Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch - B.J. Daniels [71]
Because the person who'd torn up the house wasn't a stranger, she thought angrily. It was someone in her family, sure as hell. Jordan.
The house was a mess but nothing looked broken. It appeared he had done a frantic search not taking the time to put anything back where it had been.
She thought about calling Hud, but if she was right and Jordan had done this, his prints were already all over the house so it would prove nothing to find more of them.
Cursing under her breath, she took off her coat and went to work, putting the living room back in order. She had to pull out the vacuum since one of the plants had been turned over and there was dirt everywhere.
She promised she would fix whoever had done this as she turned on the vacuum. Over the roar of the vacuum, she didn't hear the car drive up, didn't hear someone come up the steps and tap at the door. Nor did she see her visitor peer inside to see if she was alone.
* * *
HUD DIALED Needles and Pins the minute he left the Lonesome Pine Café and Zoey.
"Hilde, I need to speak to Dana."
"Hud? Is everything all right?"
"No," he said. "Tell me she's still there."
He heard Hilde sigh and his heart dropped like a stone.
"Hud, she left earlier. She ran an errand and then went to visit her dad. But she should be at the ranch by now."
Hud groaned. Of course she would want to visit her dad again. He should have put a deputy on her. Right. Wouldn't Dana have loved having Norm Turner following her around all day? But Hud would have gladly put up with her wrath just to know she was safe right now.
"Hud, what is it?" Hilde cried. "Do you want me to try to find her?"
"No, I'm not that far away. I can get there quicker." He disconnected, his mind racing with everything he'd learned. The highway was slick with ice. He drove as fast as he could, dialing the ranch house as he did.
The phone rang and rang. Either Dana wasn't home yet or—The woman didn't even have an answering machine?
His radio squawked. He closed the cell phone and grabbed the radio. "Marshal Savage."
"It's Deputy Stone," Liza said, all business. "Angus Cardwell's .38. It doesn't match. Not even close. It wasn't the murder weapon." She sounded disappointed since she'd been so sure it was—based on Angus Cardwell's reaction to her finding the gun in his pickup.
He took in the information, his heart racing a little faster. He'd been sure it would be the gun. And after what Dana had told him about Angus's argument and heart attack, Hud had suspected Jordan Cardwell would turn out to be the person who'd used the gun. Could he be wrong about Jordan's involvement?
"But we do have a match on the prints found on both the doll and the box of chocolates," she said. "They were Jordan Cardwell's."
Jordan. He'd suspected Jordan of a lot more. What bothered Hud was the incident with the doll in the well and the box of undoctored chocolates didn't go together. One was so innocuous. The other was possibly attempted murder on Dana. At the very least, assault on an officer of the law.
"I'm on my way back from Missoula," Liza said. "Anything else you want me to do?"
"No, it's supposed to be your day off. Drive carefully." He disconnected and radioed his other deputy.
"Deputy Turner," Norm said.
"Pick up Jordan Cardwell ASAP," Hud ordered. He heard the deputy's feet hit the floor.
"On what charge, sir?"
"Let's start with assault on a marshal," Hud said. Jordan's mother and Kitty Randolph had been friends. Jordan could have had access to Kitty's ring. "Just find him and get him locked up. Let me know the minute he's behind bars."
As he disconnected, Hud thought about Kitty Randolph's emerald ring. He now knew how it had ended up with Ginger Adams in the well. He just hoped to hell he was wrong about who had killed her.
* * *
AS DANA SHUT OFF the vacuum, she sensed someone watching her and turned, startled to see a shadow