B.J. Daniels the Cardwell Ranch Collection

by B. J Daniels

  Dana was busy with the kids as usual. “It might be just as well that I don’t have anything planned for you today. Maybe a day just resting would do us all good.”

  Dee didn’t know how the woman managed with four kids. She’d apparently just finished feeding the two oldest because she was only now clearing away their plates. She sent them off to the bathroom to wash up.

  The two youngest were in some kind of contraptions that allowed them to roll around the kitchen. They’d gotten caught in a corner and one of them was hollering his head off.

  Dana saved him, kneeling down to cajole him before she asked, “I made Mary and Hank pancakes, Dee. Would you like some?”

  The kitchen smelled of pancakes and maple syrup. Dee heard her stomach growl. She was starved, also probably because of all the exercise she’d gotten last night. She’d been careful to stay away from any streetlights, and she was sure no one had seen her leaving and returning to the ranch.

  “I’d love pancakes, but let me make them,” Dee offered, knowing Dana wouldn’t take her up on it.

  “It’s no trouble. Anyway, you’re my guest.”

  Dee could hear something in Dana’s voice, though. Her hostess was tiring of her guest. Probably all the drama. Dana would be glad when Dee left.

  Well, there was nothing she could do about that, because the drama was far from over. Forced to move up her plan, she said, “I’m thinking I’ve stayed too long.”

  Dana turned from the stove. “No. I don’t want you to feel that way at all. I’m just sorry. I really wanted you to have a good time.”

  “I am having a good time.” Dee went over and gave Dana a hug. “But I need to get back home and look for a job. I can’t be off work for too long.” Sometimes she couldn’t believe how easy lying came to her. She was more amazed by people who couldn’t tell a lie. Maybe it was a talent you were born with.

  Or maybe you had to learn it at your daddy’s knee, she thought bitterly.

  “I checked this morning about a flight,” she said with equal effortlessness. “I’m booked for Saturday on a nonstop flight to LaGuardia.” She knew Dana and Hud wouldn’t check to see if it was true or not. But Colt might.

  Dana didn’t try to get her to change her mind. Yep, it’s time. She just said, “Well, I hate to see you cut your trip short, but you know best.”

  “This isn’t my only trip to Cardwell Ranch,” Dee said.

  “Well, I insist on paying for your flight.” Dana held up her hand even though Dee hadn’t protested. “No arguments. I want this trip to be my treat.”

  “That is so sweet of you. I’m going to pay you back, though, and then some.” By booking the nonstop flight that was available only on Saturday, she had bought herself a little more time. It wasn’t perfect timing, but she’d have to make it work, especially after finding her toothbrush and makeup missing. She’d already put the wheels in motion. Hang on, she thought, because she knew what was about to hit the fan.

  Dana looked visibly relaxed now that she knew her guest was leaving. Dee hated Hilde at that moment. The woman had been a thorn in her side from the beginning. If she had just backed off... But it was too late for regrets, she thought, and checked her watch.

  Any minute poor Hilde would be crying on the marshal’s shoulder and no doubt blaming her.

  * * *

  MARSHAL HUD SAVAGE stopped in the doorway of Needles and Pins and demanded, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m cleaning up my shop,” Hilde said, as she placed another bolt of fabric back where it went. She was thankful that most of the fabrics hadn’t gotten soiled or ruined. Dee could have torn up the place much worse. Hilde knew she should be thankful for that.

  She’d started cleaning up the moment she’d realized who’d done this. At that same moment, she’d known there was no reason to wait for the marshal. Hud wasn’t going to believe Dee had done this. And the only way to try to change his mind would be to show him the scissors and explain why they were a message from Dee.

  Hilde couldn’t do that without telling what she’d done to get Dee’s fingerprints and Colt’s involvement. She wasn’t about to drag him into this any more than he already was.

  “You shouldn’t have touched anything until I got here,” Hud said behind her. “Hilde—”

  She stopped working to look at him. Fueled by anger, she’d accomplished a lot in a short time. “The person broke in through the back. I haven’t touched anything back there.”

  He looked toward the back of the shop, where she had a small kitchen she and her staff used as a break and storage room. She’d found a chair moved over against the wall under the open window. There appeared to be marks on the window frame where someone had pried it open.

  When she’d stepped outside in the alley, she’d discovered the large trash container pulled over under the window.

  Hud went back in the break room, then outside. “Is anything missing?” he asked when he came back in.

  “I don’t believe so. I don’t leave money down here. I think it was just a malicious act of vandalism.”

  “Looks like it might have been kids, then,” Hud said.

  Hilde had stopped to look at him, after restoring almost all of the bolts of fabric to their correct places. She saw him staring at the countertop where the half-dozen new scissors had been stuck in the wood.

  “Kids resort to this sort of thing just for something to do, I guess,” he said.

  “It wasn’t kids.” She crossed her arms because she was trembling and she didn’t want him to see it. She thought that if she kept calm and didn’t get upset or cry, he might believe her.

  “Don’t tell me Dee did this.” He looked as resolute as she felt.

  “Okay, I won’t. You don’t want to hear the truth, fine. Kids did it.”

  “Hilde,” Hud said in that tone she was getting used to. “Dee went to bed last night before we did. If she had driven into town, I would have known it.”

  “Maybe she walked.”

  “It’s a couple of miles. She can barely walk around the yard without twisting an ankle. You think she climbed up into that window back there?” He was shaking his head. “I’m sorry this happened. I’ll file a report and you can turn it over to your insurance. I’m glad nothing was destroyed.”

  She laughed at that. Dee had destroyed so much—the shop was the least of it.

  “Are you going to be okay?”

  The concern and kindness she heard in his tone was her undoing. The tears broke loose as if they had been walled up, waiting for the least bit of provocation to burst out.

  He patted her shoulder. “Take the rest of the day off. Go home. Get some rest.”

  As if rest would make her world right again.

  * * *

  FORTUNATELY, THE REST of the day was busy at the shop. All the women who’d come in to sign up for quilting classes buoyed Hilde’s spirits.

  Dana called midmorning. “Just wanted to say hi.”

  Hilde figured she’d heard about the vandalism from Hud. He must not have told her about the allegations against her cousin.

  “Fourteen women have signed up for the quilting classes so far,” she told her silent partner in the shop.

  “Oh, that’s great. You must be excited to get them started.”

  “I am. It’s going to be a good summer.” Hilde said the last like a mantra, praying it was true.

  “Dee’s leaving Saturday,” Dana said.

  The words should have made her heart soar, but she heard sadness in her friend’s voice. “I’m sorry her visit didn’t go like you had hoped.”

  The bell over the door jangled as another customer came in.

  Dana must have heard it. “You’re busy. I’ll let you go. I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you.”

  �
�Thank you for calling.” It was the best she could do before Dana hung up.

  The rest of the day slipped by. Hilde had moments when she would forget about the break-in. She knew she would have to replace the top of the counter. The scissor holes were a gut-wrenching reminder each time she saw them that it wasn’t over with Dee.

  Colt must have called when she was helping a customer by carrying her fabric purchases out to her car. He’d left a message that he hoped he could see her tonight.

  She texted back that she was looking forward to it.

  And suddenly it was time to close up shop. She gathered her things, trying hard not to look at the top of the counter. Thinking about Dee only made her blood boil.

  A gust of wind caught the door as she started to lock up. She hadn’t realized the wind had come up or that a storm was blowing in.

  As she turned, she saw that her SUV parked across the street was sitting at a funny angle. Then she noticed the right back tire. Flat.

  All she’d been thinking about the past few minutes was going home, taking a nice hot bath and getting ready for when Colt got back from West Yellowstone.

  After finding her store vandalized first thing in the morning, she wasn’t going to let a flat tire ruin her mood now, she thought. For a moment, she considered changing the tire herself, but she wasn’t dressed for it, and her house was only a short walk from the shop.

  As she started down the street, she saw that the storm was closer than she’d thought. Dark clouds rolled in, dimming the remainder of the day’s light. She’d be lucky to get home before it started to rain, and in April the rain could easily turn to snow.

  Hilde laughed, surprised that even the storm didn’t bother her. She was seeing Colt again tonight and she couldn’t wait. The only real dark cloud right now was Dee Anna Justice, and apparently there wasn’t a darned thing she could do about her.

  When she looked up and saw Dee coming down the dark street toward her, she feared she’d conjured her. Because of the upcoming storm and the time of the year, the streets were deserted—something she hadn’t noticed until that moment.

  Stopping, she considered what to do. Dee had realized that she had her fingerprints and DNA. That was probably why she’d torn up the shop. Did that mean she’d realized whatever she’d been up to was about to come to a screeching halt? Or would the prints only prove that the woman really was Dee Anna Justice, a psychopath who would be able to keep fooling Dana unless Hilde and Colt could prove otherwise?

  More to the immediate point, what was she doing here now? Hilde considered whether she should make a run for it. She didn’t have that many options. Calling the marshal’s office for help would be a waste of time.

  “You don’t have to look so scared,” Dee called to her. “I came to give you some news that I think will make you happy.”

  Hilde let the woman get within a few feet of her. “That’s close enough. What is it?”

  “You win.”

  “You’re the one who made it into a competition.”

  Dee chuckled as she took another step closer. “I’ve known women like you my whole life. Everything comes so easy to you. You’ve never had to fight for anything. You wouldn’t have lasted two seconds in my world.”

  “I’m sorry you had a rough life, Dee, if that is really your name. But that doesn’t give you the right to take someone else’s—literally.”

  “You’re right,” Dee said, not even bothering to deny anything. “I’m leaving. I just wanted you to know. That, and I’m sorry. I don’t expect you to understand. I don’t even understand why I’m like I am sometimes.” She put her head down, actually sounding as if she meant it.

  Hilde wondered what kind of life this woman really had lived through. Dee was right that her own had been cushy. As much as she hated it, she felt some sympathy for the woman. “You should try to get some help.”

  Dee slowly raised her head. It took Hilde an instant to realize Dee had stepped closer during all this. When she met her gaze, Hilde saw that something had changed in her eyes. It was an instant too long.

  Before Hilde could react, Dee grabbed her right hand and raked Hilde’s nails down her own left cheek.

  Hilde let out a cry of shock and jerked her hand back.

  Dee was smiling as she touched the four angry scratches down her face. Laughing at Hilde’s reaction, she reached down and picked up a chunk of broken sidewalk at the edge of the street.

  Hilde took a step back as Dee said, “You think I need help? Maybe I should see someone.” She hit herself in the face with the piece of concrete and for a moment, Hilde thought Dee would buckle under the savage blow. But she straightened, dropped the chunk of sidewalk and, in the next instant, began to tear at her clothes.

  “What are you doing?” Hilde cried. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “Isn’t this what you wish you were able to do to me?” Dee asked, smiling again. Her left eye was already swelling shut from where she’d hit herself. There was blood at the corner of her mouth and her lip was split and bleeding. The scratches down the left side of her face were bleeding now as well.

  “No, I would never—” The rest of Hilde’s words died on her lips as she realized exactly what Dee was doing. “No one will believe I did that to you!”

  “Won’t they?” Dee asked with a smirk. “Wanna bet?” With that she turned and ran screaming down the street.

  Chapter Eleven

  Hilde rushed back to Needles and Pins, fumbled the key in the lock and, once inside, relocked the door behind her. She was in shock, never having witnessed anything like that in her life.

  Her hands shook as she took out her cell phone. She tried to call Colt but only got his voice mail. She left a message that it was urgent she talk to him. Only after she hung up did she remember he had to go back to West Yellowstone today.

  She’d barely hung up when she saw Marshal Hud Savage pull up in his patrol pickup in front of the shop. Past him, across the street, she spotted her SUV with the flat tire. She hadn’t had a flat in years. Why hadn’t she realized it was a trap?

  Because that wasn’t how her mind worked. She’d never had to read evil into everything—until Dee arrived in town.

  Hilde felt like a fool. She’d played right into the woman’s hands, not once, but time and again. The more she protested, the worse it got. She knew that even if she hadn’t started to walk home, Dee would have found an opportunity to make this happen.

  Lightning cut a zigzagged line across the sky behind Hud as he headed for her front door. Thunder followed on its heels. Large drops of rain pelted the sidewalk as she put her cell phone back in her purse and hurried to unlock the shop door. “Hud, I—”

  “I need you to come with me down to the station,” he said, his voice hard as the sidewalk Dee had hit herself with.

  “I didn’t do any of that to her,” Hilde cried. “Hud, you have to believe me.”

  He grabbed her right hand, holding it up. “Hilde, her skin is still under your fingernails.”

  “Hud, I know this sounds crazy, but that’s the problem. Dee, or whatever her name is, is crazy. She’s insane. She did all of that to herself.”

  He shook his head looking as sad as she had ever seen him. “Are you telling me you didn’t attack her previously with a pair of scissors right here in your shop?”

  Of course Dee would have told him about that, too. “No. I mean, yes, but—”

  He began to read her rights to her. “Let’s go,” he said when he finished.

  “You’re really arresting me?” She couldn’t believe any of this was happening. “You know me, Hud—”

  “I thought I did. Dee Anna is pressing assault charges against you. Hilde, what is going on with you?”

  She swallowed and shook her head. Even if she told him about the scissors incident, it
wouldn’t help her. Nor help Colt. She just had to put her faith in Colt to find out the truth about the woman—and soon.

  * * *

  COLT TRIED TO reach Hilde the moment he got her message. Her phone went straight to voice mail. He called the shop, just in case she was working late. She did that a lot, especially since she’d recently taken over the space next to Needles and Pins and expanded the business.

  She was buying a line of sewing machines and would be starting quilting lessons, now that she had the room. He loved her work ethic. Loved a lot of things about her, he thought, reminded of last night.

  With growing concern when she didn’t answer at the shop, he realized he didn’t know whom else to call. Not that long ago, he could have called Dana. She would have known where Hilde was. Dana and Hilde had been that close.

  But not now. Thanks to Dee.

  He was holding his phone, trying to decide what to do, when it rang. It was one of the dispatchers, Annie Wagner, a cute twentysomething redhead who was dating a Bozeman police officer he knew.

  “I thought you’d want to know,” Annie said in a hushed voice. “Hilde has been arrested.”

  “What?” His mind whirled. Hilde?

  “Dee Anna Justice came screaming into the office thirty minutes ago saying Hilde had attacked her.”

  Colt groaned. He’d understood Hilde’s thinking with the scissors, but—

  “Dee was a mess. She looked like she’d gotten into a cat fight. Black eye, scratched up, bleeding.”

  He couldn’t imagine Hilde doing that to anyone even if she was provoked. But if she was defending herself— “Where is Hilde now?”

  “Hud has her in his office. I just put through a call from Dee Anna Justice. Do you want me to call you if anything changes?”

  “Thanks, Annie. I appreciate it. I’m on my way back from West Yellowstone. I should be there within the hour.”

  What had happened? He couldn’t even imagine.

  He’d told himself that Hud would see through Dee soon. Or Dee would give up once she realized Hud loved Dana and would never fall for her. He’d told himself that as long as Hilde stayed away from the ranch and Dee, this wouldn’t escalate.