Mad Love: Madison (7 page)

He slammed his hand against the wall causing
Madison’s heart to beat faster. She took a step back down the hallway while
keeping her eyes on the man in front of her.

Paul Harris took another deep breath, visibly
making an effort to calm down. “Just tell Vanessa that it’s over. I’m not going
to fight her any longer. I’ll sign the divorce papers. She can have it all.”
His face twisted into a grimace. “Go on. Tell her. You’re so good at telling
her what to do,” he spat out angrily.

Madison looked around hoping that someone would
appear as she continued back down the hallway. The only thing that kept her
calm is that Paul remained where he was and didn’t try to follow her. In fact,
his shoulders slumped slightly as he looked down at the toes of his boots. “She
can have the car. The house. My kids. Everything. I give up. I don’t blame her
for this. I love Vanessa.” He lifted his head to glare at Madison. “If it
weren’t for you, she wouldn’t be divorcing me right now.”

A surge of adrenaline and fear shot through
Madison’s body as she looked over her shoulder, searching for an exit. Unfortunately,
it was a dead-end. The only way out was past Paul Harris and there was no way
she was going that way.

Paul must’ve known she was trapped. He looked
over his shoulder and then back at her as he took a step towards her. Suddenly,
he pulled his foot back and took another glance over his shoulder as a young
man in a waiter’s uniform turned the corner and came down the hall towards the
restrooms.

As the waiter passed him, Paul called out, “Well,
as you know, Ms. Love, I can’t really talk to you since I already have an
attorney. Really, it would be unethical,” he said as he backed down the
hallway. “But don’t worry, I’ll talk to my attorney and she’ll get in touch
with you.”

Madison backed up against the wall as Paul
slammed open the glass side door and disappeared into the night. She was still
standing there when Ethan appeared at the end of the hallway a minute later.

“There you are. I thought you were going to meet
me in the lobby.” His eyes narrowed in concern as he came closer. “Hey, what
happened?” he asked running his hands down her arms. “Why are you trembling?” He
wrapped his arms around her and brought her close.

She leaned into his chest and let out the breath
she didn’t know she was holding.

“What happened?” he asked, gently cupping the
back of her head.

“Paul Harris was just here. He’s a bit upset
about the divorce.”

Ethan’s jaw tightened as he started to turn
toward the lobby. “Where is he?”

She held onto the lapels of his dark wool coat,
pulling him back to her. “He’s long gone by now.”

His face darkened as he wrapped his arms around
her again. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head.

“Did he threaten you?”

“Not in so many words, but yes.”

“Good enough for me,” he said taking her hand. “Let’s
talk to the police.”

“And tell them what? That Paul Harris spoke to me.
He didn’t commit any crime.”

His dark brown eyebrows drew together in an angry
frown. “But he threatened you and he’s been following you.”

Madison waved her hand dismissively. “We don’t
know it’s him in the blue car and it’s not a crime to walk down the same street
as me. As for the threat, a good defense attorney would get that charge thrown
out.”

“But—”

“Juries like to hear words that would actually
constitute a threat,” she continued over his objection. “Words like, kill,
maim, die, murder, hurt, or break. What he did was implied a threat. They don’t
like that. It’s too hazy. Too unclear. Gives a defense attorney too much wiggle
room.” She bit her lip. “Besides, the man has never been in trouble. He hasn’t
even gotten a ticket to his name. Even if we could prove it, he’d likely just
get a slap on the wrist.”

“I don’t like it. He wouldn’t be the first guy to
try to take out his wife’s attorney and it sounds like to me he’s just testing
the waters. Seeing how far he can get before he makes his move.” He wrapped his
arm around her waist as he led her down the hallway, through the lobby and
outside towards his car. “I think I’ll drop you off at home and then see what I
can do about Paul Harris.”

“No, I’m not going home yet. Can you take me to
Sarah’s pub? And don’t do anything about Paul yet. I’ll call his attorney,
Cheryl, tonight—I have a feeling Cheryl knows he’s a kook. She’ll sit him down
and talk to him—and then I’ll let the court know. That should shake him up a
bit. If he tries anything else, I’ll call the police. I’m hoping he’s gotten it
out of his system.”

Ethan crossed his arms when he reached his car.
“And like a good little boy, he’ll do exactly what he was told, huh?”

“I’m not naïve. I know a stern talking to from his
attorney or the court may not have an effect, but… I think we should try it
before we escalate the situation. Especially since we don’t really have
anything against him. Not to mention, he just agreed to give my client
everything she asked for in the divorce. I don’t want to screw that up by
giving him a reason to change his mind.”

His jaw tightened as he shook his head. “Still, I
should probably make sure he made it home safely.”

“How do you know where he lives?”

His lips lifted into an impression of a smile.
“I’m a detective. I’ll find out.” He lifted up his hands when she began to
protest. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything unethical, but I’d like to keep an
eye on him for a bit.” He unlocked his car door and jerked opened the passenger
side door.

Not wanting the night to end like this, she
turned around and tugged on his tie. “I’d rather you keep an eye on me. A very
close eye,” she said teasingly. She looked up at him, hopefully, as she pressed
her body to his.

She smiled as she felt some of the tension leave
his body and he relaxed against her.

“I think I can manage that,” he said softly as he
slipped his hands around her waist and bent his head towards her.

Her eyes drifted shut as he kissed her slowly, at
first, gently, before deepening the kiss. With one hand on the small of her
back pushing her forward, the other snaked up to the nape of her neck, his
thumb stroking along her jaw. She clutched at his coat as her knees buckled
slightly from the intensity of the kiss. It was only when they heard the sound
of the car door slamming next to them that they broke apart, their breaths
ragged. He cupped her cheek gently as he stared down into her face. “Do you
still want to go to the pub?”

She shook her head slightly to clear it as she
tried to steady her breathing. “Sarah will be waiting for me.”

A look of disappointment crossed his face for a
fleeting second before he smiled and kissed her on her forehead. With a firm
hand on her elbow, he helped her into the car before closing the door.

She lightly touched her fingers to her lips as
she sank down into the leather seat, mentally adding another word to her
already long list of qualities the man was blessed with.

11:46
P.M.

Madison
pressed her finger to her ear, trying to block the noise from the bar, as she
slid into an empty booth in the corner of the pub. “Vanessa, would you just stop
for a second and listen,” she said to the irate woman on the other end of her
cell phone. “He said that he would sign the divorce papers.”

“He’s lying,” Vanessa Harris said before
launching into a soliloquy about her soon-to-be husband’s many, many, faults. When
the woman finally paused for breath, Madison quickly said, “The only reason I’m
calling is because I’m concerned.” There was silence and then a soft noise that
sounded like a whimper. “Vanessa?” The whimper turned into a soft choking
wheezing noise that sounded suspiciously like muffled sobs.

Madison was just about to tell her not to worry
when Vanessa choked out, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Not sobs, Madison realized in irritation. Vanessa
was laughing, hysterically.

“I’m glad you’re taking this so seriously,”
Madison said in annoyance.

Vanessa took a deep breath as her laughter died
down. “Paul is a coward. He’s not going to do anything to me or you.”

“You can’t be certain of that. Just because he’s
never done it before doesn’t mean that he won’t.”

“Please. I cut my finger one day and he fainted.
The man is a hypochondriac and a neat freak. He wouldn’t do anything that could
possibly get him hurt or thrown into a dirty old jail cell. He’s just running
his mouth as always. The only thing you need to worry about is him trying to
sue you. He used to keep our lawyer’s number on speed dial because he was
always threatening to sue someone over something stupid. The lawyer eventually
told him to stop calling. ”

Madison wanted to believe Vanessa’s opinion of
her soon-to-be ex-husband was accurate but there was still the issue of that
blue car that seemed to be following her around. “What kind of car does he
drive?”

“He’s not getting the car,” Vanessa said her
voice rising in anger. “I bought that car—”

“Did I say he was getting the car?” Madison said
quickly trying to forestall another long rant. “I asked what kind of car he’s
driving right now.”

There was a deep sigh from the other end of the
line. An image of Vanessa rolling her eyes flashed through Madison’s mind. Madison’s
fingers gripped her cell phone tightly. “Vanessa…” she prompted.

“A white BMW,” Vanessa said with a bored tone. “It
belongs to his mother.”

“Does he own a blue four door sedan?”

“No.”

“Does he know anyone with a blue—?”

“Not that I know of. When is he going to sign?”

“He didn’t say.”

“Typical.”

“But he said you can have everything.”

“Oh, I can have everything,” Vanessa said
sarcastically. “How very generous of him. I bought the house. I bought the car.
I bought the furniture. He hasn’t had a job in ten years. Of course, I can have
everything. It belongs to me. You can tell him that he can keep my ex-best
friend that he was screwing around with and the bed they were screwing on. I’ll
let him have that. I want my jewelry that he stole from me to give to her. He
can’t have that.”

Madison sighed. “I’ll pass it along to his
attorney.”

“Good. Just so you know, my mom and sisters surprised
me with an early Christmas gift. They bought tickets for us all to go on a
cruise to the Caribbean. We leave the day after Christmas and we won’t be back
until after New Year’s Day. If Paul signs the papers, just leave a message on
my voice mail and I’ll get back to you when I return.”

“Fine, and in the meantime, just watch out for
him.”

There was a snort of laughter and then the
connection ended.

Madison slipped her phone into her purse and she craned
her head to find her sister. The pub was still crowded despite the fact closing
hour was in twenty minutes.

It didn’t take long to spot the golden haired
blonde standing behind the bar. Sarah’s blue eyes sparkled with laughter as she
leaned across the bar to say something to a man seated on a bar stool at the
end of the bar.

Madison watched in a sort of rapt fascination as her
normally reserved sister leaned in close to the man, whispering something in
his ear as her fingers lightly touched his arm. She looked up at him with a
hopeful expression on her pretty face causing Madison to look at the man a bit
more closely.

He was young, somewhere between Madison and
Sarah’s ages. He wore ripped jeans with a green and blue flannel shirt and work
boots. His long, sandy blond hair—much darker than Sarah’s own light blond
hair—fell to his shoulders and partially obscured his face when he bent down to
whisper in Sarah’s ear.

A look of irritation crossed Sarah’s face as she
pulled away from the man. Pursing her lips together, she gave her head a very
definitive shake.

He reached up and pulled his hair back, giving
Madison a better look at his face. A few days’ worth of beard covered what
appeared at first glance to be an attractive face. In any other setting, in a
different set of clothes, a haircut, and a shave, he might even have been
considered classically handsome. That is until you looked into his icy blue
eyes. They were cold.

Madison got a funny sinking feeling in the pit of
her stomach as she watched him and her sister together. It was like watching a
predator sizing up his prey.

He turned slightly on the stool, his gaze moving,
searching for someone or something in the restaurant as he spoke to Sarah out
of the side of his mouth. A sudden sense of familiarity washed over her. She
had seen him before… but where? Not here, she didn’t think, but somewhere
outside.

Keeping an eye on her sister, Madison weaved
through the tables as the man suddenly turned back and motioned for Sarah to
come closer to him.

They bent their heads closer to one another again
but from the tight line of Sarah’s mouth, it was clear she wasn’t happy with
whatever he was saying to her. She shook her head dismissively as she turned
away. The young man grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back towards him.