Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch

Rupert looked over at him, eyes narrowing. “Brick Savage was the best damned marshal I’ve ever known.” He said it as if he knew only too well that there were others who would have argued that, Hud among them, and Rupert wasn’t going to have it.

Brick Savage was a lot of things. A colorful marshal, loved and respected by supporters, feared and despised by his adversaries. Hud knew him as a stubborn, rigid father who he’d feared as a boy and despised as a man. Hud hated to think of the years he’d tried to prove himself to his father—only to fail.

He could feel Rupert’s gaze on him, daring him to say anything against Brick. “If you’re right about how long she’s been down there…”

Rupert made a rude sound under his breath, making it clear he was right.

“…then Brick would have been marshal and you would have been assistant coroner.”

“Your point?” Rupert asked.

Hud eyed him, wondering why Rupert was getting his back up. Because Hud had brought up Brick? “I just thought you might remember a missing person’s case during that time.”

“You’d have to ask your father. Since no body was found, I might not even have heard about it.” Rupert zipped up his coroner jacket he’d pulled from behind the seat of his truck. “I need to get to the crime lab.”

Hud handed Rupert the coffee cup he’d lent him. “Just seems odd, doesn’t it? Someone had to have missed her. You would think the whole area would have been talking about it.”

The coroner smiled ruefully. “Some women come and go more often than a Greyhound bus.”

Hud remembered hearing that Rupert’s first wife had run off on numerous occasions before she’d finally cleared out with a long-haul truck driver.

“You think this woman was like that?” Hud asked, his suspicion growing that Rupert knew more than he was saying.

“If she was, then your suspect list could be as long as your arm.” Rupert opened his door.

“You almost sound as if you have an idea who she was,” Hud said over the wind.

Rupert climbed out of the truck. “I’ll call you when I know something definite.”

Hud watched the older man move through the falling snow and wondered why Rupert, who was ready to bet on the bones earlier, seemed to be backpedaling now. It wasn’t like the old coroner. Unless Rupert suspected who the bones belonged to—and it hit a little too close to home.

THE PHONE was ringing as Dana walked through the ranch house door. She dropped the stack of mail she’d picked up at the large metal box down by the highway and rushed to answer the phone, not bothering to check Caller ID, something she regretted the moment she heard her older brother’s voice.

“Dana, what the hell’s going on?” Jordan demanded without even a hello let alone a “happy birthday.” Clearly he had been calling for some time, not thinking to try her at her new job.

“Where are you?”

“Where do you think I am?” he shot back. “In case you forgot, I live in New York. What the hell is going on out there?”

She slumped into a chair, weak with relief. For a moment she’d thought he was in Montana, that he’d somehow heard about the bones in the well and had caught a flight out. The last thing she needed today was her brother Jordan to deal with in the flesh. Unfortunately it seemed she would have to deal with him on the phone though.

Her relief was quickly replaced by irritation with him. “I’m fine, Jordan. Thanks for asking, considering it’s my birthday and it’s been a rough day.” She’d seen the sheriff’s department cars go up the road toward the old homestead, making her even more aware of what was happening not a mile from the ranch house.

Jordan let out a weary sigh. “Dana, if this is about the ranch—”

“Jordan, let’s not. Not today. Is there a reason you called?”

“Hell yes! I want to know why the marshal thinks there’s a body in a well on our ranch.”

Our ranch? She gritted her teeth. Jordan had hated everything about the ranch and ranching, distancing himself as far as he could from both.

How had he heard about the bones already? She sighed, thinking of Franklin Morgan’s sister, Shirley, who worked as dispatcher. Shirley had dated Jordan in high school and still drooled over him whenever Jordan returned to the canyon. Well, at least Dana didn’t have to wonder anymore how long it would take for the word to get out.

She didn’t dare tell him that it had been Warren who’d found the bones. Jordan would never understand why Warren hadn’t just filled in the well and kept his mouth shut. “I found some bones in the old dry well at the homestead.”

“So?”

“I called the marshal’s office to report them.”

“For God’s sake, why?”

“Because it’s both legally and morally the thing to do.” She really wasn’t in the mood for Jordan today.

“This is going to hold up the sale of the ranch.”

“Jordan, some poor soul is in the bottom of our well. Whoever it is deserves to be buried properly.”

“It’s probably just animal bones. I’m flying out there to see what the hell is really going on.”

“No!” The word was out before she could call it back. Telling Jordan no was like waving a red blanket in front of a rodeo bull.

“You’re up to something. This is just another ploy on your part.”

She closed her eyes and groaned inwardly. “I just think it would be better if you didn’t come out. I can handle this. You’ll only make matters worse.”

“I have another call coming in. I’ll call you back.” He hung up.

Dana gritted her teeth as she put down the phone and picked up her mail and began sorting through it. All she needed was Jordan coming out here now. She thought about leaving so she didn’t have to talk to him when he called back.

Or she could just not answer the phone. But she knew that wouldn’t accomplish anything other than making him more angry. And Jordan wasn’t someone you wanted to deal with when he was angry.

She opened a letter from Kitty Randolph asking her to help chair another fund-raiser. Kitty and Dana’s mother had been friends and since Mary’s death, Kitty had seemed to think that Dana would take her mother’s place. Dana put the letter aside. She knew she would probably call Kitty in a day or so and agree to do it. She always did.

She picked up the rest of the mail and froze at the sight of the pale yellow envelope. No return address, but she knew who it was from the moment she saw the handwriting.

Throw it away. Don’t even open it.

The last thing she needed was to get something from her sister Stacy today.

The envelope was card-shaped. Probably just a birthday card. But considering that she and Stacy hadn’t spoken to each other in five years…

She started to toss the envelope in the trash but stopped. Why would her sister decide to contact her now? Certainly not because it was her birthday. No, Stacy was trying to butter her up. Kind of like good cop, bad cop with Jordan opting of course for the bad cop role. Her other brother Clay was more of the duck-for-cover type when there was conflict in the family.

Dana couldn’t help herself. She ripped open the envelope, not surprised to find she’d been right. A birthday card.

On the front was a garden full of flowers and the words, For My Sister. Dana opened the card.

“Wishing you happiness on your birthday and always.”