Cardwell Ranch: The Next Generation ; Justice at Cardwell Ranch

by B. J Daniels

  “Is there any chance you could stay another day or so?” Dana asked her now as Stacy picked up her breakfast tray to take to the kitchen.

  Her sister stopped and looked up in surprise. Her face softened as if she was touched by Dana’s offer. “I’d love to. I can cook and help with the kids. Hud has this murder investigation—”

  “My deputy marshal is handling all of that,” Hud interrupted, shooting Dana a what-could-you-be-thinking? look. “Plus the crime techs are down from Missoula. I am more than capable of taking care of Dana and the kids and—”

  Dana had been holding Ella since finishing her breakfast. She quickly interrupted him. “Stacy, that would be great if you can. I know Hud won’t mind the help and I love having you and Ella here.”

  Her husband sent her a withering look. She ignored it and looked instead into Ella’s adorable face.

  “Is Auntie Stacy going to stay, Mommy?” Mary asked excitedly.

  “Yes, for a few more days. Would you like that?” Both children cheered.

  “Auntie Stacy is going to show us how to make clay,” Hank said. “You have to put it in the oven and then paint it.”

  Stacy shrugged when Dana looked at her. “I found a recipe on the internet. I thought they’d like that.”

  “That was very thoughtful,” she said and shot her husband a see?-everything-is-fine look. “I know Hud will want to check in with the murder investigation, and there are animals to feed.”

  He tried to stare her down, but Dana had grown up with three siblings. Having to fight for what she wanted had made her a strong, determined woman.

  “Fine,” Hud said as he left the room. “Stacy, if you need me, Dana has my number. I have animals to feed.”

  “He’ll check in with Liza,” Dana said. “He can pretend otherwise, but he won’t be able to stay away from this case.”

  “Are you sure it’s all right if I stay?” Stacy asked. “Hud doesn’t seem—”

  “He’s just being territorial,” she said. “He can’t stand the idea that anyone might think he can’t take care of his family.” Dana reached for her sister’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m glad you and Ella are here.”

  * * *

  LIZA FIGURED JORDAN CARDWELL had lied to her at least twice during breakfast.

  “I need to know everything you can remember that led up to Tanner’s death,” she said when they’d finished their breakfast and the waitress had cleared away their plates and refilled their coffee cups.

  The scent of pine blew down on the breeze from the mountain peaks. She breathed in the fall day and pulled out her notebook. They still had the café deck to themselves and the sun felt heavenly after so little sleep last night.

  “We were seniors.” Jordan shrugged. “Not much was going on.”

  “Who did Tanner date after his breakup with Shelby?”

  “A couple of different girls.”

  “Who was he dating in the weeks or days before he died?” she asked.

  “Brittany Cooke.” The way he said it gave him away.

  “You liked her?” she asked with interest.

  His shrug didn’t fool her.

  “You used to date her?”

  He laughed, meeting her gaze. “You got all that out of a shrug?”

  “Who were you dating at the time?” she asked.

  “I don’t see what—”

  “Humor me.”

  “I can’t remember.”

  She laughed and leaned back in her chair to eye him. “You don’t remember who you were dating the spring of your senior year? Give me a break.”

  “I wasn’t dating anyone, really. It’s a small community, cliques. There weren’t a lot of options unless you dated someone from Bozeman. I was just anxious to graduate and get out of here.”

  “Shelby and Brittany were in one of these cliques?”

  “Not Brittany. Brittany and Shelby got along, but she was never really one of them. But Shelby, yeah. She was the leader of the mean girls—you know the type. Too much money, too much everything.”

  Liza knew the type only too well. “So what happened when Brittany went out with Tanner?”

  “I’m sure Shelby would deny it, but her and her group of friends closed Brittany out.”

  “What did Tanner think about that?”

  “He thought it was funny. Believe me, that wasn’t why he killed himself. Don’t get me wrong, Tanner liked Shelby. He went with her a lot longer than any other girl. But once he found out she’d been trying to get pregnant to trap him, it was all over. He wasn’t ready to settle down. He’d worked two jobs all through high school while getting good grades so he could do some of the things he’d always wanted to do. Both of us couldn’t wait to travel.”

  “And get out of the canyon,” Liza said.

  “Tanner not as much as me. He would have come back to the family ranch. He was a cowboy.”

  “He wasn’t from Big Sky resort money?”

  “Naw, his folks have a ranch down the canyon. They do okay, just like everyone else who still ranches around here. As my sister is fond of saying, it’s a lifestyle more than a paying career. Tanner loved that lifestyle, was happiest in a saddle and not afraid of hard work.”

  “He sounds like a nice, sensible young man.”

  “He was.” Jordan looked away toward the mountains for a long moment. “He worked a lot of odd jobs throughout high school. That’s how he ended up at that cabin on the mountain. He talked his folks into letting him stay there because it was closer to school. He traded watching the landowner’s construction equipment for the small cabin where he lived that spring.”

  “He didn’t want to live at home?”

  Jordan grinned. “Not his senior year. His parents were strict, like all parents when you’re that age. Tanner wanted to be on his own and his folks were okay with it.”

  “So who were the mean girls?”

  “Shelby, the leader. Tessa, her closest ally. Whitney. Ashley. They were the inner circle.”

  “And Brittany?”

  “She was always on the fringe. Last I heard Brittany had married Lee Peterson and they have a bunch of kids. I think I heard they live in Meadow Village. Shelby married Wyatt Iverson. She’d started dating him after she and Tanner broke up. Wyatt’s father was a contractor who built a lot of the huge vacation homes. It was his maintenance cabin where Tanner stayed with his equipment.” He stopped, a faraway look coming to his gaze. “Shelby has a yoga studio near the Gallatin River.”

  For a life he’d put behind him, Jordan certainly knew a lot about the players, Liza thought as she closed her notebook.

  Chapter Five

  Yogamotion was in a narrow complex built of log and stone, Western-style. Liza pushed open the door to find the inside brightly painted around walls of shiny mirrors.

  According to the schedule she’d seen on the door, the next class wasn’t for a couple of hours. A lithe young woman sat behind a large desk in a room off to the side. She was talking on a cell phone, but looked up as the door closed behind Liza.

  “You should be getting the check any day. I’m sorry, but I have to go,” she said into the phone and slowly snapped it shut, never taking her eyes off the deputy marshal.

  “Shelby Iverson?”

  As the woman got to her feet she took in Liza’s attire, the boots, jeans and tan uniform shirt with the silver star on it. “I’m Shelby Durran-Iverson.”

  “Liza Turner, deputy marshal.” Big Sky was small enough that Liza had seen Shelby around. The canyon resort was situated such that there were pockets of development, some pricier than others depending on where you lived.

  Shelby lived in a large single-family home on the north side of the mountain on the way to Mountain Village, while Liza lived in a condo in Meadow Village. She and Shelby didn’t cross paths a lot.

 
; “I’d like to ask you a few questions,” the deputy said.

  “Me?” The catch in her throat was merely for effect. Shelby Durran-Iverson had been expecting a visit from the marshal’s office. Everyone within fifty miles would have heard about Alex Winslow’s murder at the falls last night. Word would have spread through Big Sky like a fast-moving avalanche.

  Liza had to wonder though, why Shelby thought she would be questioned. “It’s about the shooting last night.”

  “I don’t know anything about it,” she said.

  “But you knew Alex.”

  “Sure. Everyone from around here knew him.”

  “You went to high school with him?” Liza asked pulling her notebook and pen from her pocket.

  “Do I need a lawyer?”

  “You tell me. Did you shoot Alex?”

  “No.” Shelby sounded shocked that Liza would even suggest such a thing.

  “Then I guess you don’t need a lawyer. I just need to ask you a few questions so I can find the person who did shoot him.”

  “I still can’t see how I can help.” But she motioned Liza to a chair and took her own behind the desk again. Liza could tell that Shelby was hoping to learn more about the murder, getting more information out of her than she provided.

  Settling into a chair across the desk from her, Liza studied Shelby. She was a shapely blonde who looked as if she just stepped out of a magazine ad. Her hair was pulled up in a sleek ponytail. Everything about her seemed planned for maximum effect from her makeup to her jewelry and the clothes on her back. She wore a flattering coral velvet designer sweatsuit that brought out the blue of her eyes and accentuated her well-toned body.

  “I understand you used to date Tanner Cole,” Liza said.

  “Tanner? I thought you were here about Alex?”

  “Did you date Alex, too?”

  “No.” She shook her head, the ponytail sweeping back and forth. “You’re confusing me.” She flashed a perfect-toothed smile, clearly a girl who’d had braces.

  “I don’t want to confuse you. So you dated Tanner how long?”

  She frowned, still confused apparently. “Till just before Christmas of our senior year, I guess.”

  “But the two of you broke up?”

  “I can’t understand how that—”

  Liza gave her one of her less-than-perfect-toothed smiles. She’d been born with a slight gap between her front teeth that her parents had found cute and she had never gotten around to changing. “Humor me. I actually know what I’m doing.”

  Shelby sighed, making it clear she had her doubts about that. “Fine. Yes, I dated Tanner, I don’t remember when we broke up.”

  “Or why?”

  The yoga instructor’s eyes narrowed in challenge. “No.”

  “Here’s the thing, I’m trying to understand why Tanner killed himself and why now one of his friends has been murdered.”

  “I’m sure there is no possible connection,” Shelby said with a mocking laugh as if now she knew Liza didn’t know what she was doing.

  “So Tanner didn’t kill himself over you?”

  “No!”

  “So you weren’t that serious?”

  Shelby fumbled for words for a moment. “It was high school. It seemed serious at the time.”

  “To you. Or Tanner?”

  “To both of us.” She sounded defensive and realizing it, gave a small laugh. “Like I said, it was high school.”

  Liza looked down at her notebook. “Let’s see, by that spring, Tanner was dating Brittany Cooke? Wasn’t she a friend of yours?”

  Shelby’s mouth tightened. “Tanner was sowing his oats before graduation. I can assure you he wasn’t serious about Brittany.”

  “Oh? Did she tell you that?”

  “She didn’t have to. She wasn’t Tanner’s type.” Shelby straightened several things on her desk that didn’t need straightening. “If that’s all, I really need to get back to work.”

  “I forgot what you said. Did you date Alex?”

  “No, and I’d lost track of him since high school.”

  “That’s right, he’d moved down to Bozeman and had only recently returned to Big Sky for the class reunion?”

  “I assume that’s why he came back.”

  “You didn’t talk to him?” Liza asked.

  Shelby thought for a moment. More than likely she was carefully considering her next answer. If Liza had Alex’s cell phone in her possession, she would know who he called right before his death—and who’d called him.

  “I might have talked to him since I’m the reunion chairwoman. I talked to a lot of people. I really can’t remember.”

  “That’s strange since you talked to Alex five times in two days, the last three of those calls just hours before he was killed.”

  Shelby didn’t look quite so put-together. “I told you, it was about the reunion. I talked to a lot of people.”

  “Are you telling me he didn’t ask you about Tanner’s alleged suicide?” Liza said.

  “Alleged suicide?”

  “Apparently, Alex had some questions about Tanner’s death.”

  Shelby shook her head. “I might have heard that, but I wouldn’t have taken anything Alex said seriously.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice even though they were the only two people there. “I heard he had some sort of breakdown.” She leaned back and lifted a brow as if to say that covered it.

  “Hmmm. I hadn’t heard that.” Liza jotted down a note. “Whom did you hear this from?”

  “I don’t—”

  “Recall. Maybe one of your friends?”

  Shelby shook her head. “I really can’t remember. I’m sure you can find out if there was any truth to it.”

  Liza smiled. “Yes, I can. What about Brittany?”

  “What about her?” Shelby asked stiffly.

  “Do you still see her?”

  “Big Sky is a small community. You’re bound to see everyone at some point,” Shelby answered noncommittally. “She and her husband, Lee Peterson, own a ski shop up on the mountain. Now I really do need to get to work,” she said, rising to her feet.

  “Did you see Tanner the night he died?”

  “No. As you are apparently aware, we had broken up. He was dating Brittany. If anyone knows why he killed himself, she would, don’t you think?”

  “Even though she and Tanner weren’t that serious about each other?”

  Shelby’s jaw muscle bunched and her blue eyes fired with irritation. “If she doesn’t know, then who would?”

  “Good question. Maybe Alex Winslow. But then he isn’t talking, is he?” Liza said as she closed her notebook and got to her feet. “One more question. Why would the last word Alex Winslow would say be your name?”

  All the color washed from her face. She sat back down, leaning heavily on her desk. “I have no idea.”

  * * *

  AFTER BREAKFAST, JORDAN went back to his cabin and crashed for a while. He figured Liza would be keeping an eye on him. Not that he knew what to do next. He couldn’t just hang out in this cabin, that was for sure. But he’d been serious about not wanting to put anyone else in danger.

  When he woke up, he realized he was hungry again. It was still early since the sun hadn’t sunk behind Lone Mountain. According to his cell phone, it was a quarter past three in the afternoon.

  He found a small sandwich shop in Meadow Village, ordered a turkey and cheese and took a seat by the window overlooking the golf course. Lone Mountain gleamed in the background, a sight that brought back too many memories. There’d been a time when he’d told himself he’d left here because he didn’t want to be a rancher. But coming back here now, he realized a lot of his need to leave and stay gone had to do with Tanner’s suicide.

  When the waitress brought out his sandwich, he asked
if he could get it to go. He followed her to the counter and was waiting when he heard a bell tinkle over the door and turned to see someone he recognized coming through.

  With a silent curse, he put a name to the face. Tessa Ryerson. She had already spotted him and something about her expression gave him the crazy idea that she didn’t just happen in here. She’d come looking for him.

  Before he could react, the waitress brought out his sandwich in a brown paper bag and handed it to him. He dug out the cost of the sandwich and a generous tip and handed it to the server, before turning to Tessa.

  She had stopped just a couple of feet from him, waiting while he paid. When he turned to her, he saw that she looked much like she had twenty years ago when the two of them had dated. She wore her light brown hair as she had in high school, shoulder length and wavy, no bangs. A hair band held it back from her face.

  She seemed thinner, a little more gaunt in the face, than she had the last time he’d seen her. He recalled that she’d always struggled to keep her weight down. Apparently, she’d mastered the problem.

  He couldn’t help noticing that her ring finger was bare. Hadn’t he heard that she’d gone through a bad divorce from Danny Spring? Two years ahead of them in school, the guy had been a jerk. Jordan recalled being surprised when he’d heard that she’d married him.

  “Jordan,” Tessa said a little too brightly. “Imagine running into you here.”

  “Imagine that,” he said, now sure the only reason she’d come in here, crazy or not, was to see him. So did that mean she’d followed him? Or had she just been looking for him?

  “Oh, are you getting your sandwich to go?” she asked, sounding disappointed as she glanced at the bag in his hand as if just now noticing it. “I missed lunch and I hate eating alone. Would you mind staying?”

  How could he say no even if he’d wanted to? Anyway, he was curious about what she wanted. “Sure, go ahead and order. I’ll get us a table.”

  “Great.”

  He took a seat away from the girl working behind the counter, positioning himself so he could watch Tessa while she ordered. She dug nervously in her purse, paid for a small salad and a bottled water, then joined him at the table.