Cold feet (13 page)

"Mo-om," Brianna complained.

"You have school in the morning."

Her daughter's scowl deepened.

"Even princesses need their sleep," Madison said.

"But it might be Caleb."

Madison arched an eyebrow at her. "I thought you didn't like Caleb. I thought you didn't want me to let him move in."

"
I
don't like him," she said quickly, "but Elizabeth does."

If not for the spell cast by that darn photo album, Madison might have laughed. "Elizabeth isn't even here," she pointed out.

"She's in the bedroom. I'll get her."

Brianna scampered off and Madison set the photo album aside, trying to convince herself that
she
wasn't excited by the prospect of seeing Caleb.

She should've known Caleb was much too handsome and charismatic to fit smoothly into her life.

She tried telling herself their kiss was nothing as she headed down the hall, but it didn't feel like nothing when she opened the door. Caleb stood there, still wearing the same suit he'd been wearing this morning, with his tie loosened and his hair slightly tousled as though it had been a long, hard day.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

His gaze briefly lowered to her lips before he met her eyes, and Madison had the strangest impulse to slip into his arms and let him kiss her again.

That's crazy.
I'm
crazy.

"Yes," he said. "Everything okay here?"

"Fine."

"Good." He hesitated for a moment, nodded and started walking away. But then Brianna came running. "Caleb! Caleb, where are you going? I'm right here!"

He turned and gave her a half smile. "I thought you'd be asleep, half-pint."

"We were just looking at pictures," she announced.

He reached into his pocket. "Well, I'm glad you're up because I brought you something."

"A surprise?"

"Sort of."

"Did you hear that, Elizabeth? He brought us a surprise!" Hugging her stuffed rabbit, she twirled around.

"Just a small one," he said and, her curiosity piqued, Madison leaned forward to see him drop a large nugget of pyrite in her child's hand.

Brianna's eyes went round. "Is it
gold?
"

"Oh, no. Gold is nothing compared to this," he said. "Haven't you ever heard the story 'Jack and the Beanstalk?'"

"I've heard it," she said. "Mommy reads it to me all the time."

"Then you know about his magic beans."

She nodded enthusiastically.

"This rock is like those beans. It's--" he looked around as though he was afraid he might be overheard and dropped his voice "--magic."

"It is?" she asked, completely taken in. "What can it do?"

"It can remind you of important things."

"Like what?" Her voice was filled with the awe and reverence he'd inspired.

"When you're scared or worried about something, anything at all, and there's nothing you can do to make it better, you hold this rock tightly in one hand, like this." He took the rock from her and made a fist around it. "And if you close your eyes and listen, it'll whisper to you."

"What will it say?"

"It will remind you of all the people who love you and it will tell you that everything is going to be okay."

"Really?"
she breathed.

"You have to listen hard," he said.

"Oh, I will."

Madison put a hand to her mouth to cover a smile. "It's time for you to take your magic rock to bed," she said when she'd composed herself.

"But Caleb just got here," Brianna complained.

"Maybe you can see him tomorrow."

Brianna was too busy examining her rock to move, so Madison gave her a gentle nudge.

"Thanks," Brianna told Caleb. "I won't lose it."

He winked at her, and she skipped down the hall, talking to Elizabeth the whole way. "Look, Elizabeth. It's magic...."

Madison leaned against the doorjamb, thinking Caleb looked so handsome with his loosened tie and unbuttoned collar that he could start a new fashion trend--rumpled chic. "You got a rock for me?" she asked.

His lips curved into a sexy smile. "You want one, too?"

"Only if it's magic."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fifty-cent piece. "Looks like a magic coin is the best I can offer."

"Will it whisper to me when I'm worried or afraid?"

"You bet," he said.

"What will it say?"

He took her hand and put the coin in the center of her palm. "To call me."

She curled her fingers around the metal, which was warm from his touch, and let that warmth travel through her. "You might be a little tough to get hold of," she said. "You've been gone a lot lately."

With a sigh, he loosened his tie even more. "This has been a tough week."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

She waited, hoping he'd change his mind, but he changed the subject instead. "What's been happening around here?"

"Same old stuff." She grinned. "None of it magic."

"Has Johnny been around?"

"No. For all I know he's back in jail. It generally doesn't take him long." She tucked her hair behind one ear. "What you did for Brianna was really nice. What made you think of her?"

"Thinking of you and Brianna isn't the problem."

"I didn't know there was a problem, at least where we're concerned."

He glanced over his shoulder at his dark cottage. "There isn't. I'm just tired."

She could see that from the small lines of fatigue around his eyes and bracketing his mouth, but she was hesitant to let him leave while he seemed so...somber and unsettled. "Would you like a glass of wine before you go? It might help you relax."

"I don't know." His eyes grew thoughtful. "You'd probably be better off to send me straight home to bed. You know that, don't you?"

Madison imagined Caleb lying in bed, the sheet pulled only to his waist, his chest and arms bare, and felt a flutter of excitement that told her he was definitely right. Yet she opened the door wider. "But my magic coin is telling me you could use a drink."

CHAPTER TEN

W
HILE
M
ADISON WENT
to tuck Brianna in for the night, Caleb sipped the wine she'd given him and circled her living room. He knew he should head directly to the cottage, get a good night's sleep, gain some perspective on everything that had happened--including Susan's funeral earlier today, which had been almost surreal--and call Madison in the morning to see if he could somehow borrow her father's truck. If he was going to help Gibbons and still maintain his integrity, he needed to be careful not to get too close.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Caleb had blown his plan to keep a safe distance the minute he'd pulled into the drive--by going to Madison's house instead of his own. He'd just needed to assure himself that she, at least, was all right. But he hadn't been able to walk away. The moment he saw her, he'd remembered the taste of her kiss and wanted to bury his face in her neck, let her surround him with her scent, the softness of her skin, the warmth of her heart....

"Almost done," she called.

He could hear the water running in the bathroom, where she was helping Brianna brush her teeth. He finished his wine, considered leaving, ignored what was best--again--and turned on the television.

The news came blaring into the room. Irritated by the noise, he turned it off and sat down to look through the photo album he found on the table. The words
Our Little Princess
were affixed to the cover, along with a 5x7 photo of Brianna as a baby, and he couldn't help thinking that Susan's parents probably had a similar album about her somewhere.

Pulling the book into his lap, Caleb opened it to pictures of Madison in a hospital bed, smiling proudly as she cradled a red-faced newborn. Standing next to her was a man who had to be her ex-husband, Danny.

Caleb stripped off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, then scrutinized the man she'd been speaking to on the phone a few days ago. Danny wasn't anything like he'd expected. Short and balding, he looked too old for Madison. And even though he was
in
the picture, his body language suggested he didn't necessarily want to be. While Caleb read joy on Madison's face at the birth of her first child, Danny seemed far less interested.

"What a guy," he muttered, and turned the page to find more hospital photos, these featuring Madison's parents. Danny's backside or leg appeared here and there, so Caleb knew he wasn't the person behind the lens. But neither was he posing with the others. From the relative positioning of everyone in the room, Caleb got the impression that there'd been no love lost between Madison's parents and her husband, even while she was married.

The next few pictures were of Grandpa and the baby. Caleb held the book closer as he examined Ellis Purcell. What could Ellis have been thinking as he looked at his wife, daughter and brand-new granddaughter? Was he feeling any remorse for the women he'd murdered so brutally? Or was his mind a million miles away, anticipating his next victim?

If so, Purcell had outsmarted them all.

Or maybe he hadn't outsmarted anybody. Maybe they'd set their sights on the wrong guy from the beginning. Gibbons was becoming more and more suspicious of Johnny. He thought Johnny might've picked up where his father had left off. Who else would have access to Purcell's truck? Gibbons had argued. Who else would have known exactly how to position the body except someone with inside information?

Caleb couldn't answer those questions. But
he
wasn't convinced that Johnny was their man. In Caleb's mind, Johnny didn't have the nerve to do what this killer did. This killer was cool and cunning, far more controlled than Johnny. Stealing a car was one thing. Sexually assaulting and strangling a woman was another. That kind of brutality took a deep-seated rage....

"She's finally asleep," Madison said, emerging from the hall.

"I hope you don't mind," Caleb said, indicating the photo album. "It was on the table."

She frowned slightly but crossed the room and sat on the sofa a few feet away from him, wearing the same jeans and tight-fitting T-shirt she'd had on when he arrived. "Brianna dragged it out."

"I take it this is your ex," he said, turning back to the picture of Danny on the front page.

She made a face and scooted closer to look. "Handsome devil, isn't he?"

Caleb smiled at her sarcasm. "I'm guessing he must've had other attributes."

"Not really."

He raised his brows in question.

"I've decided he was an escape," she said. "An escape from everything that was going on in my life at the time. I didn't realize it when I married him, of course. But I had to face the truth shortly after. Especially because my marriage didn't really change anything, at least not for the better."

"You mean you couldn't get along with a guy who frowns at the birth of his own daughter?" he asked with feigned surprise.

Madison laughed. "That passes as a smile for Danny."

"How did such a love match unravel?"

"We weren't ever what you could call a 'love match.' Danny's persistence and his confidence that we were meant to be together finally won me over. He was five years older and had his life all neatly planned out. He was also pretty understanding about the investigation--at first. And I'd just lost my best friend, so I was particularly vulnerable."

She brought her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. "Most of all, I was longing to settle down, have a family of my own and live what I hoped would be a 'normal' life. He claimed he wanted those things, too."

Caleb still couldn't believe Danny had managed to get a woman like Madison to even look at him. "What changed after you were married?"

"Danny was a lot more complex and difficult than I'd ever expected. Emotionally, he was like a child--everything revolved around him. He could never see how what was happening with my father affected
me,
only how it affected
him.
And after the first few years, two more bodies were discovered and the investigation intensified, so he stopped being as understanding."

"How long were you married?"

"Seven years." She drew an audible breath. "But we had detectives following us around toward the end. So that probably made a big difference to his behavior."

Caleb got up to pour himself some more wine. "You knew the police were following you?"

"Sometimes the detectives would sit at the curb out front and wave to us as we went in and out. I think they were trying to intimidate us."

That must have been after Caleb quit the force, because he'd never seen Danny in person. Gibbons had always kept him busy taking care of the hundreds of peripheral people who had to be interviewed. "Did it work?" he called from the kitchen.

"It was intimidating, sure," she said. "It would be intimidating for anyone. But I don't think they were very smart to bully us."

"Why?"

She accepted the glass of wine he brought back for her. "Their tactics only made me more determined to remain firm. Not that it did me any good. When the killings started up again, the police felt so much pressure to solve the case, they transferred that pressure to us, including Danny. Pretty soon the neighbors were accustomed to seeing detectives coming and going from my house, but they certainly weren't happy about it."

She paused to take a sip of wine. "They formed their own opinions," she continued, "and hinted that if I'd only cooperate and 'do the right thing' it would all be over and my 'poor husband' could hold up his head again. They quit inviting us to neighborhood barbecue parties. They wouldn't let their children play with Brianna or come to our house." She sighed and shifted position so she could stretch her legs out in front of her. "Danny couldn't tolerate all the negative attention."

"Why didn't the two of you take your baby and move somewhere else? Somewhere the murders and the investigation weren't so publicized?" Caleb asked, thinking that if he were Danny, he would've done anything to protect his family.