Crime & Passion (18 page)

Madeline narrowed her eyebrows. “I think
you’re overreacting, Donovan. Maybe the light burned out.”

He wished he could believe that. “Brandon
Feldman pulled into the parking lot right as I was leaving.”

She sucked in a loud breath. “And you
think...”

“Get in your car.”

“No way.” She took a step toward the door.
“If something happened to Maria, she might need both our help.”

Madeline yanked the door open before Donovan
could protest further.

He grabbed her hand in his, stopping her from
moving forward. “Let me go first.”

She nodded and Donovan stepped past her,
holding her hand in his behind his back.

“Maria? Are you in here?” He looked around
the interior of the store. Maria wasn’t behind the counter and she
didn’t reply to his call. “Maria?”

Silence.

Behind him, Madeline gasped. “Donovan. Over
there, in the corner.”

With a heavy heart, he looked into the
shadowy corner at the back of the room.

Maria sat on the floor, propped against the
wall. Her head hung down to her chest and hair obscured her face.
She didn’t move.

“No, please, no.” Donovan couldn’t breathe,
couldn’t think. He should have turned around when he saw Brandon.
He should have made sure Maria was safe.

“We need to check her.” Madeline’s calm voice
steadied him. Her arms slipped around his waist and squeezed him
once before letting go. “Maybe she’s knocked out or something.”

Donovan didn’t believe that any more than he
figured Madeline did, but he knew she was right. They had to
check.

“I’ll look,” he said. “Stay here.”

He walked toward Maria, not waiting to see if
Madeline obeyed his order. She’d long since proven she would do
whatever she pleased.

Donovan crouched down, trying not to disturb
anything. “Maria?” He pushed her head back toward the wall gingerly
with the tips of his fingers.

Maria’s eyes bulge in their sockets, her face
twisted in a mask of pain. A blue and yellow nylon cord circled her
neck. Donovan didn’t need to see more to know the horrible
truth.

Madeline looked across the crowded police
station from where she sat at Donovan’s desk. There was hardly room
to walk in the tight space. With the police officers of Pleasant
View buzzing around like bees from an agitated hive, it seemed even
smaller.

A hand pressed against her shoulder. When
Madeline turned, Eric loomed over her.

“You all right, Madeline?”

Oh, yeah. I’m fantastic. Moron.
She
bit back the retort and shook her head. “I’m worried about Donovan.
That was so horrible for him. He kind of lost it for a while.”

That was a mild description for what
happened. Donovan had run outside after checking Maria’s body and
thrown up around the corner of the building. When Madeline tried to
talk to him, he sank to the ground with his head in his hands,
repeatedly stating it was all his fault. She’d been unable to
comfort him.

Madeline called the cops. When they showed
up, Donovan hadn’t moved, hadn’t talked to anyone. Brice Carter was
a reassuring presence. He’d helped Donovan into the car, told one
of the other officers to process the scene, and told yet another to
go see Lindsey and let her know the situation.

Brice Carter had driven Donovan’s car, and
Madeline followed behind them. When they arrived at the station,
Brice deposited her at Donovan’s desk, asked her to wait for
someone to take her statement, and disappeared with Donovan into
the Chief’s office.

That left Madeline sitting by herself until
Eric showed up. She wished she knew what was happening to
Donovan.

She looked back up at Eric. “I’ve never seen
him like that.”

Eric pulled a chair to the side of the desk
and sat down. “He’ll be okay. It’s just the shock. Even I know how
much he cared about Maria. He took me with him to their house one
day a few weeks ago. She made pot roast and mashed potatoes, and we
watched a basketball game with her husband.”

“Poor Jeremy.” Tears slipped down Madeline’s
cheeks and she wiped them away. “Does he know yet?”

“The Chief went to tell him.”

“And little Brianna is waiting for her
cupcakes.” She fished a tissue out of her purse and blew her nose.
“Who could do this?”

He shook his head. “We’re going to find out.”
He grabbed a notepad off the desk and pulled a pen out of his
pocket. “In the meantime, I need to ask you about what happened
today.”

Madeline relayed everything she saw, trying
to distance herself from the memory of seeing Maria’s face. More
dead eyes to haunt her dreams, only this time they belonged to
someone she cared for.

“There’s one more thing,” she said, still
uncertain she was doing the right thing. “Brandon Feldman somehow
knows about the phone call made to Frank Johnson before his
death.”

Eric’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

Madeline sighed. “He says he has a police
source who told him about it. I just wondered if maybe...”

“If maybe he made the call?” Eric asked with
raised eyebrows.

She shrugged. “Either that, or someone in
this office needs to keep their mouth closed.”

He nodded. “I’ll talk to the Chief and ask
around.”

That was the best she could hope for. Relief
descended on her. Someone finally knew this information and could
do something about it.

Eric finished writing some notes. “I do need
to ask you about what happened outside your apartment last
night.”

She looked at him sharply. “Why does that
matter?”

He stared at her for a moment, not
responding. Finally he sighed. “Several people called the station
to report you and Donovan fighting. I was already on my way to
check on you, but the calls started coming in right before I
arrived.”

“I don’t care what they said. What business
is it of theirs?”

“Don’t snap at me, Madeline. I’m trying to
help, and so were they. Your neighbors were worried about you. They
said Donovan was threatening you.”

“Threatening me?” Madeline stood abruptly
from her chair. “That’s ridiculous.” She started for the door with
a half-formed idea that she would just leave this place.

Eric placed his hand on her arm. “You need to
sit back down, please. I was there, remember? I heard a lot of what
he said. I heard him warn you about being alone at Woofy Cuts. It
sounded like a threat to me, too. And now something’s happened at
Woofy Cuts.”

“You’re wrong about him.” Madeline sat down,
realizing the shock must be wearing off. She didn’t feel as
clear-headed as she had before. What was she thinking? She couldn’t
leave the station without Donovan. She took a deep breath, trying
to calm her jumbled thoughts. “He didn’t threaten me. He was
genuinely concerned. Because I keep cooperating with the police,
Donovan is afraid the killer is after me. Maybe he’s right. Maria
was in the shop today, but I was supposed to be there. He could
have come to kill me, and Maria got in his way.”

***

“You have to calm down before Chief gets
here,” Brice cautioned.

Donovan looked into Brice’s concerned eyes.
“I can’t. This is my fault.” If only he’d never left Maria.
Madeline would have safely made it to the shop on her own, and
Donovan could have saved Maria’s life. How could he ever forgive
himself for leaving her?

Brice gripped Donovan’s shoulders and shook
him. “Stop that. It wasn’t your fault. Not unless the rumors are
true and you actually killed her.”

“How could you say that? You know I
didn’t.”

Brice leaned against the edge of Stone’s
desk. “Then clean your face and quit bawling. I need you to think
like a cop right now and help me figure this out.”

Donovan tried to block the image of Maria out
of his mind, wiping at the wetness on his cheeks. Her staring eyes
seemed to glare at him in accusation, just like the eyes of the
teenage boy he’d had to shoot barely twelve years earlier.

He looked at Brice and nodded, knowing the
other man was right. He’d have plenty of time to dwell on how he
failed Maria in the future. Right now, he needed to do what he
could to find her killer. “What do you need?”

“I know you said you think someone’s framing
you for this. What motive would you have to kill Maria? Why would
they think they could pin this on you?”

“I honestly don’t know. Are you bringing
Brandon in for questioning? He was the last one to see her alive,
and he has plenty of reasons to hate me.”

“Yeah. I called him. He’s coming down to give
a statement. But if he did do this, you know he’s just going to say
he didn’t, and place you at the scene.” Brice folded his arms
across his chest. “Chief Stone suspects you’re guilty because of
that phone call from your cell to Frank Johnson. He’s heading to
get a signature on the search warrant for your apartment and car
right after he leaves Jeremy and Maria’s house.” He looked away as
he said that, perhaps realizing it would only be Jeremy’s house
now.

Donovan leaned his head against the wall
behind his chair, trying to focus on the more immediate problems he
faced. “Maybe the search will help. There’s nothing for Stone to
find. Once he figures that out, he can start listening to what I’m
saying.”

“There is that. For me to take your
accusation against Brandon seriously, I’ve got to have a plausible
motive for him to do this to you.”

“You know he has that vendetta against me
because of what happened with his wife.”

“She was some piece of work, wasn’t she?”
Brice’s lip twisted in disgust. “Lori flirted with every guy in
town, and slept with several. We all thought she was single. The
problem was, people warned her to stay away from you. I think she
saw you as a challenge.”

“Lots of women do,” Donovan replied,
wondering why he let his life get so out of control that the first
thing people in town did was warn away new residents.
I’m going
to change all that, now that I’ve found Maddie.

“Brandon never knew what she really was,”
Brice said. “It makes sense that he blamed you.”

“And how could I tell him?” Donovan shook his
head, the tragedy of the whole situation striking him once again.
Lori paid a higher price for her infidelity than she deserved. “I’m
no saint, but I figured it would be better for Brandon to cherish
her memory and believe I was at fault.”

Brice tapped his fingers against the desk at
his side. “So he has a good reason to hate you. Why wait until now?
That happened years ago.”

“Maybe it has to do with Maddie. Brandon
wants her, and I think he’s angry that she’s been spending time
with me.” He clenched his hand into a fist. “Maybe he sees this as
the same situation as with Lori, but this time he plans to win the
girl by putting me in prison.”

“No. That doesn’t make sense, Donovan.”

“Why not?”

Brice leaned forward. “You didn’t meet Miss
Scott until after she found Frank Johnson’s body.”

Donovan closed his eyes. “Well, shit. That
was the best theory I had.”

“Look, I shouldn’t even tell you this, but I
consider you a friend, and I don’t believe you did this.” Brice
took a deep breath and puffed his cheeks out before releasing the
air. “Chief’s got a theory of why Maria was killed this morning.
That’s what he called about a few minutes ago.”

“Okay. Let me have it.”

“He thinks the killer was actually after
Madeline Scott. By now, everyone knows she is usually by herself
every Monday morning at the store.”

Donovan nodded. “That’s why I went to check
on her. I didn’t want the killer to have a chance to get her.”

“What if the killer came in there, found
Maria, and something went wrong with his plan?”

“Maddie not being there would have screwed
things up enough. Why kill Maria?” A sharp pain shot through
Donovan’s chest at that thought.

“Maybe Maria somehow figured out what he was
there to do? He would have to kill her then to keep her quiet.
Whoever this is can’t afford to leave someone around to identify
him.”

Donovan felt the tears gather in his eyes
once again and blinked them away. “Bastard.”

“Problem is, Chief thinks you’re the
bastard.”

“That makes no sense.” Donovan stood from his
chair to pace the small office. “Assuming I wanted Maddie dead,
which I definitely don’t, who would be dumb enough to think I’d
kill Maria? I love her like a mother.”

Brice nodded. “I know you do. That’s why I
don’t think you did it. You’re smart enough to convince her she was
wrong if she suspected you of being a killer. You wouldn’t have
strangled her.”

Donovan’s stomach heaved once again as the
image of Maria’s neck circled by the nylon rope filled his vision.
He was unable to stop the tears from falling, but managed to
swallow back his nausea.

“I’m glad you believe me at least.” He looked
at Brice. “What the hell do I do now?”

***

“So Maria took your place, huh, Maddie?”

Madeline recognized that voice. It was the
person who answered Donovan’s phone yesterday. She looked up. A
petite woman with short, black hair stood next to her.

The woman sat in the chair Eric had vacated
when he went to question Brandon Feldman. She crossed one slender
leg elegantly over the other and folded her hands across her knee.
Her long nails were painted blood red.

Madeline glanced at her own ragged nails. She
wondered if perfect manicures turned Donovan on.

So not important!

“You must feel awful,” the woman said when
Madeline didn’t reply.

Madeline did her best to keep the guilt she
felt off her face. She refused to talk to Donovan’s lover about her
feelings. Though truthfully, she felt horrible that Maria was at
the shop as a favor to her. She should have been safe at home with
her husband, cooking cupcakes for her granddaughter.