Cardwell Ranch Trespasser - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,37
coffee somewhere,” she said when Stacy answered. Dee had gotten her number from the little book Dana kept by the downstairs phone. She’d gotten Hilde’s cell phone number out of the book as well.
“Coffee, huh?” Stacy asked.
“Okay, you found me out. I do have some questions about the family.”
Stacy laughed. “So you called me. Sure, I know where all the bodies are buried. Do you know where the Greasy Spoon is, off Main Street?”
“No, but I can find it. Ten minutes?”
“I’ll have to bring the kids, but they have a play area at the café.”
Dee was waiting when Stacy came in with two toddlers: Ella, who she said was now over a year old, and Ralph, the two-year-old she babysat. Stacy deposited the two kids in the play area and came back to sit down with Dee. She could watch the children from where they sat.
“Who names their kid Ralph?” Dee asked.
Stacy shrugged and helped herself to the coffee and mini-turnovers Dee had ordered for them. “Named after his wealthy grandfather.”
“Then I can see why they love the name,” she said and laughed. “I hope I’m not putting you on the spot.”
Stacy’s laugh was more cutting. “You want to know about me and Dana and Hud, right?”
Dee lifted a brow before she could stop herself. “You and Hud?”
“Dana didn’t tell you?”
She lied. “She hinted at something, but I never thought—”
“To make a long story short, Hud and Dana were engaged. I was strapped for money, and truthfully, I was always jealous of Dana. Someone offered me money to drug Hud and get him into my bed so Dana would find him there. It was during a really stupid part of my life. Thankfully my sister forgave me, but it split Hud and Dana up for five years—until the truth came out.”
“Wow.” Dee hadn’t expected this. “Dana mentioned a rift with you and her brothers after your mother died?”
Stacy’s laugh held no humor. “We were all desperate for money. Or at least we thought we were. So we wanted to sell off the ranch and split the money. Since our mother’s old will divided the ranch between us...”
“But then the new will turned up.”
Stacy nodded. “We treated Dana really badly. Family had always meant so much to her... It broke her heart when we turned against her. I will never forgive myself.”
“Families are like that sometimes,” she said, thinking of her own. “I’m just so glad that Dana found me and I get to be part of yours. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.”
“Okay, now tell me the big secret with your side of the family.” Stacy helped herself to another mini-turnover. “Dana said the family disinherited your father, Walter, because they didn’t like who he married? There has to be more to it.”
Dee had known Stacy might be more outspoken than her sister. She was a little taken aback by how much. Also, the real Dee Anna Justice had never told her about her father, so Dee was in the dark here.
“I had no idea I had other family,” she said. “My father led me to believe my grandparents were dead. Clearly he’d never been close to them.”
“And your mother?”
“She’s a socialite and philanthropist.”
“What?” Stacy cried. “She’s not a tramp?”
“Far from it. The woman was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, can trace her ancestry to the Mayflower and has more money than she knows what to do with.” Dee was offended the family had thought Dee Anna’s mother was a skank, even though it wasn’t her mother and she didn’t like Marietta Justice. The woman was an uptight snob, colder than the marble entry at her mansion. But thanks to her, Dee would be getting her daughter’s trust fund check soon.
“So why did the Montana Justice family disinherit his son for marrying wealth?” Stacy asked. “That makes no sense.”
No, it didn’t. As Stacy said, there had to be more to the story. Dee could only guess. “It’s a mystery, isn’t it?”
* * *
COLT COULDN’T WAIT to get back to Big Sky. He’d been anxious all day and having trouble concentrating on his investigation. It wasn’t like him. He took his job seriously. Just like Hilde.
When he’d finally gotten a chance, he’d called Needles and Pins. The phone rang four times and went to voice mail. He doubted she was so busy waiting on a customer that she couldn’t answer the phone.
So he waited ten minutes and tried again. Still no answer. He’d never