Cardwell Christmas Crime Scene

“Found her?”

“It’s complicated.”

“I’m sure it is. But if you expect me to keep your daughter safe, you’d better tell me.”

There was a sound of clanging doors. Then Walter said, “I have to go. Call me tomorrow.” And the man was gone.

Pocketing his phone with a curse, Beau headed for his pickup. He couldn’t wait until tomorrow. He would have to do this his way—no matter what Walter Justice had said. He thought of the woman he’d seen. Years ago he’d yearned to save that brown-eyed girl. He was getting a second chance, but he feared he wasn’t going to have any more luck than he’d had at ten.

What the hell had he gotten involved in?

* * *

DANA CARDWELL SAVAGE was a pleasant surprise. DJ saw at once the family resemblance in this cheerful young woman with the dark hair and eyes. She was so sweet that DJ felt herself relax a little.

“We are so happy to have you here,” her cousin was saying. “Your father said that he’s been wanting to get us together for years, but with your busy schedule...” Dana glanced over at her and smiled. “I’m glad you finally got the chance. This is the perfect time of year to visit Cardwell Ranch. We had a snow last night. Everything is pretty right now. Do you ski?”

DJ shook her head.

“That’s all right. If you want to take a lesson, we can certainly make that happen. But you ride, your father said.”

“Ride?”

“Horses. It might be too cold for you, but it’s always an option.”

The SUV slipped through an opening between the mountains, and DJ was suddenly in a wonderland of white. Massive pine branches bowed under the weight of the fresh white snow. Next to the highway, the river was a ribbon of frozen green.

DJ had never seen anything like it. Or had she? At the back of her mind, she thought she remembered snow. The cold, soft flakes melting in her child-sized hand. That sense of wonder.

Dana was telling her about the Gallatin Canyon and some of its history. “I’m sorry,” she said after a few minutes. “I talk too much when I’m excited.”

“No,” DJ said quickly. “I’m interested.”

Dana smiled at her. “You are so different from the last Dee Anna Justice who visited us. Sorry. You said you hadn’t heard about it.”

“What happened?”

DJ listened and shuddered to think that she’d lived in the same apartment with someone like that. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t really know her. We shared an apartment, but since my job is traveling, I was hardly there.”

Her cousin waved that off. “Not your fault. That’s why we’re excited finally to meet the real you.”

The real you? DJ almost laughed. She hadn’t gone by her real name in years. She wasn’t sure she even knew the real her.

Chapter Five (#u6b542621-f503-5a26-8cb4-879ea7d5f288)

Jimmy Ryan could hardly hold still, he was so excited. He couldn’t believe his luck as he saw the man come into the bar.

“You bring the up-front money?” he asked the moment the man took the stool next to him at the bar. The dive was almost completely empty this time of day. Still, he kept his voice down. This was serious business.

When the man had told him he was looking for someone with Jimmy’s...talents, he’d never dreamed how perfect he was for the job.

“Montana? Hell, I used to live up there, you know, near Big Sky,” Jimmy had bragged. He hadn’t been there since he’d flunked out of high school after knocking up his girlfriend and being forced into a shotgun marriage, but that was beside the point.

“I remember you mentioning that. That’s why I thought of you. So maybe you know the area?” the man had said.

“Like the back of my hand. I might even know the target.”

“Ever heard of the Cardwell Ranch?”

Jimmy had felt a chill as if someone had walked over his grave. This was too good to be true. “Are you kidding? I used to...date Stacy Cardwell.”

“Well, maybe you won’t want this one.”

As desperate as he was for money, he would have killed anyone they asked, even Stacy herself, though not before he’d spent some quality time with her for old times’ sake.

He’d thought it was fate when the man told him the hit was on a woman named DJ Justice, a cousin of the Cardwells. “Don’t know her. Don’t care even if I did. Just get me some...traveling money and then let me know how you want it handled.”

The man had said he’d get back to him, but it had to be done soon. Jimmy had started making plans with what he would do with all that money.

Now, though, he felt his heart drop as he saw the man’s expression. “I’m sorry. The client has decided to go with someone else.”

“Someone else?” Jimmy cried loud enough that the bartender sent him a look. “Come on,” he said, dropping his voice. “I thought I had it? I’m perfect for the job. Shouldn’t it be a case of who gets her first? If it’s the money—”

“They went with a pro, all right?”

“Excuse me?” Jimmy demanded, mad at the thought of losing the money and taking it as an insult. “I grew up in Montana. Do you have any idea how many deer I killed? You ever kill a deer?”

“A deer is a lot different than killing a woman.” The man threw down some bills on the bar. “For your time.” He slid off his stool and started to step away.

“You think that bothers me?” Jimmy had known some women he would have loved to have put a bullet in. He wouldn’t even have flinched.

As the man started through the empty bar toward the back door, Jimmy went after him, trotting along beside him, determined not to let him leave without getting the job.

“I’ll do it for less than your...pro.”

“I don’t think money is the issue,” the man said without looking at him. “She just wants it done fast.”

She? He was thinking jealousy, revenge, a catfight over some man. “So what did this DJ Justice do? Steal some broad’s old man?”

The man stopped at the door. Jimmy could tell that he was regretting giving him the details. “Look, forget this one, and maybe the next time I have something...” The man pushed open the door.

“You want to see a pro? I’ll show you a pro. I got this one,” he called after him. “I’ll find her first and I’ll be back for the rest of the money.”

* * *

STACY CARDWELL WIPED her eyes as the movie ended. She couldn’t help blubbering, not at the end of a touching love story. Maybe she was a sucker for a happy ending. Not that she expected one for herself. She’d picked the wrong man too many times.

But she was just happy to have her daughter, Ella, who was almost five years old. Ella had the biggest green eyes she’d ever seen and had stolen her heart even before she was born. Sure, Stacy got lonely sometimes, but she had her sister, Dana, and brothers, Jordan and Clay. Jordan just lived up the road. Clay was still in California but visited a couple times a year.