Page 36 of Fatal Witness

“I can drive myself—I’ll need my SUV when I get out of the ER to get back home to Gem.”

Alex crossed her arms. “He’s bringing Jenna Hart to drive your vehicle back. And Gem will be fine. If you’re not discharged in the morning, I’ll send someone to feed her.”

It looked to Dani like Mark was about to disagree with his boss, but she cut him off. “This isn’t a request, it’s an order.” Then sheturned to Dani. “Thank you for helping Mark, and I’m so glad you decided to come. Mae is really looking forward to seeing you.”

Why did the chief deputy talk like she knew Dani? She’d never seen her before. The question must’ve shown on Dani’s face.

“You don’t remember me—Alexis Stone. We were best friends before ... well, before.”

Alexis. Dani stared at her.

For a second, the memory of a blond-haired girl with braids darted through Dani’s mind. Then it was gone. “I’m sorry ... I don’t remember anything about my life here.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” Alex said. An awkward silence settled between them. “You look a lot like—”

“It was—”

They’d tried to break the silence at the same time. “You go first,” Alex said.

“I was going to say it was actually Lizi who helped Mark when she attacked the assailant.”

“Lizi?” she said, looking around.

“My dog.” Dani pointed to the Puli. She couldn’t keep from grinning as Alex’s eyes widened.

“What ... kind is it?”

“It’s a Puli,” Mark said.

“A Hungarian herding dog as well as a guard dog,” Dani added.

“Well, thank you, Lizi.” Alex looked back at Dani. “I was going to say you look a lot like the photos of Mae’s daughter.”

Dani glanced at the front door again. “Do you think there are any photos of...”—she couldn’t bring herself to say “my mother”—“Mae’s daughter inside the house?”

Alex and Mark exchanged looks. “I don’t think Mae would mind if we showed you Neva’s picture, but I didn’t bring the key to her house,” he said. “Can you wait until tomorrow?”

“Sure.” She’d waited twenty-five years. What was one more day? Dani tilted her head. “Where is she, anyway?”

Again, they exchanged glances. “She’s in the hospital,” Alex said.

Hospital?“Is she all right?”

“She had a stroke this morning,” Mark said.

Alex added, “But we got her to the hospital in time for the doctor to give her the clot-buster drug.”

Surely Dani hadn’t found her grandmother only to lose her. “You’re sure she’s okay?”

“I had just left her room when you called,” Alex said. “She was fine then, and as soon as we get back to Pearl Springs, you can see for yourself.”

Dani’s shoulders relaxed. “You think she’ll be up to—wait!” She turned to Mark. “Earlier, you said something about an intruder returning. Did someone hurt her?”

“We don’t think so. And we don’t even know for sure that someone broke into her house.”

“What do you mean?”

“So far, Mae can’t remember much about this morning. She doesn’t even remember calling 911.” Mark explained how he and Gem had found Mae. Then he winced. “Someone needs to let Gem out of her carrier.”

---