Cardwell Ranch Trespasser - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,33
three different names. We sent his fingerprints to the crime lab in Missoula and we’re waiting to see if we get a hit. Right now, we don’t know who the guy is.”
Hilde felt her heart take off at a gallop. “So there is more to the story. Just like there has got to be with Dee.”
“It sure looks that way.”
“We have to get her fingerprints.”
“Hilde, promise me you won’t do anything while I’m in West. You know how dangerous she is. Also...”
She heard him hesitate. “What?”
“She’s gone into Bozeman today to do some shopping. She stopped by the office to ask Hud where there was a good place to have lunch. When she heard he’s going to be testifying in a trial down there this afternoon, she talked him into having lunch with her.”
Hilde never swore so she was as shocked as anyone when a cuss word escaped her mouth. “Even after I told Hud she was after him?”
“You had to be there,” Colt said. “She’s playing Rick’s death to the hilt. She said she needs someone to talk to and has questions that only Hud can answer.... You get the idea.”
Unfortunately she did. “We have to get her fingerprints soon.”
“I promise you we will. Just be patient. I’ll be back tonight. I was wondering if we could have dinner?”
Was he asking her on a date? Or was he just worried about her? “I’d like that.”
He sounded relieved. “Good. I could pick you up by seven. I thought we’d go up to Mountain Village, get away for a while.”
She felt a shiver of excitement race through her. “I look forward to it.” She hung up feeling like a schoolgirl. It was all she could do not to dance around the shop.
Hilde might have let herself go and danced, but the bell over the door jangled and she turned to see Dana’s cousin step inside. As Dee entered, she flipped the sign from Open to Closed and locked the door before turning to face Hilde.
* * *
“DON’T MAKE A fool of yourself,” Dee snapped, as she saw Hilde fumble for her cell phone. Hilde looked so much like a deer in the headlights that Dee had to laugh. “What are you going to tell the marshal? That I came into your shop to try to kill you again? Really, Hilde. You must realize how tiresome you’ve become.”
“Don’t come any closer,” Hilde said, holding up the phone.
“You’re wasting your time. Hud is in Bozeman, Colt is on his way to West Yellowstone—and what’s that other deputy’s name?”
“Liza.”
“Right. She just got a call and is headed up the mountain. By the time any of them get here, I will have unlocked the door and left you safe and as sound as you can be under the circumstances and you’ll only look all the more foolish.”
“What do you want?” Hilde demanded. But she lowered the cell phone as she stepped behind the counter.
Dee couldn’t help being amused as Hilde snatched up a pair of deadly-looking scissors from behind the counter. “You aren’t going to use those. Even if you had it in you, everyone would just assume you went off the deep end. You’ve been teetering on the brink for several days now.”
“What. Do. You. Want?” Hilde repeated.
Dee had to hand it to the woman. She was tougher than she looked. “I want you to leave me alone.”
“Don’t you mean you want me to leave Dana alone?”
“Just let me enjoy this vacation with my family.”
“Are they really your family? Rick didn’t seem to think so.”
Finally. She’d known Rick had shot off his mouth on the phone with Hilde. She’d just needed to know what he’d told her, and apparently Hilde was more than ready to tell anyone who’d listen.
“Rick was on drugs.”
“How convenient,” Hilde snapped. “He was going to tell me all about you and I have a feeling he knew plenty.”
“But ten thousand dollars’ worth?” Dee shook her head as she moved closer to the counter and Hilde.
“Dana told you about that?” Hilde didn’t sound so sure of herself suddenly.
“She told me everything—how you were convinced that I’d killed Rick—and right before you were finally going to learn all my deep, dark secrets. How frustrating that must have been for you.”
Hilde brandished the scissors. “You really don’t want to come any closer.”
Dee smiled, but stopped moving. “So if I’m not Dee Anna Justice, then who did Rick say I was?” She saw the answer at once on Hilde’s face. The woman wasn’t good