Cardwell Ranch Trespasser

chapter Sixteen

The ride to the airport outside of Bozeman was the longest one of Colt’s life. He called ahead and asked that Dee Anna Justice be detained, but he was told that she’d already gone through security. Two airport officials were looking for her, but so far they hadn’t found anyone matching the description he’d given them.

Camilla’s plane was scheduled to board within twenty minutes.

“Don’t let her get on that plane,” Colt ordered. “Hold her there until I get there. Consider her armed and dangerous.”

“Armed? She just went through security. I’m sure if she was—”

“You don’t know this woman. She’s dangerous. Have your officers approach her with extreme caution.”

He was just outside of Belgrade when Hud called.

“I’m on my way to the airport,” Hud said. “Make sure that woman doesn’t get away, Deputy.”

“I’m doing my best,” Colt said. “But I’m on suspension.”

“Your suspension was lifted hours ago,” Hud said. “About the time you saved my wife’s life. We’ll talk about that later. Where are you?”

Colt told him he was turning onto the airport road. He was only minutes away from confronting Camilla Northland.

* * *

DEE LOOKED INTO the women’s restroom mirror, appraising herself. She’d brushed out her hair. Since it was naturally curly, it flowed around her head like a dark halo.

She’d applied makeup, especially eye shadow, mascara and blush, sculpting her face. It amazed her how different she looked from the woman who’d been staying at Cardwell Ranch.

As she studied herself in the mirror, she liked what she saw. She’d been able to cover most of the damage she’d done to herself. But maybe when she got wherever she was going, she’d change her hair. Something short and blond. Yes, she liked that idea. A whole new her.

That thought made her laugh. When she’d first left Oklahoma, she’d believed in her heart that she could put the past behind her, become whoever and whatever she wanted.

She hadn’t realized then how deep the past had embedded itself in her. It ate at her like a parasite, a constant reminder that she was broken and while she might be able to put back the pieces, she would never be whole.

One of the female security guards stuck her head in the restroom door. Camilla saw her out of the corner of her eye but continued to carefully apply another coat of bright red lipstick.

“Excuse me,” the woman said. “We’re checking boarding passes. May I see yours?”

“Of course,” Camilla said. She took her time putting the lipstick back into her purse. “Here it is.”

The woman started to take it, her attention on the slip of paper. More important the name on the paper. No Dee Anna Justice but Amy Matthews.

Dee Anna’s boarding pass was buried at the botton of the trash container.

The security officer looked from the boarding pass to Camilla, then handed the paper back. “Have a nice flight, Ms. Matthews. I believe your flight is boarding now,” the woman said.

“Thank you.” Camilla walked out and got into line for the flight to Seattle. In a few minutes she would be on board.

She had hoped to catch an earlier flight, but it hadn’t worked out. Fortunately, she’d planned for this, making several flights in three different names. One in the name of Dee Anna Justice to New York. Another as Amy Matthews to Seattle. And a third flight earlier that day to Las Vegas under the name Patricia Barnes.

Like Rick, she had three different identities ready. She’d just been smart enough not to get caught with them on her, though.

She’d missed the flight to Vegas by only minutes. Finishing up her business at the ranch had taken longer than she’d hoped.

Not that it mattered now. Within minutes she would be on her way to Seattle. No one was looking for Amy Matthews.

She figured Hud must have come home sooner than expected. Or that deputy, Colt Dawson, had showed up. Either way, it would be too late.

It wasn’t as if she’d thought for a moment they wouldn’t suspect her given everything that had happened. But they had no proof.

Anyway, she would be long gone before they could get to the airport. Even if they should somehow track her down, they still couldn’t do anything except get her for using an alias. Or yes, and pretending to be Dee Anna Justice.

She’d cried her way out of more of those situations than she could remember. If tears didn’t work, then her life story definitely did. Of course she was messed up. Imagine living your life with such suspicions hanging over you.

It had worked every other time. It would now, too, because without proof, they couldn’t touch her. With Dana, Hilde and the kids gone...

She left the restroom and walked to her gate. The woman taking her boarding pass told her to hurry, her flight was about to leave.

She hurried down the ramp and into the plane just moments before the flight attendant was about to shut the door. She’d timed it close, but she hadn’t wanted to risk sitting at the gate in case anyone she knew was looking for her.

As she slipped into her first-class seat next to a businessman in a nice suit, she told herself her luck might be changing.

“Hello,” she said and extended her hand. “I’m Amy Matthews.”

“Clark Evans.”

The flight attendant asked her what she would like to drink.

“I’d love a vodka Collins,” she said. “I’m celebrating. Today’s my birthday. Join me?” she asked the business executive, taking in his gold cuff links, the cut of his suit and the expensive wristwatch.

“How can I say no?” he said, already flirting with her.

“Yes, how can you?” she asked, flirting back. “I have a feeling that this could be a very interesting flight.”

* * *

COLT RAN INTO the airport. The head of security met him the moment he came through the door.

“Dee Anna Justice hasn’t checked in for her flight. It was supposed to leave ten minutes ago,” the man told him. “We’ve held it as long as we can. So far, she’s a no-show.”

“Dee Anna Justice definitely isn’t on the flight? You checked all the passengers?”

“No one matching her description is on the flight, and everyone is accounted for,” he assured Colt.

Colt had been so sure she would make her flight. As gutsy as the woman was and as bulletproof as she’d been, she would think she had nothing to fear.

She’d already gone through security, so she’d been here. But that didn’t mean she didn’t change her mind and leave.

Maybe she was running scared, though he highly doubted it. Camilla had an arrogance born of getting away with murder.

“What other flights have left in the last hour?” he asked.

“Only one, but it’s to Seattle. The plane is taxiing down the runway right now.”

“Stop that plane.”

“I’m not sure—”

“This woman just tried to kill six people, four of them children, by burning them alive. Stop the plane. Now.”

* * *

CAMILLA WAS SIPPING her drink, smiling at her companion, when the pilot announced they would be returning to the terminal because of an instrument malfunction.

She looked past the man next to her out his window. Sunlight ricocheted off the windows of the terminal, reminding her of the day she’d flown in here. If she’d gone fishing on the Yellowstone River with Lance...

Still, even though she knew there was nothing wrong with the instruments, she wasn’t worried. The barn had been burning so quickly, the boards locking the doors would be 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 her flirting with him.

She looked away for a moment, and Colt felt his heart drop. He now knew what extremes this woman would go to and feared for the real Dee Anna Justice.

“She’s in Spain visiting some friend of hers. Her mother, Marietta, probably knows how to contact her.”

“Marietta’s family is from Spain?”

“Italy.” Camilla smiled. “No one told you that Dee Anna is half-Italian?” She laughed. “Dana asked me why her grandparents disinherited their son. He married a foreigner. Apparently a woman who spoke Italian and wanted to live in the big city wasn’t what they wanted for their son. But you’d have to ask Dee Anna if that is really why they disinherited him.” She shrugged. “Dee Anna and I were never close. She was a lot like Hilde. For some reason, she didn’t like me.” Camilla laughed at that. “I’ll take that lawyer now.”





Epilogue

Hilde held it all together until a few weeks after Camilla’s arrest. Suddenly she was bombarded with so many emotions that she finally let herself cry as the ramifications of what had happened—and what had almost happened—finally hit her.

Over it all was a prevailing sadness. She and Dana were trying to repair their relationship, but Hilde knew it would take time—and never be the same. She felt as if someone had died and that made her all the sadder.

“Hilde, can you ever forgive me?” Dana had cried that day, as they’d watched the rest of the barn burn from the back of the ambulance. “I should have listened to you. I’m so sorry. I’m just so sorry.”

“There is nothing to forgive,” she’d told Dana, as they’d hugged. But in her heart, she knew that something was broken. Only time would tell if it could be fixed.

Hud was going through something even worse, Colt had told her. He blamed himself for not seeing what was right in front of his eyes.

“I was just so happy that Dana was enjoying her cousin, I made excuses for Dee’s behavior just like Dana did. I didn’t want to see it,” he kept saying. “I almost lost my family because of it. And what I did to Hilde—”

She’d told him and Dana both that she understood. Camilla had been too good at hiding her true self. Hilde didn’t blame them. But a part of her was disappointed in them that they hadn’t believed her—the friend they’d both known for years. That was going to be the hard part to repair in the friendship.

Colt was wonderful throughout it all. He’d saved her life and Dana’s. Neither of them would ever forget that.

Hilde, who’d always thought of herself as strong, had leaned on him, needing his quiet strength to see her through. Both she and Dana had recovered from the smoke inhalation. It was the trauma of being trapped in a burning barn with a psychopath trying to kill them that had residual effects.

Jordan and Liza had a housewarming a few months after everything settled down. Their new home was beautiful, and Hilde could see the pride they shared with all the work they’d done themselves. Hilde gave them a quilt as a housewarming present.

“I’d like to take your beginner quilting class,” Liza said, making both Hilde and Dana look at her in surprise. She was a tomboy like Dana and had never sewn a thing in her life.

Liza grinned and looked over at Jordan, who nodded. “We’re going to have a baby! I want to make her a baby quilt.”

Cheers went up all around, and Hilde said she would be delighted to teach her to quilt, and she also had some adorable baby quilt patterns for girls.

“Stop by the shop and I’ll show you,” she said.

* * *

AT THE PARTY, Dana told Hilde that she’d called Marietta Justice, only to receive a return call from the woman’s assistant confirming that the real Dee Anna Justice was alive and well in Spain traveling with friends.

Hilde could tell that Dana had been disappointed the woman hadn’t even bothered to talk to her herself. But fortunately, Dana hadn’t taken it any further. Whatever was going on in that part of the Justice family, it would remain a mystery.

At least for now, since Hilde knew her friend too well. Dana had a cousin she’d never met. Maybe more than one. She wouldn’t forget about the very real and mysterious Dee Anna Justice and family. One of these days, Dana wouldn’t be able to help herself and she would contact her cousin.

Hilde hated to think what might happen—but then again, she wasn’t as trusting as Dana, was she?

The party was fun, even though things were still awkward between all of them.

* * *

“THEY’LL GET BETTER,” Colt promised her. “You and the Savages were too good of friends before this happened. Right now everyone is a little bruised and battered, especially you. I can see how badly they both feel when they’re around you.”

That was what was making things so awkward. They wore their regrets on their sleeves.

“Are you still worried about Hud?” she asked him on their way back to her house.

“He’s really beating himself up. I think he’s questioning whether he should remain marshal. He’s afraid he can’t trust his judgment.”

“That’s crazy. He’s a great marshal.”

“He let a psychopath not only live with them, but also take his children for a walk the morning of the fire.”

“He didn’t know she was a psychopath.”

“Yeah. I think that’s the point. He overlooked so much because he wanted Dana to have a good time with her cousin. You told me how excited she was about finding a cousin she’d never met.”

Hilde nodded. “They both tried to make the woman he thought was Dee Anna Justice fit into their family. Dana was at odds with her siblings for years, so I understand her need for family.”

Colt looked over at her. “What about you?”

“Me?”

“How do you feel about a large family?”

She laughed. “As an only child, I’ve always yearned for one.”

“Good,” he said with a smile. “Because I have a large family up north, and they’re all anxious to meet you.”

She looked at him. “You want me to meet your family?”

He slowed the truck, stopping on a small rise. In the distance, Lone Mountain was silhouetted against Montana’s Big Sky. Stars glittered over it. A cool breeze came in through his open window, smelling of the river and the dense pines. The summer night was perfect.

Colt cut the engine and turned toward her. “I can’t wait for my family to meet you. I’m just hoping I can introduce you as my fiancée.”

Hilde caught her breath as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black jewelry box.

“Hilde Jacobson? Will you marry me?” He opened the box, and the perfect emerald-cut diamond caught in the starlight.

For a moment she couldn’t speak. So much had happened, and yet they’d all come out of the ashes alive with their futures ahead of them.

“I know this is sudden, but we can have a long engagement if that’s what you want,” Colt added when she didn’t answer him.

She shook her head. She’d always been a woman who never acted impulsively. Until recently. She believed in taking her time on any decision she made. Especially the huge ones.

But if she’d learned anything from all this, it was that she had to follow her instincts—and her heart. “I would love to marry you, Colt Dawson. I can’t wait to be your bride.”

He let out a relieved laugh and slipped the ring on her finger. It fit perfectly. As he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, Lone Mountain glowed in the starlight.

“I was so hoping you would say that,” he whispered.

Wrapped in his arms, she knew whatever the future held, they would face it together. Time and love were powerful healers. With Colt by her side, she could do anything, she thought, as her heart filled to overflowing.

* * * *