Mad Love: Madison (36 page)

“I’m sorry,” she said with a short laugh. “I
don’t know why I just did that. You know, I think I’m just really tired.” She
stepped out of his arms and back toward his bedroom, desperate to put some
space between them. “I think I should probably lie down. I’ll see you in the
morning.”

“Okay,” he said, trying to hide the
disappointment that was written across his face.

She started toward the bedroom, but stopped when
she noticed Ethan’s wallet and keys lying in a dish on the bar. Spinning around,
she pointed to the kitchen. “I think I’ll get a drink of water first.”

She watched over the counter as Ethan settled on
the couch. When his attention turned to the window, she grabbed his keys and
wallet. She winced as the dish clattered against the counter.

His head turned back to her with a jerk.

“Sorry,” she said, “I almost dropped the glass.”

“Did you break it?”

She made a show of checking the glass in the
light. “No. It’s fine.” She set the glass down next to the wallet. “I’m still
kind of hungry. I think I’m going to make a sandwich. Do you want something?”

“No, I’m good.”

She pulled out bread and lunchmeat and started
working on the sandwich, waiting until he turned his attention from her to
something else. When he finally did, she grabbed his wallet and pulled out the
key card to his office building. Next, she worked at getting his office and car
key off the key ring. “You know Alex’s a bit late calling tonight,” she said
trying to cover up the sound of any slight noise the keys were making as she
slid the keys off the ring. “I keep expecting to hear or see the number two
somewhere. I wonder why I haven’t yet. Maybe he’s forgotten all about me.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.” He rose to his feet and
turned in her direction.

Thinking quickly, she said, “I remember I was
kind of cold here the other night. Do you have another blanket I could use?”

Nodding, Ethan turned to the closet.

Keeping one eye on Ethan, Madison carefully put
the wallet and keys back in the dish and returned to the sandwich.

A few seconds later, Ethan returned with a blue
blanket in his arms. “I changed the thermostat. It’s on the wall next to the
bedroom if you need to adjust it.”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she said as she took
the blanket out of his arms. Balancing the plate, blanket and keys hidden in
her hand, she moved quickly to the bedroom.

“Madison?”

She paused at the doorway. “Yes?”

“Good night.”

She answered him back with a nod and a forced smile
before shutting and locking the door behind her.

~O
NE
~

S
UNDAY
, D
ECEMBER
31
^ST

12:02
A.M.

Madison
stood in front of Ethan’s bedroom window and looked out at the empty street
below. She knew that, once it was open, she had maybe thirty seconds before
Ethan broke through the bedroom door and followed her down the fire escape. The
chair under the door wasn’t going to be much a deterrent to him. Once that
alarm went off, she had to move and move fast.

She looked down at the street for any sign of the
cab she had called. She had debated taking Ethan’s car, but decided against it.
She didn’t want to spend the evening explaining why she stole his rental car if
he was innocent. Besides, she felt safer knowing there would be someone with
her.

Any minute now
, she thought.

The floorboard outside the bedroom door creaked.

Madison pressed her forehead to the window and
prayed for strength. She didn’t know what he had in mind. Was he going to kill
her sometime today? Wait until the first? He may string it out. He could take
her now, hold her hostage and then kill her at midnight.

She gripped the phone in her hand. She could call
the police. She had no proof that he was Alex, but they’d at least escort her
out.
That is if he didn’t manage to kill them when they walked through the
door
, she thought ruefully.

No, she decided. If she called without proof,
they would look at her as if she was crazy. Even if she told them about the
shrine and they believed her, she knew they’d never get a search warrant for his
office. The judge would never go for it. She needed something more substantial
than her stating, “But Gina said on the phone she saw it a month ago.”

If she said anything to the cops, it might tip
Ethan off and he’d just run over there and destroy it or move it while she
argued with the police.

Besides, she needed to see for herself that Gina
was telling the truth. That was another reason she didn’t want the police
involved. What if Gina was lying?

Ethan would think she was crazy for not trusting
him and she’d be embarrassed.

If she just disappeared quietly into the night,
she could always go back to Ethan once she knew Gina had lied to her, confess
that she had been duped, apologize for not trusting him and beg his
forgiveness. He’d probably forgive her.

If she called the cops and accused him of being a
multiple murderer when he wasn’t, he might not be so forgiving when she came
crawling back.

Gina had to be lying
, she thought once again.
Ethan can’t be Alex.
He’s too good. Too sweet. Too kind and too
caring.

Yeah, the perfect man
, she thought as she
pursed her lips together.
One tailor made just for her.

She lifted her head from the window. She was
driving herself crazy going back and forth.

She needed to see that cabinet. Once she did,
then she’d know whether she could trust him or not.

Bright headlights turned down the street. She
squared her shoulders as the cab pulled up in front of the building.

Here goes
, she thought, pushing the window up.

She winced as the alarm system activated and a
loud piercing alarm went off.

She had one foot on the fire escape when
something heavy hit the door. By the time she was fully out the window, Ethan
had gotten the door open and was running towards the window.

She didn’t bother closing the window as she took
off down the stairs as fast as she could, every hard, loud step she made
causing the fire escape to creak and groan in response.

She was almost to the bottom ladder when it
suddenly occurred to her that the only footsteps she was hearing were her own.

Ethan was a big, strong man. If she were making
so much noise going down the fire escape, surely he would be too.

Too frightened to look back, she climbed down the
ladder and jumped to the ground.

Once on the ground and running to the cab, she
took a moment to look over her shoulder.

He wasn’t there.

She looked all around her, but other than Ethan’s
neighbors standing at their windows trying to determine the source of all the
noise, he was nowhere to be seen.

He must have seen the cab from the window. That
had to be it,
she
thought.
He saw the cab and he’s gone to get his car. Not that it will do
much good without the keys.

She flew across the front lawn and raced to the
cab.

Once safely inside, she slammed the door shut,
never letting her gaze leave the apartment building. “I’m being chased. Please
get me out of here,” she said between great gulps for air.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to
the police?” the man asked when she gave him the address to Ethan’s office
building.

Keeping an eye on the road behind them, she shook
her head. “Not yet. I’ll tell you when.” She reached into the pocket of her
coat and pulled out her phone. She switched it off just in case Ethan could
track her through her GPS. Once that was done, she returned her attention back
to the road behind them.

“There’s no one behind us,” the cab driver said
at one point during their ride.

“I noticed,” she said. “I’m just making sure.”

When they pulled up to the office building, she
handed him two fifties.

“I need you to stay here and wait for me. If
anyone shows up, anyone at all, leave and call the police. Tell them that I’m
on the fifth floor and that you think someone’s about to kill me.”

His eyes widened. “Lady, I don’t think this is a
good idea.”

“Look, nothing’s going to happen.” When he didn’t
seem convinced, she added, “There’s an extra hundred if you wait for me.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to
the police?”

She glanced back behind them at the empty road.
“No, not yet.”

She took off toward the building, looking this
way and that. When she got to the door, she swiped Ethan’s card key through the
reader and once inside, she raced to the elevator. She didn’t know how long it
would be before he noticed his keys were missing, but she figured it wouldn’t
take very long. She just hoped she’d be gone by the time he figured out where
she was.

She placed the key in the lock once again, praying
that Gina was lying.

“Please, don’t let it be him, God, please,” she
muttered under her breath as she swung the door open. She passed the
secretary’s desk and pushed open the double doors to his office.

A strange feeling came over her as she stared at
the interior of his office. She took a step in but then pulled her foot back.

This is ridiculous
, she thought suddenly. She’d
been in his office alone with him dozens of times and never once did she feel
she was in danger. If anything, she felt safe. Safer with him than she had with
anyone else.

Her attention turned to a small round table piled
high with folders and books. How often had she eaten lunch with him at that
table? Occasionally at the beginning, then more often as they grew closer. She
used to sit there, staring into his handsome face, wishing he’d take her in his
arms and hold her close. Her gaze passed the table and toward the wall where
pictures of Ethan in uniform hung, remembering how she used to study them when
a phone call or a client would interrupt their meals together.

He looked so handsome.

So commanding.

So
sane
.

A small laugh escaped her lips. “This is so
silly,” she said to the empty room as she pressed a hand to her forehead. “What
am I doing here? Ethan must think I’m crazy for running away from him.” She
took the key and placed it into her pocket. “How can Ethan be Alex? The Navy
would have done a background check. Alex could never have gotten or rose to the
rank that Ethan had. It’s just not possible,” she said as she backed up and
pulled the door shut.

Pictures can be faked
, a small voice whispered
in her head.

Her hand stilled on the doorknob.

“Ethan Parker has a military record,” she
answered back rather forcefully.

Alex is a chameleon. He steals lives. What if the
real Ethan Parker is buried in some shallow grave out there? Would anyone miss
him?

Madison’s hand tightened on the doorknob.

His brother is overseas. Alex could have sent a
couple emails under Ethan’s name to keep the brother from suspecting Ethan was
dead.

“I’m already here,” she said with a sigh as she
pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Might as well go all the way. Hopefully,
Ethan will understand.”

She glanced out the window, making sure the cab
was still waiting for her before walking to the cabinet behind his desk. Hands
shaking, she reached for the handles and pulled the cabinet doors open.

Tears sprang to her eyes. She cupped a hand to
her mouth as a small scream tore through her mind.

Pictures littered the inside walls of the
cabinet. Pictures of her office, her home, and of her were everywhere.

Her eyes widened in horror as her gaze fell on
one picture in particular hanging on the back of the cabinet door. It was an
eight by ten of her. Lying still, sound asleep. She looked dead to the world.

There were pictures of Sarah too. Not as many but
there were one or two. One of her in her hospital bed, unconscious with a tube
going down her throat. Another lying on the ground next to her friend Zoe after
they had been attacked.

Her gaze next settled on a framed picture. Three
young teenage boys sat next to each other on the front steps of the Depot Inn.
The two on the end had their arms cross the other’s shoulders. Even though they
were young, she easily recognized Zach Winters, Todd Abbott and Ethan—or rather
Alex, she amended sadly.

She picked up the framed picture and tossed it on
the desk behind her before turning back to the cabinet.