Justice at Cardwell Ranch

by BJ Daniels

  LIZA FOUND BRICK Savage sitting on the deck of his Hebgen Lake home. She’d heard stories about him and, after he’d ignored her knocks at his front door, braced herself as she approached his deck.

  “Mr. Savage?”

  He looked up, his gaze like a piercing arrow as he took in her uniform first, then studied her face before saying, “Yes?”

  “I’m Deputy Marshal Liza Turner out of the Big Sky office. I’d like a moment of your time.”

  “You have any identification?” His voice was gravelly but plenty strong.

  She pulled her ID and climbed a couple of steps so he could see it.

  He nodded, amusement in his gaze. “Deputy Marshal. Times really have changed. I heard my son left you in charge of the murder case.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Well, come on up here then,” Brick said and pushed himself up out of his chair. He was a big man, but she could see that he used to be a lot bigger in his younger days. There was a no-nonsense aura about him along with his reputation that made her a little nervous being in his company.

  He shoved a chair toward her as she reached the deck and waited for her to sit before he pulled up a weather-grayed log stump and settled himself on it.

  “I hate to take your chair,” she said, wondering about a man who had only one chair on his deck. Apparently he didn’t expect or get much company. Did that mean he didn’t see much of Hud and family?

  “So?” Brick said as if his time was valuable and she was wasting it.

  “I want to ask you about Tanner Cole’s death. He was a senior—”

  “I know who he was. Found hanging from a tree up on the side of the mountain overlooking Big Sky twenty-odd years ago,” Brick said. “What do you want to know?”

  “Was it a suicide?”

  He leveled his gaze at her. “Wasn’t it ruled one?”

  “At the time. Is it possible Tanner had help?”

  “It’s always possible. Was there any sign of a struggle like scratches or bruises? Not according to the coroner’s report but if you did your homework, you’d already know that. As for footprints, there were a lot of them. He’d had a beer bash, kegger, whatever your generation calls it. He’d had that within a few days so there were all kinds of tracks at the scene.”

  She knew all this and wondered if she’d wasted her time driving all the way up here. Past him she could see the deep green of the lake, feel a cold breeze coming off the water. Clouds had already gathered over Lion’s Head Mountain, one of the more recognizable ones seen from his deck. Add to that the sun had already gone down. As it was, it would be dark before she got back to Big Sky.

  “I can tell you this, he used his own rope,” Brick said.

  She nodded. “What about Jordan Cardwell?”

  “What about him?”

  “You found him at the scene. Is there any chance—”

  “He didn’t kill his friend, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “You’re that sure?” she said, hearing the relief in her voice and suspecting he did too. She’d started to like Jordan, suspect or not. She knew it was a bad idea on so many levels, but there was something about him…

  “What did you really come up here to ask me?” Brick demanded.

  “I guess what I want is your gut reaction.”

  “My gut reaction isn’t worth squat. Do I think he killed himself?” The former marshal shrugged. “Strangulation takes a while. Gives a man a lot of time to reconsider and change his mind, but with all his body weight on the rope, it’s impossible to get your fingers under the rope and relieve the pressure.”

  She looked at him in surprise. “Are you telling me he—”

  “Changed his mind and clawed at the rope?” He nodded.

  “Why wasn’t that in the coroner’s report?”

  “It’s not uncommon. But also not something a family member ever wants to know about. I would imagine Rupert wanted to spare them any more pain.”

  Liza shook her head. “But couldn’t it also mean that Tanner Cole never meant to hang himself? That someone else put that rope around his neck?”

  “And he didn’t fight until that person kicked the log out?” Brick asked. “Remember, there were no defensive wounds or marks on his body.”

  “Maybe he thought it was a joke.”

  The elderly former marshal studied her for a moment. “What would make you let someone put a noose around your neck, joking or otherwise?”

  That was the question, wasn’t it?

  “You think he killed himself,” she said.

  He shrugged. “Prove me wrong.”

  * * *

  HUD SPENT A GOOD TWO HOURS canvassing the area for his sister-in-law before he put out the APB on her vehicle. He checked with the main towing services first though, telling himself her car could have broken down. All kinds of things could have happened to detain her—and maybe even keep her from calling.

  But after those two hours he knew in his gut that wasn’t the case. Stacy had split.

  At the office he did something he’d hoped he wouldn’t have to do. He began checking again for kidnappings of children matching Ella’s description and realized he needed to narrow his search. Since Stacy was driving a car with California plates…

  He realized he should have run her plates first. Feeling only a little guilty for having taken down her license number when he’d first become suspicious of her, he brought up his first surprise.

  The car had been registered in La Jolla, California—but not to Stacy by any of her former married names or her maiden name of Cardwell.

  The car was registered to Clay Cardwell—her brother.

  He picked up the phone and called the family lawyer who was handling the dispersing of ranch profits to Dana’s siblings.

  “Rick, I hate to bother you, but I need to get a phone number and address for Dana’s brother Clay. I understand he’s living in La Jolla, California.”

  Rick cleared his voice. “Actually I was going to contact Dana, but hesitated when I heard she’s on bed rest at the ranch pregnant with the twins.”

  News traveled fast, Hud thought. “What’s up?” he asked, afraid he wasn’t going to like it.

  “Clay. He hasn’t been cashing his checks. It’s been going on for about six months. I just assumed he might be holding them for some reason. But the last one came back saying there was no one by that name and no forwarding address.”

  Hud swore under his breath. Six months. The same age as Ella. Although he couldn’t imagine what the two things could have in common or why Clay hadn’t cashed his checks or how it was that his older sister was driving a car registered to him.

  “I think we need to find him,” Hud said. “I’d just as soon Dana didn’t know anything about this. Believe me, she has her hands full right now. One more thing though. Stacy. Did she give you a new address to send her checks?”

  “No. She’s moved around so much, I wait until I hear from her and usually send them general delivery.”

  “Well, could you do me a favor? If you hear from her, call me.”

  “I thought she was here in the canyon.”

  “She was, but right now she’s missing and she left a small…package at the house.”

  * * *

  IT WAS DARK BY THE TIME LIZA drove past the Fir Ridge cemetery, climbed up over the Continental Divide and entered Gallatin Canyon.

  This time of year there was little traffic along the two-lane road as it snaked through pines and over mountains along the edge of the river.

  She kept thinking about what Brick Savage had told her. More to the point, the feeling she’d had when she’d left him. He’d challenged her to prove Tanner Cole had been murdered. No doubt because he knew it would be near impossible.

  And yet if she was right and Alex’s murder had something to do with Tanner’s death, then the killer had shown his hand.

  Pulling out her phone, she tried Hud’s cell. In a lot of spots in the canyon there was no mobile p
hone service. To her surprise it began to ring.

  “Marshal Savage,” he snapped.

  “Sorry, did I catch you at a bad time?” she asked through the hands-free speaker, wondering if he was in the middle of something with the kids.

  “Liza. Good. I’m glad you called. Did you get my message?”

  She hadn’t. Fear gripped her. Surely there hadn’t been another murder. Her thoughts instantly raced to Jordan and she felt her heart fall at the thought that he might—

  “It’s Stacy,” he said. “She left the house earlier. No one has seen her since. She hasn’t called. I’ve looked all over Big Sky. She left the baby at the house.”

  “What?” It took her moment to pull back from the thought of another murder. To pull back from the fear and dread that had had her thinking something had happened to Jordan. “Stacy wouldn’t leave her baby, would she?”

  “Knowing Stacy, I have a bad feeling the baby isn’t even hers.”

  Liza was too shocked to speak for a moment. “You think she…stole it?”

  “Something is wrong. I’ve suspected it from the get-go. Dana was hoping I was just being suspicious because it’s my nature, but I’d been worried that something like this would happen. I didn’t want Dana getting attached to that baby, but you know Dana, and Ella is adorable, if that is even her name.”

  “Oh, boss, I’m so sorry.”

  “So you spoke to my father?” Hud asked.

  “He was the investigating officer at Tanner Cole’s suicide.”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “That it was Tanner’s rope.”

  Hud let out a humorless laugh. “That sounds like Brick. Have you met him before?”

  “Never had the honor. He must have been a treat as a father.”

  “You could say that.” He sighed. “Look, Hilde’s at the house. I’m going to make another circle through the area to look for Stacy before I go home.”

  “I’m about twenty minutes out. Do you want me to stop by?”

  “If you don’t mind. I know you’re busy with this murder case…”

  “No problem. I’ll see you soon.” She snapped the phone shut, shocked by what he’d told her. She was so deep in thought that she hadn’t noticed the lights of another vehicle coming up behind her.

  She glanced in the mirror. One of the headlights was out on the approaching car. That struck her about the same time as she realized the driver was coming up too fast.

  She’d been going the speed limit. By now the driver of the vehicle behind her would have been able to see the light bar on the top of her SUV. Only a fool would come racing up on a Marshal’s Department patrol car—let alone pass it.

  And yet as she watched, the driver of what appeared to be an old pickup swerved around her and roared up beside her.

  Liza hit her lights and siren, thinking the driver must be drunk. She glanced over, saw only a dark figure behind the wheel wearing a black ski mask. Her heart jumped, but she didn’t have time to react before the driver swerved into her. She heard the crunch of metal, felt the patrol SUV veer toward the ditch and the pines and beyond that, the river.

  She slammed on the brakes, but was traveling too fast to avoid the truck crashing into her again. The force made the vehicle rock wildly as she fought to keep control. The tires screamed on the pavement as the SUV began to fishtail.

  Liza felt the right side of the vehicle dip into the soft shoulder of the highway, pulling the SUV off the road. She couldn’t hold it and felt her tires leave the pavement. A stand of trees blurred past and then there was nothing but darkness as she plunged over the edge of the road toward the dark green of the river.

  Chapter Twelve

  Hud was headed home when he heard the 911 call for an ambulance come over his radio. His heart began to race as he heard that the vehicle in the river was a Montana marshal’s patrol SUV.

  He threw on his siren and lights and took off up the canyon toward West Yellowstone. As he raced toward the accident, he called home, glad when Hilde answered the phone.

  “Tell Dana I’m running a little late,” he said to Hilde. “Don’t act like anything is wrong.” He heard Dana already asking what was going on. Hilde related the running a little late part.

  “We’re just fine,” Hilde said.

  “It sounds like there’s been an accident up the canyon,” he told her. “It’s Liza. I don’t know anything except that her car is in the river. I don’t know how long I’m going to be.”

  “Don’t worry about us.”

  “Is it my sister?” Dana demanded in the background.

  “I heard that. Tell her I haven’t found Stacy. I’ll call when I have news. I just don’t want Dana upset.”

  “Got it. I’ll tell her.”

  He disconnected and increased his speed. Liza was like family. How the hell did she end up in the river? She was a great driver.

  As he came around a bend in the windy road, he saw her patrol SUV among the boulders in the Gallatin River. Some bypassers had stopped. Several of the men had flashlights and one of them had waded out to the patrol vehicle.

  Hud parked, leaving his lights on to warn any oncoming traffic, then grabbing his own flashlight, jumped out and ran toward the river. As he dropped over the edge of the road to it, he recognized the man who was standing on the boulder beside Liza’s wrecked vehicle.

  “Jordan?” he called.

  “Liza’s conscious,” he called back. “An ambulance is on the way. I’m staying with her until it gets here.”

  Hud would have liked to have gone to her as well, but he heard the sound of the ambulance siren and climbed back up the road to help with traffic control.

  All the time, though, he found himself wondering how Jordan just happened to be on the scene.

  * * *

  “WHAT’S HAPPENED?” DANA demanded the moment Hilde hung up. “Don’t,” she said before Hilde could open her mouth. “You’re a terrible liar and we both know it. Tell me.”

  “He hasn’t found your sister.”

  She nodded. “But something else has happened.”

  “There’s been an accident up the canyon. He needed to run up there.”

  Dana waited. “There’s more.”

  “You’re the one who should have gone into law enforcement, the interrogation part,” Hilde said as she came and sat down on the edge of the bed. On the other side of Dana, baby Ella slept, looking like an angel. Hilde glanced at the baby, then took Dana’s hand as if she knew it was only a matter of time before her friend got the truth out of her. “Hud didn’t know anything about the accident except that Liza is somehow involved.”

  “Oh, no.” Her heart dropped.

  “Now don’t get upset and have these babies because Hud will never forgive me,” Hilde said quickly.

  Dana shook her head. “I’m okay. But I want to know the minute you hear something. Are you sure you can stay?”

  “Of course.”

  “You didn’t have a date?”

  Hilde laughed. “If only there were more Hudson Savages around. All of the men I meet, well…they’re so not the kind of men I want to spend time with, even for the time it takes to have dinner.”

  “I am lucky.” Dana looked over at Ella. “What if Hud is right and Ella isn’t Stacy’s baby?”

  “Where would she have gotten Ella? You can’t just get a baby off eBay.”

  “She could have kidnapped Ella. You know Stacy.”

  “I’m sure Hud checked for any kidnapped babies six months old with dimples, blond hair and green eyes,” Hilde argued.

  “Yes, green eyes. You might have noticed that all the Justices have dark brown eyes and dark hair, including Stacy.”

  “Maybe the father has green eyes and Stacy carries a green-eyed gene. You don’t know that Ella isn’t Stacy’s.”

  “No,” Dana admitted, but like Hud, she’d had a bad feeling since the moment Stacy had arrived. “I think Stacy only came here because she’s in trouble and it has something
to do with that poor little baby.”

  “You think that’s why she left Ella with you?”

  Dana fingered the quilt edge where someone had stitched the name Katie. “I wish I knew.”

  * * *

  JORDAN WOKE WITH A CRICK in his neck. He stared down at the green hospital scrubs he was wearing for a moment, confused where he was. It came back to him with a start. Last night his clothes had been soaking wet from his swim in the river. He’d been shivering uncontrollably, but had refused to leave the hospital until he knew Liza was going to be all right.

  That’s how he’d ended up in scrubs, he recalled now as he sat up in the chair beside Liza’s bed and smiled at the woman propped up staring at him now.

  “What are you still doing here?” she asked, smiling.

  “I was sleeping.” He stood up, stretched, then looked to see what she was having for breakfast. “You haven’t eaten much,” he said as he took a piece of toast from the nearly untouched tray.

  “I’m not very hungry.”

  He was famished and realized he hadn’t eaten since yesterday at noon. “How are your ribs?” he asked as he devoured the piece of toast.

  “They’re just bruised and only hurt when I breathe.”

  “Yep, but you’re breathing. Be thankful for that.”

  Liza nodded and he saw that her left wrist was also wrapped. Apparently, it was just badly sprained, not broken. His big worry, though, had been that she’d suffered internal injuries.

  Apparently not, though, since all she had was a bandage on her right temple, a bruised cheek and a scrape on her left cheek. She’d been lucky.

  “So what did the doctor say?” he asked.

  “That I’m going to live.”

  “Good.”

  She looked almost shy. “Thank you for last night.”

  He shrugged. “It’s wasn’t anything. I just swam a raging river in October in Montana and clung onto a slippery boulder to be with you.” He grinned. “I’m just glad you’re all right.” He’d been forced to leave the room last night while Hud had talked to her, but he’d overheard enough to more than concern him.

  “You said last night that someone forced you off the road?” he asked now. “Do you remember anything about the vehicle?”