Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch - B.J. Daniels [52]
"Thanks, but Hud is coming out later," Dana said. "I really think it's just one of my siblings trying to get me out of the house so they can do a thorough search for Mom's new will."
"Didn't you say you looked for it and couldn't find it?"
Dana nodded. "They would be wasting their time and I could tell them that, but they wouldn't believe me."
"You're sure one of them hasn't already found it?"
"I hope not, because then it is long gone," Dana said. "But then how do I explain these threats?"
"That is too creepy about the doll in the well last night. It sounds like something Jordan would do."
She shook her head. "He wasn't in town." She thought about the doll her father had given her. Why that doll? "I just have a feeling that the person at the well wanted me to see the light and come up and investigate. And I would have, if I hadn't been on the phone with Hud."
"Did he find out who left you the chocolates?"
Dana shook her head. "He's having them checked to see if they might have been poisoned."
Hilde shivered. "Dana, someone came into your house to take that doll and leave the chocolates. That person had to know the house. Not just the house. He knows you."
"That's why it's probably one of my siblings." She pulled on her coat. "I kissed Hud."
Hilde's eyebrow shot up. "And?"
"And it was…" She groaned. "Wonderful. Oh, Hilde, I want to believe him. He thinks he was set up five years ago. That someone other than just Stacy wanted to see us broken up and that nothing happened."
"Didn't I tell you that was a possibility?"
Dana nodded.
"You're the only woman he's ever loved," Hilde said. "You know that. Why can't you forgive him?"
"Could you if you caught him in your sister's bed?"
Hilde looked uncertain. "It would be hard. But imagine how he must be feeling? If he really believes nothing happened. Have you ever asked Stacy about it?" Hilde asked.
Dana shook her head. "What was there to ask? You should have seen the expression on her face that morning when I caught them. I can't bear to be in the same room with her, let alone talk to her. And anyway, what was there to ask? 'How was my fiancé?'"
"Given everything that's been going on, maybe this family meeting isn't such a bad idea," Hilde said. "If it was me, I'd corner that sister of yours and demand some answers."
On the way to the ranch, Dana thought about what Hilde had said. How many people knew about the chocolates that Hud had always bought for her birthday? Her family, not that any of them seemed to pay much attention or care. All three of her siblings knew about the doll upstairs and that the ranch house was never locked. But so did a lot of other people.
Stacy, Clay and Jordan seemed the most likely suspects. She couldn't imagine any of them hanging out in a blizzard with a flashlight just to scare her away from the house though.
But if this wasn't about her siblings trying to speed up the sale of the ranch, then what?
Ginger Adams's murder?
Jordan had always had a terrible temper when he didn't get his way, just as Hud had said.
On top of that, Jordan had lied about his relationship with Ginger Adams—and apparently been so angry when she'd dumped him that he'd knocked her down and broken her wrist. And all this right before she'd ended up in the well.
With a shudder, Dana realized that Jordan also had access to their father's .38. And now the gun was missing.
But that didn't explain the incident last night at the well. Unless Jordan hadn't been in New York when he'd called her yesterday.
As she turned into the ranch house yard, she saw a car parked out front with a rental sticker in the back window. Jordan. Apparently he'd arrived early. She could see lights on in the house and a shadow moving around on the second floor—in what had been their mother's bedroom.
* * *
HUD FOUND Deputy Liza Turner waiting for him in his office. "What was so important that you had to see me right away?" he demanded, and instantly regretted it. "Sorry."
"Oh, I caught you in the middle of something," she said,