Cardwell Ranch Trespasser - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,66
ashes—all evidence gone.
Even the spilled fuel oil she’d used to get the barn burning fast would look like nothing more than an accident—at first. She’d started the fire with several candles she’d found in the back of Hilde’s sewing shop, complete with the cute little quilted mats that went with them.
Everyone knew that Hilde had been losing her mind lately. But to do something this horrible because Dana turned against her? It was almost unthinkable—unless her behavior had been so out of character lately that everyone feared she was having a nervous breakdown. But taking her own life and her friend’s along with Dana’s four children? This story would make headlines across the country.
The plane taxied back to the small terminal. It wasn’t but a few minutes after she’d heard the door being opened that Deputy Colt Dawson appeared.
She turned to the man next to her and asked him a question. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Colt start to move through the plane. He was almost past her when he stopped and took a step back until he was right at her elbow. “Camilla,” he said.
She looked up at him, frowned and said, “I’m sorry. You’re mistaken. My name is Amy Matthews.”
“Miss...Matthews. I’d like you to come with me. Now,” he said when she hesitated. “You won’t be taking this flight today.”
She sighed and, picking up her bag, got to her feet. “We’ll have to celebrate another time,” she told the businessman. Colt took her bag from her and quickly frisked her, which made her smile as if she was amused.
“I never noticed how cute you are,” she said, as he escorted her off the plane to four waiting security guards. He insisted on cuffing her once she was out of sight of the passengers.
“Is that really necessary?” she asked. “What is this about, anyway? So I didn’t use my real name. I have an old boyfriend who I don’t want to find me. So sue me.”
“This is about the attempted murder of six individuals, four of them children.” Colt appeared to be fighting to keep his emotions in check.
Camilla was silent for a moment, then she frowned and said, “Attempted?”
“That’s right. They’re all alive. Hilde and Dana will be testifying against you in court.”
Camilla let out a little laugh. “I suppose you’re the one I should thank for this?”
“Be my guest,” Colt said, as he led her up the ramp. They were almost to the boarding area when Marshal Hud Savage appeared.
Colt felt Camilla tense. They all did at the look in the marshal’s eyes. Colt knew exactly how he felt. In the old West she would have been strung up from the nearest tree.
But this wasn’t the old West, and he and Hud didn’t mete out justice. All they could do was hope and pray that this woman never saw the outside of a cell for the rest of her life.
* * *
ONCE AT THE law enforcement center, Camilla Northland’s story was that she’d left the ranch right after Hilde arrived. Dana was with the kids on the front porch as she drove away and had asked Hilde if she wanted to go on a walk with them. That was the last she said that she saw of them.
She’d seemed surprised that Dana and Hilde had told another story. “I don’t know why they would lie, except that Hilde has been telling lies about me ever since I came to Montana, and Dana must be confused.”
“It’s over, Camilla,” Colt said, as they all sat in the interrogation room. He tossed the photo of her as a teenager on the table. “Your aunt told me everything. She said she would fly up here if need be.”
She stared at the photo of herself and her brother. When she looked up, she suddenly looked tired—and almost relieved.
“It would appear I’m going to need a lawyer,” she said.
“Just tell me this. How was it that you ended up here pretending to be Dee Anna Justice?”
For a moment, she didn’t look as if she would answer. “Dee Anna was my roommate in New York City for a while,” she said with a shrug. “The letter came after she’d moved out.”
“And you decided to take her identity?”
“I’d never been to Montana,” she said. “I liked the idea of having a cousin I’d never met.” She looked unapologetic as her gaze locked with Hud’s. “And I’d never met a real cowboy.”
“Where is Dee Anna Justice?” Hud demanded, clearly not amused by