Page 42 of Fatal Witness

Dani had been really surprised last night when Mark told her. She didn’t know which surprised her more—the potter part or that her grandmother searched the web.

“Yep.” Suddenly her grandmother gasped.

“What? Are you all right?” Dani jumped up, ready to push the call button.

She stilled Dani with her hand. “Yes. It’s just, when I went up on the ridge before this happened, I left my kiln firing a whole load of pieces. I never do that, but I only planned to be gone half an hour at most. I’m always afraid something will catch on fire and burn the place down.”

Dani’s heart slowed back to normal, and she sat down again. “Well, as far as I could tell last night, nothing like that happened.”

“You were at my place last night?”

She nodded. “I wasn’t supposed to get here until today, but once I reached Knoxville, it seemed silly to wait. Of course, you weren’t there—”

There was a knock at the door. “Can I come in?”

“Mark!” Her grandmother’s face broke into a broad grin. “Get yourself in here.”

Dani turned, and her heart jumped into high gear as the handsome deputy entered the room. He hadn’t shaved, and his day’s growth gave him a rugged appeal.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be here this early,” he said.

“Alex said you were admitted to the hospital,” Dani said at the same time. They both paused, and she added, “And I don’t figure you’ve been discharged, so shouldn’t you be in your room?”

He fiddled with the hospital bracelet on his wrist. “I wanted to see how Mae is doing.” He turned to the older woman. “Howareyou doing?”

“I’m fine, but...” She looked from Mark to Dani. “You two act like you’ve already met—and I don’t mean over the phone.”

Dani wasn’t sure how much they should share, given Mae’s blood pressure was still high. She stared pointedly at the monitor.

He gave her a barely perceptible nod. “I saw her car go past my house last night so I checked it out.”

“Mark Lassiter, you know I can tell when you’re not telling the whole story. What’s the rest?”

He shrugged. “There might be more, but let’s wait until you’re out of the hospital to discuss it, okay?”

Mae pinned her gaze on Mark. “Does what happened have anything to do with why you were admitted to the hospital?” When neither of them answered, she said, “Fine. Don’t tell me, but I hope you feel bad when my blood pressure goes up and keeps me from going home.”

Dani almost laughed. Not only was her grandmother sharp, she knew how to play people. “We wouldn’t want to be responsible for that.”

“Then give.”

“First I want to know if you remember why you called 911,” Mark said.

Her shoulders sagged and she shook her head. “I don’t remember anything about that morning.”

“You just told me about leaving your kiln on,” Dani said.

“You didn’t tell us that before,” Mark said.

Mae nodded her head. “So, I am remembering...”

“And maybe the rest will come to you,” Dani said.

Mae narrowed her eyes. “Okay, now somebody needs to tell me what happened last night.”

“When I got to your house, someone took a couple of shots at me.”

“And,” Mark said, “I really did see her car pass, so I was there when it happened. Unfortunately, the guy almost knocked meout.” He nodded toward Dani. “Her dog, Lizi, attacked him, but when Dani called Lizi off, the assailant managed to get away.”

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