“Madeline,” Donovan’s voice was low and had a pleading quality to it. “I have no clue what you’re talking about, and I don’t understand why you’re angry. I thought you understood what happened between us and why I stopped it.”
She rolled her shoulders, trying to ease the tension in her neck. “I do understand.” She looked steadily at him, refusing to back down now that she had started. “I understand that men look at me, see how freakishly tall I am, and they get scared. They don’t want a woman who might challenge their manly stature. Once they find out how fat I used to be, they’re even more afraid to be with me.”
“You’re not—”
“I’m not a size zero, I know. Trust me, I know. I never will be. I accept that.” She bit her lip and shook her head. “Please, just get out of my house. We can talk about the killer another time.”
He gripped her hands in his. “I don’t give a damn about the killer. I care about you. Who cares if you’re not a size zero? You’re voluptuous, curvy—”
“All words men use when they’re trying to be nice to overweight women.” She took her hands from his and opened the door, wondering if it was possible to have a broken heart when she’d only known the man a few days. “Please, Donovan. Get out.”
He stepped into her, lightly brushing a kiss across her cheek. “I’m not sure what happened here, but I’ll do what you ask.” He walked into the hall. “But I won’t stay away long.”
“I know you won’t.” Madeline’s heart clenched. She realized why Donovan let the kissing go as far as it had. With the killer fixated on her, Donovan needed her help to clear his name. He needed her as much as she needed him.
She started swinging the door closed, but wanted to reassure him they were still on the same team with the investigation. It wasn’t his fault she misunderstood his intentions. “Call me tomorrow. We’ll work together and catch the killer. I need today to myself. But don’t worry, I understand perfectly where things stand between us.”
Chapter Nine
Madeline sat in a booth at Rolling Shores Diner on Sunday for an early lunch. She gazed northward through the window, staring at the unobstructed view of the ocean. Only about a quarter mile rested between her and the place she found Frank Johnson’s body.
It was unfortunate other police suspected Donovan. They thought he had time to leave this diner, kill Frank, and return before his partner realized he was missing. Madeline had to admit the timing made sense; she just didn’t believe he did it.
Donovan hadn’t contacted her for the remainder of the day yesterday, and she was a bit disappointed. True, she asked him to leave her alone—she just hadn’t expected he’d actually do it. This morning she’d found a small slip of paper tucked beneath the teakettle when she brewed her morning cup. Donovan had left his phone number.
She knew she should call him and figure out what to do next as far as the investigation, but she wasn’t quite ready for that. She overreacted yesterday morning and owed him an apology. Even though she understood that subjectively, it irked her to admit she was wrong.
Donovan had no way of knowing how badly the name Maddie upset her. She didn’t know why she expected him to understand without an explanation. She would apologize, but she wanted him to make the first move in calling. If he really wasn’t interested in her as a woman, she didn’t want to seem to be throwing herself at him. Again.
The waitress appeared at the table, plunking down the lemonade Madeline had ordered. “You know what you want yet, sweetie?”
Madeline glanced up. Her gloomy thoughts decided the menu selection for her. “A bacon cheeseburger.” And damn the consequences.
“Want fries with that?”
She shook her head. “Can I get a salad with light ranch on the side, please?” That would be sufficiently virtuous and counteract the burger, wouldn’t it?
The waitress wrote in her notepad and then grabbed the plastic-covered menu off the table. She walked to the kitchen, and Madeline heard her holler the order at the cook.
Madeline shifted her weight on the worn out booth bench. A spring dug into her butt and she grasped the edge of the table, scooting herself closer to the window. Her hand went into something sticky and she shuddered. No telling when someone last cleaned the underside of these tables.
She grabbed the blueberry-scented hand sanitizer out of her purse and applied it liberally to her hands, briskly rubbing them together.
“Madeline? How nice to see you.” Brandon Feldman stood next to her table, a large smile on his tanned face.
With raised eyebrows, Madeline took a sip of lemonade before replying. “You really think you have any right to talk to me after that news article?”
Brandon slid into the other side of the booth. “Come on, don’t be angry with me, Maddie. I was just doing my job.”
What the heck? Now he’s calling me Maddie? “Doing your job caused me to lose mine. Everyone canceled my dog-walking services.”
Brandon’s eyes widened and he reached across the table to take her hand in his. “I didn’t think they’d do that. I’m so sorry.”
His sweaty hand felt slimy against her skin and she moved hers away, wondering if it would be rude to use hand sanitizer again. “Your paper turned me into a bigger target. I’ve essentially become a prisoner in my own apartment.”
The officer who checked on her this morning suggested the restaurant when she confessed to going stir crazy at the house. The other diners offered a level of safety from the killer, and Madeline didn’t feel as vulnerable as she would somewhere by herself.
“I’m sorry that happened, but you can’t expect me not to report a story like that. It’s big news, Maddie.”
Madeline ground her teeth together and took a deep breath. “I appreciate you saying hello, but it’s time you went to your own table.”
Brandon shook his head. “I already told the waitress to bring my food here.”
Is this guy for real? She drummed her fingernails against the yellow Formica tabletop. “So, un-tell her.”
He leaned forward. “Hear me out first, okay? I’ve been meaning to call you. I don’t like how we left things the other night after dinner. I think I misled you a little bit.”
If he wasn’t best friends with her boss, Madeline would have insisted he leave. However, if she did that and Brandon said something to Lindsey, it could cause Madeline problems at work. She couldn’t afford to lose any more jobs.
She sighed and met Brandon’s eyes. “What do you mean misled?”
“About Lindsey, and how I feel about you.”
“How you feel about me? I thought we cleared that up. You want Lindsey.”
Brandon stayed quiet when the waitress appeared and placed his soda on the table. “Food will be up in about five minutes,” she said.
“Lindsey isn’t who I want,” he said when she walked away. “But Donovan was there and already inside your house, and you seemed convinced you knew what was best for me.” He brushed his hair out of his eyes. “I didn’t know what to do, so I left.”
Madeline knew she probably had a stupid look on her face, but she couldn’t help that. “You told me Lindsey was remarkable.”
“And she is,” he said. “She’s my best friend, but you’re the woman I want to spend more time with.”
Madeline took another sip of her drink, just to give herself something to do. She wasn’t attracted to Brandon, but it sure did feel nice to know he wanted to be with her. Somehow, being desirable to someone, even if she didn’t return the feeling, took away a bit of the sting from recent rejections from Donovan and Cameron.
He grabbed her hand again, and this time she didn’t pull away. “Is there any chance for us, or are you going with Donovan?”
“I’m not sure about you and me going out again.” She closed her eyes, not wanting Brandon to see the pain in them. “But Donovan and I are just friends. He doesn’t want me for anything except to clear his name. Not now anyway. He said he did, but I guess he changed
his mind.”
Brandon raised her hand, and she felt his lips brush gently across the back of her fingers before he let go. “You slept with him, and he did what he always does. I tried to warn you.”
Madeline’s eyes flew open. “Of course not. What kind of girl do you think I am?”
She tried to hold onto her indignant rage, but it was hard to sustain when she knew if Donovan hadn’t stopped things, Brandon would have been correct. It wasn’t through any willpower of her own she didn’t become a notch on Donovan’s bedpost.
To her surprise, Brandon smiled widely. “That’s good news.”
Maybe to you.
She shrugged, grateful that the waitress placed their food on the table and she didn’t have to come up with a response.
“Can I get you anything else?” the woman asked.
Madeline shook her head.
“No thanks,” Brandon said.
Madeline squirted ketchup onto her bun and cut the burger in half, taking the first bite and reminding herself not to feel guilty as the delicious hickory bacon flirted with her taste buds. Brandon dipped some fries into a cup of honey mustard on his plate and they remained silent while they chewed.
“I hope you’re being careful around Donovan,” Brandon said after a few minutes. “I really believe he could be the killer.”
Madeline nearly choked on lettuce from her salad as she laughed. She swallowed quickly. “That’s rich. Donovan thinks you could be the person framing him.”
Brandon’s face turned red and his eyes narrowed. “What?”
Madeline wished she could pluck her words out of the air and shove them down her throat. She didn’t need Brandon and Donovan any more pitted against each other than they already were. Besides, if Donovan happened to be right, she was having lunch with a killer and should be careful about what she said.
“I just meant that he told me you hate him, a lot.” She had no idea what to say to make this situation better. “I take it you’re old rivals.”
Brandon glared down at the remainder of his hamburger. “I have every right to hate that bastard. He ruined my life.” His green eyes met Madeline’s, and she swallowed hard at the cold rage burning in the depths of Brandon’s soul. “Because of him, I lost my wife.”
Madeline’s mouth dropped open. “What do you mean?” she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.
“When I bought the paper, my wife moved out here first while I took care of finishing up the sale on the house we had in Arizona and tying up loose ends. She came here to get our home ready. And she met Donovan.”
“But surely he wouldn’t do anything with a married woman.” Madeline didn’t know why this shocked her so much, given everything she’d heard about Donovan, but she couldn’t believe he would waste his time with a married woman when he had so many single ones throwing themselves at him.
Brandon rolled his eyes. “Get real, Maddie. A married woman is perfect for him. There’s guaranteed to be no commitment.”
She nodded, conceding the point to him. She hated to think of Donovan doing such a sneaky, underhanded thing, but she had to admit it made sense. Donovan told her he hadn’t been looking for a commitment in the past—though he had mentioned trying to be a better man now.
“He must have badgered her until she finally gave in.” Brandon’s hand resting on top of the table balled into a fist. “When I moved here, it went on for another week before someone in town clued me in. I was so mad. I wanted to kill him.”
“I can understand that.” Madeline wondered who pursued whom in that situation. Donovan never lacked for female company. Possibly Brandon’s wife was the person instigating things.
“Lori was a good person, a gentle soul. When I confronted her about it, she was tearful, but told me she wanted to be with Donovan, that she was leaving me for him.” Brandon pulled at his hair and tears gleamed at the corners of his eyes.
Madeline reached across the table to squeeze his arm gently. She, too, had been in the position of confronting a cheating partner. It hurt, and it kept hurting. “That must have been hard to take.”
“We would have worked things out,” Brandon said, his voice so soft Madeline strained to hear him. “I know we would have, but we never got the chance.”
“What happened?”
“Lori went to him, told him she loved him. She told him she would divorce me so they could be together forever.” Brandon stopped talking and rubbed the tears from his eyes.
“And he rejected her,” Madeline finished, knowing with certainty that’s what happened. “Why didn’t you guys get back together then, work things out?”
Brandon sighed. “She came home and tried to talk to me about things. I said horrible stuff to her.” His face crumpled, and Madeline grabbed his hand.
“You were angry. She should have understood that.”
“I don’t know if it was Donovan’s rejection, or my calling her a slut, but she took off in the car, saying I’d never have to deal with her again.” He rubbed his eyes. “I actually shouted ‘Good!’ out the door to her while she got into the car.”
Madeline swallowed hard, already envisioning the horrible things that might have happen while Lori drove in that state of mind. When Madeline fled Cameron’s apartment after finding him screwing her maid of honor, she very nearly got in an accident when she ran a red light.
“She headed for Arizona, but went a back way through the mountains. It was early in the morning and very dark. She didn’t make a hairpin turn.” Brandon squeezed tightly against Madeline’s hand and a sob escaped his throat. “Her car burst into flames after it flew off the side of the mountain and crashed into the rocks below. She never had a chance.”
Tears welled in Madeline’s eyes as a horrible sympathy filled her. Even though Madeline felt it was Lori’s own fault for driving while in that state, she understood why Brandon blamed Donovan. He had to blame someone, and Donovan was the only person left.
The entire situation filled her with a deep sadness. She wished she hadn’t asked. It only lowered her opinion of Donovan.
After a few minutes, Brandon seemed to get his emotions under control. “I became friends with Lindsey during that time. She helped me through Lori’s death, fed me gossip and pointed me in the right direction to get stories for the newspaper so my livelihood didn’t fold while I mourned.”
“Lindsey wanted to marry Donovan, even knowing all this happened?” Lindsey always struck Madeline as the sort of person who would never forgive someone for hurting a friend of hers. It seemed odd that she wound up involved with Brandon’s worst enemy.
Brandon leaned back in his seat and folded his arms in front of him. “She said Donovan had changed, that he didn’t want to be the kind of man he’d been before. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen to me. Their relationship only lasted a little while anyway. It’s not like I had to wait long for him to show his true colors.”
The breath rushed from Madeline’s lungs and she felt like someone hit her in the stomach. Donovan’s so-called desire to become a better person apparently wasn’t a new tactic. Why was he using it on her, though? He didn’t want to have sex with her—that was free for the taking and he wouldn’t have had to bother with the lie.
She turned back to the window, watching the powerful waves as they crashed into the shoreline and then raced back, swallowed into the ocean. Brandon sat next to her, lost in his own thoughts, and she didn’t quite know what to say to him. Somehow, she felt guilty for still being attracted to Donovan and not liking Brandon, but there was nothing she could do about that.
The waitress dropped the check off at the table, and Brandon grabbed it out of Madeline’s hand.
“I’ve got this covered. Thanks for letting me sit with you.”
Madeline nodded as he stood up, not able to tell him thanks back because she didn’t feel very grateful. She wasn’t pleased with him about the newspaper article he’d written, and she wondered if she would have been better off never k
nowing the sad story of Brandon’s wife and her romance with Donovan.
Brandon returned to the table and offered her his arm. “Can I walk you to your car? Now that you point out my article might have made you a bigger target for the killer, I’d feel guilty if anything happened to you.”
She stood and slipped her arm through his. “Thanks for lunch.”
He smiled and led her out of the restaurant, taking her keys out of her hand to open her car door. “Lunch was the least I could do after the way our last date ended.”
Madeline didn’t consider this a date, but she decided not to argue. She accepted her keys back and slid into the car, fastening her seat belt while she waited for him to step out of the way and close the door.
Instead, he leaned down so his face was inches from hers. “I know I was pushy about getting a kiss after our first date, and I’m sorry for that.”
“Oh. Well, that’s okay,” she replied, wondering if he would force a kiss on her now. His mouth was inches from hers. She felt trapped, but really didn’t want to kiss him. “Well, I told Donovan I’d get together with him today so we could go over the stuff that’s been happening with the crimes around here.”
Brandon’s face closed down as though she’d thrown a bucket of cold water on him. “Even after what I told you, you’re still spending time with him?”
“He might not be the best person in the world, Brandon, but I don’t think he’s the killer. I promised to help him clear his name.”
“But he is the killer, Maddie. Otherwise, why would he have made that call to Frank Johnson right before his death?”
How would he know about that? Madeline sucked in a deep breath and tried to stay calm, shoving her key into the ignition and starting the car. No one knew about that except for her and Donovan, the police, and whoever made that call.
Crime & Passion Page 10