The Key To Micah's Heart (Hell Yeah!)

by Sable Hunter

  “I’ll just get on the interstate and drive.”

  It didn’t matter that she had no destination, she’d been driving and parking around Austin for over two hours now, leaving the city was just as good an idea as any other. If she didn’t feel any better, she might even decide to sleep in her car. She could pull up behind a Chipotle and just close her eyes, shutting out the world, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d done it.

  Maybe she did it just to torture herself, but she decided to take the familiar route down I-35 and pass the exit to Angel House just one more time. This would be her last connection to Micah. Just having some type of plan made her feel better. She turned up the radio and sang along loudly with a dancy tune. Feeling thirsty, she fished around under her seat for a half bottle of water she could remember tossing down there.

  “Awww. Success.” Finally, something was going right. She found a bottle of water right where she remembered. “I guess Jet forgot to clean the car out when he was done with it.” Her comment gave her a little chuckle and the first semblance of a smile in hours.

  But the smile was short-lived and came to a screeching halt when a horrible booming noise came out of nowhere, jarring her car and webbing the windshield right in front of her eyes. Madison screamed, jerking the wheel. She tried to regain control, but at the rate of speed she was going, the car fishtailed, spun and sideswiped one of the huge cement pillars holding up the overpass before careening into the guardrail.

  Madison wanted to cry out, but she couldn’t. All she could do was think of Micah. His face was the last thing on her mind before blackness claimed her.

  Panic…

  Micah was upset but he wanted to give Madison some time to cool off before going after her. He’d always reckoned it was easier to baptize a cat then it was to convince an angry woman to calm down. He’d give Madison an hour to clear her head before he went to her place to track her down for a talk.

  He didn’t see her car in her usual spot when he pulled into the apartment parking lot. “Of course she wouldn’t park in her spot. She knows you’re on your way over to talk to her, Wolfe.” He parked and walked up to her apartment. “Madison?” He knocked on the door. “Open up, baby. We need to talk.”

  Sunny opened the door and with her eyes droopy she invited him in.

  “Is Madison here?” Micah asked.

  Sunny went back to her spot on the couch and curled up under a patchwork blanket. “She was here a while ago. But she left.”

  Micah looked at the woman in front of him. He’d never seen her before, but she looked like an older version of his Madison. “You must be Sunny. I’m Micah.”

  “Oh, I could tell right away who you were.” Sunny offered him a broken smile. “You’re the good-lookin’ fella she was all gaga over.”

  “I sure hope so. I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty gaga over her myself.” It was then that it dawned on Micah, if Sunny was here, Rudy was probably here too. He stood from the couch. “Is your husband around?”

  Sunny snorted. “Blah. Rudy? He went out.”

  Micah didn’t like the vibe he was picking up. He should’ve found Madison here. This was her home. He came expecting to find her crying and upset with him, but she wasn’t and that worried him. “Where did you say she went?”

  “I didn’t say. But your best bet if you’re trying to find her, is probably at Angel House.”

  Micah already had Angel House on his list for the next stop, but he was shocked that Madison wasn’t here. “Did she say anything while she was here?”

  “Not much. I could tell she was upset about something. She just said she couldn’t be here right now. I could tell she’d been crying. What did you do to my little girl?”

  “What makes you think I had anything to do with it?”

  “Handsome fella like you. I bet you break hearts daily.”

  “Used to break hearts, Miss Fellows. Those days are behind me now. All I want to do is protect Madison’s heart. She’s the only girl for me. All I want is to know where she is and that she’s okay.”

  “My little Madison is small, but she’s tough. She might not be so easy to find. Especially if she doesn’t want to be found.”

  Micah had heard more then he wanted to hear. Now he knew for certain that she was upset and he’d been the one to cause it. He’d already known it, but having the truth laid out for him hurt even more. Madison might be good at making herself scarce, but Micah would turn the world upside down if that was what it took to find her.

  “I’ll take my chances, I guess. That girl has burrowed too far into my heart for me to just let her go. I intend to find her and I don’t intend to stop until I do.”

  Micah’s next stop was Angel House. Sonya was there, but she hadn’t seen Madison tonight or any other night for that matter, for weeks. He drove over to Mozart’s, then to the nursing home she worked at on Tuesdays and spent an hour asking people if they’d seen Madison or her car. Hours stretched out before him and the frustration mounted. Normally Micah would call Saxon in on a search like this, but he was still too angry with his friend.

  If Micah was being honest with himself, he had a part in all of this. He should’ve brushed Saxon’s accusations off right away, put his foot down and refused to even listen or read the material in the folder Saxon had handed him. He knew Madison, knew her heart and soul as well as he knew her body and there was no way Madison would be involved in the things Saxon had accused her. And even if she had, he still loved her without condition.

  The search proved fruitless. Madison wasn’t in any of the places he could think to look for her. He was tired and not thinking clearly. The things Saxon had said still angered him, but he’d been so worried about Madison, he had forgotten about them. If he couldn’t find Madison right away, he could at least disprove Saxon’s claim. So, Micah’s next stop was the Austin Police Station.

  As he entered, he couldn’t help but think about the last time he’d been here. Destry had pulled a rabbit out of his hat and the only repercussion for his arrest was a five hundred-dollar fine, which Destry had paid for him, knowing he’d pay him back the next time they were together.

  Today, he was here needing help and his nerves were beginning to fray. He’d called and texted Madison a million times and now every time he called, he was informed her mailbox was full and he couldn’t leave any more messages.

  Going to the front desk, he leaned on it and made direct eye contact with the woman answering the phone. “Look, I’ve been sitting here for almost an hour waiting to see Detective Myers.”

  The woman kept her demeanor calm and he couldn’t get angry with her. She probably spent a large portion of her day dealing with unruly strangers.

  “Detective Myers is unavailable at the moment, sir. Please take your seat.”

  Micah took his seat begrudgingly and ground his teeth while he waited. Finally, he saw a familiar face behind the glass station. “Pete.” Micah called out as he approached the desk.

  A man walked by without seeing him and Micah called his name again. “Pete!”

  “Please have a seat, sir,” the woman behind the desk told him with a stern tone.

  But Micah ignored her and moved for the door that granted access to the inner sanctum. There was a clear warning scrawled across it, but Micah was sick of waiting. He pulled the door open and walked into the Vice divisback office.

  Moving down the corridor, Micah looked to the left and saw the man whose name he’d called out. “Pete!”

  A tall figure in a crinkled blue suit stopped in his tracks and wheeled around to see who had called out to him. “Micah? Is that you?” Pete Dover asked from behind thick glasses.

  Micah walked up to his old friend. “I didn’t know you were in Vice.”

  Pete took a sip of coffee and offered his friend a smile. “Transferred over last year.”

  They’d finished college together a lifetime ago. “I guess we need to keep in better touch.”

  The woman from the front desk appea
red in the corridor a moment later with two uniformed officers accompanying her. “That’s him,” she said with a point and the officers approached.

  “What did you do now, Wolfe?” Pete wanted to know.

  Micah offered a sly smile. “You know me, Pete. Patience isn’t my strong suit.”

  “Sir,” one of the uniformed officers said, “please come with us. You can’t be back here.”

  Pete spoke up. “It’s okay, fellas, he’s with me.”

  The woman looked them both over. “But Mister Dover, this gentleman entered the office without permission. He’s trespassing.”

  Pete looked to his friend. “Yep. Same old Wolfe, I see. It’s okay. He’s my guest. I’ll take responsibility.”

  The woman and officers gave him the eye, but finally relented.

  “So what are you doing here, Wolfe?”

  “I need to talk to a Detective Myers.”

  “Fred? What about?”

  “An old case from a few years back. I need information on a girl he interviewed.”

  “That usually isn’t a good thing.”

  “I need him to clear something up for me.”

  Pete snorted. “Well, well. Say it ain’t so. Micah Wolfe finally falls for a woman and she ends up being a working girl.”

  The comment boiled Micah’s blood, but even he knew there was a time to bite his tongue and play nice. “Can you point me in his direction, Pete? I need to talk to him quick and get the hell out of here.”

  “Yeah, sure. Fred’s office is a few down from mine. I’ll take you to him.”

  Micah found a thin man with a thick brown goatee sitting at a beige desk. “Detective Myers,” Micah offered his hand. “I’m wondering if I can talk to you for a moment, sir.”

  The detective eyed Micah with suspicion, but agreed to talk to him after Pete said he knew Micah. “Have a seat.”

  They talked and Micah explained the situation and handed over the dossier.

  “I see a lot of girls in my line of work, Mister Wolfe. But I can have a look.” Micah sat and waited while the detective scanned the notes. “I remember this case.”

  “There’s no pictures of the woman you refer to in your notes as ‘Madison Fellows’.”

  “We don’t always get pictures. These girls tend to come and go, but you remember the regulars.”

  “Do you remember this particular girl?”

  “Not off the top of my head. Sometimes seeing a picture can jog my memory. Do you happen to have a picture of the woman in question?”

  Micah fished his phone out of his pocket. Still no response from Madison. “Yes, right here.”

  Myers took Micah’s phone and looked at the image on the screen. It was a shot of Madison eating a baguette in one of the Parisian bistros they’d had lunch in on their trip. “Oh, yeah. I remember her.”

  Micah’s heart sank. “You do?” He knew Madison’s past didn’t matter to him, but it hurt a bit to know Saxon had been right.

  Had she been lying to him all along?

  She’d said she was a virgin. And God knows she’d been tight, but maybe it had just been a long time for her.

  Shit!

  He was chasing rabbits in his head. “Are you sure?”

  “Well, I do remember the woman you’re asking about now. The woman from the notes. I’ve had a few discussions with her over the years. She definitely didn’t fall under the category of a ‘regular’ girl, but I’d seen her out and about a few times.”

  Micah took the phone back. He was almost angry at this Detective Myers for telling him the truth. “Well, I thank you for your time, Detective Myers.”

  “But that’s not her,” Myers said just as Micah was about to leave.

  Micah stopped in his tracks. “I beg your pardon?”

  “The woman in the picture isn’t the same as the woman I refer to in my notes. She’s very pretty and she looks almost exactly like the woman I remember, but the girl on your phone is too young to be the Madison Fellows I remember. The woman I interviewed was older and had more miles on her. That could definitely be her much younger sister though.”

  The truth hit Micah like a freight train. “Or her daughter?”

  Myers took a sip from his mug. “Why yes, it could very well be her daughter. It happens all the time. We stop someone to talk and they know we can’t arrest them for anything, but they give us a false name anyway. A lot of times they’ll use a family member’s name. You know, a sister or a cousin they don’t like.”

  Goddammit!

  Sunny had used her daughter’s name the day Myers had spoken to her. He felt ashamed for his momentary lapse of faith. He should’ve known all along that Saxon had been wrong about Madison.

  Micah ran out of the police station with his phone in his hand. “Where the fuck are you?” he asked into the phone as he moved.

  “I’m at headquarters with Kyle,” Saxon answered. “Why?”

  “Stay there. I’m on my way.”

  Kyle, Jet and Saxon were at the Equalizer’s office on the river when Micah arrived. This building used to serve as Kyle’s campaign and headquarters and now they just mostly used it to store their equipment, have meetings or crash if one of them needed it.

  Micah strolled in with purpose in his stride and went right to Saxon without a word.

  “Did you find her?” Saxon asked a moment before Micah floored him with a right cross to the jaw.

  Micah stood over his prone friend. “You son of a bitch.” Jet was off the couch in a flash, restraining his friend. “Next time get your facts straight before you accuse someone of something.”

  Kyle stepped in the middle and helped Saxon to his feet. “Somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on here?”

  Micah made an effort to pull free of Jet and go back after Saxon for one last shot, but the big fella had a hold of him and Micah knew Jet was ox-strong, so he relented and let himself be led to the other side of the room to cool down.

  “Well?” Kyle asked again when neither opened their mouth to explain.

  Jet went to the fridge and got an ice pack for Saxon’s jaw.

  “How can you be so sure I’m wrong?” Saxon asked Micah from across the room.

  Micah looked at Jet, he knew he wasn’t going to let him get to Saxon. “Because I went and talked to the detective who wrote the notes. I showed him a picture of Madison and he said that it wasn’t her. Her mother, Sunny, was the one he questioned. She gave him a false name. She gave him her daughter’s name. There’s no way Madison even knew about those things before tonight. She probably stood outside the door and listened to you hurl those unwarranted accusations and waited for me to defend her–and I didn’t!”

  All listening knew that this was the real problem.

  Micah was angrier at himself than he was at Saxon.

  Saxon studied his shoes. “I guess I’ve been working too hard. My judgement’s off. I didn’t even consider that possibility. Hell, I was sloppy. I knew better, I should’ve verified what I found with the detective before coming to you and spouting off like I did. Micah, I’m so sorry. I made a huge mistake. I need to apologize to both you and Madison.”

  “Well, let me know when you find her because I can’t.” Micah laid his head back on the chair cushion. He was at the end of his rope.

  “All right, I will.” Saxon went to his laptop and took a seat. In a few moments he made an announcement. “She’s at the hospital. Seton Center on 183.” He looked across the room to Micah. “Micah. I’m so sorry.”

  The word ‘hospital’ made Micah’s blood run ice cold. “Hospital? What do you mean she’s at the hospital?”

  “I traced the GPS on her cell phone. It’s at the hospital right now. I’m looking through the computer to find out what happened to her.”

  Micah wasn’t going to stick around to find out what Saxon learned. He ran for the door and flew down the steps to his car. He got to the hospital as quickly as he could and was in Madison’s room before anyone at the front desk cou
ld stop him.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Love-Lock…

  “Fellows?” Micah stood just inside the semi-private room. The only patient he could see was not Madison. An old man, hooked up to numerous machines, was lying still with his eyes closed. Whether or not he was in a coma or just asleep wasn’t clear. A curtain divided the room in half and obscured whoever was on the other side. The four or five steps he had to make to reach that curtain seemed like a mile. “Madison?” Once the white material was in his hand, he shoved it back, only to find an empty bed.

  “Where is she?” he shouted.

  “Sir, sir,” A chubby dark-haired nurse came bustling into the room. “Please keep your voice down. If you’d stopped at the desk like I asked you too, I could have told you that Miss Fellows has been moved to another floor for X-rays.”

  “How is she? What happened? Is she awake?” He fired the questions faster than the nurse could process them. Micah ran his fingers through his hair, he kept thinking it was still long and it always surprised him a bit when he found less.

  “Are you a member of her family? I can’t give information to anyone but family.”

  When this was all over, Micah swore he was going to hunt a doctor who’d give him a prescription for Xanax.

  Was the whole world out to drive him fuckin’ nuts?

  “Yes, goddammit, I’m her family. I’m her fiancé.” He wasn’t lying. He was just stretching the truth a mite. “Her immediate family are all…” Unstable. Unreliable. Unworthy. “They’re all out of town.” All of this fibbing could possibly send him to hell–if he wasn’t already there.

  The woman crossed her well-rounded arms over her ample chest and narrowed her gaze. “I’m not sure whether to believe you or not.”

  “I don’t care whether you believe me or not…” Micah was tired of this shit. Bottom line–he needed to see Madison. “Just tell me where she is or when she’ll be back.”