Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch - B.J. Daniels [74]
"The red high heel, dear, you know the one," Kitty said. "Oh, didn't your boyfriend tell you? Only one was found in the well. The other one was in the judge's closet. I'd forgotten all about it until my dear friend Rupert Milligan happened to mention that one red high heel had been found in the well. Rupert has a little crush on me." She actually blushed.
Dana felt her heart stop cold at the realization of what Kitty was saying.
The phone, she really needed to answer the phone. She started to move toward the kitchen.
"Let it ring, dear," Kitty said, and opened the shoe box.
Dana stared in shock as Kitty brought out a .38 and pointed it at her. Dana glanced toward the front door where her shotgun was leaning against the wall as the phone continued to ring.
"I wouldn't if I were you, dear," Kitty said, leveling the gun at Dana's heart. "Let's take a walk."
The phone stopped ringing. "A walk?" Dana said into the deathly silence that followed. What if Hud had been calling to say he was running late? "Mrs. Randolph—"
"Kitty. Call me, Kitty, dear." The hand holding the gun was steady, the glint in the twinkling blue eyes steely. "Get your coat. It's cold out."
"I don't understand," Dana said as she carefully took her coat from the hook, afraid she understood only too well. The shotgun was within reach but it wasn't loaded. Even if it had been, she suspected she would never be able to fire it before Kitty Randolph pulled the trigger.
"I'll explain it to you on our walk," Kitty said agreeably as she jabbed the gun into Dana's back. "We really need to get moving, though. It gets darks so early in the canyon, especially this time of year. We wouldn't want to step in a hole, now would we?" She laughed as Dana opened the door and they descended the porch steps.
Dana suspected she knew where they were headed long before Kitty motioned her up the road toward the old homestead—and the well.
"Oh, and in case you're wondering, the judge taught me how to use a gun," Kitty said. "I'm sure he regretted it since I was a much better shot than he was."
As they walked up the road, Dana saw that a vehicle had been up the hill recently. The same person who'd ransacked the house? Her mind raced. Was it possible Jordan was up here planning to pull another stunt to scare her into selling the ranch?
She couldn't believe it had been Jordan—didn't want to believe it. But right now, she would love to see any member of her family.
"Ginger was a tramp, you know," Kitty said as they walked up the road. The older woman was surprisingly spry for her age. "Your mother wasn't the least bit phased by her. She knew your father would never have left her for a woman like Ginger Adams. For all your father's flaws, he had better taste than that."
Dana wouldn't have bet on that, she thought as she looked up at the homestead chimney. Had she seen movement up there? Twilight had turned the sky gray.
From the highway she could hear the hum of tires. Hud was on his way. He'd said he would meet her at the ranch house before she got off work. Except she'd come home early. Still he should be here soon. Unless he really had been calling to say he was running late.
"The judge, the old fool, thought he was in love with Ginger," Kitty was saying. "He thought I would give him a divorce so he could marry her. He forgot that the money was all mine. But even then, he would have left me for her and lived on nothing, he was that besotted with her. After thirty years of marriage. Can you imagine? She was just a child."
Dana heard the pain in the older woman's voice and looked up, surprised they had reached the old homestead in record time. No wonder, with Kitty nudging her along with the gun.
"He begged me to let him go, the stupid old fool. But I had insurance, something I knew he'd done that could get him disbarred, disgraced and leave him penniless so he wouldn't be able to support his precious Ginger and their baby." Kitty sounded as if she was crying. "We couldn't have a child, you know. But this tramp