocked. But she had no way of knowing if someone had discovered it. If so, they might not have merely relocked it—they could be waiting for her.
Fear had her heart pounding and her breath coming out in painful bursts. If she got caught— She couldn’t let herself think about that.
The dog stopped barking for a moment. All she could hear was the faint music drifting on the night breeze. She fought to keep her breathing in check as she inched along the side of the house to the first window.
A light burned inside, but the drapes were closed. Still, she waited to make sure she couldn’t hear anyone on the other side of the glass before she moved.
Ducking, she slipped quickly through a shaft of illumination from a streetlamp and stopped at the second bedroom window.
There, she waited for a few moments. No light burned inside the room. Still she listened before she pulled the screwdriver from her jacket pocket and began to pry up the window.
At first the old casement window didn’t move and she feared she’d been right about someone discovering what she’d done and locking the window again.
When it finally gave, it did so with a pop that sounded like an explosion to her ears. She froze. No sound came from within the room. Her hands shook as she pried the window up enough that she could get her fingers under it.
Feeling as if there was no turning back now, she lifted the window enough to climb in. Heart in her throat, she drew back the curtain. She’d half expected to find someone standing on the other side lying in wait for her.
The room, painted pink, was empty except for a few pieces of mismatched furniture: a dresser, a rocking chair, a changing table and a crib.
She looked to the crib, fearing that she’d come this far only to fail. But from the faint light coming from the streetlamp, she could see the small lump beneath the tiny quilt.
Her heart beat faster at the thought that in a few minutes she would have the baby in her arms.
She heard the car coming down the street just seconds before the headlights washed over her. Halfway in the window, there was nothing she could do but hurry. She wasn’t leaving here without the baby.
Chapter One
The breeze rustled through the aspens, sending golden leaves whirling around him as Jordan Cardwell walked up the hill to the cemetery. He wore a straw Western hat he’d found on a peg by the back door of the ranch house.
He hadn’t worn a cowboy hat since he’d left Montana twenty years ago, but this one kept his face from burning. It was so much easier to get sunburned at this high altitude than it was in New York City.
It was hot out and yet he could feel the promise of winter hiding at the edge of the fall day. Only the memory of summer remained in the Gallatin River Canyon. Cold nightly temperatures had turned the aspens to glittering shades of gold and orange against the dark green of the pines.
Below him he could hear the rushing water of the Gallatin as the river cut a deep winding course through the canyon. Across the river, sheer granite cliffs rose up to where the sun hung in a faded blue big Montana sky.
As he walked, the scent of crushed dry leaves beneath his soles sent up the remembered smell of other autumns. He knew this land. As hard as he’d tried to escape it, this place was branded on him, this life as familiar as his own heartbeat—even after all these years.
He thought of all the winters he’d spent in this canyon listening to the ice crack on the river, feeling the bite of snow as it blew off a pine bough to sting his face, breathing in a bone-deep cold that made his head ache.
He’d done his time here, he thought as he turned his face up to the last of the day’s warmth before the sun disappeared behind the cliffs. Soon the aspens would be bare, the limbs dark against a winter-washed pale frosty sky. The water in the horse troughs would begin to freeze and so would the pooling eddies along the edge of the river. The cold air in the shade of the pines was a warning of what was to come, he thought as he reached the wrought-iron cemetery gate.
The gate groaned as he shoved it open. He hesitated. What was he doing here? Nearby the breeze sighed in the tops of the towering pines, drawing his attention to the dense stand. He didn’t remember them being so tall. Or so dark and thick. As he watched the boughs sway, he told himself to make this quick. He didn’t want to get caught here.
Even though it was a family cemetery, he didn’t feel welcome here anymore. His own fault, but still, it could get messy if anyone from his family caught him on the ranch. He didn’t plan to stick around long enough to see any of them. It was best that way, he told himself as he stepped through the gate into the small cemetery.
He’d never liked graveyards. Nor did it give him any comfort to know that more than a dozen remains of their relatives were interred here. He took no satisfaction in the long lineage of the Justice family, let alone the Cardwell one, in this canyon—unlike his sister.
Dana found strength in knowing that their ancestors had been mule-headed ranchers who’d weathered everything Montana had thrown at them to stay on this ranch. They’d settled this land along a stretch of the Gallatin, a crystal clear trout stream that ran over a hundred miles from Yellowstone Park to the Missouri River.
The narrow canyon got little sunlight each day. In the winter it was an icebox of frost and snow. Getting up to feed the animals had been pure hell. He’d never understood why any of them had stayed.
But they had, he thought as he surveyed the tombstones. They’d fought this land to remain here and now they would spend eternity in soil that had given them little in return for their labors.
A gust of wind rattled through the colorful aspen leaves and moaned in the high branches of the pines. Dead foliage floated like gold coins around him, showering the weather-bleached gravestones. He was reminded why he’d never liked coming up to this windblown hill. He found no peace among the dead. Nor had he come here today looking for it.
He moved quickly through the gravestones until he found the one stone that was newer than the others, only six years in the ground. The name on the tombstone read Mary Justice Cardwell.
“Hello, Mother,” he said removing his hat as he felt all the conflicting emotions he’d had when she was alive. All the arguments came rushing back, making him sick at the memory. He hadn’t been able to change her mind and now she was gone, leaving them all behind to struggle as a family without her.
He could almost hear their last argument whispered on the wind. “There is nothing keeping you here, let alone me,” he’d argued. “Why are you fighting so hard to keep this place going? Can’t you see that ranching is going to kill you?”
He recalled her smile, that gentle gleam in her eyes that infuriated him. “This land is what makes me happy, son. Someday you will realize that ranching is in our blood. You can fight it, but this isn’t just your home. A part of your heart is here, as well.”
“Like hell,” he’d said. “Sell the ranch, Mother, before it’s too late. If not for yourself and the rest of us, then for Dana. She’s too much like you. She will spend her life fighting to keep this place. Don’t do that to her.”
“She’ll keep this ranch for the day when you come back to help her run it.”
“That’s never going to happen, Mother.”
Mary Justice Cardwell had smiled that knowing smile of hers. “Only time will tell, won’t it?”
Jordan turned the hat brim nervously in his fingers as he looked down at his mother’s grave and searched for the words to tell her how much he hated what she’d done to him. To all of them. But to his surprise he felt tears well in his eyes, his throat constricting on a gulf of emotion he hadn’t anticipated.
A gust of wind bent the pine boughs and blew down to scatter dried leaves across the landscape. His skin rippled with goosebumps as he suddenly sensed someone watching him. His head came up, his gaze going to the darkness of the pines.
She was only a few yards away. He hadn’t heard the woman on horseback approach and realized she must have been there the whole time, watching him.
She sat astride a large buckskin horse. Shadows played across her face from the swaying pine boughs. The breeze lifted the long dark hair that flowed like molten obsidian over her shoulders and halfway down her back.
There was something vaguely familiar about her. But if he’d known her years before when this was home, he couldn’t place her now. He’d been gone too long from Montana.
And yet a memory tugged at him. His gaze settled on her face again, the wide-set green eyes, that piercing look that seemed to cut right to his soul.
With a curse, he knew where he’d seen her before—and why she was looking at him the way she was. A shudder moved through him as if someone had just walked over his grave.
LIZA TURNER HAD WATCHED the man slog up the hill, his footsteps slow, his head down, as if he were going to a funeral. So she hadn’t been surprised when he’d pushed open the gate to the cemetery and stepped in.
At first, after reining her horse in under the pines, she’d been mildly curious. She loved this spot, loved looking across the canyon as she rode through the groves of aspens and pines. It was always cool in the trees. She liked listening to the river flowing emerald-green below her on the hillside and taking a moment to search the granite cliffs on the other side for mountain sheep.
She hadn’t expected to see anyone on her ride this morning. When she’d driven into the ranch for her usual trek, she’d seen the Cardwell Ranch pickup leaving and remembered that Hud was taking Dana into Bozeman today for her doctor’s appointment. They were leaving the kids with Dana’s best friend and former business partner, Hilde at Needles and Pins, the local fabric store.
The only other person on the ranch was the aging ranch manager, Warren Fitzpatrick. Warren would be watching Let’s Make a Deal at his cabin this time of the morning.
So Liza had been curious and a bit leery when she’d first laid eyes on the stranger in the Western straw hat. As far as she knew, no one else should have been on the ranch today. So who was this tall, broad-shouldered cowboy?
Dana had often talked about hiring some help since Warren was getting up in years and she had her hands full with a four- and five-year-old, not to mention now being pregnant with twins.
But if this man was the new hired hand, why would he be interested in the Justice-Cardwell family cemetery? She felt the skin on the back of her neck prickle. There was something about this cowboy … His face had been in shadow from the brim of his hat. When he’d stopped at one of the graves and had taken his hat off, head bowed, she still hadn’t been able to see more than his profile from where she sat astride her horse.
Shifting in the saddle, she’d tried to get a better look. He must have heard the creak of leather or sensed her presence. His head came up, his gaze darting right to the spot where she sat. He looked startled at first, then confused as if he was trying to place her.
She blinked, not sure she could trust her eyes. Jordan Cardwell?
He looked completely different from the arrogant man in the expensive three-piece suit she’d crossed paths with six years ago. He wore jeans, a button-up shirt and work boots. He looked tanned and stronger as if he’d been doing manual labor. There was only a hint of the earlier arrogance in his expression, making him more handsome than she remembered.
She saw the exact moment when he recognized her. Bitterness burned in his dark gaze as a small resentful smile tugged at his lips.
Oh, yes, it was Jordan Cardwell all right, she thought, wondering what had made her think he was handsome just moments before or—even harder to believe, that he might have changed.
Six years ago he’d been the number one suspect in a murder as well as a suspect in an attempted murder. Liza had been the deputy who’d taken his fingerprints.
She wondered now what he was doing not only back in the canyon, but also on the ranch he and his siblings had fought so hard to take from their sister Dana.
DANA SAVAGE LAY BACK ON THE examining table, nervously picking at a fingernail. “I can’t remember the last time I saw my feet,” she said with a groan.
Dr. Pamela Burr laughed. “This might feel a little cold.”
Dana tried not to flinch as the doctor applied clear jelly to her huge stomach. She closed her eyes and waited until she heard the heartbeats before she opened them again. “So everything is okay?”
“Your babies appear to be doing fine. Don’t you want to look?”
Dana didn’t look at the monitor. “You know Hud. He’s determined to be surprised. Just like the last two. So I don’t dare look.” She shot a glance at her husband. He stood next to her, his gaze on her, not the screen. He smiled, but she could see he was worried.
The doctor shut off the machine. “As for the spotting …”
Dana felt her heart drop as she saw the concern in Dr. Burr’s expression.
“I’m going to have to insist on bed rest for these last weeks,” she said. “Let’s give these babies the best start we can by leaving them where they are for now.” She looked to Hud.
“You can count on me,” he said. “It’s Dana you need to convince.”
Dana sat up and laid her hands over her extended stomach. She felt the twins moving around in the cramped space. Poor babies. “Okay.”
“You understand what bed rest means?” the doctor asked. “No ranch business, no getting up except to shower and use the bathroom. You’re going to need help with Hank and Mary.”
That was putting it mildly when you had a four- and five-year-old who were wild as the canyon where they lived.
“I’m sure Hud—”
“You’ll need more than his help.” The doctor pressed a piece of paper into her hand. “These are several women you might call that I’ve used before.”
Dana didn’t like the idea of bringing in a stranger to take care of Hud and the kids, but the babies kicked and she nodded.
“Doc said I was going to have to watch you like a hawk,” Hud told her on the way home. Apparently while she was getting dressed, Dr. Burr had been bending his ear, down the hall in her office. “You always try to do too much. With the kids, the ranch, me—”
“I’ll be good.”
He gave her a disbelieving look.
“Marshal, would you like a sworn affidavit?”
He grinned over at her. “Actually, I’m thinking about handcuffing you to the bed. I reckon it will be the only way I can keep you down for a day let alone weeks.”
Dana groaned as she realized how hard it was going to be to stay in bed. “What about Hank and Mary? They won’t understand why their mommy can’t be up and around, let alone outside with them and their animals.” Both of them had their own horses and loved to ride.
“I’ve already put in for a leave. Liza can handle things. Anyway, it’s in between resort seasons so it’s quiet.”
September through the middle of November was slow around Big Sky with the summer tourists gone and ski season still at least a month away.
Dana knew October was probably a better time than any other for her husband to be off work. That wasn’t the problem. “Hud, I hate to see you have to babysit me and the kids.”
“It’s not babysitting when it’s your wife and kids, Dana.”
“You know what I mean. There are the kids and the ranch—”
“Honey, you’ve been trying to do it all for too long.”
She had been juggling a lot of balls for some time now, but Hud always helped on the weekends. Their ranch manager, Warren Fitzpatrick, was getting up in years so he had really slowed down. But Warren was a fixture around the ranch, one she couldn’t afford to replace. More than anything, she loved the hands-on part of ranching so she spent as much time as she could working the land.
When she’d found out she was pregnant this time she’d been delighted, but a little worried how she was going to handle another child right now.
Then the doctor had told her she was having twins. Twins? Seriously?
“Are you all right?” Hud asked as he placed his hand over hers and squeezed.
She smiled and nodded. “I’m always all right when I’m with you.”
He gave her hand another squeeze before he went back to driving. “I’m taking you home. Then I’ll go by the shop and pick up the kids.” Her friend Hilde had the kids in Big Sky. “But I’d better not find out you were up and about while I was gone.”
Dana shook her head and made a cross with her finger over her heart. She lay back and closed her eyes, praying as she had since the spotting had begun that the babies she was carrying would be all right. Mary and Hank were so excited about the prospect of two little brothers or sisters. She couldn’t disappoint them.
She couldn’t disappoint anyone, especially her mother, she thought. While Mary Justice Cardwell had been gone six years now, she was as much a part of the ranch as the old, two-story house where Dana lived with Hud and the kids. Her mother had trusted her to keep Cardwell Ranch going. Against all odds she was doing her darnedest to keep that promise.
So why did she feel so scared, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop?
Chapter Two
Jordan watched Deputy Liza Turner ride her horse out of the pines. The past six years had been good to her. She’d been pretty back then. Now there was a confidence as if she’d grown into the woman she was supposed to become. He recalled how self-assured and efficient she’d been at her job. She was also clearly at home on the back of a horse.
The trees cast long shadows over the stark landscape. Wind whirled the dried leaves that now floated in the air like snowflakes.
“Jordan Cardwell,” she said as she reined in her horse at the edge of the cemetery.
He came out through the gate, stopping to look up at her. “Deputy.” She had one of those faces that was almost startling in its uniqueness. The green eyes wide, captivating and always filled with curiosity. He thought she was more interesting than he remembered. That, he realized, was probably because she was out of uniform.
She wore jeans and a red-checked Western shirt that made her dark hair appear as rich as mahogany. She narrowed those green eyes at him. Curiosity and suspicion, he thought.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” she said, a soft lilt to her voice. She had a small gap between her two front teeth, an imperfection, that he found charming.
“I don’t know why you’d be surprised. My sister might have inherited the ranch but I’m still family.”
She smiled at that and he figured she knew all about what had happened after his mother had died—and her new will had gone missing.
“I didn’t think you’d ever come back to the ranch,” she said.
He chuckled. “Neither did I. But people change.”
“Do they?” She was studying him in a way that said she doubted he had. He didn’t need to read her expression to know she was also wondering what kind of trouble he’d brought back to the canyon with him. The horse moved under her, no doubt anxious to get going.
“Your horse seems impatient,” he said. “Don’t let me keep you from your ride.” With a tip of his hat, he headed down the mountain to the ranch house where he’d been raised.
It seemed a lifetime ago. He could barely remember the man he’d been then. But he would be glad to get off the property before his sister and her husband returned. He planned to put off seeing them if at all possible. So much for family, he thought.
WHEN DANA OPENED HER EYES, she saw that they’d left the wide valley and were now driving through the Gallatin Canyon. The “canyon” as it was known, ran from the mouth just south of Gallatin Gateway almost to West Yellowstone, fifty miles of winding road that trailed the river in a deep cut through the mountains.
The drive along the Gallatin River had always been breathtaking, a winding strip of highway that followed the blue-ribbon trout stream up over the continental divide. This time of year the Gallatin ran crystal clear over green-tinted boulders. Pine trees grew dark and thick along its edge and against the steep mountains. Aspens, their leaves rust-reds and glittering golds, grew among the pines.
Sheer rock cliffs overlooked the highway and river, with small areas of open land, the canyon not opening up until it reached Big Sky. The canyon had been mostly cattle and dude ranches, a few summer cabins and homes—that was until Big Sky resort and the small town that followed at the foot of Lone Mountain.
Luxury houses had sprouted up all around the resort. Fortunately, some of the original cabins still remained and the majority of the canyon was national forest so it would always remain undeveloped. The “canyon” was also still its own little community, for which Dana was grateful. This was the only home she’d known and, like her stubborn ancestors, she had no intention of ever leaving it.
Both she and Hud had grown up here. They’d been in love since junior high, but hit a rocky spot some years ago thanks to her sister. Dana didn’t like to think about the five years she and Hud had spent apart as they passed the lower mountain resort area and, a few miles farther, turned down the road to Cardwell Ranch.
Across the river and a half mile back up a wide valley, the Cardwell Ranch house sat against a backdrop of granite cliffs, towering dark pines and glittering aspens. The house was a big, two-story rambling affair with a wide front porch and a brick-red metal roof. Behind it stood a huge weathered barn and some outbuildings and corrals.
Dana never felt truly at home until they reached the ranch she’d fought tooth and nail to save. When Mary Justice Cardwell had been bucked off a horse and died six years ago, Dana had thought all was lost. Her mother’s original will when her children were young left the ranch to all of them.
Mary hadn’t realized until her children were grown that only Dana would keep the ranch. The others would sell it, take the profits and never look back until the day they regretted what they’d done. By then it would be too late. So her mother had made a new will, leaving the ranch to her. But her mother had hidden it where she hoped her daughter would find it. Fortunately, Dana had found it in time to save the ranch.
The will had put an end to her siblings’ struggle to force her to sell the land and split the profits with them. Now her three siblings were paid part of the ranch’s profit each quarter. Not surprisingly, she hadn’t heard from any of them since the will had settled things six years before.
As Hud pulled into the ranch yard, Dana spotted a car parked in front of the old house and frowned. The car was an older model with California plates.
“You didn’t already hire someone—”
“No,” Hud said before she could finish. “I wouldn’t do that without talking to you first. Do you think the doctor called one of the women she told you about?”
Before Dana could answer, she saw that someone was waiting out on the broad front porch. As Hud pulled in beside the car, the woman stepped from out of the shadows.
“Stacy?” She felt her heart drop. After six years of silence and all the bad feelings from the past, what was her older sister doing here?
“SURPRISE,”STACY SAID WITH a shrug and a worried smile. Like Dana, Stacy had gotten the Justice-Cardwell dark good looks, but she’d always been the cute one who capitalized on her appearance, cashing in as she traded her way up through three marriages that Dana knew of and possibly more since.
Just the sight of her sister made Dana instantly wary. She couldn’t help but be mistrustful given their past.
Her sister’s gaze went to Dana’s stomach. “Oh, my. You’re pregnant.”
“We need to get Dana in the house,” Hud said, giving his sister-in-law a nod of greeting. Stacy opened the door and let them enter before she followed them in.
Dana found herself looking around the living room, uncomfortable that her sister had been inside the house even though it had once been Stacy’s home, as well.
The house was as it had been when her mother was alive. Original Western furnishings, a lot of stone and wood and a bright big airy kitchen. Dana, like her mother, chose comfort over style trends. She loved her big, homey house. It often smelled of something good bubbling on the stove, thanks to the fact that Hud loved to cook.
Dana preferred to spend her time with her children outside, teaching them to ride or watching a new foal being born or picking fresh strawberries out of the large garden she grew—just as her own mother had done with her.
As she looked at her sister, she was reminded of some of her mother’s last words to her. “Families stick together. It isn’t always easy. Everyone makes mistakes. Dana, you have to find forgiveness in your heart. If not for them, then for yourself.”
Her mother had known then that if anything happened to her, Jordan, Stacy and Clay would fight her for the ranch. That’s why she’d made the new will.
But she must also have known that the will would divide them.
“It’s been a long time,” Dana said, waiting, knowing her sister wanted something or she wouldn’t be here.
“I know I should have kept in touch more,” Stacy said. “I move around a lot.” But she’d always managed to get her check each quarter as part of her inheritance from the ranch profits. Dana instantly hated the uncharitable thought. She didn’t want to feel that way about her sister. But Stacy had done some things in the past that had left the two of them at odds. Like breaking Dana and Hud up eleven years ago. Dana still had trouble forgiving her sister for that.
Stacy shifted uncomfortably in the silence. “I should have let you know I was coming, huh.”
“Now isn’t the best time for company,” Hud said. “Dana’s doctor has advised her to get off her feet for the rest of her pregnancy.”
“But I’m not company,” Stacy said. “I’m family. I can help.”
Hud looked to his wife. “Why don’t you go. It’s fine,” Dana said and removed her coat.
“So you’re pregnant,” her sister said.
“Twins,” Dana said, sinking into a chair.
Stacy nodded.
Dana realized Hud was still in his coat, waiting, afraid to leave her alone with Stacy. “Are you going to pick up the kids?”
He gave her a questioning look.
“I thought you probably had more kids,” her sister said. “The toys and stuff around.”
Dana was still looking at her husband. She knew he didn’t trust Stacy, hated she’d been alone in their house while they were gone and worse, he didn’t want to leave the two of them alone. “Stacy and I will be fine.”
Still he hesitated. He knew better than anyone what her siblings were like.
“Stacy, would you mind getting me a drink of water?” The moment her sister left the room, Dana turned to her husband. “I’ll be fine,” she said lowering her voice. “Go pick up the kids. I promise I won’t move until you get back.” She could tell that wasn’t what had him concerned.
He glanced toward the kitchen and the sound of running water. “I won’t be long.”
She motioned him over and smiled as he leaned down to kiss her. At the same time, he placed a large hand on her swollen stomach. The babies moved and he smiled.
“You have your cell phone if you need me?”
Dana nodded. “The marshal’s office is also on speed dial. I’ll be fine. Really.”
Stacy came back in with a glass full of water as Hud left. “I’m glad things have turned out good for you. Hud is so protective.”
“Thank you,” she said as she took the glass and studied her sister over the rim as she took a drink.
“I would have called,” Stacy said, “but I wanted to surprise you.”
“I’m surprised.” She watched her sister move around the room, touching one object after another, seeming nervous. Her first thought when she’d seen her sister was that she’d come here because she was in trouble.
That initial observation hadn’t changed. Now though, Dana was betting it had something to do with money. It usually did with Stacy, unfortunately.
Years ago Dana had found out just how low her sister would stoop if the price was right. She had good reason not to trust her sister.
“The place hasn’t changed at all,” Stacy was saying now. “Except for the pile of toys in the sunroom. I heard Hud say he was going to pick up the kids?”
“Hank and Mary, five and four.”
“You named your daughter after mother, that’s nice,” Stacy said. “I thought you probably would.” She seemed to hear what she’d said. “I want you to know I’m not upset about mother leaving you the ranch. You know me, I would have just blown the money.” She flashed a self-deprecating smile. “And you’re pregnant with twins! When are you due?”
“Eight weeks.” When she finally couldn’t take it anymore, Dana asked, “Stacy, what are you doing here?”
“It’s kind of a strange story,” her sister said, looking even more nervous.
Dana braced herself. If Stacy thought it was a strange story, then it could be anything. Her sister opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted.
From upstairs a baby began to cry.
“What is that?” Dana demanded.
“I haven’t had a chance to tell you,” Stacy said as she started for the stairs. “That’s Ella. That’s my other surprise. I have a baby.”
LIZA PARKED HER PICKUP ACROSS the road from Trail’s End and settled in to wait. She had a clear view of the small cabin Jordan had rented. Like a lot of Big Sky, the string of cabins were new. But it being off-season and the cabins’only view being Highway 191, she figured they weren’t too pricey. She wondered how Jordan was fixed for money and if that’s what had brought him back here.
Pulling out her phone, she called Hud’s cell. He answered on the third ring. She could hear the kids in the background and a woman’s voice. Hilde, Dana’s best friend. He must be at Needles and Pins.
“How’s Dana, boss?” she asked.
“Stubborn.”
She laughed. “So the doctor did prescribe bed rest.”
“Yes. Fortunately, I know you can run things just fine without me.”
“Probably more smoothly without you around,” she joked.
He must have heard something in her voice. “But?”
“Nothing I can’t handle,” she assured him. “But you might want to give Dana a heads-up.”
“Dana already knows. Stacy’s at the house right now.”
“Stacy?”
“Who were you talking about?” Hud asked.
“Jordan.”
She heard Hud swear under his breath.
“I saw him earlier on the ranch, actually at the family cemetery,” Liza said.
“What’s he doing in the canyon?”
“He didn’t say, but I found out where he’s staying. He’s rented a cabin past Buck’s T-4.” Buck’s T-4 was a local landmark bar and hotel. “I’m hanging out, watching to see what he’s up to.”
“Probably not the best way to spend taxpayers’ dollars, but I appreciate it. As far as I know, he hasn’t contacted Dana.”
“Let me know if he does. In the meantime, I’ll stick around here for a while.”
“You really need to get a life, deputy,” Hud said. “Thanks. Let me know if you need help.”
“So Stacy’s here, too?”
“We haven’t heard from any of them in six years and now two of them are in the canyon? This doesn’t bode well.”
That had been her thought exactly.
“I don’t want them upsetting Dana,” he said. “All we need is for Clay to show up next. This couldn’t come at a worse time. I’m worried enough about Dana and the babies. I have a bad feeling this could have something to do with that developer who’s been after Dana to sell some of the ranch.”
“The timing does make you wonder,” Liza said.
“I’m going back to the ranch now.”
“You stick close to Dana. I’ll let you know if Jordan heads for the ranch.” Hanging up, Liza settled in again. She knew it could be a while. Jordan might be in for the night.
The canyon got dark quickly this time of year. With the dark that settled over it like a cloak came a drop in temperature. She could hear the river, smell the rich scent of fall. A breeze stirred the nearby pines, making the branches sway and sigh. A couple of stars popped out above the canyon walls.
The door of the cabin opened. Jordan stepped out and headed for his rented SUV parked outside. He was dressed in a warm coat, gloves and a hat, all in a dark color. He definitely didn’t look like a man going out for dinner—or even to visit his sister. He glanced around as if he thought someone might be watching him before climbing into his rental.
Liza felt her heart kick up a beat as she slunk down in the pickup seat and waited. A few moments later she heard the SUV pull out. She started the truck, and sitting up, followed at a distance.
To her relief, he didn’t turn down Highway 191 in the direction of the Cardwell Ranch—and his sister’s house. Instead, he headed north toward Big Sky proper, making her think she might be wrong. Maybe he was merely going out to find a place to have dinner.
He drove on past the lighted buildings that made up the Meadow Village, heading west toward Mountain Village. There was little traffic this time of year. She let another vehicle get between them, all the time keeping Jordan’s taillights in sight.
Just when she started speculating on where he might be headed, he turned off on the road to Ousel Falls. They passed a few commercial buildings, a small housing complex and then the road cut through the pines as it climbed toward the falls.
Liza pulled over, letting him get farther ahead. Had he spotted the tail? She waited as long as she dared before she drove on up the road. Her headlights cut a gold swath through the darkness. Dense pines lined both sides of the mountain road. There was no traffic at all up this way. She worried he had spotted her following him and was now leading her on a wild-goose chase.
She hadn’t gone far when her headlights picked up the parking lot for the falls. Jordan’s rental was parked in the empty lot. She couldn’t tell if he was still in the vehicle. Grabbing her baseball cap off the seat, she covered her dark hair as she drove on past.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the SUV was empty. Past it near the trailhead, she glimpsed the beam of a flashlight bobbing as it headed down the trail.
A few hundred yards up the road Liza found a place to pull over. She grabbed her own flashlight from under the seat, checked to make sure the batteries were still working and got out of the truck.
It was a short hike back to the trailhead. From there the path dropped to the creek before rising again as it twisted its way through the thick forest.
The trail was wide and paved and she found, once her eyes adjusted, that she didn’t need to use her flashlight if she was careful. Enough starlight bled down through the pine boughs that she could see far enough ahead—and she knew the trail well.
There was no sign of Jordan, though. She’d reached the creek and bridge, quickly crossed it, and had started up the winding track when she caught a glimpse of light above her on the footpath.
She stopped to listen, afraid he might have heard her behind him. But there was only the sound of the creek and moan of the pines in the breeze. Somewhere in the distance an owl hooted. She moved again, hurrying now.
Once the pathway topped out, she should be able to see Jordan’s light ahead of her, though she couldn’t imagine what he was doing hiking to the falls tonight.
There was always a good chance of running into a moose or a wolf or worse this time of a year, a hungry grizzly foraging for food before hibernation.
The trail topped out. She stopped to catch her breath and listen for Jordan. Ahead she could make out the solid rock area at the base of the waterfall. A few more steps and she could feel the mist coming off the cascading water. From here, the walkway carved a crooked path up through the pines to the top of the falls.
There was no sign of any light ahead and the only thing she could hear was rushing water. Where was Jordan? She moved on, convinced he was still ahead of her. Something rustled in the trees off to her right. A limb cracked somewhere ahead in the pines.
She stopped and drew her weapon. Someone was out there.
The report of the rifle shot felt so close it made the hair stand up on her neck. The sound ricocheted off the rock cliff and reverberated through her. Liza dove to the ground. A second shot echoed through the trees.
Weapon drawn, she scrambled up the hill and almost tripped over the body Jordan Cardwell was standing over.
Chapter Three
“You have a baby?” Dana said, still shocked when Stacy came back downstairs carrying a pink bundle. “I’m just having a hard time imagining you as a mother.”
“You think you’re the only one with a maternal instinct?” Stacy sounded hurt.
“I guess I never thought you wanted a baby.”
Stacy gave a little shrug. “People change.”
Did they? Dana wondered as she studied her sister.
“Want to see her?” Stacy asked.
Dana nodded and her sister carefully transferred the bundle into her arms. Dana saw that it wasn’t a blanket at all that the baby was wrapped in, but a cute pink quilt. Parting the edges, she peered in at the baby. A green-eyed knockout stared back at her.
“Isn’t she beautiful?”
“She’s breathtaking. What’s her name?”
“Ella.”
Dana looked up at her sister, her gaze going to Stacy’s bare left-hand ring finger. “Is there a father?”
“Of course,” her sister said with an embarrassed laugh. “He’s in the military. We’re getting married when he comes home in a few weeks.”
Stacy had gone through men like tissues during a sad movie. In the past she’d married for money. Maybe this time she had found something more important, Dana hoped, glancing down at the baby in her arms.
“Hello, Ella,” she said to the baby. The bow-shaped lips turned up at the corners, the green eyes sparkling. “How old is she?”
“Six months.”
As the baby began to fuss, Stacy dug in a diaper bag Dana hadn’t seen at the end of the couch. She pulled out a bottle before going into the kitchen to warm it.
Dana stared at the precious baby, her heart in her throat. She couldn’t imagine her sister with a baby. In the past Stacy couldn’t even keep a houseplant alive.
As her sister came out of the kitchen, Dana started to hand back the baby.
“You can feed her if you want.”
Dana took the bottle and watched the baby suck enthusiastically at the warm formula. “She’s adorable.” Her sister didn’t seem to be listening though.
Stacy had walked over to the window and was looking out. “I forgot how quiet it is here.” She hugged herself as a gust of wind rattled the old window. “Or how cold it is this time of year.”
“Where have you been living?”
“Southern California,” she said, turning away from the window.
“Is that where you met the father?”
Stacy nodded. “It’s getting late. Ella and I should go.”
“Where are you going?” Dana asked, alarmed, realizing that she’d been cross-examining her sister as if Stacy was one of Hud’s suspects. She couldn’t bear the thought of this baby being loaded into that old car outside with Stacy at the wheel.
“I planned to get a motel for the night. Kurt’s got some relatives up by Great Falls. They’ve offered me a place to stay until he gets leave and we can find a place of our own.”
Dana shook her head, still holding tight to the baby. “You’re staying here. You and Ella can have Mary’s room. I don’t want you driving at night.”
LIZA SWUNG THE BARREL OF HER gun and snapped on her flashlight, aiming both at Jordan. “Put your hands up,” she ordered.
He didn’t move. He stood stock-still, staring down at the body at his feet. He appeared to be in shock.
“I said put your hands up,” she ordered again. He blinked and slowly raised his gaze to her, then lifted his hands. Keeping the gun trained on him, she quickly frisked him. “Where is the weapon?” She nudged him with the point of her gun barrel.
He shook his head. “I didn’t shoot him.”
Liza took a step back from him and shone the flashlight beam into the pines. The light didn’t go far in the dense trees and darkness. “Who shot him?”
“I don’t know.”
She squatted down to check for a pulse. None. Pulling out her phone, she called for backup and the coroner. When she’d finished, she turned the beam on Jordan again. “You can start by telling me what you’re doing out here.”
He looked down at the body, then up at her. “You know I didn’t kill him.”
“How do I know that?”
True, she hadn’t seen him carrying a rifle, but he could have hidden one in the woods earlier today. But how did he get rid of it so quickly? She would have heard him throw it into the trees.
“What are you doing here at the falls in the middle of the night?”
He looked away.
She began to read him his rights.
“All right,” he said with a sigh. “You aren’t going to believe me. I was meeting him here.”
“To buy drugs?”
“No.” He looked insulted. “It’s a long story.”
“We seem to have time.” She motioned to a downed tree not far from the body but deep enough in the trees that if the killer was still out there, he wouldn’t have a clear shot.
Jordan sighed as he sat down, dropping his head in his hands for a few moments. “When I was in high school my best friend hung himself. At least that’s what everyone thought, anyway. I didn’t believe he would do that, but there was no evidence of foul play. Actually, no one believed me when I argued there was no way Tanner would have taken his own life.”
“People often say that about suicide victims.”
“Yeah. Well, a few weeks ago, I got a call from …” He looked in the direction of the body, but quickly turned away. “Alex Winslow.”
“Is that the victim?”
He nodded. “Alex asked if I was coming back for our twenty-year high-school reunion.”
“You were?” She couldn’t help her surprise.
He gave her an are-you-kidding look. “I told him no. That’s when he mentioned Tanner.”
“Alex Winslow told you he was looking into Tanner’s death?”
“Not in so many words. He said something like, ‘Do you ever think about Tanner?’ He sounded like he’d been drinking. At first I just thought it was the booze talking.”
He told her about the rest of the conversation, apparently quoting Alex as best as he could remember.
“Man, it would take something to hang yourself,” Alex had said. “Put that noose around your neck and stand there balancing on nothing more than a log stump. One little move … Who would do that unless they were forced to? You know, like at gunpoint or … I don’t know, maybe get tricked into standing up there?”
“What are you saying?”
“Just … what if he didn’t do it? What if they killed him?”
“They? Who?”
“Don’t listen to me. I’ve had a few too many beers tonight. So, are you sure I can’t talk you into coming to the reunion? Even if I told you I have a theory about Tanner’s death.”
“What theory?”
“Come to the reunion. Call me when you get into town and I’ll tell you. Don’t mention this to anyone else. Seriously. I don’t want to end up like poor old Tanner.”
“That could have just been the alcohol talking,” Liza said when he finished.
“That’s what I thought, too, until he wanted to meet at the falls after dark. Something had him running scared.”
“With good reason, apparently. Alex Winslow is a former friend?”
Jordan nodded.
“You weren’t just a little suspicious, meeting in the dark at a waterfall?”
“I thought he was being paranoid, but I played along.”
“You didn’t consider it might be dangerous?”
“No, I thought Alex was overreacting. He was like that. Or at least he had been in high school. I haven’t seen him in twenty years.”
“Why, if he knew something, did he wait all these years?”
Jordan shrugged. “I just know that Tanner wouldn’t have killed himself. He was a smart guy. If anything he was too smart for his own good. I figured if there was even a small chance that Alex knew something …” He glanced over at her. “Apparently, Alex had reason to be paranoid. This proves that there is more to Tanner’s suicide.”
She heard the determination in his voice and groaned inwardly. “This proves nothing except that Alex Winslow is dead.” But Jordan wasn’t listening.
“Also it proves I wasn’t such a fool to believe Alex really did know something about Tanner’s death.”
She studied Jordan for a moment. “Did he say something to you before he was shot?”
His gaze shifted away. “I can’t even be sure I heard him right.”
“What did he say?”
“Shelby.”
“Shelby?”
He nodded. “We went to school with a girl named Shelby Durran. She and Tanner were a couple. At least until Christmas our senior year.”
HUD HAD JUST RETURNED with the kids when he got the call about the shooting.
“Go,” Dana said. “I’ll be fine. Stacy is here. She said she’d have the kids help her make dinner for all of us.”
He mugged a face and lowered his voice. “Your sister cooking? Now that’s frightening.”
“Go,” his wife ordered, giving him a warning look. “We can manage without you for a while.”
“Are you sure?” He took her hand and squeezed it. “You promise to stay right where you are?”
“Promise.”
Still, he hesitated. He’d been shocked to walk into the house and see Dana holding a baby. For a few moments, he’d been confused as to where she’d gotten it.
“Has Stacy said anything about where she’s been?” he asked, glancing toward the kitchen. He could hear the voices of his children and sister-in-law. They all sounded excited about whatever they were making for dinner.
“Southern California. She’s headed for Great Falls. There’s a military base located there so that makes sense since she says the baby’s father is in the military.”
“If Stacy can be believed,” he said quietly.
Dana mugged a face at him. But telling the truth wasn’t one of her sister’s strong suits. It bothered him that Dana was defending her sister. He figured the baby had something to do with it. Dana was a sucker for kids.
“Stacy seems different now,” she said. “I think it’s the baby. It seems to have grounded her some, maybe.”
“Maybe,” he said doubtfully.
“Go on, you have a murder investigation to worry about instead of me.”
“You sound way too happy about that.”
LIZA ALREADY HAD THE CRIME scene cordoned off when Hud arrived. He waved to the deputy on guard at the falls parking lot as he got out of his patrol SUV. The coroner’s van was parked next to the two police vehicles.
“The coroner just went in,” the deputy told him.
He turned on his flashlight and started down the trail. Hud couldn’t help thinking about his wife’s siblings trying to force her to sell the family ranch. They’d been like vultures, none of them having any interest in Cardwell Ranch. All they’d wanted was the money.
Jordan had been the worst because of his New York lifestyle—and his out-of-work model wife. But Stacy and Clay had had their hands out, as well. Hud hated to think what would have happened if Dana hadn’t found the new will her mother had made leaving her the ranch.
He smiled at the memory of where she’d found it. Mary Justice Cardwell had put it in her favorite old recipe book next to “Double Chocolate Brownies.” The brownies had been Hud’s favorite. Dana hadn’t made them in all the time the two of them had been apart. When they’d gotten back together six years ago, Dana had opened the cookbook planning to surprise him with the brownies, only to be surprised herself.
Two of her siblings were back in the canyon? That had him worried even before the call from his deputy marshal that there’d been a murder. And oh, yeah, Liza had told him, Jordan Cardwell was somehow involved.
Now as he hiked into the falls, he tried to keep his temper in check. If Dana’s family thought they were going to come back here and upset her—
Ahead he saw the crowd gathered at the top of the falls. He headed for the coroner.
Coroner Rupert Milligan was hugging seventy, but you’d never know it the way he acted. Six years ago, Hud had thought the man older than God and more powerful in this county. Tall, white-haired, with a head like a buffalo, he had a gruff voice and little patience for stupidity. He’d retired as a country doctor to work as a coroner.
None of that had changed in the past six years. Just as Rupert’s love for murder mysteries and forensics hadn’t.
“So what do we have?” Hud asked over the roar of the falls as he joined him.
Rupert answered without even bothering to look up. “Single gunshot through the heart. Another through the lungs. High-powered rifle.”
“Distance?”
“I’d say fifty yards.”
“That far,” he said, surprised. The killer would have needed the victim to be out in the open with no trees in the way to make such a shot. Like at the top of a waterfall. “Any idea where the shot came from?”
Rupert had been crouched beside the body. Now he finally looked up. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s dark out. Once it gets daylight you can look for tracks and possibly a shell casing. And once I get the body to Bozeman for an autopsy I might be able to tell you more about the trajectory of the bullet. Offhand, I’d say the shot came from the other side of the creek, probably on the side of the mountain.”
“So either it was a lucky shot or the killer had been set up and waiting,” Liza said, joining them. “The killer either picked the meeting spot or was told where the victim would be.”
Rupert shifted his gaze to her and frowned. Being from the old school, the coroner made no secret of the fact that he didn’t hold much appreciation for women law enforcement. If he’d had his way, he would have put them all behind a desk.
Hud liked that Liza didn’t seem to let him bother her. His deputy marshal’s good looks could be deceiving. Small in stature, too cute for her own good and easygoing, Liza often gave criminals the idea that she was a pushover. They, however, quickly learned differently. He wondered if Jordan Cardwell thought the same thing about the deputy marshal. If so, he was in for a surprise.
“Which could mean either that the victim was expecting to meet not only Jordan Cardwell up here, but also someone he trusted,” she continued. “Or—”
“Or Jordan told the killer about the meeting,” Hud interjected.
Liza nodded and glanced over to the stump where Jordan was waiting. “That is always another possibility.”
“One I suggest you don’t forget,” Hud said under his breath. “If it’s all right with you, I’ll take our suspect down to the office.”
She nodded. “I want to wait for the crime scene techs to arrive.”
Hud hadn’t seen Jordan for six years. As he walked toward him, he was thinking he could have easily gone another six and not been in the least bit sorry.
“You just happen to come back to the canyon and a man dies,” he said.
“Good to see you again, too, brother-in-law. I guess my invitation to the wedding must have gotten lost in the mail, huh?”
“What are you doing here, Jordan?”
“I already told your deputy marshal.”
“Well, you’re going to have to tell me, too. Let’s get out of the woods and go to my office. You have a rifle you need to pick up before we go?”
Jordan gave him a grim, disappointed look. “No, I’m good.”
THE DOOR OPENED A CRACK. “Oh, good, you’re awake,” Stacy said as she peered in at Dana. “I brought you some still-warm chocolate chips cookies and some milk.”
“That was very thoughtful of you,” Dana said, sitting up in the bed and putting her crossword puzzle aside. Earlier, before her doctor’s appointment, Hud had made her a bed in the sunroom so she wouldn’t have to go up the stairs—and would be where she could see most of what was going on. She patted the bed, and her sister sat down on the edge and placed the tray next to them.
“I’m just glad you let me stay and help out. It was fun baking with Hank and Mary. They are so cute. Hank looks just like a small version of Hud and Mary is the spitting image of you. Do you know …” She motioned to Dana’s big belly.
“No,” she said, taking a bite of cookie. “We want to be surprised. Did you find out ahead of time?”
Stacy had cautiously placed a hand on Dana’s abdomen and now waited with expectation. The babies had been restless all day, kicking up a storm. She watched her sister’s face light up as one of the twins gave her hand a swift kick.
Stacy laughed and pulled her hand back. “Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?”
Dana nodded, studying her older sister. Stacy had changed little in appearance. She was still the pretty one. Her dark hair was chin-length, making her brown eyes the focus of her face. She’d always had that innocent look. That was probably, Dana realized with a start, why she’d been able to get away with as much as she had.
“So did you know ahead of time you were having a girl?” she asked again.
Stacy shook her head and helped herself to a cookie. “It was a surprise.”
“Speaking of surprises …” She watched her sister’s face. “Jordan is in town.”
“Jordan?” Had Stacy known? “What is he doing here?”
“I thought you might know.”
Stacy shook her head and looked worried. “I haven’t heard from him since we were all here six years ago.” She made a face. “I still feel bad about trying to force you to sell the ranch.”
Dana waved that away. “It’s history. The ranch is still in the family and it makes enough money that you and our brothers get to share in the profits. You know I think my lawyer did mention that he’d received notice that Jordan was divorced.”
“I wonder how much of his ranch profits he has to give to Jill? That woman was such a gold digger.” Stacy laughed as she realized the irony. “I should know, huh? Back then I figured if I was going to get married, I might as well get paid for it.” She shook her head as if amazed by the woman she’d been. “Have you heard from Clay?”
“No.” She helped herself to another cookie and sipped some of the milk. “He hasn’t been cashing his checks lately. My attorney is checking into it.”
“That’s odd,” Stacy agreed. “Well, I need to clean up the kitchen.”
“Thanks so much for giving the kids their baths and getting them to bed.” Mary and Hank had come in earlier to say good-night and have Dana read a book to them before bed. They’d been wearing their footie pajamas, their sweet faces scrubbed clean and shiny. They’d been excited about helping their aunt Stacy cook.
“Thank you so much for all your help,” Dana said, touched by everything Stacy had done.
“I’m just glad I was here so I could.” She smiled. “I didn’t know how fun kids could be.”
“Wait until Ella is that age. Mary loves to have tea parties and help her daddy cook.”
Stacy nodded thoughtfully. “Let me know if you need anything. Knowing you, I can guess how hard it is for you to stay down like this.”
Dana groaned in response. She couldn’t stand the thought of another day let alone weeks like this. “Thanks for the cookies and milk. The cookies were delicious.”
Stacy looked pleased as she left the room.
Chapter Four
Hud walked out with Jordan to the road, then followed him to the marshal’s office. Once in the office he got his first good look at his brother-in-law. Jordan had been only two years ahead of Hud in school, three years ahead of his sister Dana. His brother-in-law had aged, but it hadn’t hurt Jordan’s looks. If anything the years seemed to have given him character, or at least the appearance of it.
“Why don’t you have a seat and start at the beginning?” Hud said dropping into his chair behind his desk.
“I thought Liza was handling this case?”
“Liza? You mean Deputy Marshal Turner?” He shouldn’t have been surprised Jordan was on a first-name basis with the deputy. He, of all people, understood the charm of the Justice-Cardwell genes. Dana could wrap him around her little finger and did.
“Don’t think just because she’s a woman that she isn’t a damned good marshal,” Hud said to his brother-in-law. “She’s sharp and she’ll nail you to the wall if you’re guilty.”
“If you have so much confidence in her abilities, then why are you here?”
Hud gritted his teeth. Jordan had always been difficult. At least that hadn’t changed. “Several reasons. None of which I have to explain to you. But—” He held up a hand before Jordan could speak. “I will because I want us to have an understanding.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “One, I’m still the marshal here. Two, Liza has her hands full up at the site. Three, I want to know what happened on that mountain. And four, your sister is my wife. I don’t want her hurt.”
With a smile and a nod, Jordan ambled over to a chair and sat. “Dana doesn’t have anything to worry about. Neither she nor the ranch is why I’m back in the canyon.”
“Why are you here?” Hud asked, snapping on the recording machine.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with family.”
“But it does have something to do with Alex Winslow.”
“Alex was a good friend from high school. I didn’t kill him.” Jordan sighed and looked at the ceiling for a moment.
Hud noticed that he was no longer wearing a wedding ring. He vaguely remembered Dana mentioning that she’d heard Jordan was divorced from his ex-model wife, Jill. The marriage had probably ended when Jordan didn’t get the proceeds from the sale of the ranch.
“If Alex was your friend, I would think you’d be interested in helping us find his killer,” Hud said. “Not to mention you’re neck deep in this. Right now, you’re the number one suspect.”
Jordan laughed. “Does that work on most of your suspects?” He shook his head. “I came back because Alex called me. He hinted that he might know something about Tanner’s suicide but it was clear he didn’t want to talk about it on the phone. He said he’d share his theory with me if I came to our twenty-year high school reunion. The next time I talked to him, he sounded scared and wanted to meet at the falls. That’s it.”
That was a lot. Hud wasn’t sure how much of it he believed. But at least he had some idea of what might have brought Jordan back to town—and it wasn’t family.
“Tanner Cole committed suicide when the two of you were seniors in high school. Why would that bring you back here after all these years?”
“When your best friend commits suicide, you never stop thinking you could have done something to stop him. You need to know why he did it.”
“Unless that person leaves a note, you never know. Tanner didn’t leave a note, as I recall.”
Jordan shook his head.
“Did you talk to Alex before he was shot?”
“As I told your deputy, I heard the shot, he stumbled toward me, there was another shot and he went down. All he said was the word Shelby. At least that’s what I thought he said.” Jordan shrugged. “That was it.”
Hud studied him openly for a moment. “Maybe the bullets were meant for you and the killer missed.”
Jordan sighed. “What are you insinuating?”
“That maybe Tanner didn’t commit suicide. Weren’t you the one who found his body?”
Anger fired Jordan’s gaze. “He was my best friend. I would have taken a bullet for him.”
“Instead, another friend of yours took the bullet tonight,” Hud said. “You’re telling me you came all this way, hiked into the falls in the dark, just for answers?”
“Why is that so hard for you to understand?”
“What about Alex Winslow? Don’t I remember some falling-out the two of you had before you graduated?”
“It was high school. Who remembers?”
Hud nodded. “Is Stacy in the canyon for the same reason?” Stacy had been in the grade between the two of them.
“Stacy?” Jordan looked genuinely surprised. “I haven’t seen or talked to her in years.”
“Then you didn’t know that not only is she back in the canyon, she also has a baby.”
Jordan laughed. “Stacy has a baby? That’s got to be good. Look, if that’s all, I need to get some sleep.”
“Once Liza allows you to, I’m sure you’ll be leaving. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t upset Dana before then. She’s pregnant with twins and having a rough go of it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jordan said, sounding as if he meant it. “Don’t worry, I won’t be bothering my sister. Either of my sisters,” he added.
“Then I guess we’re done here.”
A WHILE LATER, DANA HEARD HUD come in. She heard him go upstairs to check on the kids, before coming back down to her room. He smiled when he saw her still awake and came over to her side of the bed to give her a kiss.
“So everything’s all right?” he asked.
“I’m the one who should be asking you that. You said there’d been a shooting?”
He nodded. “Liza’s got everything under control. The crime techs are on their way from Missoula.” He sounded tired.
“Stacy kept a plate of dinner for you. She made chicken, baked potatoes and corn,” Dana said. “Then she and kids baked chocolate chip cookies.” She motioned to the cookies on the tray next to the bed.
Hud gave her a who-knew-she-could-cook look and took one of the cookies.
Who knew indeed? Dana couldn’t believe the change in her sister. She felt horribly guilty for not trusting it. But even Stacy was capable of changing, right? Having a baby did that to a person. But Stacy?
Unfortunately, the jury was still out—given her sister’s past.
“Did she mention how long she’s staying?” Hud asked, not meeting her gaze.
“She was planning to leave earlier, but I asked her to stay. I’m sure she’ll be leaving in the morning.”
Hud nodded. She could tell he would be glad when Stacy was gone. Dana couldn’t blame him. Her sister had hurt them both. But she desperately wanted to believe Stacy had changed. For Ella’s sake.
Unfortunately, like her husband, Dana had a niggling feeling that Stacy wasn’t being completely honest about the real reason she’d come to the ranch.
EXHAUSTED, JORDAN WENT BACK TO his cabin, locked the door and fell into bed with the intention of sleeping the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, Deputy Marshal Liza Turner had other plans for him.
“What do you want?” he said when he opened the cabin door a little after eleven o’clock that morning to find her standing outside. He leaned a hip into the door-jamb and crossed his arms as he took her in.
“What do I want? Sleep, more money, better hours, breakfast.”
“I can’t help you with most of that, but I could use food. I’ll buy.”
She smiled. “I know a place that serves breakfast all day. We can eat and talk.”
“No murder talk until I’ve had coffee.”
“Agreed.”
Liza drove them to the upper mountain. The huge unpaved parking lots sat empty. None of the lifts moved on the mountain except for the gondolas that rocked gently in the breeze.
“It’s like a ghost town up here,” he commented as they got out of her patrol SUV.
“I like the quiet. Good place to talk. Most everything is closed still. Fortunately, there are enough locals that a few places stay open.”
The café was small and nearly empty. Liza led him outside to a table under an umbrella. The sun was low to the south, but still warm enough it was comfortable outside. A waitress brought them coffee while they looked at the menu.
Jordan ordered ham and eggs, hashbrowns and whole wheat toast.
“I’ll have the same,” Liza said and handed back the menu. As soon as the waitress was out of earshot, she said, “You didn’t mention last night that you and the victim were no longer friends at the end of your high school years.”
“So you spoke with Hud.” He looked toward the mountains where snow dusted the peaks, making them gleam blinding bright. “It was a stupid disagreement over a woman, all right? Just high school stuff.”
She nodded, not buying it. “What girl?”
“I don’t even remember.”
Liza’s look called him a liar, but she let it go. “I’m still confused why he contacted you. He must have had other friends locally he would have talked to.”
“Obviously he must have talked to someone locally. One of them knew where he was going last night and killed him.” Jordan said nothing as the waitress served their breakfasts. He picked up his fork. “Look, do we have to talk about this while we eat? I feel like I got him killed.”
“You can’t blame yourself, or worse, try to take the law into your own hands.” She eyed him for a long moment. “Why would I suspect that’s what you’re planning to do?”
He chuckled. “If you talked to my brother-in-law he would have told you that I’m not that ambitious. Anyway, you’re the deputy marshal. I’m sure you’ll find his killer.”
She took a bite of toast, chewed and swallowed before she said, “You contacted Tanner’s girlfriend from his senior year in high school.”
Jordan took her measure. “Why, Liza, you’ve been checking up on me. I contacted Shelby before I went up to the falls last night. She said she had nothing to say to me about Tanner. That was high school and so far back, she barely remembers.”
“You didn’t believe her?” Liza asked between bites.
Jordan laughed. “High school was Shelby’s glory days. Just check out our yearbook. She is on every page either as president or queen of something. Not to mention she was dating Tanner Cole, the most popular guy in school. She was in her element. I’d bet those were the best days of her life and that nothing she has done since will ever compare.”
Liza considered that for a long moment before she asked, “So you talked to Shelby before last night. Before the only word Alex got out after he was shot was her name?”
“Like I said, she and Tanner dated.”
“When you talked to Shelby, did you mention Alex or where you were meeting him?”
He gave her an exasperated look. “Do you really think I’m that stupid? Alex was acting terrified. I wasn’t about to say anything until I talked to him.”
“And yet you called Shelby.”
“Yeah. I just told her I was in the area as if I was here for the twenty-year reunion and worked Tanner into the conversation. I didn’t realize then that anything I might do could put anyone in danger, including her.”
“That’s so noble. But I thought you didn’t like her. In fact, I thought you were instrumental in breaking up her and Tanner.”
He shook his head and took a bite of his breakfast. “You’re determined to ruin my appetite, aren’t you?”
“Is it true?”
“I couldn’t stand Shelby and that bunch she ran with. But you’re wrong. I had nothing to do with breaking her and Tanner up, no matter what Hud thinks, as I’m sure that’s where you got your information.”
Liza lifted a brow. “You weren’t the one who snitched on her?”
“Wasn’t me.” He met her gaze. “Why keep questioning me if you aren’t going to believe anything I say?”
“I don’t want you involved in my investigation,” she said. “That includes asking about Tanner among your old friends—and enemies.”
He smiled. “What makes you think I have enemies?”
She smiled in answer as she smeared huckleberry jam on a piece of her toast.
He watched her eat for a few moments. He liked a woman who ate well and said as much.
“Does that line work on women?” she asked.
He laughed. “Every time.”
They finished their breakfast in the quiet of the upper mountain. She was right about it being peaceful up here. He liked it. But once winter came, all that would change. The parking lots would be packed, all the lifts would be running as well as the gondola. The mountain would be dotted with skiers and boarders, the restaurants and resorts full. He recalled the sounds of people, the clank of machinery, the array of bright-colored skiwear like a rainbow across Lone Mountain.
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B.J. Daniels
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: Justice at Cardwell Ranch, электронная книга автора B.J. Daniels на английском языке, в жанре современная зарубежная литература