Mad Love: Madison

by Boone, Lisa

  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.

  Feeling suddenly lightheaded, Madison groped for the chair. She fell back into it.

  Her gaze traveled to the bottom shelf where a stack of credit cards and IDs sat. She leaned forward and pushed them over with her fingernail. There were about five or ten, each containing a different man’s name. Quincy’s was on the bottom, right above his PI license.

  An old scarred pocket watch baring the initials, A.J.S. caught her attention next. Quincy’s last case, she thought, as she reached out to touch the watch. She stopped and withdrew her hand, instead turning her attention to an old-fashioned tape recorder sitting underneath the pocket watch.

  She pressed play and closed her eyes as Quincy’s ragged pain filled voice began to count in order from one to ten. When he got to five, he began cursing. She winced at the sound of Quincy screaming and then wearily counting all over again. Slower this time, over and over again until she couldn’t take it anymore and stopped the tape. Holding on to the edge of the shelf, she broke down into painful gut wrenching sobs.

  Several minutes passed by while she cried for Quincy’s horrible death, and for the death of the fantasy she had created in her mind of her and Ethan. That’s all he was, she thought sadly. Just a fantasy.

  When the tears finally slowed and the numbness took over, she slowly stood up and closed the cabinet doors.

  “Madison.”

  She slowly turned around.

  Ethan was standing in the doorway watching her. He took a couple of cautious steps into the room.

  Her heart racing, she reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out the gun he had given her. She held it up and off to the side to her surprise, unable to point it at the man she still loved.

  “Madison, I don’t know what’s going on but I need you to trust me.”

  “I did trust you.”

  He took a step closer.

  Her hand shaking, she turned the gun towards him. Still not pointing it directly at him but close enough to get his attention. “Stay where you are, Alex.”

  “Madison,” he said lifting up his hands, “I’m not Alex. We’ve been together for days. I haven’t hurt you. I would never hurt you.”

  “Of course not. You’ve been waiting for the perfect moment,” she said bitterly. “Tell me something. Were you going to kill me tonight at midnight or just sometime the next day? It’s been driving me crazy wondering how much longer I had.”

  “You’re being tricked, Madison. He’s playing with you right now. I’m not the one you need to fear.”

  “Really? Then how do you explain that?” she asked gesturing towards the picture
of him as a teenager sitting next to Todd and Zach.

  He frowned as he picked up the picture. “I’ve never seen this picture before in my life.” He tossed the picture back down on the desk. “Where did you get it?”

  “In your cabinet of horrors behind me.”

  His gaze moved from her to the cabinet. “Let me see. Open it up.”

  “No, thank you, once was enough for me.”

  “Madison…”

  “Why did you kill Quincy? Was it because he was part of what happened to your brother or was it because you wanted him out of the way so you could take his job and seduce me?”

  “Madison, I didn’t kill Quincy.”

  “I heard the tape you made of him counting. I heard him screaming,” she said in a horrified whisper. “It’s all there, Ethan. All your little sick trophies. You can’t hide anymore. I saw them all.”

  He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, they weren’t the soft loving gaze she had seen whenever she had looked into his eyes before. Now they were hard and angry. “I suppose they were all just lying around for you to find them.”

  “They’re in the cabinet.”

  “Oh, excellent hiding place,” he said sarcastically. “I have a safe in the closet over there, but no, I much prefer to keep evidence of my crimes in a cabinet behind my desk. The damn thing doesn’t even have a lock on it. Do I look that stupid to you?”

  “You’re not sane. You take risks.”

  He took a step around the desk, causing her to back up towards the window.

  She pointed the gun at his chest. “Please, stay back, Ethan.”

  He brought his hands up. “Think, Madison. Alex is trying to kill you. He needs to get you alone sometime between now and New Year’s Day for his sick little plan to work, but he has a problem. I’m in the way. He knows I’m protecting you and that I’m not going to let him take you from me. So, for his plan to work, he needs to get me out of the way.”

  She frowned as she stepped back. A part of her desperately wanted to believe him. That needed to believe him, but it was too risky. If she let her guard down for even a moment, she was dead. She straightened her shoulders. “There’s too much evidence against you.”

  “What made you suddenly decide to search my office? Somehow, I don’t think you just came up with this idea out of the blue. Someone planted the seed.”

  She licked her lips. “Gina told me where to look.”

  “She called you?”

  “No, I called her. Her name and number were in our system.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “Huh, that was convenient,” he said dropping his hands a little and taking another step toward her.

  “She told me all about you.”

  “And you believed her? Gina is working with the enemy. How can you possibly trust anything she says?”

  “I didn’t that’s why I came here. I had to see for myself.” She nodded to the cabinet. “It was just like she said.”

  His chin dropped to his chest. “Sweetheart, I haven’t been here for days now.” He leaned his hip against the desk and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Do you remember the night I found Yvette’s body?”

  “I remember you washing off the murder weapon. Your hunting knife.” she said bitterly. “That should have been my first clue.”

  “Who told you it was my hunting knife?”

  Her brow furrowed. “You did. So what?”

  “Why would I have told you that if I had killed her? Do you also remember me telling you that the last time I had seen it was in this office a few months ago? I figured he had just stolen the knife and left. It never occurred to me that he might come back while we were gone and redecorate.”

  Her grip on the gun loosened as her will began to falter. What if he was telling the truth? Alex could have broken in…

  He dropped his arms and took a tentative step closer. “Madison, look at me. I’m not crazy.”

  “People like Alex can appear to be sane.”

  “How many times have you been in this office? Thirty? Fifty times? I’m sure I must have opened that cabinet a few times while you were here.”

  “I don’t remember…” She bit her lip.

  He took another step closer. “Look at the table. All those things on that table used to be in the cabinet.” He brought his hands up and out to the side. “Gina and Alex are working together. He planted this stuff and then she acted as his messenger. Sweetheart, they want me to be arrested. They don’t want you to trust me.”

  She lowered her gun a few more inches as he came closer.

  “I wouldn’t hurt you, Madison. I love you.”

  He was only inches from her now. Close enough to grab her if he wanted. She dropped her hand down to her side. “Ethan…”

  He gently took the gun from her hand and pulled her close before kissing her temple.

  “I’m so sorry, Ethan,” she said through her tears as she held him tighter. “I didn’t know what to believe.”

  He stroked her hair gently as he turned her back toward the door.

  “I was just so scared. I thought…” She froze as she gazed out the window. The cab was gone and in its place was a battered blue sedan.

  “How did you know I was here?” Madison asked.

  Ethan held her tightly in his arms. “I followed you.”

  She didn’t ask which car he used. She didn’t need to.

  “I didn’t see you behind us.”

  He stroked his hand down her back. “I turned off the lights and kept far enough behind that you wouldn’t.”

  “How? I took your car keys.”

  He leaned back and cupped her face. “I had to hotwire—” He stopped suddenly, his expression becoming wary. Slowly, his gaze shifted over his shoulder towards the window. His lips turned up slightly. “This just isn’t my day.”

  She reached for the gun, screaming in fright when he clamped her hand around her wrist and jerked it behind her back.

  Before she knew what was happening, he pushed her against the wall, pinning her body with his own stronger one, one hand locked around her wrist, the other still holding onto the gun.

  “Police! Drop the weapon and hold up your hands!”

  They both looked toward the door. Two big police officers stood at the door, their guns drawn and pointed at Ethan.

  Madison tipped her head back as she sent up a prayer of thanks. When she opened her eyes, Ethan was staring back at her.

  “It’s not over, Madison,” he said as he stepped back and very carefully laid the gun on top of the desk. Placing his hands on the back of his head, he dropped to his knees in front of her. “You’re still in danger. Don’t forget that.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  New Year’s Eve

  8:45 P.M.

  Madison stood near the windows of the grand ballroom located on the top floor of her office building and looked out at the city. She caught her reflection in the window. No one could tell her heart had been shattered into a million pieces less than twenty-four hours ago.

  That was good, she thought. Important. She didn’t want people to know how badly she was hurting. She had too much pride for that.

  Sarah knew.

  Becca would know as soon as she heard, but no one else had to know.

  She took great pains to fix her hair and makeup for tonight. She put on the best dress she owned. The fuchsia one. The one she had planned to wear tonight. The one she was sure would turn his head and get his heart racing. She considered wearing something else but decided against it. Life goes on after all.

  She felt numb.

  It seemed surreal thinking that she had just been in this same place only ten days ago, hoping she’d get a chance to see Ethan. Now, here she was hoping that she’d never see him again.

  She caught sight of Becca’s reflection walking into the ballroom, her turning this way and that, searching for someone. Spotting Madison near the window, she shooed her husband toward the drinks and made a beeline
across the ballroom floor to where Madison stood.

  “What are you doing here?” Becca asked, her tone scolding.

  Madison lifted up her champagne flute in greeting as she turned around to face her friend. “Ringing in the new year.”

  “You should be home.”

  “And miss all the fun,” Madison said gesturing to the people standing around having a good time. “You missed my speech.”

  “The babysitter was late.” Her brown eyes softened. “How are you doing?”

  “I guess you heard.”

  “It’s all over the news.” Becca lifted up her arms and took Madison into a hug. “I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I just couldn’t talk about it…”

  “I understand. Are you sure Ethan was the one?”

  “I looked in Ethan’s office and…” She closed her eyes unable to finish her thought. “I’m sorry. I’m just so tired. I haven’t been sleeping very well lately. I can barely think right now.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s all right,” she said trying to clear her mind. “Ethan had pictures of me and of Sarah in his cabinet.”

  “Don’t you mean Alex?”

  Tears pricked the back of Madison’s eyelids. “Alex had pictures…” She looked away as her voice broke.

  “You shouldn’t be here, Madison,” Becca said. “You should be at home resting. I’m sure Nicole would say the same thing.”

  Madison chuckled. “I told Nicole what happened and she lectured me about dating people on the payroll. I doubt I’m going to get much sympathy from her.”

  Becca scowled. “She’s probably upset that the psycho chose to obsess over you instead of her.”

  “It’s all right. I told her I was taking some time off. She wasn’t happy about it, but she didn’t object.”

  “Good. You know I’ll help in any way.”

  Madison nodded her thanks.

  “When will you be back?”

  “I’m not sure.” She turned back to the window as a couple of pre-celebratory fireworks went off. “I can’t wait to be done with this year.”

  “At least you survived it,” Keith said, walking up to them. He downed the contents of the glass in his hand and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.