Page 27 of Fatal Witness

“I wish we could be more definite,” Dylan said.

“We need Mae to tell us what, if anything, is missing.” Alex rested her hand on her holster. “Where’s Mark?”

“I think he and Gem are tracing the path Mae took this morning.”

“I’ll see if I can find him,” Nathan said.

“I’ll come with you.” Alex glanced around the room. There was nothing more to do here for now. She nodded at Dylan and Taylor. “I’ll see you two back in town.”

As she and Nathan walked toward the ridge, a bark drew Alex’s attention, and she turned toward it. The trees hadn’t leafed out completely, and she could make out Mark and Gem approaching from the ridge above the house.

“Find anything useful?” she asked her K-9 handler when he reached them.

“Gem took me along the path Mae took this morning. Found where she’d cut a few mushrooms, but she left quite a few behind. That’s not like her, so I figure something drew her to the house where she may have seen her door open and called 911. Then she retreated to where Gem found her.”

“Was Mae able to tell you anything?” Nathan asked.

Mark shook his head. “I asked her to squeeze my hand instead of trying to answer me. There was no grip in her right hand, so we tried the left, and Mae indicated she wasn’t attacked. I wonder if she can identify the intruder.”

Nathan winced. “The stroke could completely wipe out the memory of what happened this morning.”

That was Alex’s fear. “I’m going to the hospital. Perhaps she can tell me what happened.”

Mark nodded. “Do you want me to assist Dylan and Taylor?”

“They’re done here.” She glanced back toward the house. “Hayes didn’t see a vehicle anywhere, so the intruder either walked up the road or came in from the ridge. See what you can find.”

The three of them walked to their vehicles in the drive. Nathan cleared his throat, and Alex looked up. He was watching Mark, and his eyes had that teasing look in them she’d seen before.

“I heard Mrs. Grayson fixed you up with her granddaughter last night.”

Red crept up Mark’s neck. “Aw, come on, Nathan. Don’t start.”

“Went that bad, huh?”

“Let’s say I won’t have to worry about Kinsey Grayson calling me.” He whistled for Gem, and the dog came running.

“What did you do to the poor girl?” Alex asked.

Mark tossed the tug toy for Gem to chase. “Nothing. Just told her I wasn’t husband material, and if that’s what she was looking for, she needed to keep looking. Don’t know why it made her so mad.”

She coughed to cover a laugh. No woman wanted to be told she was looking for a husband. Alex hadn’t known Mark before his tours in Afghanistan, but her grandfather had told her he wasn’t the same man when he came home. And the conversation was making him uncomfortable. “Matchmakers like Mrs. Grayson and a few others at church are one reason I stayed away from Pearl Springs so long,” Alex said.

“Might be the reason I leave,” he grumbled.

She laughed and opened her door before turning back to her K-9 deputy. “There used to be a path from here to her daughter’s house on Trinity Road, at least that’s what it was before the countyrenamed all the little roads with numbers. I don’t know what it’s called now, but if you check around Mae’s house, you might still see signs of the path.”

“It’s still there,” Mark said. “Mae told me she took the path to the house every week.”

“If someone was here, that’s where they could’ve parked.”

“Could still be there,” Nathan said. “So be careful.”

Alex agreed. “Take Hayes with you.”

13

Alex pulled out of the gravel drive and pointed her SUV toward town with Nathan right behind her. When she neared town, Alex called her grandmother and let her know about Mae, but her grandmother already had heard through the church. Then Alex dialed Marge, her secretary and sometimes-dispatcher. “Any word on Mae Richmond?”

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