CHRISTMAS AT THE CARDWELL RANCH by B.J. Daniels Read Free Book Online Page A

point, he saw Hud point back up into the mountains—in the direction where Tag had found the dead woman’s body. Then he saw his father pull out an envelope and hand it to the marshal. Hud looked angry and resisted taking it for a moment, but then quickly stuffed it under his jacket, looking around as if worried they had been seen.
    Tag couldn’t breathe. He told himself he couldn’t have seen what he thought he had. His imagination was running wild. Had that been some kind of payoff?
    A few minutes later, his father climbed back into his SUV and headed out of the ranch.
    Tag hurriedly turned around and left, his mind racing. What had that been about? There was no doubt in his mind it had something to do with the dead woman his father had denied knowing.
    * * *
    D ANA STARED AT the Christmas tree, fighting tears.
    “It’s not that ugly,” her sister, Stacy, said from the couch.
    Last night, Dana, her husband and her two oldest children had decorated it. It hadn’t taken long, since the poor tree had very few limbs. Hud had just stared at it and sighed. Mary, five, and Hank, six, had declared it beautiful.
    Never a crier except when she was pregnant and her hormones were raging, Dana burst into tears. Her sister got up, put an arm around her and walked her over to the couch to sit down next to her.
    “Is it postpartum depression?” Stacy asked.
    She shook her head. “It’s Hud. I’m afraid for him.”
    “You knew he was a marshal when you married him,” her sister pointed out, looking confused.
    “He’s talking about quitting.”
    Stacy blinked in surprise. “He loves being a marshal.”
    “ Loved. After what happened here on the ranch last spring, he doesn’t think he has what it takes anymore.”
    “That’s ridiculous.” A woman pretending to be their cousin had turned out to be a psychopathic con artist. “Camilla fooled us all.”
    Dana sniffed. “Not Hilde.” Her sister handed her a tissue. Hilde had tried to warn her, but she’d thought her best friend was just being jealous and hadn’t taken her worries seriously. Not taking Hilde’s warnings seriously had almost gotten them killed.
    “Hilde’s forgiven you, right?” Stacy asked as Dana wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
    “Kind of. I mean, she says she has. But, Stacy, I took some stranger’s word over my best friend’s, who is also my business partner and godmother to one of my children!”
    “You and Hud both need to let this go. Camilla is locked up in the women’s state prison in Billings, right? With six counts of attempted murder, she won’t get out until she’s ninety.”
    “What if she pretends to be reformed and gets out on good behavior? Or worse, escapes? We’re only a few hours away.”
    “You can’t really think she’s going to escape.”
    “If anyone can, it’s her. Within a week, I’ll bet she was eating her meals with the warden. You know how she is.”
    “Dana, you’re making her into the bogeyman. She’s just a sick woman with a lot of scars.”
    Dana looked at Stacy. Her older sister had her own scars from bad marriages, worse relationships and some really horrible choices she’d made. But since she’d had her daughter, Ella, Stacy had truly changed.
    “I’m so glad you’re in my life again,” Dana said to her sister, and hugged Stacy hard.
    “Me, too.” Stacy frowned. “You have to let what happened go.”
    Dana nodded, but she knew that was easier said than done. “I have nightmares about her. I think Hud does, too. I can’t shake the feeling that Camilla isn’t out of our lives.”
    * * *
    C AMILLA N ORTHLAND WAS surprised how easy it was for her to adapt to prison. She spent her days working out in the prison weight room, and after a month of hitting it hard, figured she was in the best shape of her life.
    She’d tuned in to how things went in prison right away. It reminded her of high school. That was why she picked the biggest, meanest woman she could find, went up to her and punched