Page 129 of Fatal Witness

She buried her face in her hands.Lord, if I ever knew where those diamonds are, please let me remember...

She raised her head and tried Mark again. Nothing. It was up to her. Dani closed her eyes, willing herself to be still. Her parents’ house, where it all started, filled her mind.

Mentally she walked through each room. Nothing. Maybe if she went to the house ...

Sheriff Stone’s gun. He wouldn’t have taken it with him to his doctor’s appointment in Chattanooga. Dani ran to his office. The gun was hanging in its holster on the back of his chair. She grabbed it and ran to the Navigator.

Lord, please don’t let whoever this is harm Nonny...

64

X-rays show a bullet fragment under the skin next to her leg. I don’t know how I missed it before,” the veterinarian said, rubbing his hand along the dog’s side. “I can remove it this afternoon, and you can take her home around six, but I will have to sedate her.”

That’s what the biting had been about. “Let’s get it out, then.”

“Bring her back to the surgery,” the doctor said. “And you can stay while I take it out.”

An hour later, he breathed easier when Gem roused from the anesthesia. “You got it all?” he asked the vet.

“Yep. She’ll be good to go in a couple of hours.”

“Thanks, Doc.” He took out his phone to call Dani.

“No need to even try to make a call in here.”

“What do you mean?”

The vet pointed to the ceiling, then the walls. “Metal roof, and the rest is thick concrete—calls just don’t get through. It’s why I leave my cell phone by the window.”

Once Mark was in his SUV, he tried to call Dani and noticed he’d missed a call and voicemail from her. Evidently the vet was right, but before he could check the message, his phone rang. Alex. “What’s up?”

“Kyle’s .45 didn’t match the gun that killed Dani’s parents.”

“That means—”

“I don’t know that it means anything. He could have a dozen guns, but his lawyer swears he didn’t have anything to do with their murders.”

“You know how that goes. I have a voicemail from Dani. Let me call you right back,” he said.

His heart seized when he listened to the message. Mark called Alex back. “Dani’s in trouble. Someone’s holding Mae. I’m on my way to Eagle Ridge.”

“I’m putting you on hold.” A minute later she came back on. “Where are you?”

“At the vet.”

“That’s about ten minutes from the hospital. There’s a medevac helicopter waiting to take you to Eagle Ridge, and I have every available unit headed that way now.”

“Thanks! Do I wait on you?”

“No. I’m on the other side of the county, and it would take me too long to get to the hospital. I’ll head to Eagle Ridge now.”

65

Dani pulled into her parents’ gravel driveway and climbed out of the Navigator. The hairs on the back of her neck raised. She stopped and scanned the woods, the yard, and finally the house, where deep shadows hid the evil in it.

Where did that come from?It wasn’t the house that was evil, but the man who had done horrific things there.

He wanted her dead.

---