Page 57 of Fatal Witness

Mae woke the machine and put her password in, then Dani brought up her website. Alex scrolled through it. “Wow. You have some beautiful pieces.”

“Thanks. And this reminded me—I need to check my phone messages and email when you finish.”

Alex scrolled back to the top of the page. “Is that a photo of the Badlands?”

“Yes. They’re not far from where we live.”Where I live.Keith was gone. A lump formed in her throat. The life she knew was over. “But why kill him?”

“Maybe for the diamonds that never surfaced,” Mae said.

“What diamonds?”

“The ones Bobby stole the night before they were killed.”

Alex checked her watch. “Why don’t we discuss that on the way home?”

“I need to check my kiln while we’re here,” Mae said. She turned to Dani. “Why don’t you check your messages and email while I do that?”

Dani nodded. “It won’t take me long, and I’ll come help you. I’d like to see some of your pieces.”

First she checked the messages on the landline. More orders. A couple of people had left condolences and inquired about arrangements. Dani sighed. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. That was something else she would have to do this coming week.

She logged on to her email and groaned. Over a hundred emails. She quickly scanned through them, deleting the obvious advertisements and spam. Her heart stilled when Keith’s email address showed up.

Dani glanced at the date. Saturday. With shaky fingers, she opened it and noticed there was an attachment. First she read the email.

Dani. I don’t know how many times I’ve sat down and tried to write down the details of what happened when we left Tennessee, and after Laura died, I knew I had no choice. If anything happens to me, you need to know you have family. It’s all in the letter I’ve attached. I’m emailing it because if I wait until you return, I’m afraid I won’t have the courage to give it to you.

I love you, Punkin. I’ll be glad when you get home.

P. S. There is more that I hope to tell you, but now is not the right time.

Dani hesitated before she downloaded the attachment. Maybe she should get Alex to read it first ... or with her. No. She should be the first one to see it. She opened the attachment. She immediately recognized Keith’s sprawling handwriting. Evidently he’d handwritten it and then scanned it into the email.

This is hard, Dani, but you need to know your history, and when youreturn, we’ll talk more.

Twenty-five years ago—Ican’t believe it’s been that long—we livedin Russell County, Tennessee, just outside of Pearl Springs. Yourfather, Bobby, and I did something stupid—we got involvedin a burglary ring and we pulled poor Toby Mitchell into it.

After breaking into five stores, we decided one more store and we were done. Bobby had learned thestore was receiving a load of DeBeers diamonds, and we planned to take the diamonds and money we had stashedand leave Pearl Springs.

Bobby and I cased this last store on the pretense of buying a ring for yourmother. She knew nothing about what we were doing. Itwas me, your dad, and Toby Mitchell—he was thelookout. Bobby made a mistake when he turned off thealarms, and they went off. Toby disappeared, andBobby snatched one bag of the diamonds and I snatched some jewelry.

The plan had been to lay low for a few weeks and then head out for Montana, but the nextday we learned Toby had been arrested. I knew Tobywouldn’t rat us out—you just had to knowhim to understand that—but we were afraid the copswould put two and two together. We planned to leavethat night, but sometime that afternoon, Bobby called and said we had to leave right away—just for me toget to their house now.

When I got there, to my horror and disbelief, I found that someone had gottenthere before me and shot both your parents. Your dadlived long enough to tell me he’d hidden the diamonds, but not where.

This is the hardest part. Yourmother ... she was still alive, and with her dying breathshe asked me to keep you safe.

Sirens were approaching when I found you in the hall closet, traumatized. Igrabbed you and took off, didn’t even take time to look for the diamonds. Using the money I hadfrom the break-ins, I was able to make usdisappear. We eventually landed in Clifton, where I changed ourlast name from Bennett to Collins and got a job doing what I knew best—construction. It changed my life.My boss was a Christian, and he introduced me to Jesus. I turned my life around. My only regret isit didn’t happen before we left Pearl Springs. Yourmom and Bobby might still be alive. I wouldn’tbe a thief. I’ve lived with that knowledge fortwenty-five years.

Eventually I started my own construction company.You have to know that I always wanted to return to Russell County and make amends and to find thediamonds Bobby hid so I could return them to the rightful owners.

He’d written a line after that but had scratched through it. Maybe the original was at home, and she could decipher it ... Dani returned to reading.

I hope one day you can go home and reconnect withyour family there. I wish I could tell you thatyour Bennett grandparents are still living. Unfortunately, they passed notlong after you were born, but Mae Richmond, your grandmother on your mom’s side, will help you. I’vealways regretted not letting her know where you were. ButI was afraid whoever killed Neva and Bobby were looking for you, thinking you could identify them.

I don’t know who killed your parents. While I’ve always believedit was the leader of the burglary ring, I don’t know for certain. I never knew who he was—Bobby wouldn’t tell me, said I didn’t need to know. Be careful, though. Don’t trust anyone, anddon’t ever let on that you know anything about the diamond heist.

And Dani, I’ve never been one to show emotions, but I want you to know Ilove you. And I’m proud of you.

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