Crime & Passion (11 page)

“Yes, I’ve been here two months,” she agreed,
wondering where this conversation was heading.

He cleared his throat, giving Madeline the
impression he felt self-conscious. “Do you think we could get a
coffee sometime?” he asked. “I mean, when it’s safe for you to be
in public again, after the case is closed. Everyone in town knows
everyone else, and I’m having a hard time being accepted here.”

Madeline looked into Eric’s kind eyes.
Something in them spoke to the loneliness Madeline used to feel. It
was amazing how people treated her now versus when she was fat. She
never had friends back then.

Even people who knew what she once looked
like were sometimes cruel after she lost the weight. Cameron used
to make her feel as though she was lucky he deigned to date someone
who used to be Maddie McFatty. ‘After all,’ he’d often reminded
her, ‘you could pork back up any second.’

Madeline spent much of her life in a lonely
funk, wishing for more friends.

“Going out for coffee might be nice. We’ll
see after things settle down.” She didn’t want to commit to
anything just yet. Then again, she also didn’t want to crush him.
“Thanks for checking on me, Officer—”

“Eric, please.”

She nodded once. “Eric. Have a good
night.”

“Goodnight, Madeline.”

He walked to the elevator, but turned back
before pressing the button. “Are you really hung up on Donovan? I
heard he’s got you in his sights, and I’m a little worried about
you.”

Madeline grinned. Was he already trying to
offer friendly advice? She got enough of that from Brandon and
Lindsey. “Don’t worry. I can handle him.”

“But you don’t know him. Not really.” He
crossed his arms, his eyes piercing into hers. “I hate to say much,
but you know he’s not the most trustworthy of people, right?”

“I’ve heard the gossip.” Madeline tightened
her mouth, trying to stay patient with her new ‘friend.’ “I don’t
really listen to that kind of stuff, Eric, if I can help it. I do
appreciate your concern, and I promise to be careful, but Donovan’s
not a bad guy.”

“You believe that, even knowing how he treats
women?” Eric raised an eyebrow, clearly questioning Madeline’s
judgment.

She shrugged. “Maybe he just hasn’t met the
right one yet.”

“And you think that’s you.” Eric snorted.
“Why don’t you talk to a few other people who thought that and see
how it worked out for them?”

“I don’t want to be the right one for him.”
Madeline no longer cared that her voice sharpened. She was tired of
everyone warning her—especially coming from someone who didn’t even
know her. “I’m not looking for forever anymore,” she said. “I just
want to have fun.”

Eric took a step back. “I didn’t know you
wanted to be one of Donovan’s floozies. Guess I misjudged you.”

He spoke the words with disgust, surprising
her.
He acts like I confessed a desire to sell myself at a strip
club on Fridays.

“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,”
Madeline said, “but you don’t need to worry about me. I just got
out of a bad situation with my ex. I’m not looking for a new man,
just new friends.”

She mentally crossed her fingers. That
statement was nearly true, except when it came to Donovan. She was
still considering the one-night stand option.

“Just be careful, Madeline, especially right
now. Trust no one.”

“Do you suspect Donovan of being the killer?”
She felt a little thrown by this. She knew Stone believed it, but
if Donovan’s own partner thought he might have done it, Donovan
didn’t stand a chance.

His hazel eyes bored into hers. “I won’t talk
about the case with you. Besides, you’re the one who saw the
killer.”

“But I didn’t see him very well. Why do you
suspect Donovan?”

A door slammed somewhere in the hallway and
Eric looked away from her. He was silent for several seconds and
the elevator pinged, heralding its arrival. Apparently the person
in the hallway took it, because Eric returned his attention to
her.

“I never said I suspect Donovan,” he said
softly. “I have to wonder though, why do
you
think he did
it?”

“Me?” Madeline shook her head sharply.
How
dare he turn this around on me? I’m defending Donovan.
“I don’t
think he’s guilty.”

“Until all the evidence comes to light, maybe
you shouldn’t trust anyone.” Eric raised an eyebrow. “The killer
did make a threat against you, Madeline. I’d hate to see you
hurt.”

A chill touched against Madeline’s spine. He
had a point. “Is there more evidence I don’t know about?”

“Goodnight, Madeline. Lock your doors. Double
check your windows.”

Eric turned away from the door and soon left
the small sliver Madeline could see through the crack in the
door.

She shut and locked it, returning to her
chair to stare out the window at the ocean below. Was Eric implying
they had more evidence against Donovan, or was that just a general
warning? She couldn’t tell. If there was more evidence against
Donovan, had she misjudged things all along? If Donovan had gone
off the deep end and started killing people, it would make sense to
gain her confidence and find out how much she saw that night on the
beach.

She thought about the shiny new lock Donovan
installed. If he made a copy of her key and could unlock the
deadbolt, how difficult would it be to pop the screws holding the
latch in place? Her guess was not very.

Madeline drew her legs onto the chair,
hugging her knees to her body. This was all crazy thinking. Donovan
couldn’t be the killer. Paranoia had a habit of taking over when
driven by fear, but Donovan wasn’t a bad person, just shitty
boyfriend material.

You believe that, Madeline. Don’t
second-guess yourself.

Then again, if she were wrong, she’d given a
killer full access to her house. What else might he have installed
besides bars on the windows?

***

Madeline’s phone rang three hours later.
She’d fully exhausted herself searching for a hidden camera, or a
bomb, or—she didn’t know what else. Anything small enough she
wouldn’t easily notice it. She felt silly when she came up empty.
Knowing a killer wanted her silenced would panic any girl.

She did trust Donovan, but she’d needed to
make sure.

She snagged her phone off the counter before
it could go to voice mail and swiped the screen to answer it.
“Hello?”

“Hey, Maddie. Everything okay tonight?”

His voice sent a shiver down her spine. She
doubted he intentionally deepened it to the level of sex god—it
probably came natural.

“Hi, Donovan. I’ve been thinking about you
all afternoon.”

He chuckled. “What a coincidence, I’ve had a
hard time concentrating on anything besides you, too.”

She felt a blush creep up her body. Probably
best not to admit she couldn’t get him off her mind because she
worried he placed a bomb in her apartment.

“How’d things go with Chief Stone?” she
asked.

“Not good.” He sighed. “I’m suspended from
the force. I think you might have been right about someone trying
to frame me.”

“Did something else happen?”

“Frank received a phone call right before his
death,” Donovan paused and his heavy breaths made a whooshing in
her ear. “It came from my cell phone. The working theory is I
called him, convincing him to meet me on the beach. Apparently I
killed him while Eric thought I was in the bathroom.”

“But they didn’t arrest you?” Madeline felt
lightheaded. No wonder Eric tried to warn her. That was a stronger
piece of evidence than the coincidence of a name on the wall.

“Not yet. I gotta catch the real killer
somehow.”

“Maybe you should come over here.” Madeline’s
body lurched with desire at that thought. “I mean to make a list of
your enemies and figure out who would do this to you.”
Not for
anything else.

“I’d love to, Maddie, but I was pissed and
polished off a six-pack to make myself feel better. Can we
brainstorm in the morning?”

Well, she could offer to go to his house, but
holding Donovan’s head while he suffered the after effects of his
alcohol indulgence didn’t particularly turn her on. Besides, she
wanted him sober if she decided to take advantage of him. She
guessed a man really should be in his best form in order to have a
satisfying one-night stand.

“Are you still coming with me to walk the
dogs in the morning?” she asked.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” he promised. “Oh, by the
way, I’ve been thinking about who might have it in for me all day
today. You’re not going to like who’s at the top of my list.”

“What do you mean?”

“No one in town hates me more than your two
best buds, Lindsey Butters and Brandon Feldman.”

Donovan knocked on Maddie’s door at precisely
6:45. He wasn’t too worse for wear, especially considering he
rarely consumed more than an occasional glass of wine. Thoughts of
spending the morning with Madeline had urged him out of bed. He
drank coffee and ignored the pounding behind his temples. A brisk
walk with Maddie on the beach was just what he needed to get rid of
the residual hangover.

The door flung open and Madeline stood in
front of him. “I should have called and told you not to come.”

She wore the short, silky robe he loved, but
it was hard to ignore her distress in order to appreciate her body.
Madeline’s long, brown hair was not smooth against her head or
pulled back in a ponytail as usual. It stuck out in places as
though she’d run her hands through it repeatedly. Her red-rimmed
eyes were proof she’d been crying.

“What happened?” he asked.

Madeline walked to the living room, leaving
Donovan to shut and lock the door. She grabbed a wrinkled piece of
paper off the coffee table, crumpling it further as she closed her
fist around it and waved it in the air.

“This. This is what happened.” She thrust the
paper at him and plopped onto the couch, snatching a tissue off the
table to dab her eyes. “I’m so mad at Brandon. I want to scratch
his eyes out.”

Donovan sat next to her and smoothed the
paper against the coffee table. The picture grabbed his attention
first. It was a shot of the bloody message left on the wall of
Woofy Cuts yesterday, threatening Maddie. Donovan glanced at the
top of the page, noting Madeline printed it off the internet twenty
minutes earlier. It was an article printed from the newspaper,
written by Brandon Feldman. Donovan ground his teeth together when
he read the headline next to the picture.

THE BEACHFRONT STRANGLER STRIKES AGAIN,
THREATENING OUR NEWEST RESIDENT.

Madeline Scott is under attack from all
sides this week. Having just discovered the body of Frank Johnson
on the beach Wednesday evening, she walked into an almost more
shocking scene yesterday at Woofy Cuts. The killer left the
above-pictured message, warning Scott away. He wrote it using blood
from a Great Dane that he stabbed, a dog entrusted to Scott’s
care.

“
I’m afraid for her,” confides one
concerned Pleasant View resident, Lindsey Butters, owner of Woofy
Cuts. “The killer has it out for her, and anyone around her.
Madeline’s my friend. I pray she stays safe until this maniac is
caught.”

Luckily, Brutus (the Great Dane) survived.
Though the dog was strangled in a similar manner to Frank Johnson,
Scott’s quick actions saved the dog according to veterinarian,
Billy Jeffries.

“
She got the rope off his neck and stopped
the bleeding on his side best she could until I arrived,” Jeffries
reports. “I’m sure Brutus thanks her.”

Despite her heroic actions, other residents
express concern that Scott has care of their children each week
when she works as a substitute teacher. Will the killer come after
a child next to make his point? After what happened to the Great
Dane yesterday, people are also questioning whether anyone’s dog is
safe. Fear is the word of the day, as we wonder what will happen
next.

In further news, police sources informed
this reporter that Donovan Andrews was suspended from the force
yesterday afternoon. No one will admit why, but the only hot
investigation right now is the Beachside Strangler.
Coincidence?

Lock your doors, readers, and don’t go out
alone. None of us will breathe easy until they arrest the
Strangler.

- Brandon Feldman

Donovan pushed the paper across the table and
leaned back on the couch, staring into Maddie’s sad eyes.

“How could he do this to me?” She tightened
her jaw and glared at the offending piece of paper. “My clients
started calling a half-hour ago, saying I couldn’t walk their dogs
until the killer was caught.” She buried her face in her hands.

Donovan put his arm around her shoulder,
pulling her tight against his chest. “Shhh...it’s going to be
okay.” It was the right thing to say, he just wished he believed
it.

He knew Brandon hated him and wasn’t
surprised to see his suspension reported in the paper—though he had
to wonder who Brandon’s mysterious ‘source’ was. The fact that
Brandon chose to destroy Madeline as well perplexed Donovan. He
thought Brandon had a thing for her.

He didn’t want to say it to her, but if
people panicked about their dogs becoming targets because of
Madeline, how long until the school said they no longer required
her teaching services? She could be jobless very shortly with
articles like this written about her.

Madeline sniffled against his shirt, sitting
up and blowing her nose. She threw the tissue in a wastebasket next
to the couch. Donovan couldn’t tell whether she cried with sadness
or anger. He reigned in his disappointment that he didn’t properly
enjoy holding her in his arms before it was over. Madeline didn’t
seem like the kind to break down and cling to a man all too
often.