Christmas at Cardwell Ranch. B.J. Daniels
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tried to warn her, but she’d thought her best friend was just being jealous and hadn’t taken her worries seriously. Not taking Hilde’s warnings seriously had almost gotten them killed.
“Hilde’s forgiven you, right?” Stacy asked as Dana wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
“Kind of. I mean, she says she has. But, Stacy, I took some stranger’s word over my best friend’s, who is also my business partner and godmother to one of my children!”
“You and Hud both need to let this go. Camilla is locked up in the women’s state prison in Billings, right? With six counts of attempted murder, she won’t get out until she’s ninety.”
“What if she pretends to be reformed and gets out on good behavior? Or worse, escapes? We’re only a few hours away.”
“You can’t really think she’s going to escape.”
“If anyone can, it’s her. Within a week, I’ll bet she was eating her meals with the warden. You know how she is.”
“Dana, you’re making her into the bogeyman. She’s just a sick woman with a lot of scars.”
Dana looked at Stacy. Her older sister had her own scars from bad marriages, worse relationships and some really horrible choices she’d made. But since she’d had her daughter, Ella, Stacy had truly changed.
“I’m so glad you’re in my life again,” Dana said to her sister, and hugged Stacy hard.
“Me, too.” Stacy frowned. “You have to let what happened go.”
Dana nodded, but she knew that was easier said than done. “I have nightmares about her. I think Hud does, too. I can’t shake the feeling that Camilla isn’t out of our lives.”
* * *
CAMILLA NORTHLAND WAS surprised how easy it was for her to adapt to prison. She spent her days working out in the prison weight room, and after a month of hitting it hard, figured she was in the best shape of her life.
She’d tuned in to how things went in prison right away. It reminded her of high school. That was why she picked the biggest, meanest woman she could find, went up to her and punched her in the face. She’d lost the fight since the woman was too big and strong for her.
But ultimately she’d won the war. Other prisoners gave her a wide berth. Stories began to circulate about her, some of them actually true. She’d heard whispers that everyone thought she was half-crazy.
Only half?
Like the other inmates, she already had a nickname, Spark. Camilla could only assume it was because of the arson conviction that had been tacked on to her attempted murder convictions.
She’d skipped a long trial, confessed and pleaded guilty, speeding up the process that would ultimately land her in prison anyway. It wasn’t as though any judge in his right mind was going to allow her bail. Nor did she want the publicity of a trial that she feared, once it went nationwide, would bring her other misdeeds to light.
The local papers had run stories about the fire and Dana and her babies and best friend barely escaping. Dana and Hilde had become heroes.
It was enough to make Camilla puke.
So now she was Spark. Over the years she’d gone by so many different names that she was fine with Spark. She liked to think that whoever had given her the new moniker had realized she was always just a spark away from blowing sky-high.
She knew that if she was going to survive, let alone thrive here, she had to be in the right group. That, too, was so much like high school, it made her laugh.
The group she wanted to run with had to be not just the most fearsome but also the ones who ran this prison. She might be locked up, but she wasn’t done with Hud Savage and his precious family. Not by a long shot.
Being behind bars would make it harder, though, she had to admit. But she knew there were ways to get what she wanted. What she wanted was vengeance.
So the moment she heard about fellow prisoner Edna Mable Jones, or Grams as she was fondly called, Camilla knew she would have it.
* * *
TAG HADN’T REALIZED where he was going until he saw the sign over the front door. The Canyon. As he pulled up in front of the bar, the door swung open and the barmaid he’d met the night before stepped out and headed for an SUV parked nearby. He figured that by now Hud would have talked to her and anyone else at the bar who’d known the victim.
Earlier, he’d told himself there was nothing he could do but wait for the marshal to catch the killer. That was before he’d talked to his father—and witnessed the meeting between Hud and Harlan at Cardwell Ranch. As much as he didn’t want to believe his father was involved, he knew in his heart that Harlan was up to his neck in this. He was more shocked that it appeared the marshal was involved, as well.
As he watched the brunette head for her SUV, he realized he’d come here because he’d hoped Lily would be able to help him. She had worked with the dead woman. She also might know something about Harlan since apparently the Canyon Cowboys had played at the bar on more than one occasion.
She had started to climb into her vehicle, but when she saw him, she stopped. Frowning, she slammed the door and marched over to Tag’s rental SUV.
“You,” she said as he put down his side window. “I just told the marshal about you and how you were the last one to see Mia.”
He laughed, clearly surprising her. “Other than the killer. Also, the marshal already knows about me. Hud Savage is my cousin-in-law. I’m the one who found her body.”
Lily pulled back, startled. “You?”
Tag hadn’t heard the bartender from last night come out of the bar until he spoke. “Lily, you’re starting to sound like an owl,” he said as he joined them.
“This is the man I told you about,” she said to the bartender. “The one who said Mia was drunk.” She narrowed her eyes when she looked at Tag again, accusation in her tone and every muscle of her nicely rounded body. “He claims he’s related to the marshal.”
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