Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch - B.J. Daniels [58]
"I was to take him to my place," Stacy said, the words tumbling out with the tears. "I thought that was all I had to do. I didn't want to do it. I swear. But if I didn't…" She began to sob. Angus and Jordan were yelling at each other in the living room, the words incomprehensible.
"What did you do?" Dana demanded, moving to stand over her.
"I didn't know part of the plan was to make it look like we'd slept together until when you got there the next morning," Stacy cried. "I didn't want to hurt you."
Dana remembered the look of shock on Hud's and Stacy's faces when they'd seen her that morning. She'd thought it was from being caught. But now she recalled it was bewilderment, as well.
"Why tell me now?" Dana demanded. "Why not tell me five years ago before you ruined everything?"
"I couldn't. I was scared. I'm still scared, but I can't live like this anymore." Stacy looked up, her gaze meeting her sister's. The fear was as real as the anguish, Dana thought. "I've hated myself for what I did. No matter what happens to me now, I had to tell you. I couldn't live with what I did."
"What do you mean, no matter what happens to you now?"
Stacy shook her head. "I used to be afraid of going to jail, but even that is better than the hell I've been in these past years. I'm not strong like you. I couldn't stand up to them."
Them? "Jail?" Dana repeated. For just an instant she flashed again on the memory of Stacy's face that morning five years ago. Stacy had looked scared. Or was it trapped? "Are you telling me someone was threatening jail if you didn't go along with setting Hud up?"
The kitchen door banged open and Clay appeared, panicked and breathless. "It's Dad. I think he's having a heart attack!"
Chapter Eleven
Lanny Rankin was anything but happy to see Hud take the stool next to him at the bar.
The lawyer had two drinks in front of him and was clearly on his way to getting drunk.
"What do you want?" Lanny slurred.
"Just thought I'd have a drink." Hud signaled the bartender who brought him a draft beer from the tap. He took a drink and watched Lanny pick up his glass and down half of what appeared to be a vodka tonic.
"Bring Lanny another drink," Hud told the bartender.
Lanny shoved his glass away and picked up the second drink and downed it, as well, before stumbling to his feet. "Save your money, Marshal. I'm not drinking with you."
"I hope you're not driving," Hud said.
Lanny narrowed his gaze. "You'd love to arrest me, wouldn't you? She tell you about us? Is that what you're doing here? Tell you we're engaged? Well, it's all a lie. All a lie." His face turned mean. "She's all yours. But then again, she always has been, hasn't she?"
He turned and stumbled out the back door.
Hud quickly pulled an evidence bag from his jacket pocket and slipped both of the glasses with Lanny's prints on them inside. He paid his bill and went outside to make sure Lanny wasn't driving anywhere.
Lanny was walking down the street toward his condo.
Hud watched him for a moment, then headed for his office. If he hurried, he could get both glasses ready for Liza to take to the crime lab in the morning.
He wondered if Liza had any trouble getting the Cardwell clan's fingerprints.
Just the thought of the family meeting going on at the ranch made him uneasy. Maybe he would swing by there after he'd sent the glasses to the lab.
Back at his office, Hud got the drink glasses with Lanny's prints ready and locked the box in the evidence room with the .38 Liza had taken from Angus's pickup.
As he started to leave, he remembered the list of registered owners of .38 pistols in the county Liza had left on his desk. The list was long. He thumbed through it, his mind more on the family meeting going on at the Cardwell Ranch than the blur of names.
This list had probably been a waste of time. There was a very good chance that Liza had already found the murder weapon and it was now locked in the evidence room. By tomorrow, Hud worried that he would be arresting Angus Cardwell. He didn't even want to think what that would