Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch - B.J. Daniels [19]
Her eyes narrowed in reaction. "Just the double-barreled shotgun by the door. But you're welcome to search the house if you don't believe me."
He remembered the shotgun. Mary Justice Cardwell had kept it by the door, loaded with buckshot, to chase away bears from her chicken coop.
"You have any idea who this woman in the well might have been?" he asked.
"Fifteen years ago I was sixteen." She met his gaze. Something hot flashed there as if she, too, remembered her sixteenth birthday and their first kiss.
"You recall a woman going missing about that time?" he asked, his voice sounding strange to his ears.
She shook her head, her gaze never leaving his face. "Won't there be a missing person's report?"
"The law and justice center fire in Bozeman destroyed all the records twelve years ago," he said.
"So we might never know who she was?" Dana asked.
"Maybe not. But if she was local, someone might remember her." He pulled his notebook and pen from his pocket. "I'm going to need Jordan's phone number so I can contact him."
"He's flying in tomorrow. He'll probably stay with Angus, but I'm sure he'll be contacting you."
He thought it strange she referred to her father as Angus. He wondered what had been going on in the years he'd been gone.
"You know where to find them," she continued. "Angus on the nearest bar stool. Clay at his studio in the old Emerson in Bozeman. And Stacy—" Her voice broke. "Well, she's where you left her."
Hud surprised himself by taking the jab without flinching.
"I was really sorry to hear about your mom's accident." He'd heard that Mary had been bucked off a horse and suffered severe brain damage. She'd lived for a short while, but never regained consciousness.
Dana locked eyes with him. "She always liked you." She said it as if it was the one mistake her mother ever made.
"Is that why you're selling the ranch?"
She got up from the table. "Is there anything else?"
He could see that he shouldn't have mentioned the sale. Not only was it none of his business, but he also got the feeling today really wasn't the day to ask.
He finished his wine and pushed himself up from the chair. Picking up his Stetson, he settled it on his head. "I see you forgot your ring again."
* * *
DANA CURSED HERSELF for ever lying about the engagement let alone the ring. "The stone was loose," she said, compounding the lies. She'd spent thirty-one years telling the truth and Hud came back to town and she became an instant liar.
"You're not engaged to Lanny Rankin," he said softly. "Are you?"
She lifted her chin ready to defend her lie to the death. "Not that it's any of your business—"
"Why did you lie to me, Dana?"
Something in his tone stopped her cold. Obviously he thought she'd done it to make him jealous because she still cared. This was turning out to be the worst day of her life.
"I didn't want you thinking there was any chance for you and me."
He smiled. "Oh, your attitude toward me made that pretty clear. You didn't have to come up with a fiancé." His eyes suddenly narrowed. "Why hasn't the guy asked you to marry him? Something wrong with him?"
"No," she snapped. "My relationship with Lanny is none of your business." She could see the wheels turning in his stubborn head. He thought more than ever that she was still carrying a torch for him.
"You're the most annoying man I've ever known," she said as she headed for the door to show him out.
His soft chuckle chased after her, piercing her heart with memory. So many memories of the two of them together.
"At least I still have that distinction," he said as she snatched open the front door and he stepped through it.
Joe, she noticed, had followed them and now stood by her feet. The old dog might be deaf and barely getting around anymore, but he was no fool. When push came to shove, he knew where his loyalties lay.
Hud turned in the doorway to look at her, all humor gone from his expression. "At some point, I'll need to talk to you about this investigation. I can come here or you can come down to the Big