Page 15 of Fatal Witness

“Is he there now?”

“He’s off duty, but if he left his cell number, feel free to call him. Or I can take a message.”

“Thank you. I believe I’ll give him a call.” Dani disconnected and grabbed a bottle of water from the hotel refrigerator. So, the call wasn’t spam. She punched in the area code.But what if the call is bad news?

Dani brushed that thought away. How could it be anything bad when she didn’t know a soul in East Tennessee? She finished dialing and held her breath while it rang.

“This is Mark Lassiter.”

The voice was even smoother than on the message and sent a shiver over Dani. The man ought to be in radio or TV. She cleared her throat. “This is Dani Collins. I believe you left a message for me on my answering machine.”

“I did. Can you give me a minute? I’m just leaving Pete’s Diner.”

“You want to call me back?”

“No, if you’ll just hold on a sec while I pay.”

Voices mixed with the sounds of silverware clinking on plates. Two minutes later, everything was quiet. “Sorry, but the diner was kind of noisy. I could barely hear you.”

“It’s fine. Why did you call me?” The brief silence on the other end of the line had her gripping her phone tighter. Then her stomach dipped when he sucked in a deep breath. “Has something happened to my uncle?”

Stupid question since her uncle was nowhere near Tennessee, but it was her first thought.

“Your uncle? No. I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know your uncle.”

Her muscles relaxed slightly. “What’s so difficult about telling me why you called?”

“It’s complicated,” he said. “And it’s been more than a day since I called you, and I just worked a really bad accident. Give me a second to collect my thoughts.”

“I’m sorry. I hope no one was—”

“It was only by the grace of God there were no fatalities.”

“Good.” She didn’t often run into a man who talked about God with a stranger so easily. “Would you like to call me back when you get it together?”

“No. Now that I have you, I don’t want to let you go.”

She couldn’t keep from chuckling.

“Oh, man,” he muttered. “That didn’t come out right.”

“It’s okay. I know what you meant. So, what’s complicated about it?”

Again, he took a deep breath. “I’m working a cold case, and maybe if I give you the background, it’ll be easier for you to understand.”

“Okay.” A compulsive note-taker, Dani put the phone on speaker and then picked up a hotel notepad and pen from the nearby desk.

She printed the deputy’s name at the top of the page and circled it. Then Dani wrote down key words as he described an unsolved murder case, her writing slowing as he moved on to the disappearance of a nine-year-old girl.

She tried to swallow but suddenly her mouth was bone dry. She uncapped the water and took a long draw. “How old...”—she kept a tight rein on her thoughts—“would this girl be now?”

“The murders happened twenty-five years ago, so she would be thirty-four.”

“Her name?” She barely got the question out.

“Danielle Bennett.”

Danielle.Dani covered her mouth with her hand. The name was only a coincidence. The story didn’t have anything to do with her.

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