Death's Door (28 page)

“Should we let the police know about the tampering with my test results?” she asked.

“And tell them what?” Paul’s father wanted to know. “That someone may have altered the records or that the lab itself may have made a mistake?”

Paul offered her a soothing smile. “The police have so many violent crimes to deal with that they aren’t going to do anything with so little evidence.”

Madison had scoffed at Paul’s idea that the deaths of the donor-conceived children weren’t coincidences. Then Erin’s death had been linked. Now she knew with an eerie certainty her life was in danger.

I
T IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE
to round up the wild horses that still inhabit the open range in the western states. Some creative—where would the world be without creativity?—person discovered they could be stampeded using helicopters. That isn’t the creative part. Helicopters have been used to herd cattle for a long time.

When in a terrified frenzy caused by the hovering helicopter, horses cannot be herded, unlike cattle that can be herded by the aircraft into pens. The creative person decided to employ a Judas horse. This horse has been specifically trained to act like the lead stallion and run into the slaughter pen.

Once the traitorous horse is with the wild horses it directs them into the death corral, where they pile up on each other. Those that aren’t crushed in the total, bloody melee are shot. Of course, the Judas horse dies, as well, trapped at the very bottom of the heap of dead and mortally injured horses.

In an operation of any magnitude, there will be collateral damage.

A lesson worth remembering, the killer reflected. Send in the Judas horse to confuse Madison and trick that nosy bastard Paul Tanner.

There would be losses. There would be death. What could be more satisfying?

M
ADISON INSISTED
Paul take her to her office along with Aspen. She promised not to leave the building until Paul came to get
them. She sat in her office and tried to deal with the hundreds of e-mail questions programmers had left for her. She was the final judge about which questions could be used.

Right now she was considering: What is the most popular first name for a man in the world? The programmer who researched the question had put Muhammad.

It was a good choice, she decided. The firstborn male in most Muslim families had that name. What was bothering her was the number-two name could be Juan or Jose. Not enough statistical information was available from South America to be sure, but what they knew from Mexico and more technologically-linked nations such as Costa Rica and Panama made her suspect they might get a different answer if they studied South America more closely.

With her background in statistics, Madison knew she didn’t have to rely upon a report from every remote village in South America. She could take the information from the major cities and calculate from there. After all, eleven voters could walk out of a voting booth in New Hampshire and the television stations would project the winner based on a few numbers.

“Got a minute?”

Madison looked up from her screen, having decided to send this question back to the programmer and have him do an analysis of South America.

Aiden so rarely came into her office that she was surprised to see him. And annoyed. After all the time she’d missed between taking care of Erin’s funeral and dealing with the identity theft, she was too busy to be interrupted.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked.

“Have you given any more thought to Luis’s offer?”

“No. I already told you. I don’t like his reputation.” She wondered about the chummy first-name basis her ex was on with the Cuban.

“He told us that he’s really interested.”

She didn’t have to ask who “us” was. He meant Chloe, of course. Madison saw no reason to tell Aiden about Estevez’s offer. “I’m concerned about his criminal connections. I—”

“Luis has never been arrested, even for speeding.”

Obviously, the man’s notorious reputation had come up or Aiden wouldn’t know this arcane fact. “Haven’t you asked yourself what that man wants with a small company like ours?”

Aiden tried his charming smile but it seemed smarmy to her now. Compared to Paul, this guy was a total jerk. How could she have wasted time on him?

“Look, if we don’t do this, some other trivia site will and our business will hit the skids.” Aiden tried his smile again, waiting for her response.

“Why don’t you buy me out?” she suggested, as she’d done before. She couldn’t believe they were having this discussion again.

“I—I don’t have that much cash,” he reluctantly admitted.

She wondered if Chloe had burned through all his money already. Well, it was his problem. He loved her. “I’d take less from you. We could work out terms. Then it would be your decision whether or not to get mixed up with this man.”

Aiden stood up. “I’ll talk to Chloe.”

“You do that.” She tried to go back to work but her mind wasn’t on the business. She really did want to do something more meaningful, but what? She loved math and numbers. She always had, but without a degree she didn’t have many options.

An idea hit her, seemingly from out of nowhere, but it must have been lurking in the dark recesses of her mind since she’d met Wyatt Holbrook. She went online and started to do some research to clarify her thoughts.

“Hey, there’s, like, this total hunk here to see you. How cool is that?”

Madison looked up at Jade, then checked her watch. Nearly an hour had passed while she’d been researching. As usual, Jade
had walked back to Madison’s office when she could have used the interoffice phone to tell her she had a visitor. “Who is it?”

“Dr. Matthews.”

“Rob’s here, not working?” She’d forgotten about his messages on her cell phone and hadn’t returned his calls. “Send him back.”

Today Jade’s hair had a bluish tinge. Madison watched her sashay her way through the cube farm toward the reception area. Why would a person change their hair so often? Wear such weird clothes—noticeable even in SoBe, where it was nearly impossible to appear too strange? The girl was smart but still searching for herself, Madison decided.

“There you are,” Rob said as he approached.

Madison left her desk to give Rob a quick hug, saying, “I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. So much has been going on.”

Rob pulled her closer. “I was worried. That’s why I canceled out my morning patients to come here.”

Feeling guilty, Madison eased out of his embrace and returned to her chair. She motioned for Rob to sit where Aiden had. How could she have forgotten to return his calls?

“I’m sorry to cause you a problem. I had my phone off and when I picked up your messages it was the middle of the night.”

“What were you doing up so late?”

When had she last spoken to Rob? So much had happened. He was such a kind person. Except for Paul, no one else would have missed her. Then she remembered—the day he’d discovered Bewley Allen’s name and changed the info on Aspen’s chip was the last time she’d seen him. She reached down to pet Aspen, whose head had popped up at the sound of voices.

She wasn’t sure how much to tell Rob. Why not? What was happening to her? This was a friend. He’d called her just after Aiden walked out. He’d kept calling and bolstering her spirits through the following months. They’d met for dinner a few times, and he’d invited her to several interesting events. She
didn’t go because she refused to move on. Whiner that she’d been, Madison preferred to spend evenings alone or with Erin. She didn’t want to be with a man, even a friend.

Had she been that pathetic? You bet. Well, those days were over.

“I’m living in Wyatt Holbrook’s guesthouse. The Russerts came home early and I had to find a place to stay quickly. I—”

“You should have called me. There’s plenty of room at my place.” He nodded toward Aspen. “A yard for your dog, too.”

He sounded hurt that she hadn’t called him. To be honest, the thought had never crossed her mind. “Thanks, that’s kind of you—”

“Kind?” Rob leaned forward and gazed at her with an expression filled with hurt. “Madison, I care about you. I’d help you in any way I could.”

The way he said this made her a little uncomfortable. “I didn’t want to impose, so when Wyatt offered—”

He sat back in the chair and regarded at her with a now unreadable expression. “I guess this means you agreed to be tested.”

Rob had advised her against testing, fearing should she be a candidate that the liver operation was dangerous. “I’ve begun the test process.”

“Hopefully you won’t qualify.”

“I’m sure I won’t. Wyatt has some special problems. So he needs a close relative. I know I’m not related to him.”

“Did you talk to your mother about that?”

“No. She still hasn’t called.”

Her telephone buzzed and she picked it up. “Pamela Nolan is returning your call.”

Madison had forgotten she’d called her former roommate at MIT about Chloe. She wanted to talk to her, but not now, with Rob in her office. “Tell Pamela I’m in a meeting and I’ll call her back.”

Rob was looking at her in a way that made her even more uncomfortable.

“Did Erin ever mention being a donor-conceived child?”

Rob nodded. “She did. Erin was worried about not having all her genetic information should we have children. Why?”

Something inside Madison sank like a rock thrown into the bottom of a deep well. Her response was barely a whisper. “She never told me.”

“When you went off to MIT, I think she felt…I don’t know exactly. I guess
deserted
might describe her reaction. You had a new life that left her behind.”

“I called her every week. She was taking classes at Miami City College. I thought she was happy.”

“Erin was never much of a student. I think she took classes because she thought it was the thing to do. Her heart wasn’t in it.”

Madison knew Rob was correct. Erin’s sole interest had been animals. She’d taken classes to be a vet tech but had dropped out for some reason. “Even if we did grow apart for a while, we were so close growing up. I would have thought—”

“Erin’s parents didn’t tell her until she was twenty-one.”

Madison supposed that explained it. At that point Madison was still away at college. They talked regularly but she did remember feeling they were growing apart. By then, they only spoke when Madison called. Madison had been looking ahead to graduate school. Her life took an unexpected turn when her father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“Why are you asking about this?”

“Last night I learned Erin was one of Wyatt Holbrook’s donor-conceived children.”

Near silence followed this announcement, the only sound the muffled clack-clack of the computers out in the cube farm. “Good God! She never knew that. Amazing. That would have made you half sisters.”

A surge of annoyance hit Madison. “Assuming I am one of his children. I’m not convinced.”

Rob opened his mouth to argue, then seemed to think better of it.

“The police are wondering if Erin’s relationship to Wyatt was the reason she was murdered.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Another of his donor-conceived children was killed here the other night. Not long ago, two others died in the Boston area in the same week.”

“Get out!” He stared at her for a moment. “You could be in danger. Sounds like there’s a serial killer stalking these people.”

She shrugged. “Maybe, or it could be a strange coincidence. The deaths in Boston weren’t ruled homicides. I’m not concerned. Wyatt’s arranged for security.”

“You’ll be safer if you take off for a while. No telling what that lunatic might do. I have a condo in Naples. You could go there. I’d come over on weekends.”

She was more than a little stunned to realize she had two very protective men in her life. “Thanks, but I can’t leave my job. Wyatt has a good security company.”

“If there’s a will, even the best security can be circumvented.”

“I appreciate the offer,” she said, firmly but with a smile. “I’m staying. I’m actually not convinced I’m in any danger. If I am, I’m sure that when I’m ruled out as a donor, I won’t need any protection.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I, but that’s life.”

“Have you had lunch? I’m starving,” he said, abruptly changing the direction of the conversation.

She was a little hungry, too. It was after two o’clock. She’d planned to eat a power bar at her desk and finish the backlog. She couldn’t leave; she’d promised Paul.

“I already ate,” she told him. Not exactly a lie. She had eaten breakfast. “Maybe another time.”

“How about dinner?” he asked with an encouraging smile.

Now was the time to tell Rob about Paul, but she didn’t. It might make him feel cut off at a time when he was dealing with Erin’s death. Plus, he seemed a bit lonely, as if he needed a friend. She knew the feeling. It was exactly how she had felt lately—until Paul.

Erin’s death had taught her one thing. Don’t take friends for granted. Rob Matthews was a nice man. He had been Erin’s longest relationship, so her friend must have truly loved Rob. And he’d helped conceal Aspen’s true identity. She didn’t want to lose contact with him.

“I’m kind of busy for the next week or so with the Holbrooks and the testing. Let’s keep in touch.”

She stood to walk him to the door. “I’m sorry you worried about me. Thanks.”

“Okay, I’ll check in to see how you’re doing.”

“Don’t worry if I don’t get right back to you. I’m going in for tests and you have to turn off your phone in the hospital.”

“I understand.” Unexpectedly, he swept her into his arms. She could feel his uneven breathing on her cheek as he held her close. His mouth moved over hers, devouring its softness. A shudder rippled through her and she pulled away.

“Call me,” Rob said as he left.

Madison looked to see if their little scene had attracted the programmers’ attention. They were all watching their screens, but Chloe was staring at her from the entrance to Aiden’s office and Jade was watching from the reception area.

Great! Just great. She could imagine the office gossip. She’d arrived with Paul and would leave with him. Meanwhile she was carrying on with another man. What did it matter? The important thing to be concerned about wasn’t other people’s thoughts. It was Rob Matthews.

Evidently, she’d missed the obvious. He wanted to be more than friends. She’d made a mistake. She should have told him about Paul when she had the opportunity.