Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch - B.J. Daniels [49]
She held her breath, listening for a sound. The shop was deathly quiet. The small light still burned in the back room, casting a swath of pale gold over the pine floor.
Her teeth began to chatter. Glancing out into the street, she saw only darkness. Again she looked toward the back of the shop where she'd left her purse, her cell phone, her car keys.
There's no one in here. No one hiding behind the rows of fabric.
Even if the person who'd been across the street had been watching her, what were the chances he had circled around and come into the shop when she wasn't watching and was now waiting for her?
She started to take a step toward the back of the shop.
Silent and huge, a shadow loomed up from the darkness and came out of the stacks of fabric. A large silhouette against the light in the back.
She screamed as he reached for her. She shot an elbow out, stumbling backward into one of the fabric rows.
"Dana. It's me."
But it was too late. She'd already driven her elbow into his ribs and sent a kick to his more private parts. Fortunately for Hud, the kick missed its mark.
She heard him let out a curse followed by her name again. "It's me. Hud."
As if she hadn't already recognized his voice.
A flashlight beam illuminated a spot on the floor at their feet.
"What are you doing?" she demanded. "You scared the life out of me."
He rubbed his thigh where her boot had made contact and eyed her suspiciously.
"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked.
"I came in through the back. The door was unlocked. When I saw the front door standing open, I was afraid something had happened to you." He turned on the light and she saw how worried he looked.
She swallowed back a retort. "That wasn't you watching from across the street then?"
"There was someone watching you from across the street?" He was already headed for the door.
"Whoever it was is gone," she called after him.
"Stay in the shop. Lock the doors," he called over his shoulder without looking back as he crossed the street.
Hurriedly, she locked the back door, then the front and watched from the window the flicker of his flashlight beam moving across the snow.
She saw him stop at the spot she'd discovered between the buildings, no doubt following the footprints she'd seen in the snow.
She waited, hating that Hud had acted so quickly on something that was probably innocent. Maybe it had been someone waiting for a friend who didn't show. Maybe the whole thing had nothing to do with her. Hud taking it seriously only made her more anxious.
Was she really in danger?
What scared her was that he seemed to think so.
He came back across the street and she unlocked the door to let him in. He closed the door behind him, locking it.
"Nothing, right?" she asked hopefully.
"I don't want you going back to the ranch by yourself."
She'd let him stay last night because she'd been as scared for him as for herself. But she hadn't been able to sleep knowing he was downstairs, so close.
She shook her head. "I won't be driven out of my home."
"Then I'm staying with you."
"No. That is, I won't be alone tonight. We're having a family meeting. I'll get Clay or Jordan to stay with me. I'll be fine. Anyway, no one has any reason to harm me," she said, trying to convince herself as well as him. "I didn't put Ginger Adams in that well."
"But someone in your family might have. And quite frankly, having one of the suspects staying in the house with you might not be the best plan." His gaze softened. "Dana, why didn't you tell me that Jordan is forcing you to sell the ranch?"
Dana stared at Hud. "Jordan told you that?"
"In so many words, yes. Is there really a will?"
"I don't know." She sighed. His gaze filled with such tenderness it was like a physical pain for her. "I thought so at first. Mom told me she wrote up a draft and signed and dated it. Unfortunately, I can't find it and since she never got a copy to her lawyer before her death…Jordan is convinced I made up the whole story about Mother's new will."
"So, the ranch goes to