by Boone, Lisa
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.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THREE
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29TH
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 par
king 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.”
“This is probably a long shot, but would you recognize him if you saw him today?” Ethan asked.
Roger looked thoughtful. “Probably. I spent some time with him when my computer broke down one time. It got infected with some sort of virus. I took it down to the computer repair shop but they couldn’t do anything with it, so I took it to Alex.”
“Why him?” Madison asked.
“Todd told me that there was nothing that Alex couldn’t do with a computer. Todd was always talking his brother up, telling me how smart he was. How funny he was. I don’t know about any of that, but he was right about Alex’s computer skills. Alex got it up and running again within a few hours. Saved everything I had lost too.”
“So,” Ethan said, “you got to know him pretty well then.”
Roger laughed. “He got to know me, maybe, since I did all the talking. Alex barely said a word to me the entire time. I doubt he would have even helped me if his brother hadn’t insisted. Todd had all the personality. But you know what? Alex could be just as friendly as his brother was when he needed to be. A few weeks after my computer broke, he asked for my help with something—don’t really remember what,” he said scratching his head. “Anyway, he was so nice and polite and talkative. Friendly as could be. It was like I was dealing with a completely different person. Then as soon as I helped him, he dropped the act and went back to ignoring me.” His brow furrowed. “He was just so strange. Made me nervous. I was relieved when he disappeared.”
“When did he disappear?” Ethan asked.
Roger lifted his gaze to the ceiling as he thought. “About nine or ten years ago. The same day Natalie Abbott died.”
Madison shifted around in her seat. “Who’s Natalie Abbott?”
“Todd’s wife,” Roger and Ivy said at the same time.
Ethan and Madison exchanged a surprised look. “I didn’t know he had been married before,” Madison said.
Roger took a cookie off the plate and took a bite. When he was done, he shook the cookie crumbs off his hands. “He married Natalie right after they graduated from high school.”
Ivy stood up suddenly. “Hang on a minute; I have a picture of them. Be right back,” she said, bustling from the room.
“They got married at the hotel.” Roger smiled proudly. “I got to be in the ceremony. Someone else backed out at the last minute and I fit the tux.”
Ivy walked in holding a leather bound family album. She leafed through the pages for a second until she came across a picture of Todd standing in front of a preacher. A pretty girl with dark flowing black hair and a long white dress held his hand.” Ivy turned the page. A close up of Todd and the girl appeared.
“He definitely had a type,” Ethan said out of the side of his mouth.
Ivy tilted her head as she peered at Madison. She turned to her husband. “Who does she look like to you?”
Roger squinted his eyes as he examined Madison with a frown. “No one I know.”
His wife scowled at him. “What do you mean? She is the spitting image of Barbara.”
“Oh, you’re crazy. Barbara was much taller.”
“Who’s talking about height? Look at her face.”
The old man tilted his head the other way before shaking his head.
She turned back to Madison. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You look just like Todd’s mother.”
“No, she don’t,” her husband pronounced.
Exasperated, his wife said, “She had long black hair just like this girl.”
“So does our grandson,” Roger said with a cackle. “Don’t mean they look alike.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Ivy said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “He’s got cataract surgery coming up. He can’t see anything right now. You look like her.” She
sat down again next to her husband. “Natalie kind of resembled her too.” She quivered in disgust. “Sick if you ask me. I never liked that boy. There was just something wrong about him.”
Madison couldn’t agree more. “How did Natalie die?”
“Someone stabbed her,” Ivy said with a sad shake of her head. “It was awful. Such a pretty girl too.”
“Did Alex kill her?” Ethan asked.
“No one knows,” Roger said. “We just know he disappeared right around the time she died. They ended up arresting some drifter who was hanging around the train tracks, but I know it wasn’t him. I even testified at the trial that I thought it was Alex, but no one believed me.”
Ivy’s lips pursed together. “They called him a liar.”
“Now, they didn’t call me a liar,” her husband protested.
Ivy pursed her lips together into a tight line. “Oh, yes, they did.”
“Who?” Madison asked.
“The Abbotts,” Ivy said. “They all said that Alex hadn’t been living at the inn and they hadn’t seen him since he was a kid. They perjured themselves one after another to protect that kid.”
Roger patted his wife’s hand. “They weren’t protecting Alex. They were protecting themselves. Allison and Neal were scared.”
“They weren’t the only ones,” Ivy said with a shiver. “We slept with a gun next to our bedside table every night since, but Roger still did the right thing and testified as to what he knew. Don’t tell me fear kept them from telling the truth. They were protecting their reputation.”
“What sort of evidence did the prosecution have against the defendant—the drifter?” Madison asked.
Roger folded his arms across his chest. “Allison and Neal testified that they saw the guy following Natalie around right before she was murdered. I don’t believe that for a second. They didn’t even know he was hanging around until I mentioned it at the funeral. He got life, but he appealed the case. They let him out on some kind of technicality a few years back. Spent five years in prison. It’s too bad he spent that much time in prison since he was innocent.”
“What makes you think Alex was the murderer?” Ethan asked.