Endangered: A Delecoeur Mystery #1 (4 page)

During the flight, Max called Marie to
cancel his appointments for the rest of the week. Then he called Lieutenant
Springer of the San Francisco Police Department to report Madeleine missing. He
knew Springer would help him not because Max had money and power, but because
they had lived in the same foster home for several years as children and over
time remained friends. Max was sure that people who'd known the two of them as
mischievous boys would be surprised that they weren't sharing a jail cell.
Somehow they'd managed to survive without parents and make something of
themselves. It was the bond they'd formed as children that had Springer walking
toward Max as he departed the plane in San Francisco. They greeted each other
with a hug.

"I haven't found anything
yet," Springer said. "We know she checked into the hotel around nine this
morning and left a little before ten."

“Did you talk to anybody from the
conference?”

“Yes, a few people.”

Max shook his head trying to keep panic
from clouding his thinking.

“I've got someone checking the hospitals
around the city. And we have monitors on the hotel phone and her cell phone. So
far, you’re the only one calling.”

“Where the hell is she?”

Springer and Max got into the waiting
police car. “Do you know of anyone who wanted to harm her?”

“No.” Then Max remembered Alan. But he
wouldn’t hurt her, would he? And she seemed concerned about a participant at
the conference.

“Looks to me like maybe there is
someone.”

“We discovered some money is missing in
the wildlife foundation’s books. I've been trying to reach the man who's in
charge of managing the accounts.”

“You think he might hurt her to hide
embezzlement?”

“Normally no, but I can’t rule anything
out now.”

“What’s his name, I’ll call it in.”

“Alan Granger. He is…or should be in Los
Angeles.”

“Anyone else?”

“Madeleine mentioned that someone gave
her hard time during her talk today.”

Springer nodded, “Yes, a few witnesses
mentioned a man who confronted her outside the conference room.”

Max looked at him in surprise. He realized
that Madeleine had minimized the incident when she called him. “She mentioned
someone gave her a hard time, but she didn’t tell me he’d confronted her.”

“No one knows who he is, but we're doing
what we can to figure it out.” Springer pulled out his cell phone and called
one of the  detectives on his team to let him know about Alan and get an update
on the investigation. When he hung up, he turned to Max. “I’m taking you to her
hotel room so you can see if anything is missing. The hotel staff don't think
she returned tonight. She hasn't used the keycard. And there is no sign of
struggle in the room. But maybe you can see something that we can’t. I’ll stay
there with you in case she or someone else-”

“Like kidnappers?”

He nodded. “Like kidnappers call.”

Madeleine's hotel room didn't give any
clues as to where she was. The police were looking all over the city, but not
finding anything. Springer told his men to expand their search to areas
surrounding the city. But nothing was coming of it. It was as if she fell off
the face of the earth. Max couldn't let his mind go to a place that involved
Madeleine being hurt or worse. That kind of panic clouded the mind and made it
difficult to make decisions. So he forced himself to focus on the task at hand,
find her. But as the hours ticked by, the fear gained a foothold. By five in
the morning, Max worried that his happiness was a thing of the past.

He heard Springer's phone ring and
immediately went to him.

"We need to talk,” Springer said.

“Madeleine?"

“No word yet. Here, have some coffee.
You look like you're about to fall over.”

“Did you find Alan?” Max took the
coffee, but ignored the comment.

“No. We need to talk about something
else.”

Max noted the serious tone in Springer’s
voice. “What? What is it?"

Springer tapped on his phone, pulling up
the morning edition of the Los Angeles Daily News social section. Max looked at
the screen and then to Captain Springer.

“You know Max, in the case of a missing
wife, the husband is always the first suspect.”

Max’s eyes narrowed. “Because of this?”
he jerked his hand toward the phone that showed a picture of him and Julia
having lunch the day before. “You think I did something to Madeleine?”

“Not me, no. I know she's your life. But
other detectives... well..."

“I’d never harm her.” The thought of it,
the idea that others would think it, made Max sick. Didn't they know his life
started and ended with her?

“I know that, but this makes my men
suspicious.”

Max looked at the pictures again. He had
to admit, Julia had invaded his space on several occasions during their lunch.
She never missed a chance to touch him. He read the caption that suggested
indiscretion without quite saying it. Somehow the author of the article already
knew that Madeleine was missing. Even though everyone who knew Max knew he
would never cheat on Madeleine, a tabloid wouldn’t miss out on the titillation
and scandal that would sell papers.

“Julia Devlin of all people. I thought
you rid yourself of her when you left for college. She looks chummy with you
while your wife is out of town,” Springer said.

“This is nothing. You need to tell your
men they’re wasting their time.”

“It's not that simple. If I tell them to
back off on this, it’ll look like I’m in your pocket. It looks bad for
everyone.”

“Meanwhile resources are being wasted
while my wife is who knows where?” Desperation grew. He launched his coffee cup
across the room. It hit the wall shattering in to a million pieces, just like
his heart.

Springer ignored the outburst. “I have
men covering other bases too. We've done a complete search of the conference
building and are now re-interviewing people at the conference.”

It was all of the same, Max thought. And
all the same was producing nothing.

Springer’s phone rang. He stepped away,
but Max studied his face to see if he could glean any information from the
call.

“When? … Is she okay?….Yeah, go ahead
and talk to her….We’ll be right there.”

“That was about Madeleine. Where is
she?” Max demanded.

“Across the bay in Menlo Park.”

“Menlo Park?”

“There was some sort of accident. She’s
in the hospital. One of my men is with her now, waiting to question her.”

“No doubt about me,” Max said as he
grabbed his coat and headed out the hotel door.

M
adeleine knew
the minute he was there without having to open her eyes. She could feel him,
his strength, his love. She opened her eyes wanting to see him; his beautiful
deep blue eyes and mischievous smile.

“Hey you,” he said.

“Max.” She looked up into his tired
face. He was unshaven. She knew he had probably been up all night. The worry
was still etched in his face even though she was fine. She reached a hand up to
him.

He took her hand, kissed it and then
held it against his heart. “You gave me a hell of a scare.”

“Me too.”

“Do you need anything? Are you in pain?”
he asked.

“I’m sore, but I don’t want anything. I
don’t like feeling like I have cotton in my head. Besides, you're all the
medicine I need.”

“The doctor says everything is okay. No
permanent damage.”

She touched her head with her free hand
and saw the bandage around her arm. “I’ll take your word for it.”

"You have a minor concussion and
bruises. You'll be sore, but you'll live. What happened?”

“Somebody drove me off the road.”

“On purpose?”

“It seemed like it to me.”

“Did you get a look at him?”

She shook her head. “No. He was in a
truck, like a moving truck. That’s all I could see through my rear view
mirror.”

“What were you doing out here?”

“Some people at the conference told me
about a wildlife reserve out here. I wanted to see it. On the way back, by the
Dumbarton Bridge, this truck came up and rammed me until I went into the bay.”
The shock of it and the fear as she hit the icy water still rocked her.  “I
remember breaking glass and water, really cold water. I remember getting out of
the car through the passenger side window, but the car must have drifted
because the bank seemed so far away. Next thing I know I’m here and a police
detective is asking me questions.” She looked at him. “About you and Julia.”

His eyes darkened in annoyance.

“I see they questioned you too,” she
said. “I told them you wouldn’t have done this to me. In case you were
wondering.” She gave him a gentle jab to lighten the mood. She didn’t like
seeing the darkness that fell over his face. She knew him well enough to know
that it was like putting salt on a wound to suggest that he'd done something to
her.

He smiled sheepishly. “I walked into
that one didn’t I?”

Madeleine shrugged. “You know how it is
with people and gossip.”

“I don’t see how anyone would ever
question my love for you.” He kissed her hand again.

“You have to admit, Julia is a beautiful
woman. A beautiful old flame. And your wife was out of town.”

Max grinned. “At least the photographer
caught my best feature.”

“Not quite,” Madeleine said waggling her
brows, then wincing from the pain.

“I didn’t want to go to lunch with her.
It just seemed rude not to. I wanted to strangle Springer. He didn’t feel he
could call off the investigation of me without looking like I was getting
favors.”

“I’m sorry.”

He nodded. “As long as you're okay,
that’s all that matters.” He pushed an auburn curl off her forehead.  “I should
have been here with you. I’m sorry-"

“No, Max. You had work you needed to do.
There’s probably nothing you could have done anyway.”

“If this wasn't an accident, that means
someone tried to kill you.”

“It was no accident. He was gunning for
me. I just don’t know who’d want to kill me.”

“Alan?”

Madeleine looked at him with surprise.
“I still can’t believe he’d be stealing from the foundation much less trying to
kill me.”

“I thought that too. Maybe it was
Julia?”

“I don’t think so.”

“She came on pretty strong at lunch.”

“Are you trying to make me jealous?”
Madeleine teased.

He smiled sheepishly. “No, but the Julia
I knew had a way of getting something in her head and doing whatever it took to
make it happen.”

Madeleine thought for a moment. “I have
no doubt that she’d enjoy having an affair with you. Especially if it meant
stealing you from your wife. But, someone like Julia doesn’t want to be in
second place. If I were dead, I’d still be with you, first in your heart. She
knows that and would never settle to live in my shadow.”

Max nodded. “You may be right.”

“So, who does that leave us with?”

“Actually, your heckler is at the top of
my list. You didn't mention that he cornered you.”

Madeleine could hear the accusation
behind his statement. “I didn’t think it was important. He was intent on making
me out to be a bad person for starving families, but I thought he was just
caught up in the moment.”

“Who was he?”

Madeleine shrugged. “I don’t know. He
didn’t seem to fit in.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most people there are supporters of
conservation and environmental efforts particularly the ones his age. He
couldn’t have been more than 25. And he was in a business suit.”

“Twenty something corporate type?”

“Yes.”

“Springer is trying to hunt him down.”

“You think he wanted to kill me because
of my views?”

“I don't know. But don't worry about it.
Right now you need to focus on getting better.”

"You look tired. You should get
some rest." She ran her finger along the dark shadows below his eyes.

"I'm not leaving you here
alone."

"Well, then," she said lifting
the edge of the bed sheet. "Why don't you join me?"

One dark brow lifted, then he grinned.
He removed his shoes and climbed into the bed with her. "What a scandal
we'll cause."

"I like a good scandal." He
pulled her close and Madeleine sunk into his warmth, drew from his strength.
Her heart went out to him. It was bad enough that she'd been missing, but to
have people think he was involved in her disappearance would have made him
crazy.