Page 79 of Fatal Witness

Her grandfather thinned his lips. “Sober, Toby could’ve been the ringleader ... except he wasn’t usually sober. Ralph got out of here in a hurry after the Bennett murders, so there’s that, and he certainly had the brains for it. Craig too. Ben was too young to have what it took to plan and execute the robberies.”

Mark leaned forward. “How about Chattanooga PD? Did they have any suspects?”

“The detective I worked with thought Bobby was the ringleader, but I always disagreed with him on that.” He rubbed his jaw. “There was a pawnshop dealer I always suspected of being involved, but I never had any proof. I’m not sure he had the wherewithal to be the ringleader.”

“Who was he? Is he still in business?” Alex asked. If he was, he could be the one after Dani.

Gramps nodded slowly. “Joe Yates. Still runs the pawnshop down in South End. I have a file on him in my office if you want to see it.”

“I do.” Alex knew the man. Didn’t like him, but that didn’t mean he was involved in the burglary ring. She would ask Nathan about him as well. “Okay, I think this pretty well sums up what we know. Mark, let me know when you and Dani leave.”

Alex followed her grandfather to his office, where he pulled Joe Yates’s file from his cabinet.

“Here you go,” he said. “And be careful dealing with Toby Mitchell. You never know which way he’s going to jump. I know he’s on Mae’s list of suspects.”

She frowned. “I’ve never gotten that impression of the man.According to Mae’s crime board, he was out on bail the night the Bennetts were killed. Do you have a file on him?”

“It’s in the Bennett case file I gave you.”

“I read most of it but must have missed it when I scanned the rest. I’ll have Jenna check Yates out.”

The sheriff nodded. “How’s she working out?”

“Good. She’s so organized it’s scary. We’re lucky to have her.”

Her grandfather leaned back in his chair. “Have you given any more thought to qualifying for the sheriff’s race next year?”

“Some. This job has a lot more paperwork than I expected.” She wasn’t ready to make a decision. Part of her still wanted to be the first female police chief in Chattanooga. Being the first female sheriff of Russell County was no small thing, though.

“Tell me about the paperwork,” he said with a chuckle, then turned serious. “You’ll have your year residency in October, and if you want the job, it’s a lot easier to run as the incumbent.”

“Are you saying you’re resigning in September?”

“Thinking about it.” He took a deep breath and released it. “Going in to the office even one day a week is too much some weeks.”

She walked to his chair and put her arms around him. “Gramps, your deputies understand.”

He patted her arm. “That’s not the point. I haven’t gotten the fire in the belly back after the heart attack, and that’s a disservice to you and my deputies. They need to be able to look to you as the sheriff, not the chief deputy.”

It looked like she wouldn’t have a year to decide. Alex kissed his cheek. “Can I give you an answer after this case is solved? I don’t have a lot of time to think about it now.”

“Of course.”

She walked to the door.

“One more thing,” her grandfather said. “When are you goingto let Nathan put that wedding band on your finger? He’s not going to wait forever, you know. At least I wouldn’t.”

Alex glanced down at the solitaire he’d given her at Christmas. That was another thing she was dragging her heels on, and she didn’t know why.

“Has he been talking to you?” she asked.

“More like I’ve been talking to him. If you don’t know your own mind by now, will you ever?”

Alex pressed her lips together. She expected this line of questioning from Gram, but not him. “I’ll see you tonight—I need to get to the office.”

37

By the time Mark parked in front of the white building in downtown Pearl Springs, Dani was second-guessing her decision to stop at Peterson’s Grocery. What if this Kyle Peterson was the man in the mask who shot at her a week ago and maybe murdered her parents? But Mark would be with her, and a Pearl Springs police officer would be nearby.

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