Page 20 of Fatal Witness

“Which is eighteen months away.” Alex would have her year residency in Russell County completed this October, but she hadn’t made up her mind yet if she’d run for her grandfather’s office next year. “Have you talked to your aunt this morning?”

“Mae? No. Is something wrong?”

She repeated what she’d told Nathan. “Do you know of anyone who would want to harm your aunt?”

“Not really. I’m sorry to say I haven’t visited her as much as I should have since returning to Pearl Springs. But she doesn’t live in town, and I just don’t get up on Eagle Ridge that often. I’ll leave now.”

“No, just meet us at the hospital.” Alex disconnected.

Ben and his sister, Morgan, had been born in Pearl Springs, but their family left when Alex was in grade school. Their leaving broke her heart, and while Nathan had always been her hero, Morgan Tennyson and Danielle Bennett had been her BFFs. Best Friends Forever. Only forever hadn’t lasted. But what a sweet time it had been with sleepovers and hours of playing make-believe. Did kids even do that anymore?

Alex slowed to take the S curves on the mountain road. She hoped Mae was all right. Especially since it was probable they’d found Danielle.

She smiled, thinking how Mae had often been tasked with watching the three of them to make sure they didn’t get into mischief. That had been like putting the fox in charge of the hen-house.

Her phone rang again. Ben once more. “Stone.”

“Morgan told me Mae’s granddaughter, Danielle, has been located. Should someone call and let her know what’s going on? She may want to wait about coming.”

“We’re not 100 percent certain this Dani Collins is Danielle. Besides, I’m pretty sure she’s already on her way from Cincinnati. I’ll see you at the hospital.”

Alex passed Mark’s house, then the road Danielle had lived on as a child. She’d never visited the house where Danielle’s parents had died, even though it was a cold case her grandfather still talked about. Maybe now that she was chief deputy, she would look into it. A few minutes later, she pulled into Mae’s gravel drive and parked beside Mark’s Expedition. A medevac helicopter waited in the clearing near the house.

She climbed out of the SUV as paramedics came down the hill with Mae on a stretcher with Gem trotting beside them. Alex reached the chopper before they did. While the paramedics prepared to load her, she took Mae’s hand.

The older woman’s eyes fluttered open briefly, and she mumbled something unintelligible. Alex sent Mark a questioning gaze, and he mouthed, “Definitely a stroke.”

She leaned closer to the older woman and brushed a twig from her short hair. “It’s me, Alex,” she said softly. “We’re going to get you to the hospital, where they can help you.”

Mae gripped Alex’s arm with her left hand. Her mouth worked, but no words formed.

“We need to get in the air,” the lead paramedic said.

“Of course.” Alex turned to Mae. “Ben and Morgan are waiting at the hospital in Pearl Springs for you, and I’ll be there soon.”

Mae’s eyes blinked open. “Neva?”

Alex’s heart sank. If Mae didn’t know Neva was dead, the damage from the stroke might be bad. Alex moved out of the way as the medics loaded her in the chopper, then she and Mark stepped back as the rotors whipped the air around them and the chopper lifted off the ground. Once it was out of sight, she walked toward the house with Mark. “Where did Gem find her?”

“About a quarter of a mile from the house. She’d crawled into a bramble patch. She indicated someone was in her house, but she didn’t see them.”

Like Alex, Mae had a healthy respect for snakes, and blackberryand dewberry patches were known habitats for the area’s copperheads and rattlesnakes. She must have been frightened to brave the thicket. They’d reached the porch where Hayes waited. “Did you notice any vehicles parked on the road when you got here?” she asked him. “Or maybe on a side road?”

The deputy shook his head. “If someone was here, they must’ve hiked in through the woods.”

Tires crunched on the road, and her heart lifted as Nathan’s pickup pulled in behind her SUV. While she waited for him to join them, Alex pulled on a pair of nitrile gloves.

His generous mouth curved into a smile when their gazes met. Six months ago, no one could have made her believe she’d leave behind the Chattanooga Police Department and her dream of being the first female chief of police to be Russell County’s chief deputy. Or that she’d fall in love with her high school crush again.

“How’s Mae?” Nathan asked when he reached them.

“Hard to tell,” Alex said. “She was conscious, but she thought Neva was still alive.”

He winced, then nodded at Mark. “I understand Gem found her.”

“Pretty quickly too.”

“She’s well named.”

---