Mad Love: Madison (37 page)

Feeling suddenly lightheaded, Madison groped for
the chair. She fell back into it.

Her gaze traveled to the bottom shelf where a
stack of credit cards and IDs sat. She leaned forward and pushed them over with
her fingernail. There were about five or ten, each containing a different man’s
name. Quincy’s was on the bottom, right above his PI license.

An old scarred pocket watch baring the initials,
A.J.S. caught her attention next.
Quincy’s last case
, she thought, as
she reached out to touch the watch. She stopped and withdrew her hand, instead
turning her attention to an old-fashioned tape recorder sitting underneath the
pocket watch.

She pressed play and closed her eyes as Quincy’s
ragged pain filled voice began to count in order from one to ten. When he got
to five, he began cursing. She winced at the sound of Quincy screaming and then
wearily counting all over again. Slower this time, over and over again until
she couldn’t take it anymore and stopped the tape. Holding on to the edge of
the shelf, she broke down into painful gut wrenching sobs.

Several minutes passed by while she cried for Quincy’s
horrible death, and for the death of the fantasy she had created in her mind of
her and Ethan.
That’s all he was
, she thought sadly.
Just a fantasy.

When the tears finally slowed and the numbness
took over, she slowly stood up and closed the cabinet doors.

“Madison.”

She slowly turned around.

Ethan was standing in the doorway watching her.
He took a couple of cautious steps into the room.

Her heart racing, she reached into the pocket of
her coat and pulled out the gun he had given her. She held it up and off to the
side to her surprise, unable to point it at the man she still loved.

“Madison, I don’t know what’s going on but I need
you to trust me.”

“I did trust you.”

He took a step closer.

Her hand shaking, she turned the gun towards him.
Still not pointing it directly at him but close enough to get his attention. “Stay
where you are, Alex.”

“Madison,” he said lifting up his hands, “I’m not
Alex. We’ve been together for days. I haven’t hurt you. I would never hurt
you.”

“Of course not. You’ve been waiting for the
perfect moment,” she said bitterly. “Tell me something. Were you going to kill
me tonight at midnight or just sometime the next day? It’s been driving me
crazy wondering how much longer I had.”

“You’re being tricked, Madison. He’s playing with
you right now. I’m not the one you need to fear.”

“Really? Then how do you explain that?” she asked
gesturing towards the picture of him as a teenager sitting next to Todd and
Zach.

He frowned as he picked up the picture. “I’ve
never seen this picture before in my life.” He tossed the picture back down on
the desk. “Where did you get it?”

“In your cabinet of horrors behind me.”

His gaze moved from her to the cabinet. “Let me
see. Open it up.”

“No, thank you, once was enough for me.”

“Madison...”

“Why did you kill Quincy? Was it because he was
part of what happened to your brother or was it because you wanted him out of
the way so you could take his job and seduce me?”

“Madison, I didn’t kill Quincy.”

“I heard the tape you made of him counting. I
heard him screaming,” she said in a horrified whisper. “It’s all there, Ethan.
All your little sick trophies. You can’t hide anymore. I saw them all.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them,
they weren’t the soft loving gaze she had seen whenever she had looked into his
eyes before. Now they were hard and angry. “I suppose they were all just lying around
for you to find them.”

“They’re in the cabinet.”

“Oh, excellent hiding place,” he said
sarcastically. “I have a safe in the closet over there, but no, I much prefer
to keep evidence of my crimes in a cabinet behind my desk. The damn thing
doesn’t even have a lock on it. Do I look that stupid to you?”

“You’re not sane. You take risks.”

He took a step around the desk, causing her to
back up towards the window.

She pointed the gun at his chest. “Please, stay
back, Ethan.”

He brought his hands up. “Think, Madison. Alex is
trying to kill you. He needs to get you alone sometime between now and New
Year’s Day for his sick little plan to work, but he has a problem. I’m in the
way. He knows I’m protecting you and that I’m not going to let him take you
from me. So, for his plan to work, he needs to get me out of the way.”

She frowned as she stepped back. A part of her
desperately wanted to believe him. That needed to believe him, but it was too
risky. If she let her guard down for even a moment, she was dead. She
straightened her shoulders. “There’s too much evidence against you.”

“What made you suddenly decide to search my
office? Somehow, I don’t think you just came up with this idea out of the blue.
Someone planted the seed.”

She licked her lips. “Gina told me where to look.”

“She called you?”

“No, I called her. Her name and number were in
our system.”

He tilted his head to the side. “Huh, that was
convenient,” he said dropping his hands a little and taking another step toward
her.

“She told me all about you.”

“And you believed her? Gina is working with the
enemy. How can you possibly trust anything she says?”

“I didn’t that’s why I came here. I had to see
for myself.” She nodded to the cabinet. “It was just like she said.”

His chin dropped to his chest. “Sweetheart, I
haven’t been here for days now.” He leaned his hip against the desk and crossed
his arms in front of his chest. “Do you remember the night I found Yvette’s
body?”

“I remember you washing off the murder weapon.
Your
hunting knife.” she said bitterly. “That should have been my first clue.”

“Who told you it was my hunting knife?”

Her brow furrowed. “You did. So what?”

“Why would I have told you that if I had killed
her? Do you also remember me telling you that the last time I had seen it was
in this office a few months ago? I figured he had just stolen the knife and
left. It never occurred to me that he might come back while we were gone and
redecorate.”

 Her grip on the gun loosened as her will began
to falter.
What if he was telling the truth? Alex could have broken in…

He dropped his arms and took a tentative step
closer. “Madison, look at me. I’m not crazy.”

“People like Alex can appear to be sane.”

“How many times have you been in this office?
Thirty? Fifty times? I’m sure I must have opened that cabinet a few times while
you were here.”

“I don’t remember…” She bit her lip.

He took another step closer. “Look at the table.
All those things on that table used to be in the cabinet.” He brought his hands
up and out to the side. “Gina and Alex are working together. He planted this
stuff and then she acted as his messenger. Sweetheart, they want me to be
arrested. They don’t want you to trust me.”

She lowered her gun a few more inches as he came
closer.

“I wouldn’t hurt you, Madison. I love you.”

He was only inches from her now. Close enough to
grab her if he wanted. She dropped her hand down to her side. “Ethan…”

He gently took the gun from her hand and pulled
her close before kissing her temple.

“I’m so sorry, Ethan,” she said through her tears
as she held him tighter. “I didn’t know what to believe.”

He stroked her hair gently as he turned her back
toward the door.

“I was just so scared. I thought…” She froze as
she gazed out the window. The cab was gone and in its place was a battered blue
sedan.

“How did you know I was here?” Madison asked.

Ethan held her tightly in his arms. “I followed
you.”

She didn’t ask which car he used. She didn’t need
to.

“I didn’t see you behind us.”

He stroked his hand down her back. “I turned off
the lights and kept far enough behind that you wouldn’t.”

“How? I took your car keys.”

He leaned back and cupped her face. “I had to
hotwire—” He stopped suddenly, his expression becoming wary. Slowly, his gaze
shifted over his shoulder towards the window. His lips turned up slightly.
“This just isn’t my day.”

She reached for the gun, screaming in fright when
he clamped her hand around her wrist and jerked it behind her back.

Before she knew what was happening, he pushed her
against the wall, pinning her body with his own stronger one, one hand locked
around her wrist, the other still holding onto the gun.

“Police! Drop the weapon and hold up your hands!”

They both looked toward the door. Two big police
officers stood at the door, their guns drawn and pointed at Ethan.

Madison tipped her head back as she sent up a
prayer of thanks. When she opened her eyes, Ethan was staring back at her.

“It’s not over, Madison,” he said as he stepped
back and very carefully laid the gun on top of the desk. Placing his hands on
the back of his head, he dropped to his knees in front of her. “You’re still in
danger. Don’t forget that.”

New Year’s Eve

8:45
P.M.

Madison
stood near the windows of the grand ballroom located on the top floor of her
office building and looked out at the city. She caught her reflection in the
window. No one could tell her heart had been shattered into a million pieces less
than twenty-four hours ago.

That was good
, she thought.
Important.
She
didn’t want people to know how badly she was hurting. She had too much pride
for that.

Sarah knew.

Becca would know as soon as she heard, but no one
else had to know.

She took great pains to fix her hair and makeup
for tonight. She put on the best dress she owned. The fuchsia one. The one she
had planned to wear tonight. The one she was sure would turn his head and get
his heart racing. She considered wearing something else but decided against it.
Life goes on after all.

She felt numb.

It seemed surreal thinking that she had just been
in this same place only ten days ago, hoping she’d get a chance to see Ethan.
Now, here she was hoping that she’d never see him again.

She caught sight of Becca’s reflection walking
into the ballroom, her turning this way and that, searching for someone. Spotting
Madison near the window, she shooed her husband toward the drinks and made a
beeline across the ballroom floor to where Madison stood.

“What are you doing here?” Becca asked, her tone
scolding.

Madison lifted up her champagne flute in greeting
as she turned around to face her friend. “Ringing in the new year.”

“You should be home.”

“And miss all the fun,” Madison said gesturing to
the people standing around having a good time. “You missed my speech.”

“The babysitter was late.” Her brown eyes
softened. “How are you doing?”

“I guess you heard.”

“It’s all over the news.” Becca lifted up her
arms and took Madison into a hug. “I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I just couldn’t talk about
it…”

“I understand. Are you sure Ethan was the one?”

“I looked in Ethan’s office and...” She closed
her eyes unable to finish her thought. “I’m sorry. I’m just so tired. I haven’t
been sleeping very well lately. I can barely think right now.”

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s all right,” she said trying to clear her
mind. “Ethan had pictures of me and of Sarah in his cabinet.”

“Don’t you mean Alex?”

Tears pricked the back of Madison’s eyelids. “
Alex
had pictures…” She looked away as her voice broke.  

“You shouldn’t be here, Madison,” Becca said.
“You should be at home resting. I’m sure Nicole would say the same thing.”

Madison chuckled. “I told Nicole what happened
and she lectured me about dating people on the payroll. I doubt I’m going to
get much sympathy from her.”

Becca scowled. “She’s probably upset that the
psycho chose to obsess over you instead of her.”

“It’s all right. I told her I was taking some
time off. She wasn’t happy about it, but she didn’t object.”

“Good. You know I’ll help in any way.”

Madison nodded her thanks.

“When will you be back?”

“I’m not sure.” She turned back to the window as
a couple of pre-celebratory fireworks went off. “I can’t wait to be done with
this year.”