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followed him to the marshal’s office. Once in the office he got his first good look at his brother-in-law. Jordan had been only two years ahead of Hud in school, three years ahead of his sister Dana. His brother-in-law had aged, but it hadn’t hurt Jordan’s looks. If anything the years seemed to have given him character, or at least the appearance of it.
    “Why don’t you have a seat and start at the beginning?” Hud said dropping into his chair behind his desk.
    “I thought Liza was handling this case?”
    “ Liza? You mean Deputy Marshal Turner?” He shouldn’t have been surprised Jordan was on a first-name basis with the deputy. He, of all people, understood the charm of the Justice-Cardwell genes. Dana could wrap him around her little finger and did.
    “Don’t think just because she’s a woman that she isn’t a damned good marshal,” Hud said to his brother-in-law. “She’s sharp and she’ll nail you to the wall if you’re guilty.”
    “If you have so much confidence in her abilities, then why are you here?”
    Hud gritted his teeth. Jordan had always been difficult. At least that hadn’t changed. “Several reasons. None of which I have to explain to you. But—” He held up a hand before Jordan could speak. “I will because I want us to have an understanding.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “One, I’m still the marshal here. Two, Liza has her hands full up at the site. Three, I want to know what happened on that mountain. And four, your sister is my wife. I don’t want her hurt.”
    With a smile and a nod, Jordan ambled over to a chair and sat. “Dana doesn’t have anything to worry about. Neither she nor the ranch is why I’m back in the canyon.”
    “Why are you here?” Hud asked, snapping on the recording machine.
    “It doesn’t have anything to do with family.”
    “But it does have something to do with Alex Winslow.”
    “Alex was a good friend from high school. I didn’t kill him.” Jordan sighed and looked at the ceiling for a moment.
    Hud noticed that he was no longer wearing a wedding ring. He vaguely remembered Dana mentioning that she’d heard Jordan was divorced from his ex-model wife, Jill. The marriage had probably ended when Jordan didn’t get the proceeds from the sale of the ranch.
    “If Alex was your friend, I would think you’d be interested in helping us find his killer,” Hud said. “Not to mention you’re neck deep in this. Right now, you’re the number one suspect.”
    Jordan laughed. “Does that work on most of your suspects?” He shook his head. “I came back because Alex called me. He hinted that he might know something about Tanner’s suicide but it was clear he didn’t want to talk about it on the phone. He said he’d share his theory with me if I came to our twenty-year high school reunion. The next time I talked to him, he sounded scared and wanted to meet at the falls. That’s it.”
    That was a lot. Hud wasn’t sure how much of it he believed. But at least he had some idea of what might have brought Jordan back to town—and it wasn’t family.
    “Tanner Cole committed suicide when the two of you were seniors in high school. Why would that bring you back here after all these years?”
    “When your best friend commits suicide, you never stop thinking you could have done something to stop him. You need to know why he did it.”
    “Unless that person leaves a note, you never know. Tanner didn’t leave a note, as I recall.”
    Jordan shook his head.
    “Did you talk to Alex before he was shot?”
    “As I told your deputy, I heard the shot, he stumbled toward me, there was another shot and he went down. All he said was the word Shelby. At least that’s what I thought he said.” Jordan shrugged. “That was it.”
    Hud studied him openly for a moment. “Maybe the bullets were meant for you and the killer missed.”
    Jordan sighed. “What are you insinuating?”
    “That maybe Tanner didn’t commit suicide. Weren’t you the