Cold feet (35 page)

"Never mind." He wasn't sure he could gain Madison's confidence again. He'd betrayed her trust and unwittingly put her in danger. But he did have a lease on the cottage. And it didn't run out for another five months.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

M
ADISON STUDIED
C
ALEB
as he came to stand in the doorway of her room. He was wearing a gray polo, a pair of jeans and a Giants cap, and the dark shadow covering his jaw indicated he hadn't shaved this morning. But he looked as good as always--strong, masculine, confident.

"How do you feel?" he asked, the muscles of his arms flexing as he hooked his fingers on the doorjamb over his head.

"I'm still tired," she admitted.

"You want to sleep some more? Or are you ready to eat something?"

She wriggled into a sitting position. "I want to talk."

He cocked an eyebrow, as though he was a little worried about what she might say.

"I need to understand what happened," she explained.

Letting go of the jamb, he moved closer, and she slid over so he could sit on the edge of the bed. "It was Holly," he said simply.

"How could that be? How could she kill her own sister?"

"Obviously she's not right. I arrived here just after the police arrested her. She was hysterical by then, cursing at the top of her lungs and blaming me. I couldn't get any coherent answers out of her. But I called Detective Gibbons from the hospital later, and he filled me in on a few things."

Madison blinked in surprise. Caleb had gone to the hospital with her when he finally had the killer for whom he'd been searching so long? "What did the detective say?" she asked.

"The day before Susan died, Susan and Lance, the guy she was dating, got into an argument. Susan suspected Lance was seeing someone else, which was true. Anyway, she was upset and showed up at Holly's house unexpectedly, late at night. Holly was gone and the door was locked, but Susan managed to fit through a window Holly had forgotten to close. While she was there, she found some Roofies hidden in a Tylenol bottle in the kitchen cupboard."

"Roofies?"

"Date rape drug."

"How did she know what they were?"

"The tablets are marked, and they're not as scarce as you might think. Susan was a partier. I'm sure she'd run into them before. Only, finding them at Holly's worried her. She started poking around, wondering what else she'd find, and discovered a jacket that belonged to the woman who was just murdered in Spokane. The police had made a big deal about it because--"

"It had her initials embroidered on the front," Madison interrupted. "I heard someone talking about it at work."

"Exactly." He leaned across her, propping himself up on one hand. "Susan confronted Holly. Holly said she'd bought the jacket at a garage sale, but she knew Susan would eventually figure it out and possibly even tell someone. She felt she had to do something. So she called Susan and told her she wanted to meet her at the Pie in the Sky Pizzeria the following night."

"Why such a public place?"

"She needed a place where she could convince Tye to meet her."

"Tye?"
Madison exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't worry. He was as manipulated as the rest of us. Holly just wanted your father's truck and Susan seen in the same vicinity. She wanted to throw the police off track. And she wanted me back. She knew how interested I was in the old case, and was afraid I might not take enough interest in Susan's disappearance if it didn't tie in somehow."

"But I don't understand why he'd agree to meet her," Madison said. "Weren't they total strangers?"

"She promised to provide Tye with information that would prove your father innocent of the killings."

"Why would he bring the truck?"

"Because that's what the note she sent him said to do, so she'd be able to recognize him. When he arrived, no one came forward to meet him, of course. But Susan nearly backed into him when she was trying to park, which caused an argument between them."

"Tye never said anything about a note or anything else," Madison said.

"Can you blame him? Susan wound up dead, and
he'd
met her the night she was murdered, even argued with her. I'm sure Tye smelled a setup, but he didn't have any idea who'd sent that note, and after what happened to your father, he had no confidence that the police would believe him if he came forward."

"So Holly didn't even go to the pizza place that night."

"No."

"Then how did she kill Susan?"

"She simply called Susan, told her she couldn't make it and asked her to come to the house instead."

A creeping sensation made Madison shiver and pull the blankets higher. "And Susan went to her house, after finding that jacket?"

Caleb sighed. "Holly's an incredible liar. And Susan had all their years as sisters working against her. She probably couldn't fathom that Holly could really be what the evidence seemed to suggest."

"Like I could never believe it of my father," Madison murmured. "Despite all that evidence."

"Even if Susan thought Holly capable of violence, she probably never dreamed her sister would harm
her.
There wasn't any Rohypnol in her blood, though, which leads us to believe she was leery enough to refuse a drink from Holly. She also put up a damn good fight."

"Poor Susan."

Caleb fell silent for a moment, and Madison knew he was feeling the same sympathy. But then she remembered something else. "Wait, what about the contents of that box under the house?" she asked. "The rope and the locket and--"

"Holly put that stuff in the woodpile behind your father's house after we got married the second time."

"Why?"

"She told Gibbons she'd decided to stop killing. Somehow being with me satisfied that urge, though I certainly wouldn't presume to understand her crazy logic."

"So she dumped those...trophies at my
parents'
place?" Madison asked.

"It was the safest place to put it," he replied. "Everyone already suspected your father. She'd made sure she set him up as her scapegoat years earlier. She'd seen the news reports of Tatiana Harris's neighbor claiming to have seen your father's truck leaving Tatiana's house. At that point, she merely dug up an old phone book that had your father listed, and made a point of driving by the house to get part of his license plate number. She must've done it right before she murdered Anna Tyler, the woman living next door to her, knowing the police would come knocking to see if she'd heard or seen anything."

"But my dad found that box and thought Johnny had killed those women! He--" Madison couldn't finish without breaking into tears. After her dream, she felt so close to her father.

Caleb nodded sadly and took her hand. "I'm sorry about that."

Rage at Holly and what she'd done burned inside Madison. She wondered if she'd ever be able to get over that anger. She knew others would tell her she had to forgive, for her own sake, but she also knew it was going to take time. How did a woman forgive a person who'd caused her father to commit suicide? Who'd tried to murder her daughter? Who'd nearly ruined her life in so many ways?

"Then Tye found it and hid it in the basement," he added, "which is where you found it."

She wiped away her angry tears. "But where did it go from there?"

"Your mother took it," he said. "When you were talking to her on the phone that day, telling her you'd found something, she knew where you must have found it. And she wasn't about to let anything that further implicated your father come to light."

"How do you know?"

"She told me this morning that she's turning it all over to police."

"So she did take it," Madison mumbled. "She was that certain my father was innocent."

"And now everyone else is, too," Caleb said.

Madison let her breath go in a long sigh. "I can't believe the nightmare that started twelve years ago is finally over."

"It's about time."

She glanced at the phone. "We need to tell Sharon."

"Sharon?"

"Tye's wife. She thinks Johnny was involved with the murders. She left Tye because she believed he was protecting Johnny."

"That's the only reason?"

Madison considered his question. "Probably not the only reason. Tye has his problems. But I know she loves him. I think their marriage is worth saving."

Madison could tell by the way he was looking at her that Caleb's mind was now moving in a different direction. "What?"

"That makes me think of something else that's worth saving," he said.

Hearing the subtle change in his voice, Madison hesitated before responding. "What's that?"

"I know you're angry about what I did, Maddy." He trailed his fingers up her arm, and she shivered at the unexpected pleasure. "You have every right to be. But I'm thinking you and I had something good. If you can forgive me, I'd like to stick around for a while and see what happens."

Madison's heart skipped a beat as her eyes met his. She knew what would happen. She'd get completely caught up in him. He was everything she'd ever wanted in a man. But she'd just been through the worst experience imaginable. How could she muster enough faith in the future to take such a risk right now? Especially with a man whose permanent address was three states away? If things went bad between them, he could simply pack up and leave. "Caleb, I--"

He immediately concealed the hope in his face, letting Madison know he anticipated her rejection. "You what?"

Madison felt as though she had a bowling ball sitting on her chest as she opened her mouth to continue. But she
had
to continue. She'd promised herself that she'd protect Brianna, protect them both. "I have to think about my daughter," she said. "She's dealt with so many changes already. With Danny always waiting in the wings, hoping to take my daughter away from me, I can't take any chances right now. I'm sorry."

Caleb stood, putting some distance between them, and she saw him take a deep breath, as though her answer had stung him. "I understand," he said shortly, his eyes now hooded. Then her mother hollered from the front door and Brianna came running toward the bedroom. The next thing Madison knew, Caleb was gone.

I
T DIDN'T TAKE
M
ADISON
long to recover. She slept for most of Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday, when the glass company arrived to repair the window Johnny had broken, she was ready to take care of herself and Brianna and let her mother go home. She and Annette got along quite well. They'd had to stick together to get through the past, after all. But Madison was ready to be alone, or as alone as she could be with Johnny living in her house. She hadn't seen Caleb for several days, and she was having a tough time pretending it didn't matter.

"Mommy, when did you draw these?" Brianna asked.

Madison turned from admiring the new window as the repairman drove away to see that her daughter had found the sketches she'd done of Caleb's chest and lips. "A few days ago," she said, feeling her cheeks grow warm because her mother had also turned to look. "I was just doodling," she added quickly.

"Can I hang them up?" Brianna asked.

Madison opened her mouth to say no. The last thing she needed was a daily reminder of the man she'd fallen so deeply in love with. But Annette took a closer look and spoke before Madison could.

"I think they should go in your mommy's room," she said. "They're excellent."

"Thanks." Madison started cutting onions for homemade chili and blinked back tears she couldn't blame entirely on her task.

"Where is Caleb, anyway?" Brianna asked, wearing a frown. "I want to see him."

Madison decided the truth was probably best. "I think he moved back to San Francisco." She didn't know for sure because she hadn't been able to make herself go over to the cottage to check. She was afraid she'd find it as empty as she suspected it was.

"Can we go there?" Brianna asked.

"No, it's too far away," Madison said.

Brianna wrinkled her nose. "Why would he want to live there?"

"That's where his home is."

"But we're
here.
When's he coming back?"

Never
was too permanent for a child, so Madison mumbled something about "someday."

"Speaking of Caleb," her mother murmured. "He sent you a check to buy out his lease. And his mother called while you were in the shower."

Caleb had sent her a check? Madison didn't feel right about taking his money when she'd asked him to leave. But she was more immediately concerned with the fact that Caleb's mother had called. "What did she say?"

"She wanted to make sure you're all right."

Madison had a definite soft spot where Justine Trovato was concerned, but she needed to avoid anyone who had anything to do with Caleb, or getting over him would only be more difficult. "Did you tell her I'm fine?"

"No. I told her you'd call her back." Her mother waved at a slip of paper tacked to the fridge. "Her number's right there. And I put Caleb's check in the side pocket of your purse."

"Mom, you know I'd rather not deal with--" Madison started, but Brianna was watching her closely, so she stopped.

"I know what you told me," her mother replied. "But if you're going to shut him out, you're going to do it on your own because I can't help thinking that some risks are worth taking. And Caleb is one of them."

T
HAT EVENING
,
Madison sat in her bedroom, staring at the slip of paper with Justine Trovato's number. Annette had finally left. Johnny had gone over to Tye's because Sharon and the kids were back and Tye was trying to make up to his wife by fixing a few things around the house; he'd asked his brother to help. Brianna was in bed. So Madison was alone at last. She had the time and the opportunity to return Caleb's mother's call. But she knew talking to Justine would make her miss Caleb that much more....