Justice at Cardwell Ranch. B.J. Daniels
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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,