Page 6 of Fatal Witness

Her computer alerted that it had finished booting up. Mae settled behind it and googled the website listed in the article for Dani Collins. Maybe she would find more photos of the ceramic artist.

There were plenty of photos and how-to videos and tutorials on the site, but not one that showed Dani Collins’s face. That seemed a little odd. She tried the phone number listed on thewebsite for the pottery studio, but it went straight to voicemail. “Sorry I missed you. Leave a message and your number, and I’ll get back to you.”

Mae hung up without leaving a message. She knew how she’d feel if someone left a message on her voicemail saying the caller might be a long-lost relative. No, she needed to talk to her either in person or in a phone conversation. Except there was no address on the website. She scanned the photos on the site, stopping at one that had what looked like the Badlands in the background. Could Dani Collins live in the Dakotas or Montana? But how would she find out?

Social media. That’s where her experience from years ago and all the true-crime shows she watched told her to look next. Mae started with Facebook. Half an hour later, she hadn’t found a Dani Collins that fit the profile she was looking for. Another thirty minutes and no results on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. She tried Pinterest. Nothing.

She braced her chin on her hand. Mae was proud of her computer skills, especially since she was mostly self-taught, but just as her searches years ago never found a Danielle Bennett on social media sites, her searches for Dani Collins netted a zero as well. Maybe it was time to bring in help. But who?

Not Sheriff Carson Stone. Even though Mae and Carson’s wife, Judith, had been friends for over seventy years, the sheriff thought Mae had gone off the deep end after Neva’s death. Especially after she showed him her crime board.

Carson didn’t take her seriously, and it rankled every time he reminded her that she wasn’t living in Cabot Cove and she wasn’t Jessica Fletcher. Besides, after his heart attack last fall, he’d hired his granddaughter as his chief deputy, and Alexis was running the sheriff’s office. She corrected herself. It was Alex now. She glanced at the article. Maybe like this Dani was really a Danielle?

Before Danielle had disappeared, she and Alexis Stone andMorgan Tennyson were best friends. Mae smiled. She’d dubbed the girls the Three Musketeers because where you saw one, you saw the other two. Until everything changed.

Should she start with Alex? Alex once thought Mae hung the moon, but she was all grown up now. Would she be like her grandfather and think Mae was a foolish old woman?

But if not Alex, who? A smile pulled at her lips. Of course. Mark Lassiter. She should have thought of him first.

She picked up her phone and dialed Mark’s number. When it went straight to voicemail, she frowned. He must be out of range.

Since Russell County was in the mountains of the Cumberland Plateau, there were a lot of areas that didn’t have good cell reception, her own property included. It’s why she had an outdoor Wi-Fi extender on the roof.

She punched in another number. Maybe Alex would know where Mark was.

4

Russell County K-9 officer Mark Lassiter pulled into Peterson’s, the small, locally owned grocery that he preferred over Walmart. That it was located in downtown Pearl Springs instead of out by the highway might be a factor. He turned to Gem, his K-9 German shepherd. “Stay. I’ll be right back.”

Even though the temps were in the low sixties, Mark left the motor running. The heat controls in the Ford Expedition automatically kicked in if the temperature in the vehicle dropped too low. Conversely, if it got too hot, the air conditioner turned on.

A bell rang over his head as he pushed open the door to the old store and glanced around for the owner. He nodded to the older man sitting behind the counter. “Morning, Mr. Peterson.”

The grocer smiled big. “Almost afternoon, Mark. How’s my girl?”

With his strong voice, Mr. Peterson didn’t sound ninety-two and certainly didn’t look it with his mostly still-black hair. “She’s good.” Mark walked to the pet supplies and picked up the treats as the grocer’s grandson, Kyle, came from the back of the store.

“Can I help you find anything else?” the grandson asked.

“I think this will get me through today.” Kyle had worked atthe store for as long as Mark could remember. He took the treats to the checkout.

“These are on the house today,” the older Mr. Peterson said.

Kyle stiffened.

“Thanks, Mr. Peterson,” Mark said, “but I really want to pay for them.”

“Your money’s no good here.” Mr. Peterson narrowed his eyes at his grandson. “And I’m giving them to Gem, not you.”

It was no use arguing with the older man. “Gem thanks you,” he said and took the treats. As he walked out the door, he heard Kyle griping to his grandfather that it was hard enough to keep the doors open without giving away stuff.

Once in his SUV, Mark backed out of the parking space and drove to the Pearl Springs city park. It was a perfect place to practice for the K-9 scent trials in Kentucky in June. There were enough people around throwing Frisbees or walking the trails or just enjoying the beautiful weather to simulate the distractions at the trials.

He left Gem in the SUV while he walked across the park to a huge oak, where he removed the vest from a scented teddy bear and propped the bear against the oak tree. He jogged back to the Expedition and used his remote to open Gem’s door. The black and tan German shepherd hopped out of the SUV and pranced in a circle.

“You ready, girl?” Gem let out a woof, and Mark let her sniff the small vest before he gave the search command.

Gem ignored the people in the park and bounded away, her nose in the air while she worked a zigzag pattern. When she caught the scent, he followed as she made a beeline to where he’d hidden the bear and alerted by plopping down beside it and barking.

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