Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch - B.J. Daniels [44]
Something showed in Brick's face. "Is there something new in that case?"
Hud thought he heard a slight waver in his father's voice, but then he might have imagined it.
"If you read my report, you know as much as I do about the case," Brick said, glancing down at the file but not reaching for it.
"I've read the file," Hud said.
"Then you know what happened that night," Brick said. "I took the call from a neighbor who heard gunshots at the judge's house. I tried to reach you and couldn't, so I went instead."
Hud knew Brick would remind him of that.
"According to your report, you saw the Kirk brothers coming out of the judge's house and gave chase."
His father eyed him, no doubt bristling at the use of his exact words. "That's exactly what happened."
"The vehicle, an older model car, was being driven by one of the Kirk brothers, Ty. Mason was with him in the passenger seat."
"That's right," Brick said. "I chased them down the canyon almost to Gallatin Gateway."
"Almost. According to your report, Ty lost control of the car at the 35-miles-per-hour curve just before the bridge. Both men were killed. Later you reported that several items from the judge's house were found in the car. The conclusion was that the judge had come home early, caught the Kirk brothers in the act of burglarizing the house and was fatally injured when one of the brothers panicked and shot him with a .38-caliber pistol. The judge's wife, Kitty, was out of town. The boys ran, you chased them, they both died in the car wreck."
"You have a problem with my report?"
Hud rubbed his bruised jaw, never taking his eyes off his father. "It's just a little too cut-and-dried, because now, something stolen from the judge's house that night has turned up in the Cardwell Ranch well—along with the remains of Ginger Adams."
The older man's shock was real. Rupert couldn't have told him about the owner of the ring because the coroner hadn't known.
"If Ginger was killed the night she allegedly left town seventeen years ago and the robbery was only five years ago, then how did Kitty Randolph's ring end up in the well?"
Brick shook his head. "I'm supposed to know?"
"You know what bothers me about this case?" Hud said. "Nowhere in the original report does it say that there was any item found on the brothers that connected them to the robbery and murder of the judge."
"Doesn't it say that a pair of gold cuff links and a pocket watch were found in the glove box of the car?" Brick said.
Hud nodded. "That information was added later." Both items were small and could easily have been put in the car—after the accident. "You know what else is missing? The .38. What happened to the gun? And where did they get a gun that had been used in a murder years before—back when both brothers were barely out of diapers?"
"They could have found the gun. Then after using it, threw it in the river during the chase," Brick said with a shrug.
"Maybe…" Hud agreed "…but I'm sure you had deputies looking for the gun, right?" His father nodded, a muscle bunching in his jaw. "Never found, right?" Again his father nodded. "Leaves a lot of questions since both Kirk boys are dead and the gun is missing."
"Life is like that sometimes," Brick said. "You don't always find the answers."
"Weren't drugs found in their car after the accident?"
His father nodded slowly and picked up his glass to take a drink.
"If the Kirks had gotten caught with drugs again wouldn't they both have been sent to Deer Lodge? It would have been the third offense for both of them. They would have been looking at some hard time."
"Rather a moot point since they were both killed," Brick said.
"My point exactly. Isn't it possible that the drugs were the reason why they ran that night and not because they'd just burglarized Judge Randolph's house and murdered him?"
Brick put down his glass a little too hard. "Son, what exactly are you accusing me of?"
What was he