B.J. Daniels the Cardwell Ranch Collection (47 page)

“Everyone’s called me PJ since I was a girl,” the elderly woman at the store had told him. “Not because it has anything to do with my name, which by the way is Charlotte Elizabeth. No, I got PJ because that’s what I was usually wearing when I would come down here, to this very store, in the morning so my father could make me breakfast. My mother had died when I was a baby, you see. He’d pour me a bowl of cereal, ask me if I wanted berries. I always said no, then he’d pour on some thick cream.” Her eyes had lit at the memory. “I can still taste that cream. Can’t buy anything like it anymore.”

He’d finally managed to turn her back to Richard and Camilla’s aunt.

“Thelma Peters. She’s an old maid. I can see where having those two in her house turned her against ever having any of her own children.” PJ had studied him again then. “Don’t be surprised if she comes out on her porch with a shotgun. Don’t take it personally. Just make sure she knows you aren’t that no-count nephew of hers. I’d hate to see you get shot.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he’d promised.

“I’m here with some good news,” Colt called out now to the elderly old maid holding the shotgun.

“If you’re preaching the Gospel, I’ve already found the Lord. You wasted your gas coming out here,” she called back.

“I’m a deputy marshal from Montana,” he called to her. A slight exaggeration at the moment. He saw the change in her as if she was bracing herself for whatever bad news he was bringing. “Your nephew Richard has been killed.”

Thelma Peters nodded, then took a step back and sat down hard in an old wooden chair on her porch. The barrel end of the shotgun banged against the worn wood flooring at her feet, but she held on to the gun as she motioned him to come closer.

Colt walked up to the house, shielding his eyes against the sun. The yard was a dust bowl. The weeds that had survived were baked dead. “I’m sorry to bring you the news.”

She looked up then and, from rheumy but intelligent blue eyes, considered him for a long moment. “You certainly came a long way to give it to me.”

“I need to ask you about Camilla.”

Thelma let out a cough of a laugh. “You cross her path, too? Best say your prayers.”

“I don’t know if I’ve crossed her path or not. Do you happen to have a picture of her?”

The woman looked at him as if he was crazy. “Not one I keep out, I can tell you that.”

“I sure would appreciate it if you could find one for me. I’m worried about a family in Montana that this woman has moved in with.”

She grunted and pushed herself to her feet, using the shotgun like a crutch. “Better step inside. This could take a while.”

* * *

W
HEN
D
ANA
CAME
back from town, she was clearly upset.

“You didn’t go see Hilde,” Dee said, wanting to wring her neck. She’d begged her to stay away from her former friend. “Dana, what were you thinking?”

Hud, who’d come home to watch the kids while she ran to the store, seconded Dee’s concern.

“I had to see her,” Dana cried, then shook her head.

Dee had been so excited when Dana had told her that Hud was coming home to help her watch the children. She knew that neither of them wanted to leave the little darlings with her. She’d made it clear she knew nothing about kids, especially babies.

But all the time Hud had been home, he’d been so involved with the children that he wasn’t even aware Dee was in the room.

“I hope you didn’t listen to Hilde’s crazy talk,” Dee said, worried that that was exactly what Dana had done. She’d felt Dana pulling away from her. Worse, Hud was doing the same thing, she feared.

If only Hilde had just drowned that day under the raft.

Dee touched her sore black eye. “You’re just lucky you didn’t end up like me.”

Dana glanced at her, wincing at the sight. Dee had to admit she looked like she’d been run over by a truck. But she’d wanted to make a statement and she had. Dana had been so thankful when she’d dropped the charges against Hilde. Even Hud had seemed relieved when he’d come home that night.

“It’s worse than I thought,” Dana said and looked at Hud. “I sat down and had a cup of coffee with her at the shop...”

Dee gritted her teeth in anger. How could Dana do that after seeing what Hilde had done to her cousin?

“She seemed calm, even rational...” Dana glanced at Dee then back at Hud.

Dee felt her heart begin to race. Hilde had gotten to Dana. She’d started believing her.

“Then I got ready to leave, made it as far as the door, thought of something and went back.” She stopped and took a breath. “Hud, she was bagging my coffee cup.”

Dee let out a silent curse that was like a roar in her ears.

“I demanded to know what she was doing,” Dana continued now in tears. “She told me she was going to check my DNA against Dee’s. I’m sorry, Dee,” Dana said, turning to her again. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. Clearly Hilde has had some sort of psychotic episode. How can she think I’m not your cousin? We look so much alike.”

Dana nodded, still obviously upset.

“I’d ask who she thought she was going to get to run the tests, but I’m sure Colt is helping her,” Hud said. “I can’t imagine what he’s thinking.”

“I thought you said he went to Denver to see his brother?” Dee asked.

“That’s what I heard, but I have my doubts. I can’t see him leaving Hilde alone now. He must be as worried about her as we are.”

* * *

T
HELMA
P
ETERS
’
S
HOUSE
was small and cramped. She left him in a threadbare chair in the living room and disappeared into a room at the back. Periodically he would hear a bump or bang.

He looked around, noticing a picture of Jesus on one wall and a cross on another. A Bible lay open on the table next to his chair. He picked it up, curious what part she’d been reading. She had a passage underlined—Acts 3:19.
Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.

“Here is the only one I could find.” Thelma came back into the room with a snapshot clutched in her fingers. “I haven’t seen Camilla in years, so I don’t know what she looks like now. But this is what she looked like at sixteen.”

Chapter Thirteen

Colt looked down at the photo. His heart sank. The photo was of two people, a young man and a girl with long dark hair. The young man was the same man still at the morgue in Montana—Rick Cameron, aka Richard Northland.

The girl—was definitely not Dee.

He told himself it had been a long shot, but now realized how much he’d been counting on Dee being Camilla Northland. Maybe Rick really was her boyfriend. Maybe she didn’t even kill him.

“This isn’t the woman in Montana,” he told Thelma.

“Like I said, she was only sixteen. I have no idea what she looks like now.” She took the photograph back. “You look disappointed. You should be thankful the woman in Montana isn’t Camilla. You should be very thankful.”

“Were she and her brother really that bad?” he had to ask.

The old woman scoffed. “They killed their parents. Burned them to a crisp. That bad enough for you? They tried to poison me. Camilla pushed me down the stairs once no doubt hoping I would break my neck. I hate to think what they would have done if I’d broken a leg and needed the two of them to take care of me. I finally ran them off.” Still clutching the photo, she sat down in a chair across from him and patted her shotgun. “I’ve always felt guilty about that.” Her gaze came up to meet his. “But I couldn’t have killed them even knowing what I was releasing on the world.”

He felt a chill at her words as she looked from him to the photograph and seemed startled by what she saw.

“I grabbed the wrong photograph. This isn’t Camilla. This is that awful girlfriend of Richard’s.” She pushed to her feet, padded out of the room and returned a moment later.

This time she handed him a photo of Richard and a girl standing on the porch outside. The girl’s face was in shadow, but there was no doubt it was the woman who called herself Dee Anna Justice.

At sixteen, she already had those dark, soulless eyes.

* * *

D
EE
HAD
BEEN
WAITING
, so she wasn’t surprised when Dana finally asked.

“I know nothing about your father,” Dana said, as she was making dinner. “Do you have any idea why our families separated all those years ago?”

Mary and Hank were making a huge mess building a fort in the living room. The twins were in dual high chairs spreading some awful-looking food all over themselves and anything else within reach.

Dee moved so she wasn’t in their line of fire. Dana had put her to work chopping vegetables for the salad. Now she stopped to look at the small paring knife in her hand. She tried to remember exactly what she’d told Stacy.

“I really have no idea,” she said, thinking that if she had to cut up one more cucumber she might start screaming. Hud hadn’t been around all day. Spending “free” time with Dana and the kids was mind-numbing.

“Can you tell me what your father was like?” Dana asked as she fried chicken in a huge cast-iron skillet on the stove. The hot kitchen smelled of grease. It turned Dee’s stomach.

“He was secretive,” Dee said, thinking of his daughter. The real Dee Anna had never talked about her family, her father in particular, which had been fine with her because she wasn’t really interested. She liked her roommates to keep to themselves, just share an apartment, not their life stories.

“Secretive?” Dana said with interest. “And your mother?”

Dee gave her the same story she’d given Stacy. She had actually met Marietta Justice, so that made it easy.

“That surprises me. I can’t imagine why my family wouldn’t have been delighted to have Walter marry so well,” Dana said.

“Maybe they didn’t want him leaving here and they knew that was exactly what was going to happen,” Dee said, as she chopped the last cucumber and dumped it into the salad. The entire topic of Dee Anna’s family bored her. If Dana wanted to hear about an interesting family, Dee could tell her about hers.

“Tell me more about your side of the family,” Dee said, knowing Dana would jump at the chance. She tuned her out as she ripped up the lettuce the way Dana had showed her and thought about her plan. She felt rushed, but she had no choice. In order to make this happen, she had to move fast.

Hilde had done a lot of damage, but Dee was sure that after Dana and the kids were gone, Hud would lean on her. Eventually.

She thought of the man she’d met on the airplane. He was still over on the Yellowstone River for a few more days. All she had to do was pick up the phone and call him. She could walk away from here and never look back. All her instincts told her that was the thing to do.

Dee heard the kids start screaming in the other room, then the front door slam. A moment later Hud Savage came into the kitchen with Mary and Hank hanging off him like monkeys. All three were laughing.

“What smells so good?” he asked. Even the two babies got excited to see him and joined in the melee.

Dee watched him give Dana a kiss. She felt her heart swell. She’d never wanted anything more in her life than what Dana had. No matter how long it took, she would have this with Hud Savage. Only he would love her more than he’d ever loved Dana.

* * *

“S
O
C
AMILLA
IS
the woman you mentioned back in Montana,” Thelma Peters said, and added under her breath, “God help you all.”

Colt’s heart was pounding. “If you know for certain that she and her brother killed their parents, why weren’t they arrested?”

“No proof. Those two were cagey, way beyond their years. She was far worse than her brother. Smarter and colder. She made it look like an accident. Anyone who knew Camilla knew what had really happened out at that house the night of the fire. She fooled everyone else, making them feel sorry for her.”

He thought about the way she’d worked Hud and Dana. Even himself that day on the river. Camilla Northland was a great actor. “And yet, you let them move in here.”

“They were so young. I thought I could turn them around. I dragged the two of them to church.” She shook her head. “It was a waste of time. The evil was too deep in her, and Richard was too dependent on her.”

“Would you mind if I took this photograph?” he asked.

“Please do. For years, I’ve prayed never to see that face again. I’ve always worried that when I got old, she would come back here.”

Thelma didn’t have to say any more. He had a pretty good idea now of what Camilla might do to the aunt who had taken her in all those years ago.

“Do you believe in evil, Marshal?”

He didn’t correct her. “I do now.”

She nodded. “I assume she’s already hurt people or you wouldn’t be here.”

He nodded, reminded that she’d gotten away with it, too. And might continue to get away with it because there was never any proof and she was very good at her lies.

“I pray you can stop her,” Thelma said. “I couldn’t. But maybe you can.”

* * *

H
ILDE
WAS
AT
the shop when Colt called. After Dana had left, she’d been so upset she’d thought about going home. But she couldn’t stand the thought of her empty house. So she’d stayed and helped set up the new sewing machines with Ronnie.

When her cell phone rang, she jumped as if she’d been electrocuted. Ronnie shot her a worried look. Hilde saw that it was Colt calling and, heart racing, hurried into the break room and closed the door.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“On my way to the airport. I was able to get a flight out this afternoon. If I can make the tight connections, I’ll be home tonight.”

Home tonight. She thrilled at his words. “It is
so
good to hear your voice.”

“Rough day?” he asked. “Hilde—”

“Don’t worry, I haven’t seen Dee. Dana stopped by. I’ll tell you about it when you get back.” She braced herself. “What did you find out?”

“First, I need you to remain calm. I almost didn’t call you because I was afraid you’d go charging out to the ranch.”

“She’s this Camilla person who they think killed her own parents,” Hilde said.

“Yes.”

She closed her eyes, gripping the phone, emotions bombarding her from every direction. Relief that she’d been right about the woman. Terror since a killer was still out at the ranch with her best friend and her kids.

“Listen to me, Hilde. If you go charging out there or even call, they aren’t going to believe you—and you could force Dee to do something drastic and jeopardize everyone, okay?”

She nodded to herself, knowing what he was saying was true. Dana wouldn’t believe Colt any more than she had Hilde. “You’ve told Hud, though, right? So he’s going to take care of everything.”

“I’ve been trying to reach him. I’ve left him a message. He’ll know how to handle this. I need your word that you’ll sit tight. I’ll be there by tonight and this will all be over.”

She wished it were that simple. She prayed he was right. “Okay. I know what you’re saying. I won’t do anything.”

“Where are you?”

“At the shop. I couldn’t stay at the house.”

“I wish you would go home and wait for me. Lock the doors. Don’t leave for any reason.”

She smiled, touched by his concern.

“Hilde, I...I love you.”

His words brought tears of joy to her eyes. For years she’d waited for the right man to come along. Dana had been her biggest supporter.

“I want you to find someone like Hud so badly,” Dana would say.

Hilde had wanted that, too, but she’d thought it could never happen.

“Are you crying?” he asked.

She gulped back a sob. This was the happiest moment of her life and she couldn’t share it with her best friend. “I love you, too, Colt.”

“Okay, baby,” he said. “I have to go. I’ll call you the moment I land. Be safe.”

She hung up and let the tears fall that she’d been fighting to hold back all day.

A moment later, Ronnie opened the door a crack. “Are you all right?”

Hilde almost laughed. Dana and Hud weren’t the only people looking at her strangely lately. “Colt Dawson just told me that he loves me.”

Ronnie started to laugh, clearly relieved. “That’s wonderful. I guess you must be one of those people who cries when they’re happy?”

Hilde nodded, although some of the tears were out of a deep sadness. In a matter of days, her life had changed so drastically it made her head spin.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” Ronnie asked. “If you don’t feel like locking up tonight by yourself—”

Hilde hadn’t realized it was so late. “No, I’m fine.”

Ronnie hesitated. Of course she’d heard about Dee’s alleged attack and probably even the restraining order.

“I don’t think there will be any trouble tonight,” Hilde said, thinking she should have gotten a restraining order against Dee. As if a restraining order would stop someone like her.

As Ronnie left, Hilde locked up behind her. She wasn’t quite ready to go home yet. A part of her was still chilled by the news that the woman posing as Dee Anna Justice was actually Camilla Northland, sister of Richard Northland, both of them believed to be cold-blooded killers.

It was easy for Hilde to believe that of Dee. She knew firsthand what the woman was capable of. The fact that Dee was probably out on the ranch right now having dinner with Dana and Hud and the kids...

Colt was right, of course. Calling out there to warn Dana was a waste of breath. It could even make matters worse.

Hilde turned out the lights in the front of the store and walked to the break room. Closing the door, she pulled out her cell phone. At the touch of one button she could get Dana on the line.

She thought about what she could say. She hit the button. The phone rang three times. They were eating dinner. Dana wasn’t going to answer the call.

Hilde had just started to hang up when it stopped ringing. “Dana?” She could hear breathing. “Dana, I just called to tell you that Colt just told me he loved me.”

“I’m sorry, but you have the wrong number.” The line went dead.

For just an instant, Hilde thought she had gotten the wrong number because that hadn’t been Dana’s voice.

Then her mind kicked into gear.

It had been Dee’s voice. She’d answered Dana’s cell phone.

* * *

C
OLT
COULDN
’
T
BELIEVE
he’d blurted it out like that.
I love you.
He’d said it without thinking. He let out a chuckle. He’d just said what was in his heart.

He considered calling her back to warn her again about doing anything crazy. He had debated telling her about Dee to start with, afraid of what Hilde would do. For a woman who he suspected had never been impulsive in her life, she had been doing a lot of things on the spur of the moment lately.

Like telling him she loved him, too.

He felt his heart soar at the memory of her words. He couldn’t wait to get home for so many reasons.

The moment he walked into the airport terminal, though, he felt his heart drop. Something was wrong. He could feel it in the air as he hurried to the airline counter and saw that his flight had been canceled.

“What’s going on?” he asked of a man waiting in line. He could hear a woman arguing that she had to get to Salt Lake.

“All flights into Salt Lake City have been canceled for today because of a bad spring snowstorm,” the man said. “Snow’s falling at a rate of six inches an hour. I just saw it on the weather channel. Doesn’t look good even for in the morning.”

Colt felt like the woman arguing with the airline clerk. He desperately needed to get home. But unlike that woman, he realized he wasn’t going to be flying.

He’d just reached the car rental agency when Annie called from the marshal’s office in Big Sky. “Ready to be surprised? Dee Anna Justice
did
book a flight to New York City for tomorrow.”

He
was
surprised. “You’re sure?”

“I had the airline executive double-check. Because I called concerned about Dee Anna Justice, I figure they’ll take her into one of those little rooms and do an entire cavity search,” she said with a satisfied chuckle.