She yanked on the window with all her might, but it refused to budge. Crying out in pain, Madison used both bruised hands and every ounce of strength to tug the rusty hinges into motion. The window finally swung down and free, just as her makeshift step gave way. Her ankle turned again and she fell to her knees, banging her chin against the window in the fall. Stars exploded before her eyes and blood spurted in her mouth when she bit her tongue, but cold air rushed in through the opened window. At last, the ghosts were silent.
The same could not be said for Trench Coat. Knowing the rattling door might give way at any moment, Madison mustered the energy to push off her knees and scramble through the narrow opening. She was half-way through the window, pushing forward, when she faced the next battle: getting down from the lofty height.
Madison paused to study the buildings in the fading daylight. Miss Juliet insisted on a pretty town, which included buildings with ornamental brick patterns, faux gables with false facades, stylish window ledges, and architectural stars. From the sidewalks, all six buildings within the block appeared to be the same height, but from this vantage, she could see the truth: the flat tops of the back-to-back buildings were staggered.
Her temporary office was on the interior wall of Boundaries, so the windows opened to the inside of the block. Getting onto the lower pebbled roof of Juliet Title Company was not the problem; getting off it would be the problem. The Title Company was the shortest of the buildings, flanked on three sides by its towering neighbors.
Craning her neck upward, she could tell the roofline of Boundaries was another eight feet over her head. The empty building to the rear was only slightly shorter. Her best option would be City Hall.
Balancing herself on the windowsill, Madison threw her remaining shoe off, then dangled long legs in the air as she gathered the courage to continue. She instinctively knew the jump would hurt, not to mention the journey up. Her ankle was already twisted, her hands were bruised and bloody, and her muscles ached from climbing. But she had gotten herself into this mess, and now she had to get herself out.
So here goes.
She plopped onto the roof with a sad lack of grace. Her ankle protested by refusing to hold her. After a few staggering steps, she hobbled the rest of the way, until she collapsed against the wall of City Hall. She tried her phone again, but the signal was still jammed.
If Trench Coat somehow managed to get to the windows, Madison knew she would be a sitting duck. There was nothing on the roof to hide behind, nothing to protect herself with. She had a brief vision of her cold, dead body left up here to wither, hidden from the world below. How long would it take for someone to discover her remains?
Her only choice was to keep moving. She lumbered to her feet, balanced best she could on her tiptoes, and stretched as far as humanly possible. Still not tall enough! Stretch, Madison, str-ret-tch.
She sank back down in exhaustion. Drawing in a deep breath, she tried something else; she was going to have to climb.
She found a tiny crevice in the mortar between two bricks and dug her fingers inside. Another stretch of unnatural limits, and her right hand grazed the edge of an architectural star. The socks she wore offered traction as she began the arduous task of climbing the wall.
After slipping and falling, and starting over a half dozen times, she eventually got the hang of it. It was a grueling process, but she made slow and painful progress. She cried out in relief when her fingers scraped the fancy brickwork at the apex of the building. Thank goodness for the ornamental details of old buildings! She would no longer think of their elaborate stylings as pretty but useless; the staggered depths of the masonry were quite useful as she gripped a protruding brick with her scraped hands and hauled herself up the final distance.
With a loud groan, Madison propelled over the edge and hurled herself onto the flat graveled roof of City Hall. She ignored the tiny pebbles biting into her flesh; for now, at least, she was safe.
Madison contemplated her choices as she lay there panting. She could hurry down and hope she beat Trench Coat into the street and to relative safety, or she could stay where she was and wait him out.
But how long would that take? Surely, Trench Coat would realize his mission had failed and he would be eager to escape without detection. And sooner or later, Darla Mullins would return to Boundaries and see that something was amiss. But which would it be… sooner, or later?
She was down the rickety old fire escape in no time, skipping steps and stumbling a time or two in her haste for freedom. It was after five o’clock and the only business still open was Moe’s Market, directly across from Boundaries. She did not dare take the chance of Trench Coat catching her before she made it there. Instead, Madison ran across Main Street toward the florist. With any luck, someone might still be there.
She was out of luck.
With Valentine’s Day and Caress’s funeral behind them, the flower shop and nursery were locked up tight. Undeterred, Madison slipped behind the house-turned-business and made her way through the back yard. She could surely find refuge at the Big House.
It was dark enough now that the streetlights had flickered on, throwing a peculiar glow into a night still hovering in twilight. Staying out of the bulb’s glow, Madison moved in the shadows of gathering darkness as she scurried across Third Street. She crossed to the corner lot near the back of the property.
With still no sign of Trench Coat, she blended with the shadows of the trees and shrubs until she found the gate she was looking for. She unfastened the latch, slipped inside, and ran toward the safety of the house. From there she could call for help and wait until it arrived.
Her first two attempts to call were unsuccessful. Her cell signal was still jammed. The night air was cold as she sat in the shadows of the porch, so she drew her long legs up close to her chest and hugged her knees for warmth. By now she was shivering, as much from fright and spent energy as from actual cold.
Huddled on the porch, Madison surveyed the street for any sign of her stalker. She was feeling optimistic when something across the street caught her eye. It was the most difficult time of day to see, but was that a person beneath the bank’s awning? Wasn’t that the hem of a coat she saw … a khaki colored trench coat? Her eyes had trouble focusing in the darkening twilight.
Madison pushed her way further into the shadows and slowly stood up, keeping her back flat against the wall. Her eyes never wavered from the dark shadow beneath the awning across the street. Cars zipped back and forth between her and the object she focused on, but she barely blinked. She inched toward the front entrance of the Big House, pulled open the screen door, and poised her hand over the doorknob, all without taking her eyes off the shadows. She glanced down only long enough to search for the key on her keyring, the one she added after Genesis hijacked her and the Home Again duo.
Even as she jabbed the key into place, her eyes flew back to the shadows across the street. She caught another movement out of the corner of her eye, this one much closer. She jerked her head around to examine the wrought iron fence around the Big House. Beneath the weak glow of the streetlight, she saw the eerie glimmer of a skeleton mask as Trench Coat squeezed his bulk through the gate out front.
Swallowing the squeak that sprang up in her throat, Madison slipped inside the house. Her hands trembled as she locked first the doorknob, then the deadbolt. She had a sinking feeling neither would deter her stalker for long.
As she hurried through the house making certain all the doors were locked, she tried her cell phone again. Madison dialed 9-1-1 and heard a blessed two rings before the line went silent. She frantically redialed. After three more attempts, her call went through.
“Finally!” she cried in triumph. “I’m inside the Big House in Juliet and I need help.” She spoke quickly, talking over the operator’s calm request for more information. “Yes, yes, yes. Just listen. Call Brash deCordova and tell him Maddy needs his help. I’m at the Big House and Trench Coat is chasing me. He’ll know wh
at I mean.”
“Ma’am-”
“Just do it!” Madison barked as she hung up the phone. She hit the ‘silent’ button, stuffed the phone back into her pocket, and began searching for a place to hide. As she passed through the kitchen, she saw a shadow slither outside along the window. Trench Coat would no doubt find a way inside soon.
Shutting the door between the kitchen and butler’s pantry, she found a rolling teacart to prop against it. Trench Coat might choose another route inside the house, but if he came through the kitchen, she could at least make his exit a bit more difficult.
Granny Bert said the house was filled with hidden passages, but Madison had no clue where they were. It was dark inside the house, with only the palest of light filtering through the windows. Occasionally she would use the glow from her cell screen to light the way, to save from stumbling over furniture and unfamiliar paths. She ran frantic hands over doorframes and tried to twist sconces on the wall, pushed on built-in bookcases and patted down solid walls, hoping to trigger a secret panel. Nothing.
By the time she reached the library, she knew Trench Coat had found a way inside the house. She heard a loud thud as the kitchen door swung into the teacart and rattled the silver service. There was a savage curse, the clatter of dishes falling to the floor, the squeak of old wheels as the wooden cart was shoved aside. Then there was silence.
The fireplace! Granny Bert said she once hid in a secret passage behind the library fireplace!
With renewed hope, Madison tried a dozen things, tapping as quietly as possible on the paneled walls, twisting and turning anything she could feel in the darkness, praying she would find the passage before Trench Coat found her.
Over her shoulder, she saw the beam of a flashlight slicing through the darkness in the next room. Her time was running out. She shoved on the wall and felt a slight give. Not more than two feet wide, a burled walnut panel filled the gap between a built-in bookcase and the fireplace. Madison instinctively slid her hands across the panel with pressure and felt the wood slip, tucking discreetly behind the bookcase.
She opened the panel just enough to wedge her body inside. It was a tight fit, but she sucked in her stomach and tugged on the wood to close it. The panel hung on some unseen obstacle and refused to slide back in place.
Using her stockinged feet to feel along the bottom of the panel, she detected a piece of cloth hung in the track. Pinching her toes together, she managed to pick the cloth up with her lower digits and free the path. She slid the panel in front of her face, nearly clipping her own nose, as she watched the beam of the flashlight bob ever closer.
She stilled as Trench Coat stepped through the threshold into the library. Madison shrank back into the narrow passage as far as the walls would allow. The panel did not close completely, but she dared not take the chance of moving it again. Fearing the light might detect the white of her eyes or the buttons on her blouse, she hovered just beyond the opening. She could not see a thing through the slim crack, other than the sweep of the flashlight crisscrossing the room.
The light bounced around the wall she stood behind. Tiny pricks of white stabbed through crevices of the bookcase. Madison did not dare to even breathe. If only her heart wouldn’t clamber so loudly! Surely Trench Coat could hear the racket inside her chest; the erratic pace echoed noisily inside the small confines of the secret passage.
When the flashlight swung the other direction, Madison dared to take a deep breath. She pushed herself further into the shadows, behind the bookcase. The passageway led along the wall and connected to some other part of the house… but where? Did she dare press her luck and find out? What if it led her straight into Trench Coat’s path?
Brash would be here soon. She could hold on until he came. As long as she was perfectly still, perfectly silent, there was no reason she would not be safe here in the secret passage. Trench Coat was six feet away but had no idea where she was hidden.
The tickle began in her throat. Madison tried ignoring it as she watched the flashlight’s beam travel around the room once more. She swallowed frantically, trying to drown the itching sensation that grew worse by the moment. She put a hand to her throat and tapped. She tried massaging it. The scratch clawed at her windpipe, morphing into a burn. Her eyes watered and her breath weakened, but she did not cough.
Just as she conquered that crisis, her nose began to itch. Madison hastily rubbed the end of her appendage. She blew a stream of air up from her mouth, trying to chase away loose particles of dust. She wiggled her nose again, trying desperately to ward off a sneeze. The harder she tried to ignore it, the worse it got.
The light was finally retreating. With any luck, Trench Coat would be out the door and on to the next room before her sneeze erupted. Because try as she might to hold it in, she knew she was going to sneeze. She buried her face inside her shirt, pinched her nostrils closed, and gave in to the urge.
To her ears, the sneeze sounded like a cannon going off. Madison held perfectly still, willing Trench Coat to keep going. With any luck, he had not heard the muffled sound.
Judging from the swing of light bouncing back into the room, luck was not going her way. A bright beam of light spilled into the tiny sliver of space along the panel’s edge. Pinpoints of light fell across her face and chest, tiny pricks of white that worked their way through nail holes and minute cracks. Madison instinctively shrank back, wedging herself into the tight quarters of darkness.
Another sneeze burst forth, unannounced. It gave no warning as the sound tore from her body and echoed in the small space. Her secret location was no longer a secret.
The light came closer, bouncing around in a frantic motion as Trench Coat tried to find the secret panel. No longer having a choice, Madison knew it was only a matter of time before he found her. She would have to go down the dark passage and see where it took her.
Madison slid to her right, pushing her way into thick cobwebs and dark, empty space. She managed to bite back the next sneeze, but the twisting motion brought her shoulders forward. When she tried to straighten, she found she was stuck.
This can’t be happening! she inwardly wailed. She tugged and pulled and strained, but there was no doubt about it; she was wedged inside the narrow space, with no means of escape.
No longer worried about being stealthy, Trench Coat banged around on the other side of the panel, trying to find a lever to reveal the secret passage. Between his banging and the frantic tempo of her heart, Madison almost didn’t hear the sirens.
The sirens grew louder. Trench Coat switched off the flashlight and quietened. Madison strained to hear what was happening on the other side of the panel. The rustle of cloth told her he was still in the room, more than likely hiding.
The sound was faint, but she heard Brash’s voice call her name. She willed him inside, imagining him drawing his gun as he slowly approached through the darkened house. He was probably through the foyer now, trying to decide whether to go left or right. Right, Brash, right. She willed the thought into his head.
She heard his voice getting stronger. “This is the police! Who’s there? Identify yourself now.” His voice came closer. “Maddy, where are you?”
Deciding to risk it, she screamed out as loudly as she could. “The library! The library, Brash! But be careful, Trench Coat is in here!”
She heard the rustle of more clothes, more movement. The sounds were too clumsy to be attributed to Brash. Madison strained to listen, but she never knew when Brash stepped into the room. For long moments, silence reigned.
The next thing she heard was a loud whack, Brash’s muttered curse, and a series of bumps and bangs and thuds. Then there was silence once again.
It seemed an eternity before she heard Brash’s voice. It sounded muffled. Groggy. “Maddy? Where are you, Maddy?”
“In the wall! Behind the bookcase. I’m-I’m stuck.”
She heard bumbling and a few more curses.
“Turn on the lights,” she called. “There’s a p
anel that slides by the fireplace.”
After an eternity, light seeped in around the edges of the panel. The bright swatch grew larger as the wood slid slowly aside. She could turn her head only enough to see Brash struggling with the board.
“Ouch! That’s me!” she said as he gave the panel a final shove and it banged into her knee.
“Where the heck are you?”
“Behind the bookcase, far side. Hurry up. It’s hard to breath back here.”
“Yeah, well it’s hard to stand up out here,” he grumbled. She could see that he kept putting his hand to the back of his neck. With the other hand, he reached into the dark recess of the passage and began groping for her. “Take my hand. I’ll pull you out.”
Madison tried to do as he instructed, but she was wedged firmly between the two walls. “I’m stuck really tight. Where’s Trench Coat? Did you catch him?”
“No, he hit me over the head and got away.”
“Are you alright?”
“Just shut up and pull,” he said testily. “Keep coming, that’s right. Now heave.”
“I’m trying!” She sucked in a deep breath and strained with all her might. “It’s. No. Use. I’m stuck.”
“Am I going to have to tear down this wall to get you out?”
“Heavens, Nick Vilardi would have a fit. Okay, one more time.”
Brash heaved and pulled as Madison struggled to push herself free. It was a slow process, but she felt the tiniest shift. Her skin scraped against wood, gathering splinters in the process. With a loud rip of fabric, Madison broke free and tumbled out of the narrow space, smacking into Brash. With a single swoop of his arm, he hauled her out of the passage and jerked her up against the warm, solid wall of his chest.
The bright light of the room blinded Madison and curled her eyes into a squint. When she unfurled her lashes, she saw the blood.
“Brash! What happened to you? You’re bleeding!”
“Told you, Trench Coat got the drop on me. Hit me over the head with that vase.” He nodded to the broken pottery on the floor as he continued to hold the back of his neck with one hand, her waist with the other. Once his eyes slowly focused, he surveyed her. “What about you? You have a bruise on your cheek, bloody knuckles, and no shoes.”
When the Stars Fall (The Sisters, Texas Mystery Series Book 2) Page 18