Read Online CHRISTMAS AT THE CARDWELL RANCH by B.J. Daniels - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: B.J. Daniels
Tags: ROMANCE - - SUSPENSE
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McCabe. “Probably after New Year’s.”
“Hope you solve the mystery of the thumb drive,” Jackson said with a laugh.
“I’m sure it’s nothing.” He thought of Mia and his father. He hoped to hell it was nothing.
* * *
L ILY PUT THE thumb drive into her laptop the moment she got to her house. The house was small by Big Sky standards—only three bedrooms, three baths, a restaurant-quality kitchen, a large formal dining room and an open living room with a high-beamed ceiling.
The structure sat back into the trees against the mountainside and had a large deck at the front with a nice porch area next to the driveway and garage. She’d chosen simple furnishings, a leather couch in butterscotch, her mother’s old wooden rocker, a couple of club chairs with antique quilts thrown over them.
The dining room table was large, the chairs comfortable. It was right off the kitchen and living room. That was where she kept her computer because she liked the view. She was high enough on the mountain that she could look out through the large windows at the front of the house and see one of the many ski hills and the mountains beyond. It felt as if she could see forever.
The moment she inserted the flash drive, the letters came up again on the screen. It looked like a foreign language, one with a lot of hard vowels.
She knew she didn’t want the letters to be random and that she was going to be disappointed if Tag was right and they were just gibberish typed in by a child.
But as she pulled up a chair, she thought about Mia. What if she was the one who’d put this thumb drive in Tag’s jacket pocket—just as her imaginative mind had suggested? He’d said that Mia could barely stand up she was so drunk. Or drugged. What if she’d needed to get rid of the thumb drive?
Her heart began to beat a little faster as she thought of Mia’s condo. Was the thumb drive what the person had been looking for? She knew she was letting her imagination run wild and it wasn’t like her.
Her earlier thoughts of Tag Cardwell as a cowboy spy was to blame, she told herself. And yet this could be the stuff of secret-agent novels. A spy who’s been compromised and has to ditch the goods, an encrypted message and a mathematician who gets involved in solving the mystery.
And gets herself killed, she thought with wry humor.
But she couldn’t help studying the letters. She knew a little about codes because they involved math and because she’d played around with them as a girl, sending “secret” coded messages to her friends about the boys she liked. Her friends struggled with the deciphering and tired of them quickly.
It had been years, but she remembered some of the basics. She began to play with the letters, noticing there were eighteen W s and sixteen A s.
The most common letters in the English language were E, T and A . So if these were English words, then W and A were probably one of those more frequently used letters. Though by the position of the A letters, they represented something other than A, she thought.
Her cell phone rang, making her jump. She was surprised to hear Tag’s voice.
“I talked to my brother. He says the thumb drive didn’t come from Ford.”
“Really?” She was already pretty sure of that anyway, but she did like the sound of his voice. He had a wonderful Texas accent.
“I’m sure there’s another explanation,” he said.
She was, too.
“I’d better go. Just wanted to let you know.” He seemed to hesitate.
She felt her heart beat kick up even against her will.
“Okay,” he said.
“Thanks for letting me know. Maybe I’ll talk to you later.”
“Yeah.”
She hung up, a little disappointed he hadn’t asked her out—if that was what he’d been about to do earlier—but now all the more determined as she studied the letters again. Codes often involved simple addition or subtraction. She should be able to break this one by trial and error, but it would take time.
If it really was
“Hope you solve the mystery of the thumb drive,” Jackson said with a laugh.
“I’m sure it’s nothing.” He thought of Mia and his father. He hoped to hell it was nothing.
* * *
L ILY PUT THE thumb drive into her laptop the moment she got to her house. The house was small by Big Sky standards—only three bedrooms, three baths, a restaurant-quality kitchen, a large formal dining room and an open living room with a high-beamed ceiling.
The structure sat back into the trees against the mountainside and had a large deck at the front with a nice porch area next to the driveway and garage. She’d chosen simple furnishings, a leather couch in butterscotch, her mother’s old wooden rocker, a couple of club chairs with antique quilts thrown over them.
The dining room table was large, the chairs comfortable. It was right off the kitchen and living room. That was where she kept her computer because she liked the view. She was high enough on the mountain that she could look out through the large windows at the front of the house and see one of the many ski hills and the mountains beyond. It felt as if she could see forever.
The moment she inserted the flash drive, the letters came up again on the screen. It looked like a foreign language, one with a lot of hard vowels.
She knew she didn’t want the letters to be random and that she was going to be disappointed if Tag was right and they were just gibberish typed in by a child.
But as she pulled up a chair, she thought about Mia. What if she was the one who’d put this thumb drive in Tag’s jacket pocket—just as her imaginative mind had suggested? He’d said that Mia could barely stand up she was so drunk. Or drugged. What if she’d needed to get rid of the thumb drive?
Her heart began to beat a little faster as she thought of Mia’s condo. Was the thumb drive what the person had been looking for? She knew she was letting her imagination run wild and it wasn’t like her.
Her earlier thoughts of Tag Cardwell as a cowboy spy was to blame, she told herself. And yet this could be the stuff of secret-agent novels. A spy who’s been compromised and has to ditch the goods, an encrypted message and a mathematician who gets involved in solving the mystery.
And gets herself killed, she thought with wry humor.
But she couldn’t help studying the letters. She knew a little about codes because they involved math and because she’d played around with them as a girl, sending “secret” coded messages to her friends about the boys she liked. Her friends struggled with the deciphering and tired of them quickly.
It had been years, but she remembered some of the basics. She began to play with the letters, noticing there were eighteen W s and sixteen A s.
The most common letters in the English language were E, T and A . So if these were English words, then W and A were probably one of those more frequently used letters. Though by the position of the A letters, they represented something other than A, she thought.
Her cell phone rang, making her jump. She was surprised to hear Tag’s voice.
“I talked to my brother. He says the thumb drive didn’t come from Ford.”
“Really?” She was already pretty sure of that anyway, but she did like the sound of his voice. He had a wonderful Texas accent.
“I’m sure there’s another explanation,” he said.
She was, too.
“I’d better go. Just wanted to let you know.” He seemed to hesitate.
She felt her heart beat kick up even against her will.
“Okay,” he said.
“Thanks for letting me know. Maybe I’ll talk to you later.”
“Yeah.”
She hung up, a little disappointed he hadn’t asked her out—if that was what he’d been about to do earlier—but now all the more determined as she studied the letters again. Codes often involved simple addition or subtraction. She should be able to break this one by trial and error, but it would take time.
If it really was
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