Practicing Murder

by Unger, Erin;

  No. More waiting? “Just tell me who it is!”

  “Give us a minute,” came a muffled reply from down the hall.

  He straightened up and tried to see down the long hall where the voice emanated from. Who was it and why did Beaucamp think he should be here?

  He did as he was told even though he must look like a preschooler with a cupcake just out of reach. Joze took in the large home with upgraded crown molding and shiny hardwood floors.

  It seemed hours later when Brown and Beaucamp came out of a back room and beckoned him down the hall. Joze hurried in, careful not to touch anything. “Come take a look. Is this your friend?”

  Joze’s heart beat a fast cadence. His nerves sent shock waves all the way to his fingertips.

  He stopped in the doorway of the room where Brown had once again disappeared.

  A man’s body rested on the bed as if he’d been sitting up and had fallen over. Dr. Adcock. The room narrowed He moaned. “No.” His hands went to his head. “That’s Dr. Adcock but how are we going to find Maddie now?”

  The pressure in his chest fought to be released.

  Beaucamp held up a bagged piece of paper with gloved hands. “Says he was being persecuted by the police. We found prescription meds in unmarked bags. Several script notepads laying around from different offices. This guy was in some serious trouble.”

  Joze wanted to punch the wall. “Please tell me you found something leading to Maddie. I can’t take it. I have to hear you say it.”

  Brown’s head dropped. The other officers in the room looked away.

  “I’m telling you, she’s in Massachusetts. Get me the next of kin’s address and I’ll go myself.” He barreled out of the house.

  By the afternoon, Joze was beside himself. He waited by the scanner for any news that’d lead him to Maddie. His cell phone left pressure marks on his hand, but he refused to set it down in case Brown or David called.

  He put his medical bag together and rechecked it half a dozen times. It may come down to him finding her. Alone.

  It had been long enough. He had to get out and start his own search.

  43

  The slap of rain against the window beat in time to Joze’s pounding heart. David Beaucamp sat across from him. What if Maddie lay out in the elements, hurt or bleeding? A cold front had blown in during the night and threatened to turn to an unusual, light snow. “What are we going to do if it snows?”

  David thumped the table. “What can we do?”

  The fact that his good friend sat across from him didn’t help. He needed to be out searching. Why had David insisted he go in for a break anyway? Joze eyed him. “Wait a minute. You know something. I can see it.”

  His friend pushed back in his chair, legs spread wide in a deceptively easy stance. “OK—this isn’t how I wanted to tell you, but…the Massachusetts state police went up to the next of kin and talked to them. His parents hadn’t seen Dr. Adcock in over a year. They didn’t know where he was or anything. When they broke it to them that he’d committed suicide, his parents didn’t seem too shocked. Officer Torney said it was weird the way they didn’t react appropriately.” He got up and started a restless prowl around the room. “What parents don’t cry when they hear their son has died?”

  Joze got out of his chair too. The suspense killed him. “Get to the point, David.”

  His friend made a sharp turn and continued around Joze. “They said he’d had trouble all through school. Never had any friends. But he managed to get his doctorate.” He turned again and headed back. “Last year, he had a big blowout fight with them.”

  David halted. “He never talked to them again.”

  “So they never heard whether his license was revoked or what happened?”

  David raised his palm. “No.”

  “What about the fact that there were two Adcocks? Robert and Keith.”

  “They said their younger son was Robert. They hadn’t heard from him in years.”

  Joze scratched his chin. So fraud wasn’t part of the issue. “What kind of family never talks to each other?”

  “A broken one.” He plunked into his seat. “But guess what? I haven’t gotten to the strange part yet.”

  Joze sat back down, too, and pinned his elbows on the table. He was going to hyperventilate if David didn’t get to the point, and fast. “Go on.”

  “When they showed the couple the picture for identification, they said it wasn’t Keith but Robert in the photo. Now, that got them worked up.”

  Joze leapt out of his seat. “You’re saying the one brother took the identity of the other one? How? Why? We wondered about that very thing.”

  “My guess?” He studied Joze. “He had lost his license and was about to go to jail in Pennsylvania. I think he decided to get out of it all by becoming his brother. His brother was also a doctor, you know? Adcock then moved to Connecticut and started practicing at another medical office in Hartford where he wasn’t known.”

  “That’s the coldest thing I’ve ever heard.” Joze wiped his brow. “So where’s the brother?”

  “We haven’t located him at present.”

  Joze got tingles. Not good. How did Maddie play into all this?

  And what of the journal? “Maddie Clare’s aunt must have figured it out. Between the pictures and addresses, she must’ve known that he wasn’t who he said he was.”

  “We’ve factored that in. But we may never know how much she knew.”

  “Has anyone found her journal at his residence?”

  David shrugged and stood. “I’d have to check with Brown to find out.”

  “It could clarify things.”

  Retrieving his hat, David stopped at the kitchen door. “I have to get back to duty. I’ll call you if I hear anything else.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  Before his friend made it to the front door, Joze stopped him. “Hey, can I have the address to Adcock’s parents?”

  “Dude, I told you, they’ve already followed up every lead there.”

  “We have to stick together in this town. Please. I won’t do anything dangerous.” Oh please, let the small town brotherhood code work this time.

  “It’ll be my badge if you screw up.”

  Joze put his hand on David’s shoulder. “I won’t.”

  David hung his head. “You’re going to have to find a way to accidentally see it on my paperwork.”

  With a whoop, Joze smacked his friend on the back. “I’ll repay you. I promise.”

  44

  Maddie wiped her hand on the floor for the hundredth time and tried not to let bile climb up her throat. How long had she been there? Her eyes still hadn’t adjusted in the utter pit of blackness.

  It was cold, so cold. She stood. “I don’t want to freeze to death. Please,” she yelled.

  Defeat dared to take her breath.

  She got back on her feet and took even smaller steps to the left until the same hard wall met her palm. Maybe eight feet across? She followed the wall straight ahead. Please don’t let the body be sprawled in the same direction.

  Something cushy padded under her feet. She bent down and ran her hand along something silky. A sleeping bag? If God was there, why had He provided a sleeping bag and not a rescue?

  How many bugs infested the underside of it?

  Past the sleeping bag, her touch reached some cans that were empty. Leaves and sticks lay on top.

  Maddie returned to her corner and wept. She banged on the walls with her fists and pushed at the ceiling, scraping her knuckles on the sandpapery texture of her tomb. Her screams went unheard. The house was far away…but if someone was in the yard, maybe there was a chance they’d hear her. She couldn’t give up.

  The cold began to seep into her clothes. She’d had her jacket on before the knock on the door, but it wasn’t her winter coat. And wherever she was, the temperature seemed to have plummeted.

  No food or water. But at least she had the blanket if she needed it, which could be sooner
than later. She pulled her legs tight against her abdomen and slumped to the floor. Her eyes fluttered. She couldn’t keep them open.

  Startling awake, frigid cold bit at her toes and fingers. How had she allowed herself to fall asleep? Maddie tucked her hands into her armpits and shivered. She’d have to get the sleeping bag, bugs and all.

  The odor from across the small space had let up some. Must be from the cold.

  With careful movements, she pulled the blanket and hoped the body wasn’t resting on any part of it. It gave with little resistance. She cuddled under it and tried not to breathe in the moldy tang that encircled her from moving it. Her stomach grumbled with hunger pangs.

  Just five minutes. It’s all she needed to get the warmth back in her body. Then she’d go back to fighting against the forces that held her in.

  She counted to keep her mind trained on anything but her current reality. With little strength left, Maddie stood and avoided bumping her head on the low ceiling. The room seemed to be like some sort of bunker. Could it have been built during the war?

  She tried to hold the blanket around her with one hand, and managed to bang on what she thought was the hatch to the bunker. It gave way a millimeter and then clanked back down.

  Her strength renewed, she gave it everything she had. Pushing and yelling, she smacked against the entrance over and over but the millimeter never became two or three.

  All her power waned in a matter of minutes. The door wasn’t going to open.

  Maddie dropped to the ground and wailed. “Why, God? Why are You doing this to me? You never protected me. You were never there when I needed You.”

  Hot tears poured down her face and chilled in seconds. She balled up, ignoring the musty odor of mold.

  When she opened her eyes again a tiny glint of gray filtered in. She blinked. Daylight? Slowly her vision adjusted. She could make out the form of the body. The size suggested it had to be a male, but the bit of light didn’t reveal any more detail other than a white lab coat.

  A doctor’s coat? Was this Dr. Adcock’s brother? He’d said his brother never stayed out of his business. Had it brought him to murder?

  Panic welled up and took over. If he hadn’t gotten out, how could she? She scratched at the walls and tore a nail loose. Was there a crevice…any other possible way out? The pain barely registered. She strained to control her brain but gave in to the fear instead.

  Water began to seep down the wall. She darted her gaze to the tiny spot of light. Was that rain? She listened. The drip became a small steam.

  Moments later, Maddie forced away the sheer panic and allowed reason to take over. “God, please get me out of here. Please.”

  Water inched to her feet.

  It was hopeless.

  45

  How long could Joze hold his professional stare—the one that all medical personnel knew how to maintain when they didn’t want people to know what they were really thinking—before he exploded? And why did it seem like every officer in the building was staring him down as he stormed down the hall on his way to David Beaucamp’s desk?

  He rounded the corner and spotted his friend a couple cubicles down. Plunking into the seat beside him, Joze blew out a breath. “Thanks for calling me in, David.”

  “Could you take a look at a sketch for me? Wait, let me find it.”

  Once again, Joze watched every cop swarming the precinct around him and played along with his friend. “Sure.”

  David put his hand on a paper file in front of his computer, and then got up to check something at the printer, his back turned. “So, have you witnessed anything suspicious since last night?”

  “No, sir.” Joze eyed the black folder and almost jumped out of his seat to throw a fist pump into the air. There it was, the address he’d begged for.

  “Oh, here it is.” He swung around and held out a paper.

  Joze took it, and then handed it back. “That’s close to what I saw last night.”

  “Great. Thanks. Well then, have a nice day. Contact me immediately if you do get more information.”

  “I will.”

  Joze hightailed it out of the police station.

  At his car, he pulled out his phone and tapped the address into the GPS app. Wait a minute. It was one of the addresses Lonna Selby had on her flash drive, he was almost certain.

  There was no time to waste thinking about it. He had to go. Driving west, he headed to interstate ninety-one. This would be the quickest trip he’d ever taken to the state of Massachusetts.

  Joze gunned the engine and swooped between two cars as he entered the highway. The rain made the road slippery and he had to fight the pull of the wheel as the car threatened to slide. “I’m coming, Maddie.”

  The traffic slowed and Joze went into beg mode. “God, get me there in time.”

  When cities faded away to hills and trees, Joze checked the GPS again. The blue line covering the interstate showed he was on track. An hour from now to get to his destination.

  It spit out the next turn coming up in two miles. He grabbed it and put it back in the holder where he could see the front screen lit up with the map on it. All these years were gone in an instant. And Maddie was worth it.

  His mind raced. Forty miles to his destination. What was he going to do when he got to the address? Would the people even talk to him? He didn’t have a badge to flash at them or any authority, but his gut insisted that the Massachusetts location was the key to finding Maddie.

  Rain drizzled against the windshield, and he turned his windshield wipers back up.

  What if he found her but it was too late?

  The list of items in his medical bag ticked through his mind for the gazillionth time. There was no AED machine to shock a person’s heart. Please, God, don’t let him need one.

  The car in front of him braked hard and stopped. Why?

  He tried to see around the growing line of cars. A few flashing lights left odd patterns because of the rain. Must be an accident. Any other time he’d pull over and help, but Maddie’s life was at stake. Inching forward, he hovered over his wheel. An ambulance waited on the side of the road. Good. Help had already arrived.

  How could he be so callous about the scene just out of view? Someone there could be in bad shape. But Maddie still hovered in every part of his mind. “Please move, cars. I gotta get out of here.”

  46

  Two inches of water drove Maddie against the wall. There was no use in trying to avoid it any longer. The whole floor disappeared under it an hour ago, carrying the stench and fluids of the body into contact with her skin. Her toes were numb. She clutched the sleeping bag around her shoulders and shivered.

  She beat the hatch door one more time with bloodied knuckles. Should she give up and lay in the icy water? Let it steal her breath instead of starving to death as the bones across the room must’ve?

  No one was coming.

  Maddie sobbed. “I don’t want to go like this.” She buried her head in the blanket. Hope and utter despair mingled together in a whirling mix. She screamed again, her throat raw from crying and yelling for hours.

  The snap of a branch somewhere nearby stopped her. Her heart throttled into overtime. Was it Dr. Adcock? Had he returned? What should she do? What if he came back to kill her? What if it was someone else? Even if it was him, it was a chance to escape.

  Maddie braced her body, ready to leap when the door opened. “I’m down here,” she screamed. “Please, open the door.” She yelled over and over, the released air raking heaps of coal over her throat. She pounded on the low ceiling. “Please.”

  She stopped and listened. Silence other than the drip of water. No one answered back. A tree branch must’ve given under the weight of the rain water.

  Maddie collapsed into the corner, all tears dried up from the hours of weeping. Tonight would be her last night on earth. Everything in her body spoke of it.

  What of the college degree she’d worked to the point of exhaustion to get? The job lined
up to start in July? And Mom? Joze’s beautiful hazel eyes flecked with green came to mind. What about Joze? Right when they’d begun to move forward, when their chance had been renewed, she was going to die without him. Alone.

  Would this be her tomb? Here, in this bunker of death, she’d draw her last breath. Her head lulled to the side.

  What about God? Her chest fluttered. Hadn’t Aunt Lonna and Joze told her He loved her no matter what? She had to fight. The only being to hear her was God. The God she’d denied and cursed for too long. Why would He come to her rescue now after all the years of hate? Even He couldn’t forgive after all her railing and rebellion. There was no way, was there?

  But hadn’t Aunt Lonna once said something about people’s eternal souls being safe in God’s care even when He chose not to protect them from physical harm?

  Maddie clenched her shaking hands. Her lips tasted of salt. “Please God, I was so wrong. I don’t want to die down here. Please help me. I know I don’t deserve anything from You.”

  With everything she had, Maddie prayed. Peace edged through her heart and began to radiate through her being.

  Another snap of a branch and shuffle of leaves made Maddie jump.

  47

  Joze threw the vehicle into park, grabbed his medical bag and soared out of his car. Rain pelted his face as he stared up at the sky that drew a shade grayer. A whiff of decayed leaves and fresh earth cut him to the bone. He tore up the stone walkway to the Victorian mansion with scrolled woodwork in every corner and against every column along the double-decked porch.

  He held his hands in tight fists, the nylon handle of the bag cutting into his right palm, to keep from pushing the doorbell over and over. Water dripped off his nose and ears. Joze ran a shaky hand through his hair and shook off the excess water.

  The door squeaked open. The pounding in his chest matched the fast race of water running off an unseen ledge above him. A woman in her seventies held tight to the door for support. He noted the coiffed hair that matched her expensive linen pants and silk shirt almost covered by a wool cardigan. “Hello, ma’am. I’m Joze Evans, and I’m here about a missing person.”