Page 132 of Fatal Witness

Answer your phone.

Dani tapped on the number at the top of the message and pressed the button for a call.

Rick answered with a growl.

“I want to talk to my grandmother.”

“She’s fine.”

“Then you won’t mind putting her on the call.”

A second later she heard her grandmother’s voice. “Danielle?”

“Nonny, are you all right?”

“I’m fine, but his father would be so ashamed.”

“My father is to blame for all of this.”

Please don’t agitate him more.“Nonny, do you think you can drive a car?”

“Drive?” Her grandmother sounded unsure. “I can try.”

“I believe you can do it. In a few minutes you are going to get in the car with Rick, okay?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” A call beeped in on her phone and she checked the screen. Mark. She ignored it. “Let me talk to Rick.”

While her grandmother handed off the phone, Dani shot off a text to Mark.

Rick Adkins holding Nonny. Come to my parents’ house.

“You have five minutes to get here,” Rick said.

“No. If you want me, you’re coming to my parents’ house, and you’re bringing my grandmother with you.”

The line went quiet.

“Just remember—if you harm her in any way, you lose me and the diamonds. And you’ll blow your chances of getting away, of starting a new life somewhere.”

Silence stretched between them. “What’s the deal?”

Good. Greed had reared its ugly head. But she wanted some answers first. “Tell me why you killed my mom and dad.”

“I hated that Neva and Keith had to die. Bobby, not so much.”

She frowned. What was he talking about? “What do you mean?”

“Neva was an accident—Bobby’s fault, actually. He pulled a gun on me, and we were struggling for it when it went off. If he’d just given me the diamonds ...”

“If you want the diamonds, they’re here waiting for you,” Dani said.

“You’ll give them to me, just like that?”

“After my grandmother safely leaves. When you arrive, you’ll stay in your car while my grandmother gets out and leaves in my car. Once she’s gone, you and I will do business.”

She didn’t want to think what might happen if he said no. “And don’t think you can double-cross me. By the time you get here, the diamonds will be back where they’ve been all these years. No one’s found them in twenty-five years, and you won’t find them now without my help.”

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