Justice at Cardwell Ranch (17 page)

Truthfully she didn’t know how she felt about him—waking up to see him sleeping beside her hospital bed or being in his arms the other night on the dance floor.

“I brought it,” Hud said with a sigh. “But I don’t think you should be worrying about any of this right now. How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Liza said, reaching for the manila envelope and quickly opening it.

“There are Alex’s phone calls over the past month as well as where he went after arriving at Big Sky.”

Liza was busy leafing through it, more determined than ever to find out who’d killed him—and who’d tried to do the same to her the night before.

“Alex was in the middle of a contentious divorce?” she asked, looking up in surprise from the information he’d brought her. “He had a
wife?
” When she’d notified next of kin, she’d called his brother as per the card in his wallet.

“Her name is Crystal.”

“A classmate?”

Hud nodded. “But not from Big Sky. She lived down in Bozeman.”

“What was holding up the divorce?” Liza asked.

He shook his head and had to take a step back from the bed as Liza swung her legs over the side and stood up.
“What are you doing?”

“I’m getting up. I told you, I’m fine. Just a little knock on the head and a few cuts and bruises and a sprained wrist, but it’s my left wrist, so I’m fine. All I need is a vehicle.”

He shook his head. “I can’t allow—”

“You can’t stop me. Someone tried to
kill
me. This has become personal. Not only that, you need to stay close to home,” she said as she rummaged in the closet for her clothes. “No sign of Stacy yet?” He shook his head. “What about the baby?”

“The lab’s running a DNA test. We should be able to tell if the baby is Stacy’s by comparing Ella’s DNA to Dana’s. Liza, you’re really not up to—”

“Could you see about my clothes?” she asked, realizing they weren’t anywhere in the room. Her clothes had been wet and the nurses had probably taken them to dry them. “Stubborn, remember? One of the reasons I’m such a good law officer, your words not mine.” She smiled widely although it hurt her face.

He studied her for a moment. “Clothes, right. Then get you a vehicle,” he said, clearly giving up on trying to keep another woman in bed.

* * *

D
ANA WATCHED
H
ILDE TRYING
to change Ella’s diaper until she couldn’t take it anymore. “Give me that baby.”

Hilde laughed. “You make it look so easy,” she said, handing Ella to her.

Ella giggled and squirmed as Dana made short work of getting her into a diaper and a sleeper. Hud had come in so late, Hilde had stayed overnight and gotten someone to work for her this morning. He’d promised to be back soon.

“I’m just so glad Liza is all right,” she said as she handed Ella back to Hilde. Through the open bedroom door she could see Mary and Hank playing with a plastic toy ranch set. She could hear them discussing whether or not they should buy more cows.

“Me, too,” Hilde said. “Fortunately, Liza is strong.”

“Hud’s worried now that she and Jordan might be getting involved.”

Hilde arched an eyebrow. “Really?”

“I have to admit when Jordan stopped by, he did seem different. But then again I said Stacy had changed, so what do I know? I can’t believe we haven’t heard anything from her. What if she never comes back?” Dana hadn’t let herself think about that at first, but as the hours passed… “Did she leave anything else besides Ella and the baby’s things?”

“I can check. She was staying in the room I slept in last night, right?”

“I would imagine Hud already checked it, but would you look? That should tell us if she was planning to leave the baby all along or if something happened and she can’t get back.”

Hilde jiggled Ella in her arms. “Watch her for a moment and I’ll go take a look.” She put the baby down next to Dana on the bed. Ella immediately got up on her hands and knees and rocked back and forth.

“She is going to be crawling in no time,” Dana said with a smile. Stacy was going to miss it. But then maybe Stacy had missed most of Ella’s firsts because this wasn’t her baby.

Hilde returned a few minutes later.

“You found something,” Dana said, excited and worried at the same time.

“You said she didn’t have much, right?” Hilde asked. “Well, she left a small duffle on the other side of the bed. Not much in it. A couple of T-shirts, underwear, socks. I searched through it.” She shook her head. “Then I noticed a jean jacket hanging on the back of the chair by the window. It’s not yours, is it?”

“That’s the one Stacy was wearing when she arrived.”

“I found this in the pocket.”

Dana let out a surprised groan as Hilde, using two fingers, pulled out a small caliber handgun.

* * *

A
LEX
W
INSLOW’S WIFE,
C
RYSTAL,
lived up on the hill overlooking Bozeman on what some called Snob Knob. In the old days it had been called Beer Can Hill because that was where the kids used to go to drink and make out.

The house was pretty much what Liza had expected. It was huge. A contentious divorce usually meant one of three things. That the couple was fighting over the kids, the pets or the money. Since Alex and Crystal apparently had no children or pets, Liza guessed it was the money.

She parked the rental SUV Hud’d had delivered to the hospital and walked up to the massive front door. As she rang the bell, she could hear music playing inside. She rang the bell a second time before the door was opened by a petite dark-haired woman with wide blue eyes and a quizzical smile.

“Yes?” she asked.

Liza had forgotten her bandages, the eye that was turning black or that all the blood hadn’t completely come out of her uniform shirt.

She’d felt there wasn’t time to go all the way back to Big Sky to change. Her fear was that if she didn’t solve this case soon, someone else was going to die.

“Crystal Winslow? I’m Deputy Marshal Liza Turner. I need to ask you a few questions in regard to your husband’s death.”

“
Estranged
husband,” Crystal Winslow said, but opened the door wider. “I doubt I can be of help, but you’re welcome to come in. Can I get you something?” She took in Liza’s face again.

“Just answers.”

Crystal led her into the formal living room. It had a great view of the city and valley beyond. In the distance, the Spanish Peaks gleamed from the last snowfall high in the mountains.

“How long have you and Alex been estranged?”

“I don’t see what that has to do—”

“Your
estranged
husband is dead. I believe whoever murdered him tried to do the same to me last night. I need to know why.”

“Well, it has nothing to do with me.” She sniffed, then said, “A month.”

“Why?”

For a moment Crystal looked confused. “Why did I kick him out and demand a divorce? You work out of Big Sky, right? I would suggest you ask Shelby.”

“Shelby Durran-Iverson?”

She nodded, and for the first time Liza saw true pain in the woman’s expression—and fury. “I knew he was cheating. A woman can tell. But
Shelby?
I remember her from high school. People used to say she was the type who would eat her young.”

“That could explain why she doesn’t have any children,” Liza said. She still felt a little lightheaded and knew this probably wasn’t the best time to be interviewing anyone.

“Did Alex admit he was seeing Shelby?”

Crystal gave her an are-you-serious? look. “He swore up and down that his talking to her wasn’t an affair, that he was trying to get her to tell the truth, something involving Tanner Cole.”

“You remember Tanner?”

“He hung himself our senior year. I didn’t really know him. He was a cowboy. I didn’t date cowboys. No offense.”

Liza wondered why that should offend her. Did she look that much like a cowgirl?

“I think your husband might have been telling you the truth. I believe he was looking into Tanner’s death.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I was hoping you could tell me since I suspect that’s what got him killed.”

“You don’t know for sure that he wasn’t having an affair with Shelby though, right?”

“No, I don’t. But Alex mentioned to other people that he felt something was wrong about Tanner’s suicide, as well. He didn’t say anything to you?”

“No.”

“Do you or your husband own any weapons?”

Crystal looked appalled. “You mean like a Saturday night special?”

“Or hunting rifles.”

“No, I wouldn’t have a gun in my house. My father was killed in a hunting accident. We have a state-of-the-art security system. We didn’t need
guns.
”

Liza nodded, knowing what that would get Crystal if someone broke into the house. She could be dead before the police arrived. “Alex didn’t have weapons, either?”

“No. I still can’t believe this was why Alex was spending time with Shelby.”

“Did she ever call here?”

Crystal mugged a face. “Shelby said it was just to talk to Alex about Big Sky’s reunion plans. They wanted their own. Ours wasn’t good enough for them.”

Liza could see that Crystal Winslow had been weighted down with that chip on her shoulder for some time.

“But I overheard one of his conversations,” she said smugly. “Shelby was demanding something back, apparently something she’d given him. He saw me and said he didn’t know what she was talking about. After he hung up, he said Shelby was looking for some photographs from their senior year. He said she was probably using them for something she was doing for the reunion.”

“You didn’t believe him?”

“I could hear Shelby screeching from where I was standing. She was livid about whatever it really was.”

“Did he send her some photos from high school?”

“I told you, that was just a story he came up with. He had some photographs from high school. I kept the ones of me and gave him the rest.”

“Where are those photos now?”

“I threw them out with Alex. I assume he took them to his apartment,” she said.

“Do you have a key?”

“He left one with me, but I’ve never used it.” She got up and walked out of the room, returning a moment later with a shiny new key and a piece of notepaper. “Here’s the address.”

Liza took it. “Was that the only Big Sky friend who contacted Alex?”

“Right after that was when Alex started driving up to Big Sky and I threw him out.”

“What made you suspect he was seeing Shelby?” Liza asked.

For a moment, Crystal looked confused. “I told you—”

“Right, that a woman knows. But how did you know it was
Shelby?
”

“After Tanner broke up with her in high school, she made a play for Alex. He was dating Tessa Ryerson before that. The two of them got into it at school one day. That’s when he and I started dating.”

“Did he tell you what his argument with Shelby was about?”

She shrugged. “Eventually everyone has a falling-out with Shelby—except for her BFFs.” She made a face, then listed off their names like a mantra. “Shelby, Tessa, Ashley, Whitney and Brittany.”

Liza noted that Brittany was on the list. “When did Alex and Shelby have the falling-out?”

Crystal frowned. “It was around the time that Tanner committed suicide. After that Alex hadn’t wanted anything to do with her. That is until recently.”

Liza could tell that Crystal was having second thoughts about accusing her husband of infidelity.

“You said your father was killed in a hunting accident. Did you hunt?”

“No. Alex did and so did his friends,” she said distractedly.

“What about Shelby?”

“She actually was a decent shot, I guess, although I suspected the only reason she and her friends hunted was to be where the boys were.” Her expression turned to one of horror. “You don’t think Shelby killed Alex, do you?”

Chapter Thirteen

Dana stared at the sleeping Ella as her husband updated her on Liza’s condition. She’d had a scare, but she was going to be fine. In fact, she’d already checked herself out of the hospital and was working.

“You didn’t try to stop her?” Dana demanded of her husband.

He gave her a look she knew too well.

“All right, what did you find out about Stacy?” she asked and braced herself for the worst.

“There is really nothing odd about her having Clay’s car,” she said when he finished filling her in. “Obviously they’ve been in contact.”

“It wouldn’t be odd if Clay had been cashing his checks for the last six months,” Hud said. “Why would he be driving an old beater car if he had money?”

“Maybe it was a spare car he let Stacy have,” she suggested.

Hud rolled his eyes. “It is the only car registered to your brother. Nice theory.” He instantly seemed to regret his words. “I’m sorry. I’m not telling you these things to upset you. On the contrary, I know you’ll worry more if I keep them from you.”

“Which proves you’re smarter than you look,” she said, annoyed that he was treating her as if she was breakable. “The babies are fine. I’m fine. You’d better not keep anything from me.”

He smiled. “As I said…”

“So you can’t find Clay or Stacy.”

“No. But I’ve put an APB out on Stacy’s car. It was the only thing I could do.”

“Something’s happened to her,” Dana said. “She wouldn’t leave Ella.” When Hud said nothing, she shot him an impatient look. “You saw how she was with that baby. She loves her.”

“Dana, we haven’t seen your sister in six years. She doesn’t write or call when she gets pregnant. She just shows up at the door with a baby, which she then leaves with us. Come on, even you have to admit, something is wrong with this.”

She didn’t want to admit it. Maybe more than anything, she didn’t want to acknowledge that Stacy could have done something unforgiveable this time. Something that might land her in prison.

“What do we do now?” she asked her husband.

“I’ve held off going global with Ella’s description, hoping Stacy would show back up. But Dana, I don’t think I have any choice.”

“You haven’t heard anything on the DNA test you did on Ella and me?”