Page 65 of Fatal Witness

“You’re right. It just ... feels so surreal.” Then she shook her head. “I forgot to tell you—I talked to Mae before you got up, and shesaidshe was feeling fine.”

“Sounds like her.”

Fifteen minutes later they arrived in town, and she left her prints at the sheriff’s office. At ten, she parked in front of a brick building in downtown Clifton, and he walked into the attorney’s office with her. The secretary looked up. “Ms. Collins, I’m so sorry about your uncle,” the sixtyish Ms. Banks said. “Mr. Kellum is on the phone, but he shouldn’t be a minute. Can I get you a cup of coffee?” She shifted her gaze to Mark. “And maybe one for your handsome friend here?”

He shook his head, and Dani answered for both of them. “Thank you, but no. I’ll show my ... friend Mr. Kellum’s photos of the Badlands while we wait.”

When they’d moved out of her range of hearing, she whispered, “What did you do to Ms. Banks? She’s never been that friendly before.”

He shrugged. “I seem to have that effect on older women, babies, and dogs.”

She rolled her eyes at him, but before she could answer, Ms. Banks said, “Mr. Kellum will see you now.” Then she turned to Mark. “You’re welcome to wait in the lobby here.”

Dani lifted an eyebrow and shot him an amused look.

“I think I’ll wait in the car—I have a few calls to make.”

An hour later Dani returned to the RAV4, looking more than a little dazed. “You okay?” he asked.

“My head is spinning—a case of TMI to take in.”

He knew what it was like to have too much information to take in. “You’ll need to have time to process whatever he told you.”

“That’s what Mr. Kellum said.” She took a deep breath. “Hearing all the details kind of shook me. Mr. Kellum gave me the name and contact information for Keith’s financial planner, but I’ll do that another day. Right now all I want to do is grab a cup of coffee in the little coffee shop around the corner and figure out what kind of spell you put on Ms. Banks.”

29

First Ms. Banks and now Dani’s favorite barista was fawning over Mark. A stranger would’ve thought he was a movie star. When she mentioned it, his face turned red. “I told you I had that effect—”

“I know. On older women, babies, and dogs,” she said, laughing.

He took a swig of his coffee. “What was it like growing up around here?”

Dani wasn’t sure she was ready to let him off the hook, but she relented. “Probably a lot like growing up in Pearl Springs was for you—both are small towns.”

“Pearl Springs is much bigger than Clifton. Where’s the school you went to?”

“A couple of blocks over. When we finish here, do you want to walk there?”

“Absolutely.”

She’d been hoping he’d say no. He paid their bill and left a generous tip. When Dani raised her eyebrows, he shrugged. “Just want to make sure she remembers me.”

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

It was a beautiful warm day as they walked toward the schoolwith Gem at their side. When Clifton Public School came into sight, she tried to imagine how Mark saw the structure that hadn’t changed since she was a student—a one-story white brick building with wings on both sides. There was a wing behind, but he couldn’t see it.

“I thought it would be bigger,” he said.

“We only had 550 students in the entire school.”

Mark nodded. “I bet you had more boyfriends than you knew what to do with.”

“Hardly.” She didn’t like to think about those days. “I was so shy, boys thought I was stuck-up.”

“No way!”

“Way.” She nodded. “They called me the Ice Maiden—never understood that. The Invisible Woman, maybe.” She’d never let anyone know how much that had hurt.

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