Mad Love: Madison (28 page)

“Is everything okay at home?” Ethan asked.

“Um, fine,” she said trying to get control over
her emotions. “Emily was just relaying a message. Sarah called in sick.”

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot to tell you. Casey
called while you were in the restroom earlier. He said Sarah wasn’t feeling
well and they were at his place. He said not to worry, she was safe and they
were having a good time watching the fights.”

“Good,” she said finally turning back toward
Ethan. “What are they going to do tomorrow?”

“She wants to go shopping. Told him that she had
to get something for her friend’s bachelorette party.”

Madison smiled. “That should be fun for Sarah.”

“We should get an early start tomorrow.” He
slipped his holster off and laid it across the back of the chair. “The inn is
six hours from here,” he said turning his attention to his cuffs. “If we leave
at six in the morning, we’ll get there about noon.”

Madison tore her gaze away from his chest and
looked down at the bed.

“Madison?”

“Hmm?” She glanced back at Ethan who was looking
at her curiously. “What?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, of course, I’m fine. I’m just really,
really tired all of a sudden.”

He bit his bottom lip. “Madison, this was the
only room available, and it’s much easier to protect you if we stay together.”

“I know that.”

“If you want, I could sleep on the floor.”

She quickly shook her head, her memory of waking
up in his arms still fresh in her mind. “No, I don’t want you to do that. It’s
just that I’m not used to making decisions this quickly. And this is a major
decision.”

He held out his hands. “Madison, nothing has to
happen. I wouldn’t say no to you, but I understand if you want to wait.”

She sat down on the bed. Her fingers trailed over
the burgundy runner at the foot of the bed, as the tears she tried to hold back
began to run down her face. “We may not have much more time together.”

He kneeled down in front of her. “Sweetheart,” he
said holding her hand, “he’s not going to hurt you. I won’t let him. Everything’s
going to be fine. At least now we know who’s after you.”

She wiped her tears away with the back of her
hand. “So? We don’t know where he is. We don’t know what he looks like. You can’t
be with me twenty-four hours a day.”

His thumb brushed against her cheek. “I will find
him and I will stop him.”

“He left me a message where Sarah works. He said
he’d catch me in four days. I guess that means he’s going to kill me on New
Year’s Day. Probably after midnight like he killed Laura.”

He pulled her head down to his shoulder. “Shh.
That’s not going to happen.”

“Even if you find him, we have to get proof,” she
said, lifting her head. “Who knows how long that would take? Until then, he’d
be free. Restraining orders don’t work against this kind of man. He’d just
ignore it.”

“When I find him…” Ethan pursed his lips together
in a tight angry line. “I promise you, this will all be over.”

~T
HREE
~

F
RIDAY
, DECEMBER 29
^TH

2: 45
P.M.

They
arrived at the inn much later than they intended the night before. Two
different wrecks on the Western Kentucky Parkway and roadwork on I-24, had
brought traffic to a crawl, throwing off their carefully planned schedule. When
they got to the inn, it was already late in the afternoon, leaving them little
time in the day to investigate.

Ethan pulled into the almost empty gravel parking
that sat between the inn and an old railroad depot.

“Let’s hope Allison and Neal are here,” Ethan
said looking around.

Madison glanced at the large, square, four story
dirty looking brown brick inn. Her gaze fell to the lower windows and the
wrought iron bars that covered each window. “The clerk I spoke to said not to
worry, that one of the owners was almost always on the property.”

Ethan nodded distractedly as he slowed the car to
a stop.

“There’s plenty of parking,” Madison pointed out,
wondering why he had stopped in the middle of the lot. She followed his gaze up
to the rearview mirror. “Is something wrong?”

He didn’t say anything, as he continued to watch
the street behind them. After a while, he shook his head with a smile. “Just
making sure.”

She blew out the breath she hadn’t realized she
had been holding. “He doesn’t know where we are. He said so to Emily,” she said
feeling ridiculous as the words left her mouth. After all, she somehow doubted
Alex was a trustworthy and honest soul.

Ethan gave her a look, but otherwise, he didn’t
say anything as he pulled under the carport and stopped the car. “Why don’t you
go inside and check us in while I park.”

Nodding, Madison slid out of the car and walked
up to the large glass doors, pausing for a moment to read the plaque next to
the doors, which proudly proclaimed the hotel’s erection date. In big brass
lettering, the year 1901 stood out against a grimy black background.

Passing through the glass doors, she stepped into
a surprisingly charming lobby with a large brass chandelier and red Oriental
rug. Behind the desk was a friendly older looking woman with short curly blonde
hair and a welcoming smile.

Madison returned the woman’s smile as she checked
into the hotel.

“Are you Allison, by any chance?” Madison asked
as she took the room key from the lady’s fingers.

“Yes, I am,” the woman said with a tilt of her
head.

“My name’s Madison. I was a…” She paused unsure
how to finish her sentence. Friend would be a lie, and victim, while accurate,
might shut down the conversation pretty quickly. Instead, she opted for a
simple, “I knew Todd Abbott.”

The woman’s smile slowly began to fall as her
eyes narrowed suspiciously. A cold mask came down on her face. She smiled again
but with a distinct lack of warmth. “Just take the elevator to the third floor.
Your room will be on the right.”

Ethan came in just then, so Madison nodded
politely and led Ethan to the elevator.

“I just spoke to Todd’s aunt,” she said as the
elevator doors closed. “It didn’t go well.”

“What did she say?”

“Nothing. I said that I knew Todd and that was
the end of the conversation. Lord only knows what sort of reaction we’ll get
when we ask about Alex.”

“Well, at least she didn’t throw us out,” he said
as they walked to their room.

She linked her arm through his. “Ethan, I don’t
really feel comfortable staying here.”

“This place is our best chance at tracking down
Alex. Todd lived here for a good amount of time. The neighbors must remember
him. With any luck, they’ll remember Alex too. The more we discover about him, the
easier it will be to find him.”

“If you say so,” she said, unlocking the door and
walking into a small room just big enough for a bed, a nightstand and a small three-drawer
dresser. “Cozy.”

Ethan walked around the single bed, giving her a
curious glance before depositing their bags by the window. He started to open
his mouth to say something, but shut it as a train whistle broke the silence of
the room.

They both looked out the window. Just beyond a
small garden and a white privacy fence was the old depot, which looked like it
hadn’t been used in years. Old derelict train cars sat on an overgrown back lot
of land. Just beyond that was a train track that curved around the old cars and
then between the hotel and the depot. They looked at each other in amusement, as
a sleek modern train suddenly appeared around the bend in the track and then
rumbled past their room.

“I hope we’re not on a main line,” Ethan said
once the train had disappeared into a wooded area on the other side of the inn.

“The way our luck goes, this is probably grand
central station.” She tossed her purse on the bed and slipped off her coat.
“What are we going to do about Allison?”

“Go around her. While I was parking the car, I
met a very nice talkative older gentleman who has lived here his entire life.
He does part time maintenance work for the Abbotts. Says he used to work for Allison’s
parents back in the day.”

“Did you ask about Todd and Alex?”

“Not yet,” he said as he started for the door,
“but I plan to.”

She picked up her coat. “Then I’m going with
you.”

To her surprise, he didn’t object. He simply held
the door for her and led her down to the front door and across the street.

“Where are we going?” she asked as they started
walking away from the inn’s parking lot.

He pointed to a row of bungalows across the
street from the inn. Madison noticed that they, like the inn, had bars on all
the lower windows.

“Roger and his wife, Ivy, live in the yellow one
down at the end. He was just leaving for the day when I caught him.” He took
her hand in his as they walked. “I figure since he’s not related to the Abbotts,
he might be a bit more forthcoming about the family.”

“I hope so,” she said, as she walked up the steps
to their front door.

A woman who appeared to be in her seventies or
maybe late sixties with white hair and a flowered print dress greeted them.

They were just about to introduce themselves when
Roger poked his head out from behind the kitchen door. Madison noticed that his
smile was a bit wary, but despite any apprehension he may have at a couple of
strangers knocking on his door, he invited them into the kitchen anyway.

They sat down at a small round table and talked
about the weather for a bit, while Ivy brought each a cup of coffee and a
handful of cookies she had taken from a bag out of the pantry. She arranged
them on a little plate before sitting down at the table.

Once introductions were out of the way and the
couple seemed to be more relaxed in their company, Ethan explained who they
were and why they were there.

Ivy’s face hardened. “I never liked that boy. He
was always causing trouble.”

“Which one?” Ethan asked. “Alex or Todd.”

“Todd,” she said with a shake of her head. “Don’t
know Alex. Never met him.”

Madison leaned back in her chair. “So, he never
came here to live.”

“No, he was here,” Ivy corrected. “He and his
folks when they were alive, would come and stay at the inn around Christmas
time. I used to work up there in the kitchen before I decided to retire. Todd would
run around all day long, playing or getting into trouble. Always under foot. Alex
never left his room that I saw.”

“I met Alex a few times when he was a kid,” Roger
said. “Never really spoke to him. He wasn’t very friendly. I’d see him when
they’d arrive and then again when they’d leave. Don’t know where he went
between those two times. He didn’t like anyone to look at him. Anytime anyone did,
he’d turn away.”

“Why?” Madison asked.

“I thought he was just shy. Todd was far more
outgoing. I actually kind of liked the boy.”

His wife snorted lightly. “Todd had half the town
hoodwinked. The other half, the smart half,” she said catching her husband’s
eye, “saw right through him.”

Her husband smiled in amusement. “She tried to
tell me, but I didn’t listen.”

“Did you see Alex any time after Todd came to
live here full time?” Ethan asked.

Ivy shook her head.

Roger nodded. “Sure did. Several times, in fact.”

“When was that?” Madison asked.

“I don’t know. It was a couple of years after Todd
graduated from high school. I thought he was a guest at first. I didn’t find
out he was Alex until several months had gone by.”

Ethan grabbed a cookie off the plate. “What did
he look like?”

Roger made a face. “He wouldn’t win any beauty
contest that’s for sure. He was a big boy.”

“How tall was he?” Madison asked.

“Don’t mean tall. He was about average height I
guess. I just mean he was hefty.”

Madison leaned forward with a hopeful expression
on her face. “Do you have any pictures of him?”

Roger shook his head. “'Fraid not, miss.”

Disappointed, Madison leaned back. “Could you
describe his face?”

“Red. Very, very red. It was all broken out and
he had a pretty big gap between his teeth too. He was really into black. Black
hair, black clothes, black fingernail polish.”

“Black hair?” Madison asked. “I thought Alex was
a blond.”

“He was when he was little,” Roger said.

“I remember Allison used to have blonde hair when
she was a little girl,” Ivy said. “It turned dark as she grew.”

“Nah,” her husband said. “He got that out of a
bottle. Neal used to joke that the boy had to have been using axle grease the
way his hair looked.”