Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch - B.J. Daniels [55]
Had he been in on this? He sounded as if he'd only remembered her birthday when he'd seen the cake in her hands though.
"Hello, Clay." Clay was what was called lanky. He was tall and thin, his bones seeming too large for his body. His hair was shorter than Dana had ever seen it, a buzz cut, and he wore chinos and a T-shirt. He wasn't so much handsome as he was beautiful.
She saw Jordan give him a disgusted look. He'd always thought Clay weak.
Stacy had taken down plates from their mother's good china. Dana watched her stop for a moment as if admiring the pattern. Or maybe she was just speculating on how much the china might be worth on the market.
Their mother should have been here, Dana thought as she watched everyone take a seat around the large table. Jordan pulled out a chair and sat at the spot their mother used to sit. Obviously he now considered himself the head of the family.
Clay sat where he always had, near the other end of the table. Stacy put plates and forks on the table, then took the cake Dana realized she was still holding.
As Dana slumped into her chair, Stacy carefully cut the cake. Dana noticed that her sister's hands were trembling. She served everyone a piece, then started to ask, "Should we sing—"
"No," Dana interrupted. "The cake is more than enough."
Stacy looked disheartened but sat and picked up her fork. "I hope it tastes all right. I don't do much baking."
Jordan snorted at the understatement.
Dana studied her older brother as she took a bite of the cake. What would Jordan have done if Stacy hadn't arrived when she had?
"It's good," Dana said, touched by her sister's kind gesture even though she didn't want to be.
Jordan downed his and shoved his plate and fork aside. "Could we please get this settled now?"
Stacy looked angrily at their brother. "You are such a jerk," she snapped, and got up to take everyone's dishes to the sink.
"Leave the dishes. I'll do them," Dana said, getting up from the table. The kitchen felt too small for this discussion, the smell of chocolate cake too strong. "Let's go in the living room."
They all filed into the adjacent room. Clay sat in the corner, Stacy teetered on the edge of the fireplace hearth, Jordan went straight to the bar and poured himself a drink.
"Dana, you're killing us," Jordan said after gulping down half a glass of her bourbon. "All these attorney fees to fight you. You know we're going to win eventually. So why put us through this?"
Dana looked around the room at each of her siblings. "I can't believe any of you are related to me or Mother. If she knew what you were doing—"
"Don't bring her into this," Jordan snapped. "If she wanted you alone to have the ranch then she should have made the proper arrangements."
"She tried to and you know it," Dana said, fighting not to lose her temper. "I know Mother talked to each of you before she drafted her new will and explained how you would be paid over the long term."
"Produce the document," Jordan demanded.
"You know I can't."
He made an angry swipe through the air. "Then stop fighting us. You can't win and you know it. Dragging your feet has only made things worse. Now we have a dead body on the ranch."
"The body's been there for seventeen years," Dana said. "It would have turned up sooner or later."
"Not if Warren had filled in the well like he was supposed to," Jordan snapped.
Dana narrowed her gaze at him. "You told him to fill in the well?"
Jordan glared at her. "I told him to get the ranch ready to sell. Filling in the well was his idea. How did I know he was going to find human bones in it?"
How indeed?
"We just need to stop fighting among ourselves," Clay said from the corner.
Jordan rolled his eyes. "No, what we need is to get this ranch on the market and hope to hell this investigation is over as quickly as possible. In the meantime, Dana,