Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch - B.J. Daniels [39]
"Dana?"
She turned to Hud, just as she'd faced the gossip that had swept through the canyon like wildfire.
"I'm sorry you heard that," he said.
"I'm sure you are. You'd much rather pretend it never happened."
"As far as I'm concerned, it didn't," he said.
"Let me guess," she said with a humorless laugh. "Your story is you don't remember anything."
"No, I don't."
All the anger of his betrayal burned fire-hot as if she'd just found out about it. "I really don't want to talk about this."
"We're going to have to at some point," he said.
She gave him a look that she hoped seared his skin. "I don't think so."
He shifted on his feet, then held up his hands in surrender. "That isn't why I came by." He glanced around the shop as if trying to lasso his emotions. In an instant, his expression had transformed. He was the marshal again. And she was…She saw something in his gaze. Something that warned her.
"We got an ID on the remains found in the well," he said. "Is there someplace we could sit down?"
She gripped the edge of the counter. If he thought she needed to sit, the news must be bad. But what could be worse than having a murdered woman's body found on your property?
Meeting Hud's gaze, she knew the answer at once—having the marshal suspect that someone in your family killed her.
Chapter Eight
Hud had expected more resistance but Dana led him to the back of the shop where there was a small kitchen with a table and chairs. The room smelled of chocolate.
"Hilde made some brownies," she said, then seemed to remember brownies were his favorite and something she used to make for him using a special recipe of her mother's.
"I'll pass on the brownies, but take some coffee," he said, spotting the coffeemaker and the full pot.
She poured them both some, her fingers trembling as she put down the mugs and took a chair across from him. He watched her cup her mug in both hands, huddling over it as if it were a fire.
"So who is she?" Dana asked.
"Ginger Adams."
Dana paled as the name registered. She took a sip of the coffee, her hands shaking. "Ginger," she said on a breath, and closed her eyes.
He got up to get some sugar and cream for his coffee. He'd never really liked coffee. How could something that smelled so good taste so awful?
He took his time adding the cream and sugar before taking a sip. Her eyes were open again and she was watching him intently, almost as if she was trying to read his mind. If she could have, she'd know that all he could think about was how she used to feel in his arms.
"Have you talked to my father?" she asked.
"Not yet."
Her spine seemed to take on a core of steel. "It was over between them almost before it began. Ginger wasn't the reason my mother divorced Angus."
He said nothing, but wondered if she was defending her father. Or her mother. He'd known Mary Justice Cardwell. He couldn't imagine her killing anyone. But he knew everyone had the capability if pushed far enough.
And Mary was a crack shot. He doubted she would have only wounded Ginger Adams.
"I know it sounds like I'm defending him, but Ginger dumped him months before she supposedly left town with some other woman's husband," Dana said.
"Ginger dumped him?"
Dana seemed to realize her mistake. She'd just given her father a motive for murder. No man liked being dumped. Especially if he felt the woman had cost him his marriage. And then there was her father's old .38.
"Did Angus tell you Ginger was involved with a married man?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I can't remember where I heard that."
He studied her. Was there a grain of truth to Ginger being involved with another woman's husband? Maybe, given Ginger's propensity for married men. But he got the feeling Dana might be covering for someone.
"Any idea who the man was?" Hud asked.
Dana shook her head and looked down into her