B.J. Daniels the Cardwell Ranch Collection Read Online Free PDF

What happened to the other one? And what was she doing up here dressed like that?” He couldn’t shake that flash of memory of a woman in a red dress any more than he could nail down its source.
    He felt his stomach tighten when Rupert didn’t jump in. It wasn’t like Rupert. Did his silence have something to do with realizing the woman in the well hadn’t been dead and tried to save herself? Or was it possible Rupert suspected who she was and for some reason was keeping it to himself?
    “The heels, the dress, it’s almost like she was on a date,” Hud said. “Or out for a special occasion.”
    Rupert glanced over at him. “You might make as good a marshal as your father some day.” High praise to Rupert’s way of thinking, so Hud tried hard not to take offense.
    “Odd place to bring your date, though,” Hud commented. But then maybe not. The spot was isolated. Not like a trailhead where anyone could come along. No one would be on this section of the ranch at night and you could see the ranch house and part of the road up the hillside. You would know if anyone was headed in your direction in plenty of time to get away.
    And yet itwasn’t close enough that anyone could hear a woman’s cries for help.
    “Still, someone had to have reported her missing,” Hud persisted. “A roommate. A boss. A friend. A husband.”
    Rupert finished his coffee and started to screw the cup back on the thermos. “Want any more?”
    Hud shook his head. “You worked with my father for a lot of years.”
    Rupert looked over at him, eyes narrowing. “Brick Savage was the best damned marshal I’ve ever known.” He said it as if he knew only too well that there were others who would have argued that, Hud among them, and Rupert wasn’t going to have it.
    Brick Savage was a lot of things. A colorful marshal, loved and respected by supporters, feared and despised by his adversaries. Hud knew him as a stubborn, rigid father who he’d feared as a boy and despised as a man. Hud hated to think of the years he’d tried to prove himself to his father—only to fail.
    He could feel Rupert’s gaze on him, daring him to say anything against Brick. “If you’re right about how long she’s been down there…”
    Rupert made a rude sound under his breath, making it clear he was right.
    “…then Brick would have been marshal and you would have been assistant coroner.”
    “Your point?” Rupert asked.
    Hud eyedhim, wondering why Rupert was getting his back up. Because Hud had brought up Brick? “I just thought you might remember a missing person’s case during that time.”
    “You’d have to ask your father. Since no body was found, I might not even have heard about it.” Rupert zipped up his coroner jacket he’d pulled from behind the seat of his truck. “I need to get to the crime lab.”
    Hud handed Rupert the coffee cup he’d lent him. “Just seems odd, doesn’t it? Someone had to have missed her. You would think the whole area would have been talking about it.”
    The coroner smiled ruefully. “Some women come and go more often than a Greyhound bus.”
    Hud remembered hearing that Rupert’s first wife had run off on numerous occasions before she’d finally cleared out with a long-haul truck driver.
    “You think this woman was like that?” Hud asked, his suspicion growing that Rupert knew more than he was saying.
    “If she was, then your suspect list could be as long as your arm.” Rupert opened his door.
    “You almost sound as if you have an idea who she was,” Hud said over the wind.
    Rupert climbed out of the truck. “I’ll call you when I know something definite.”
    Hud watched the older man move through the falling snow and wondered why Rupert, who was ready to bet on the bones earlier, seemed to be backpedaling now. It wasn’t like the old coroner. Unless Rupert suspected who the bones belonged to—and it hit a little too close to home.
    T HE PHONE was ringingas Dana walked through the ranch house door.