Mad Love: Madison (25 page)

All of that was shattered, however, when she realized
that everything that had happened the last week had something to do with Todd
Abbott. It was as if a cold bucket of water had been thrown in her face. Todd
Abbott was dead, but just saying his name caused the fear she had felt when he
tried to kill her to come rushing back.

When she was talking to Ethan about Todd and what
happened, she had purposely kept her voice calm and even. She didn’t want to
tell him about the sleepless nights and the constant state of fear that Todd
had kept her in for weeks before she finally got the restraining order. Or how
badly he had hurt her when he finally made good on his veiled threats.

Todd haunted her dreams for months afterwards, and
it wasn’t until she heard he had committed suicide that she finally relaxed
enough to put him out of her mind. To forget him and move on.

It turned out it was easier than she thought it
would be. When Ethan was grilling her about her past, Todd Abbott never even
came to her mind. She had pushed the memory so far away that it didn’t reappear
until she saw Yvette slam the door in Ethan’s face. That’s when all that fear
she felt years ago came rushing back, threatening to overwhelm her.

She had hoped talking to Detective Kim might ease
some of her tension, but he only made it worse. He was still suspicious of Vanessa
Harris, despite the fact that the woman had an ironclad alibi for Paul’s death
and didn’t seem to take her concerns about Todd Abbott seriously.

“Abbott’s been dead for over two years,” he had
told her over the phone. “He hardly seems like a viable suspect for Paul
Harris’ murder or Quincy’s for that matter. Vanessa, on the other hand…”

Frustrated that she couldn’t seem to convince him
that someone close to Todd Abbott may have been behind both deaths, she ended
the call and retreated to Ethan’s bedroom where for most of the night she lay,
still dressed in her black pants and silk shirt, staring at the clock.

As the minutes ticked by without a word from
Ethan, fear for her life turned to fear for his. The more time they spent with
each other the more her feelings for him deepened and grew. So much so that the
thought of losing him now was becoming almost unbearable.

It was with those unhappy thoughts uppermost in
her mind that she fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of cold dark places and
shadowy men she couldn’t run from fast enough. She was still running when she
heard the sound of a buzzer going off.

Wincing, she rubbed a hand along her face. She
had been clinching her teeth together as she slept, causing her jaw to throb.

She glanced back at the door. The voices had
stopped. She could hear the front door shut and the locks being returned to
lock position one by one, then footsteps and rushing water.

Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, she
stumbled to the door and out into the hallway. Ethan was standing in the
bathroom, stripped from the waist up, his hands in the sink. The white shirt he
had on earlier was on the floor. Her eyes widened at the sight of several large
red stains covering the sleeves.

Madison quickly covered the distance between
them. She laid her hand in the middle of his back, as she looked him over. “Where
are you hurt?”

He spared a second to glance over his shoulder
before turning back to the sink. “Yvette’s dead.”

Madison sucked in her breath. Her gaze fell to
his hands and the dagger he had under the running water. “How?”

“Someone stabbed her.”

“With that?” At his nod, she grabbed his wrist.
“Why are you washing it? There could be fingerprints.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “That’s what
I’m afraid of.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Why?”

He slapped the handle of the faucet down with the
heel of his hand and grabbed the nearest hand towel. “It’s my hunting knife. My
grandfather gave it to me when I was seventeen.” He wrapped the towel around
the knife. “Madison, it even has my damn name etched into the blade. I didn’t
even know it was missing.”

Feeling suddenly chilled in the small bathroom,
she wrapped her arms around herself. “What happened?”

“I told you.”

“From the beginning, Ethan. It sounds like he’s
trying to set you up. If he succeeds, you’re going to need my help, so I need
to know everything that happened tonight.”

“Sweetheart, that’s the least of our concerns
right now. We just lost the best chance of finding this psycho.” He stepped
past her, strode into the bedroom, and flung open the closet door. Grabbing a satchel,
he threw it on to the bed.

“What are you doing?”

He held up a pair of pants and a shirt, which he
tossed into his satchel. “Packing. He tried to frame me for Yvette’s murder. I
think I got everything of mine that he planted but I can’t be certain. The cops
could be on their way here as we speak.”

“So, you’re running?” she asked in shocked
disbelief as she watched him pack.

He looked up at her in surprise. “I prefer to
think of it as a strategic retreat. We need to find Alex, which is not going to
be easy, because as of right now, we don’t even know his last name.”

“So, how do we find him?”

“I’m hoping the answer lies in Todd Abbott’s
past. Yvette said something tonight, which makes me think he and Alex grew up in
some little town near the Tennessee border called Goodwick. That’s where we’re going.”

“Right now?”

“We don’t have time to waste and I’m not letting
you out of my sight.” He zipped up his bag. “Can you call in sick?”

“I’ll call my secretary in a couple of hours and
have her cancel all my appointments.”

“Good. Get your stuff together.”

She pulled her suitcase out of the corner. “What
about Sarah? We can’t leave her unprotected. If he went after her once, he may
do it again, especially if he can’t find me.”

“Casey said he can watch over her. Do you know
where she is?”

“I have no idea. She just said she was taking
care of a friend.”

“Can you call her?”

She gestured to the clock. “It’s three in the
morning. Even if she had her phone on, I doubt she’d hear it. She can sleep
through anything.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “She’s probably
okay for tonight. Alex’s probably been too busy to keep up with her. Does she
work tomorrow?”

“She’s goes in at noon,” she said reaching for
the pair of pajamas she wore the night before.

“Okay, I’ll let Casey know to meet her there.”

“Casey seems a bit young. How old is he?”

“Twenty…twenty-one. I’m not really sure, but
don’t worry, he’s a good guy. He’ll take good care of Sarah, at least until
Saturday.”

“What happens Saturday?” she asked as she walked
into the bathroom.

 “He’s got a championship fight in D.C. on New Year’s,
but we’ll be back before he leaves.”

She tried not to look at the bloody shirt in the
corner as she gathered her things together. “What if we’re not?” She asked as
she hurriedly threw everything into her makeup bag and returned to the bedroom.

Ethan was standing by the closet pulling on a tee
shirt. “What did you say?”

“What if we’re not back by the time Casey
leaves?” she asked again as she packed her makeup bag into her suitcase.

“Then he’ll take her with him.”

She straightened up. “Does Sarah know this?”

“Not yet,” he said disappearing into the bathroom
with his satchel. “We’ll call her in the morning and let her know what’s going
on.”

Finished packing, Madison slipped her feet into
her shoes and wheeled her suitcase into the hallway. She glanced back down at
the floor, not very surprised to see the shirt was gone. Her gaze fell to the
satchel.

“Do you think it will be a problem?” Ethan asked
sliding past her and walking into the living room.

“A huge problem. Sarah’s best friend growing up is
getting married next week. Sarah’s the Maid of Honor and the bachelorette party’s
on New Year’s Eve. There’s no way she’d miss that and run off to D.C. She’s
planning on spending the weekend with her friends.”

“That’s a problem,” he said. “Is the party here
in town?”

“No, Hannah lives near our grandpa’s place. I’m
kind of glad Sarah’s leaving. Hannah’s father is in the security business. He
has this giant house in a gated community and three big sons who all play
football. They’ll all be there this weekend. I figure Sarah will be safer with
them than with me.”

“When was she planning on leaving?”

“Saturday night.”

“Okay, then we’ll just have to be back before Casey
leaves that evening. We’ll take Sarah to her friend’s place.” He paused. “Actually,
maybe we should stay with Hannah and her family too.”

“I have my own New Year’s Eve party to attend to.
Nicole wants me to give a speech.”

Ethan rolled his eyes as he wrapped a scarf
around his neck. “That’s what I love about attorneys. You all know how to throw
a great party.”

“Please, it’s a five minute welcoming speech. Besides,
it’s for a charity she and I both support. With the amount of money we’ve put
into this thing, I think everyone should be happy. I just hope Alex doesn’t try
to disrupt it.” She tilted her head. “No, actually, I hope he does. Nicole
would probably rip him apart with her bare hands. Then we wouldn’t have to
worry about him anymore.”

“With any luck, we’ll know who Alex is and be
able to hand him over to the police by then.” He picked up her coat and helped
her into it. “Come on, let’s go.”

She ran her hand along the back of her neck and
pulled out her hair from underneath her coat. “If he does succeed in framing
you, running off to Goodwick isn’t going to help your case, Ethan. It’ll just
make it harder to prove your innocence.”

“I told you I’m not running. I’m working.
Besides, I can’t protect you from a jail cell.” He turned her around and gently
cupped her face with his hands. “And I have to protect you.” He gave her a
lopsided grin. “If I don’t, who’s going to defend me if the police mistakenly
arrest me for Yvette’s murder?”

She wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “Me.”

Leaning his head forward, he kissed her lightly
before resting his forehead against hers and holding her close.

The sound of sirens in the distance caught his
attention and he reluctantly pulled away. “Time to go,” he said taking her hand
and leading her out the door.

They took the stairs down to the main floor and
then hurried to Ethan’s rental car, only relaxing when they noticed the patrol
car cross the street and then turn down another before completely disappearing
from view.

Her gaze fell to the clock on the dashboard as Ethan
started the engine. “He didn’t call,” she said only then realizing she hadn’t gotten
the daily phone call he’d been subjecting her to for the past five days.

“He didn’t have to,” Ethan said softly.

“What do you mean?”

“He carved the number five into Yvette’s forehead.”

Madison closed her eyes as a wave of nausea came
over her. “Why would he do that? She was his accomplice. She was helping him
avenge Todd.”

“If this psychopath has any virtues, it’s obvious
that loyalty ranks pretty low on the list, if at all.”

“What happened to her?” She watched as his jaw
tightened. “You need to tell me. I’d rather know than not know, and imagine the
worse.”

“I don’t think your imagination is quite as sick
as his.” Blowing out a breath, he ran a hand through his hair. “After I left you,
I went back to Yvette’s place. She was a bit more talkative the second time
around.”

“What did she say?”

“Nothing helpful, at least not then. It was
mostly trash talk at first, playing around with me. She dropped the attitude
when I told her that I knew she was the one who made that birthday corsage for
you and that she and Alex had been terrorizing you for the past week. It wasn’t
until I told her that we could prove that it was her car that Alex had used to
kill Paul Harris and that she could be charged as an accomplice that she
suddenly got very quiet.” He slapped his hand against the steering wheel. “I
had her. I saw it in her eyes. She turned white as a ghost and started shaking
all over.”

“Did she say anything to you?”

“Yeah, the usual lies you get when you confront
someone with a crime. She had no idea Alex was doing these things and that if
she had known, she would have stopped him. I did get a few helpful things out
of her. One, Todd and Alex were extremely close and two, they grew up together
in Goodwick. Unfortunately, that’s as far as we got. A woman came out of the
back room and interrupted us just as Yvette started spilling her guts. As soon
as Yvette saw her, she clammed up.”

“Do you know who the woman was?”

“Well, from your description of Gina Gallagher, I
guessed that it was her. She denied it, but I know it was her.”