Page 133 of Fatal Witness

Suddenly he ended the call, and she was left staring at her phone.

What had she done? What if he wasn’t as greedy as she believed?

Please, Lord, work this out.

While she waited to see if Rick and Nonny would arrive, she turned her Navigator around so Nonny could make a quick getaway on the off chance he let her grandmother go. In her heart, she didn’t believe he’d leave a witness behind to identify him. Their only chance was to stall to give Mark time to get here.

Dani grabbed some dollar bills from her wallet and stuffed them in the bag with the diamonds. Something to sweeten the pot without having to lie about it. Then she returned the bag to its hiding place.

Tires crunched on the drive. He’d taken the bait! She hurried to the front window, watching as Rick’s truck pulled into the drive and parked beside the Navigator. When no one got out, she called out to him. “We’re not doing any business until my grandmother is in my car and driving down the road.”

Rick lowered his window. “This is an exchange,” he yelled, his voice tight. “She’s not moving until you’re walking toward me.”

In other words, until she was under his control. “You don’t trust me.”

“No way.”

“And I don’t trust you. Let’s start off with her getting out of the car and walking to my SUV. Once she’s there, I’ll step out on the porch.”

He didn’t respond, but a minute later, the passenger door opened and her grandmother climbed out, then Rick. He held a gun in his right hand.

Dani cringed as Nonny leaned on her cane to walk the short distance around Rick’s pickup. Had he hurt her in some way? What if she couldn’t climb in the Navigator?

“All right, your turn!” he yelled.

She stepped out onto the porch. “I’m here. We’ll do business as soon as she drives off.”

“No, we’ll do business now. You stay put.” He pointed the gun at Nonny, then turned back to Dani. “I want to see the diamonds.”

“I want answers first—why did you do it?” She had to stall for time.

“What? You want to know why I killed your parents or why I planned the burglaries?”

“Both.”

“Do you really want to know?”

“I do. Maybe it’ll help me to understand why a pastor would do what you did.”

“Pastor.” He laughed, but there was no humor in his voice. “I never had any choice. From my first memories it was ‘You’re going to be the next preacher at Community Fellowship like your daddy and his daddy before him.’

“There was no talking about what I wanted to do. They never even asked.” He stopped and looked at her. “Nobody’s ever asked what I wanted.”

“I’m asking.”

“You don’t count. And it’s too late.”

“No, really, I want to know.”

He paced in front of Nonny, careful to keep his gun trained on her. Then he stopped. “I wanted something bigger than being a small-town preacher, and I had the chance, but your daddy and uncle ruined it.”

“How?” Dani asked.

“They double-crossed me. Kept my share of the diamonds. I knew that’s what they had planned after your daddy wouldn’t answer my phone calls the next morning. When he finally did, he tried to tell me he left the diamonds at the store. He was lying. By noon all the news stations led with the theft of the diamonds. So I showed up at the house, and I was right—they were getting ready to leave.”

He stopped pacing in front of Nonny. “Bobby pulled a gun on me when I got there, and we fought for it and it went off. Unfortunately, the bullet hit Neva.”

Her grandmother stiffened. “You had no cause to kill my Neva! She thought you hung the moon.”

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