Justice at Cardwell Ranch Read Online Free PDF Page B

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.”
    * * *
    H UD 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.”
    * * *
    L IZA 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