Cardwell Christmas Crime Scene

by B. J Daniels

  Beau Tanner rose from the chair he’d been sprawled in, his boots scraping the wood porch as he tipped his Stetson. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “What are you doing here?” He had scared her, but she was trying hard not to show it.

  “My job. I told you. Your father—”

  “And I told you. I can take care of myself. I release you from any promise you made when you were ten.” She started off the porch but heard his boots right behind her. She spun on him. “What are you planning to do? Follow me everywhere?”

  “If that’s what it takes to make sure you’re safe.”

  She thrust her hands on her hips. “This is crazy. Look, I’m fine. There is nothing to protect me from.”

  “You sure about that? Well, I’m not. And until I am...”

  “Fine. Follow me if it makes you happy.” She started up the mountainside, breathing hard from her anger and just seeing him again. The last thing she needed right now was some man who...who irritated her. Her heart was beating faster at just the sound of his long strides as he easily caught up to her.

  “Let’s just keep to the shadows of the pines,” he said, pulling her out of the moonlight.

  She indulged him and his paranoia, filling her lungs with the cold night air as she tried to ignore him. The cowboy wasn’t the kind who was easily ignored. She caught a whiff of his scent, a mixture of the great outdoors, fragrant soap and a powerful maleness.

  DJ hated the effect it had on her as her body betrayed her. She felt an ache inside her like something she’d never felt before. Maybe it was from years of not feeling safe, but she wanted to be in his arms again. She wanted to feel again like she had that moment in the snowbank when his mouth was on hers. She wanted to feel...protected, and she had in his arms.

  Which was why she couldn’t let herself give in. She would be here only a few days, and then she would be returning to California and her life there.

  “This is where we part company,” she said as she climbed the steps to her cabin and started to open the door.

  He’d taken the steps in long strides, and now his large hand closed over hers. “Not until I make sure the cabin is secure.”

  She opened the door, turning on the light as she stepped inside, Beau right behind her. She couldn’t believe how far he was taking this. “It’s late and I need to get some rest.”

  He didn’t seem to be paying any attention to what she was saying. She hadn’t wanted him in her cabin. Earlier the place had felt spacious, but it didn’t now. “This is silly. You can see that there is no one in here.”

  He turned to look at her. “I think you have some idea who might want to harm you. That’s information I need. Tonight. Before this goes any further.”

  She heard the determination in his voice and sighed inwardly. Let him have his say and then send him on his way, she thought. “Fine.”

  It had been a long day, but after the nap earlier and everything that had happened, she felt more wired than tired, in truth. She moved to the small kitchen and opened the refrigerator, remembering the variety of beverages and snacks her cousin had shown her.

  “Wine or beer?” she asked, knowing the only reason she was asking was that she needed the distraction.

  “Beer.” He had moved to the small breakfast bar and taken a seat on one of the stools. She handed him a bottle of beer and took one for herself. Twisting off the top, she took a drink. It was icy cold and tasted good.

  Leaning against the kitchen counter, she studied the handsome cowboy. It was his eyes, she thought. She had remembered them because they were so unusual. Worn denim. Maybe also because there was kindness in those eyes that she would have recognized even as a child of five.

  “I’m sorry you got involved in this,” she said as she picked at the label on her bottle for a moment. When she looked up, she realized he’d been studying her.

  * * *

  “WHY DOES YOUR father think you need protecting?” Beau asked and watched her take another drink of her beer as if stalling. He understood she was holding out on him. He’d been in this business long enough to know the signs. DJ was running scared, but she was trying damned hard not to show it.

  “You say you met me years ago?” she finally asked. “Did you know anything about my family before that? Or after that?”

  He had removed his Stetson and tossed it on one of the other stools. Now he shrugged out of his coat, the same one he’d worn to the airport. He could see that this was going to take a while.

  “Are you going somewhere with these questions? Or just avoiding mine?” he asked after draping his coat over a stool. He locked gazes with her. “I have to wonder why you aren’t being straight with me. I hate getting myself killed without knowing why.”

  She looked chagrined as she put down her beer and turned to him. “I’m not sure what this has to do with anything, but before I left California, my apartment was broken into. The intruder left something for me.”

  He held his breath as he waited, imagining all kinds of nasty things.

  “It was a doll with a photo pinned to it.” She nodded as if she could tell that wasn’t what he’d expected. “I used to have a rag doll identical to it. It wasn’t a commercial doll. Someone had made it. Made two, apparently. Because as it turns out, this one wasn’t mine. But it is so much like mine...”

  “...that you wondered whose it had been.”

  She smiled. “Glad you’re following along.”

  “And the photo?”

  She reached into her shoulder bag and took out the doll and photo. She handed him the photo. “I don’t recognize any of them or have any idea who they might be. I asked my father, but...”

  “He said he didn’t know them.”

  “But from his expression when he saw the photo, he knows who they are. He suggested I get out of town.”

  Beau studied the photo. “You think you might be this baby?”

  “My father swore I wasn’t.”

  “But you don’t believe him.”

  She sighed. “I don’t know what to believe. For years he told me I had no family. A couple of days ago I find out about the Cardwells—and the Justices. My father was born here, apparently. His family disowned him after he married my mother. He wrote a few letters trying to get back into their good graces. He must even have come here if you and I met all those years ago.”

  “You think he was here trying to make amends?”

  “It doesn’t sound like making amends was the only reason my father came here. Otherwise I doubt we would have met.”

  Beau nodded as he picked up the doll she’d set on the breakfast bar. “I called your father after I saw you at the airport today.”

  That surprised her. She took a drink of her beer and seemed to be waiting for what was coming.

  “I told him that in order to protect you, I needed to know what I was protecting you from,” he said. “Your father swore that he didn’t know, but when I pressed him, he said it might have something to do with your mother’s family. He said they might have...found you.”

  She shuddered. “Found me?”

  “That’s what I said. Unfortunately he had to go before he could tell me anything further. I thought you might know why he would say that.”

  DJ stepped past him to move to the window that looked out over the ranch. As she drew back the curtain, he said, “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

  She let the curtain fall into place and turned to look at him. “You think this has something to do with my mother’s family? Why would they leave me the doll and the photo if they didn’t want me to know about them?”

  “Maybe they didn’t leave them. Maybe some well-meaning person did.” He shrugged. “I got the impression that your father thought you had something to fear from them.”

  She took an
other sip of her beer. “Well, that’s interesting, given that all my life he’s told me I didn’t have any family. Not just that,” she said as she walked back to the counter where she’d been leaning earlier. “I always felt growing up that we were running from something, someone. A few times it was one of my father’s...associates. But other times...”

  “You think it might have been your mother’s family?”

  She shrugged and toyed with the label on her beer again. He saw her eyes fill with tears. “That would be something, if the people I have to fear are...family.”

  “We don’t know that.” He got up, moved to her and took the nearly full bottle of beer from her. He set it aside. “You should get some rest.”

  He expected her to put up a fight, but instead she merely nodded. “It has been a long day.” Her gaze met his. He did his best not to look at her full mouth.

  Stepping away from her, he reached for his coat and hat.

  “As it turns out, my father had a girlfriend before he married my mother,” she said behind him. “Dana and I are going to visit a woman named Zinnia in the morning. I have a bad feeling he broke her heart. Still, I’m hoping she might be able to help me put another piece into the puzzle that is my father.”

  “I’m going, too, then.”

  “I told you. I release you from any promise you made my father years ago.”

  He nodded as he shrugged into his coat. “Just the same, I can go with you or follow you. Your choice.” Beau snugged his Stetson down over his blond hair. His boots echoed on the hardwood floor as he walked to the door, opened it and turned. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.” He tipped his hat to her.

  She opened her mouth, no doubt to argue the point, but he was out the door before she could speak. As he settled into the swing on the porch, he listened to her moving around inside the cabin and tried not to think of her in that big log bed he’d seen through the open bedroom doorway.

  * * *

  “STACY? DID I wake you?” Jimmy knocked over the bottle of whiskey, swore and grabbed it before most of it ended up in the motel carpet. “You still there?”

  “Jimmy?” she said sleepily.

  “James. I told you, I go by James now.” He took a drink and pushed aside his irritation at her. Tonight hadn’t gone as he’d planned, and he felt the clock ticking. Who knew what the pro was doing tonight, but getting into the ranch wouldn’t be easy for him—especially at night. There were hired hands, ranch dogs, lots of people living there. Unless they knew you... He told himself he still had the upper hand.

  “What do you want?” Stacy asked, sounding irritated with him now.

  He quieted his voice. “I was thinking about you. Thinking about old times. You and me.” He could almost feel her soften at his words. Whatever he had back then, he still had it—at least where Stacy was concerned.

  “So you decided to call me in the middle of the night?” She didn’t sound irritated anymore. Maybe she was a little touched by the gesture.

  “Yeah, sorry about that. I just couldn’t get you off my mind. I wanted to hear your voice.”

  “You didn’t say what you were doing in town. Are you living here now?”

  He’d been vague, letting her think he was looking for a job, a place to live, letting her think he might be staying. “We can talk about that sometime, but right now I want to talk about you.”

  “What about me?”

  “I still remember the way you felt in my arms.”

  “You do?”

  “Uh-huh. Do you remember...me?”

  She made an affirming sound.

  He could imagine her lying in bed. He wondered what she had on. Probably a flannel nightgown, but he could get that off her quick enough.

  “You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever known,” he said and took another sip of the whiskey. “You said you live on the ranch now. In one of those cabins on the mountainside that I can see from the road?”

  “Jim—James.”

  “I was thinking maybe—”

  “My daughter. Ella, I told you about her. She’s here in the cabin with me.”

  “I would be quiet as a mouse.” There was just enough hesitation that it gave him hope, but she quickly drowned that idea.

  “No. If that’s all you wanted, I really need to get some sleep.”

  He realized that he’d come on too strong. He cursed under his breath. “No, that’s not all I want. I shouldn’t have called tonight. But after seeing you... I want to take you out to a nice dinner. That is, if you’re free.”

  Silence, then, “When?”

  “Tomorrow night. I figure you’ll know a good place to go. Nothing cheap. I want to make up for this call.”

  “Okay.”

  He shot a fist into the air. “Great. I’ll pick you up. What time? And hey, I want to meet your daughter.” He’d almost forgotten about the kid again.

  “Sure,” she said, sounding pleased. “Tomorrow, say, six? My sister will babysit Ella.”

  “See if she’ll take her for the night, because I want to get you on a dance floor after dinner. I can’t wait to get you in my arms again.”

  Stacy laughed. “I’ve missed you.”

  He smiled to himself as he hung up and picked up the hunting knife from the bed. “Tomorrow night.” He would mix a little pleasure with business.

  Chapter Ten

  The next morning, just after sunrise, Dana found Beau on DJ’s porch. She handed him a mug of coffee and a key. “Go over to the cabin next door. I can stand guard if you think it’s necessary.”

  He smiled at her, glad to have Dana for a friend. “I don’t think you need to stand guard.” He figured DJ should be safe in broad daylight with so many people on the ranch. And he didn’t plan on being gone long.

  “Thanks for the coffee—and the key. But I think I’ll run home and get a shower and a change of clothing. DJ said the two of you are going to visit Zinnia Jameson. I’d like to come along.”

  “Fine with me. I’m glad you’re looking after her.” Her smile seemed to hold a tiny surprise. “She’s special, don’t you think?”

  He laughed. “You’re barking up the wrong tree. It isn’t like that.” He thought about the kiss and quickly shoved the memory away.

  “That’s what they all say—until love hits them like a ton of bricks.”

  Beau left, chuckling to himself. He’d heard that Dana Savage was one great matchmaker. She’d helped all five of her cousins find the loves of their lives. But she’d apparently failed with her older sister, Stacy, he thought.

  And she would fail with him.

  On the way home, Beau put in another call to the number Walter Justice had given him. A male voice answered just as before. He asked for Walter Justice.

  A moment later another male voice came on the line. The gravelly voice informed him that Walter couldn’t come to the phone.

  “I need to talk to him.”

  “Not sure if that is ever going to happen. He got shanked last night. They’ve taken him to the hospital.”

  “Is he going to be all right?”

  “Don’t know.” The line went dead.

  Beau held his phone for a few moments, listening to the silence on the other end. DJ’s father was in the hospital, possibly dying? There might never be any answers coming from that end.

  He pocketed his phone, telling himself that he needed to let DJ know. She said she didn’t care about her father, but having been through this with his own, he knew it wasn’t true. When the man was your father, no matter how much he screwed up, his loss...well, it hurt. He remembered feeling racked with guilt because he hadn’t kept in touch with his father. For years he’d wanted nothing to do with him.

  Ultimately it all came down to blood and a built-in love that came w
ith it.

  Reaching his house, he climbed out of his pickup, thinking about the Walter Justice he’d known years ago. He wondered how he’d aged since he’d been in prison. He doubted he’d changed, which could explain why he was in the hospital now.

  Beau swore under his breath. He didn’t know what to do. He had to keep DJ safe. It was a debt that he wouldn’t renege on—even if Walter didn’t survive. He wasn’t the kind of man who went back on his word. But he also knew there was more to it. He kept thinking about that brown-eyed little girl and the woman she’d become.

  He would tell her about her father. But not until after their visit to Zinnia Jameson’s house. He wasn’t sure how she would take the news. Maybe there was no connection between what had happened to her father and whatever Walter feared might happen to his daughter.

  Either way, Beau was even more concerned for her safety.

  * * *

  ANDREI SNIFFED THE WIND, waiting for a sign. He clung to the utility pole, careful not to attract any undue attention.

  This job had turned out to be harder than he’d thought. For some reason Dee Anna had picked up an overprotective cowboy. Because of that, he was having trouble getting the right shot.

  That alone should have made him quit the job.

  But his birthday was coming, and he’d planned this for too long. His last hit. He would feel incomplete if he didn’t finish. Also, he never quit a job once he’d flipped the coin and it had come up heads. It felt like a bad idea to do it now. He never liked to test luck.

  So he would finish it and celebrate his birthday as he hung up his gun.

  All he had to do was kill Dee Anna Justice. But not today, he thought as he sniffed the wind again. She and the cowboy had to feel safe. Then they would make the mistake of letting him get a clean shot. He would bide his time.

  * * *

  “THIS COULDN’T WAIT until a decent time of the day?” attorney Roger Douglas demanded as he joined Marietta in the library. He stepped to the table where Ester had put out coffee and mini citrus muffins. He poured himself a cup and took two muffins on a small plate before sitting down.