by B. J Daniels
* * *
WACO HAD A pretty good idea after meeting them. “I can see where you would want to protect him when he was young, but why bring him here?”
“These are my friends. Helen raised Jeremiah. She kept my secret.”
“All right, but now he’s an adult who can take care of himself. Why not let him claim what you say is rightfully his?”
Stacy narrowed her gaze at him. “I made a lot of mistakes in my life. I suspect you’re aware of that and that’s why you think I killed Marvin. But since having my son and then my daughter... What do I have to do to prove to you I’m innocent of this crime?”
“Come back with me and get your statement on the record. You do realize the fact that you ran doesn’t help your case.”
“I had to warn my son. I knew everything was going to come out and that he would be in danger.”
“You came up here to do more than warn your son or you wouldn’t have brought all your clothes,” Ella said, motioning to the suitcases by the door. “You were going to run again.”
Stacy’s cheeks flushed. “I hoped to talk Jeremiah into leaving the country. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to come back.”
“You know, it almost sounds as if you don’t want your son’s DNA tested any more than you did thirty years ago,” Waco said. “Because you aren’t sure if he is Marvin’s son?”
“I told you—”
“Well, I can’t let you run. I can’t let your son run, either. To get to the bottom of this, I have to know who’s lying,” he told her.
“I’m not sure my son will go with you,” she said quietly without looking at Jeremiah.
“I suggest you change his mind about that,” Waco said. “I’ve already chased you all over Montana. I’m not anxious to do the same thing with him—but I will.”
“Stacy, listen to them,” Helen said. “You knew that one day this had to end.”
Waco looked over at Jeremiah. “I think your mother’s right about your life possibly being in jeopardy from Marvin’s family until we get this sorted out.”
“I’m not leaving my mother,” Jeremiah said. “She needs me. I’m going wherever she goes.”
“She has a family who’ll protect her—just as we always have,” Ella said, facing down her brother.
Waco figured she was wondering the same thing he was. How much did Jeremiah know about Ella and their lives on the ranch? He figured Ella still had to be bowled over by the fact that all these years she’d had a brother, one her mother had failed to mention.
“I’m part of the family whether you like it or not,” Jeremiah said, his glare locking with her own.
* * *
NOW THAT THE shock had passed, Ella realized what she had to say, what she had to do. “Then maybe it’s time you came back to the ranch, Jeremiah. You’ll be safe there. We’ll make sure of it.” She looked to her mother, but it was Waco who spoke.
“Ella’s right. Both your daughter and your son are worried about you. The ranch seems the best place right now for all three of you.”
Stacy looked from Jeremiah to Ella and back again. Helen touched her arm. “We’re his family here, too, but maybe it’s time for Jeremiah to take his rightful place in the Cardwell family.”
Ella wondered how much of a shock this would be for the rest of the Cardwells. Dana would open her arms to her nephew. Hud would be concerned about this wild young man who might be too much like his mother—let alone his father.
If there was any good in Jeremiah, the family would bring it out. Her mother stood to hug her friend. Then, with tears in her eyes, she looked at Ella and then Jeremiah. She appeared terrified. Of going back and possibly facing prison? Or of facing the family?
Stacy straightened, lifting her chin as she said to Waco, “I’ve been running from the mistakes of my past for too many years. I have no choice, do I? I’m finally going to have to face not only the past but also my family.”
Chapter Eighteen
It was dawn by the time they all left the cabin. Once back in Hell and Gone, Ella talked Waco into letting her take her mother in her pickup and letting Jeremiah follow in the ranch pickup. “You can follow all of us.”
The detective had studied her, a smile in his blue eyes.
“I’m not going to take off with my mother and brother, if that’s what you’re worried about,” she assured him. “Stacy’s not under arrest, right?” He nodded. “They’re both yours once we reach the ranch. I need this time with my mother.” She saw that got to him more than any of her other arguments.
“I’ll be right behind you,” he said. “Don’t make me chase you both down and haul you in. You don’t want to be behind bars for interfering any more in my investigation.”
She’d smiled, thinking how the man had grown on her. She liked the way he’d handled himself with the situation at the cabin. She liked a lot of things about him, now that she thought about it.
“I definitely don’t want to be on your wrong side, Detective,” she’d said with a grin.
He’d eyed her as if not quite sure he could trust her. That, too, she liked. He was a little too cocky, as if he thought he knew his way around women. Not this woman, though.
Ella wasn’t joking about needing this time with her mother. Once behind the wheel with Hell and Gone in the rearview mirror, she settled in. She was anxious to have her mother alone. She needed answers.
“I need to know the truth, Mom,” she said, not looking at her mother as she drove. “It’s just you and me. For once, be honest with me.”
“I didn’t kill Marvin. You have to believe that.”
She wished she could. “Then why were you hiding out from the law?”
“It isn’t just the law after me. You don’t know Marvin’s family like I do—and that’s the way I’ve always wanted it. Now...well, we’re all in danger. Especially Jeremiah.”
“If true, why didn’t you go to Hud?”
Her mother’s hands were balled in her lap. Out of the corner of her eye, Ella saw her look down at them for a moment. When she raised her head, her eyes flooded with tears. “Hud can’t protect me from this. I felt that if I stayed, they might come after you and the rest of the family.”
“I can take care of myself,” Ella snapped, angry that her mother would use her as an excuse. “Why would they threaten any of us if you had nothing to do with your ex-husband’s death?”
Stacy shook her head. “Because Jeremiah is the rightful heir to Marvin’s fortune.”
Ella snorted. “You’ve seen his will?”
“I have the will, handwritten and signed and witnessed.”
She shot a look at her mother. “I don’t even want to know how you pulled that off. But after all these years, do you really think it’s still valid? How do you know they haven’t already spent the money?”
“They don’t know where it is.”
“And you do?”
Her mother didn’t answer.
“This sounds like an urban legend to me,” Ella said. “How do you even know it exists?”
“Marvin wore a key around his neck. He guarded it with his life.”
“But now he’s dead. Wouldn’t the killer have taken it?” When her mother didn’t answer, she yelled, “Stacy! Tell me you don’t have the key.”
“It isn’t what you think. I drugged him the night before he disappeared and switched the keys.” The words came out short and fast, as if even her mother knew how they would sound.
Ella rubbed a hand across her forehead. “So you have the key.” Waco had told her that a key had been found in the well. Wouldn’t the killer have taken the key from around Marvin’s neck? Unless the killer had known it wasn’t the real one.
She said as much to her mother, who seemed surprised to hear that a key had been found with the remains.
“I have no idea why his killer
didn’t take the key,” her mother cried. “Ella, I’m telling you the truth. I didn’t kill him.”
“Then who did?”
Stacy was silent for a few minutes. “Any one of them could have done it. It would be hard to choose. They all hated him, and with good reason. He was horrible to his family. He was horrible to everyone. To think he wanted to take my son and raise him without me...” She turned away to look out her side window.
Ella heard the hatred and anger in her mother’s voice even after all these years. She didn’t want to think her capable of murder. She glanced in her rearview mirror and saw Jeremiah behind the wheel of the ranch pickup and, behind him, Waco’s patrol SUV. What a caravan they were, she thought, hating to think where they might all end up.
She tried not to think about what would happen when they reached the ranch. Dana would welcome the surly Jeremiah into the family with open arms—as was her nature. But Ella wondered what kind of reception her mother would get. She had put all her siblings through so much when she was younger, and now this.
The one thing Ella knew for sure, though, was that the family would keep both Stacy and Jeremiah safe on the ranch. That was what family did, especially the Cardwell-Savage family.
“As soon as I heard about his remains being found, I had to warn Jeremiah,” Stacy was saying. “For years, they’ve threatened me, believing I took the money.”
“You took the key,” Ella pointed out. “So they weren’t wrong about you having access to the money. Did you dip into it?”
When Stacy spoke, her voice was flat. “I don’t know where the money is, and it was hard to search for it on Hanover property under the circumstances.”
She thought about the old well where Marvin’s remains had been found. “Did you look for it on the old homestead?” Even though she didn’t glance at her mother, she could feel her hard stare.
“You still don’t believe me.”
Ella couldn’t deny it, so she stayed silent. Her mind was mulling over everything. Wouldn’t Waco have to return the key once the investigation was over? In which case, wouldn’t one of the Hanovers know what the key opened? But if they knew where the money was hidden, they wouldn’t have let not having a key stop them from opening the door to the money, would they? If the money existed.
Her head hurt. Worse, she was having trouble forgiving her mother. “So when the detective called, you simply took off to warn Jeremiah, taking all your clothing with you and planning to skip the country.” Her mother said nothing. “You left without a word to me, leaving me on my own. That means you really weren’t that worried about me and any threats against me or the family. Did you know that Mercy accosted me on the street? I remembered the other time she did that when I was just a child.”
“I’m sorry. I knew you could take care of yourself and that you had the family,” her mother said.
“How could you fail to tell me that I had a half brother all these years?”
Her mother began to cry. “It was all so long ago. I was pregnant, planning my escape from Marvin, when he disappeared. It was a time in my life when I couldn’t take care of Jeremiah alone. You know my history. I wasn’t getting along with Dana and she had the ranch.” Stacy wiped at her tears. “I wasn’t welcome there under the circumstances—especially pregnant. I had only one other place to turn. I knew Helen and the family she’d made would take care of him. I would visit as often as I could.”
“Yes, those days when you simply disappeared without a word,” Ella said. “Is it any wonder that I’ve always worried about you?”
“I didn’t mean to make you worry. I had to hide Jeremiah where the Hanovers wouldn’t look for him. That’s why I never wanted any of you to know.”
Ella shook her head, realizing she, too, was close to tears. Often over the years, she’d felt like the adult and her mother the child. But no more than right now. “Stacy, swear to me on my life that you didn’t kill Marvin.”
Her mother looked shocked, but slowly nodded. “I swear. I couldn’t go home to the ranch. I didn’t want to be the one who was always in trouble. I thought I could take care of it myself. But then, when I found myself in trouble again and pregnant with you... I swallowed my pride and went home. I did that for you. I wish I had done it for Jeremiah, but I was too young and scared back then.”
“Were you surprised when Marvin’s remains were found?”
Stacy looked away. “I knew he had to be dead, but I could never take the chance that he wasn’t. Or that Lionel or one of the others would learn about Jeremiah. For a while now, Jeremiah has been trying to get me to introduce him to our family. Helen, too.”
Ella studied her mother for a moment, realizing that this was why her mother had been different the past year. She’d been getting pressure to tell her secret. So much pressure that she’d planned to run away instead of admit the truth.
Gripping the steering wheel tighter, Ella was silent for a few minutes. Was there anything her mother could say that she would believe? She didn’t think so. “You have the key. Do you have the money?”
“No.” She seemed to realize that Ella didn’t believe her. “Do you really think I would have sat on millions of dollars all these years and not spent any of it?”
“Okay, you have me there.”
Ella drove for a few miles before she spoke again. She knew what was at the heart of her hurt. “You should have told me. I’m your daughter.”
“That is exactly why I didn’t tell you,” her mother said. “I wish I could have kept everything from my past from you. Ella, when I had you, you’re what changed my life. That’s why I went back to the ranch. I wanted you to have a family, a better life. It was hard going back, pregnant, the black sheep of the family. But I did it because I would do anything for you.”
“Even tell the truth?”
Her mother chuckled. “Even that.”
* * *
HELEN WATCHED THEM all leave Hell and Gone. Jeremiah had asked her to take care of his Jeep until he returned for it. She wondered if he would ever return. This town was all he’d known. Her and her dysfunctional family.
But she told herself that they’d had some good times. Those memories brought tears to her eyes. Jeremiah had been like a son to her. Her only child, as it had turned out. She’d done the best she could raising him in his mother’s absence and in this place.
Not that it hadn’t been clear who was his mother. Every time Stacy had shown up, the boy had jumped for joy. Even as a man, he’d looked forward to her visits. He’d never questioned the odd arrangement. He’d turned out fine, given the genes swimming in the soup that was him.
Helen heard Huck come out of the bar. He put his arm around her as he followed her line of sight to the vehicles disappearing on the horizon.
“They’re gone?” She nodded. “Are you all right?”
She wasn’t. “Yes, but I’m going to have to leave.”
“I know,” he said and pulled her in tighter. “It won’t be easy, but you’re a survivor. Arizona will never be the same once you get there.”
She turned her head to look up at him. She didn’t have to ask. He really wasn’t going to change his mind and go with her. “You’ll take care of the bar?”
“You know I will. I’ll take care of everything just like you have done all these years. This place won’t die.”
Helen smiled, liking the idea of some things never changing—even as she didn’t believe it. “I’m going to miss you,” she said as he kissed her cheek.
“I’ll help you pack, because something tells me you’re ready to hit the road.”
“You know me so well,” she said as the taillights on the patrol SUV faded into the horizon and she turned toward the door into the bar.
* * *
WACO THOUGHT ABOUT Ella all the way back to the Cardwell Ranch and mulled over the case. Did he believe Stacy? Did Ella?
He felt confused and was glad when Hitch called.
“I wanted to ask how you are, where you are,” she said, “but I’m not supposed to be involved in this case.”
He chuckled. “I’ve been to Hell and Gone. Yes, it’s a real place in middle-of-nowhere Montana. With her daughter’s help, I found Stacy Cardwell. I’m bringing her back for questioning. Heads up—she isn’t coming alone, so I would imagine there will be a family meeting at the ranch, and you’ll hear all about it.”
“So Stacy isn’t under arrest? Are you any closer to finding Marvin’s murderer?”
“Not really. Once I get back, I plan to pay the Hanover family another visit. Stacy swears she didn’t do it, but she has even better motives for wanting him dead than ever.”
“You’ll figure it out. No hint as to the topic of the Cardwell Ranch family meeting?”
“I thought you’d prefer to be surprised.”
“Right. You know how I love surprises.” Hitch disconnected, laughing.
Ahead, Waco saw that they were almost to the ranch.
* * *
ELLA FELT EXHAUSTED after the drive. Her mother had slept for much of it. She’d stolen glances at Stacy, trying to understand this woman who’d been such a disjointed part of her life. Even from a young age, she’d seen that there was something so different about Stacy compared to her sister, Dana. Stacy kept secrets. Stacy had a past that no one seemed to know anything about. For years, Ella had sensed something dark in that past. That was why she had always worried about her mother.
As she pulled up in front of the main ranch house, her mother stirred awake. Dana came out onto the porch, shielding her eyes from the early-morning sun as she looked first to Ella’s pickup and then to the driver of the ranch pickup that had parked next to her. She saw her aunt’s frown deepen as cold-case homicide detective Waco Johnson pulled up next to Ella and parked.
