“You tell me, Detective. She’s dead.” Fire singed Dunn’s eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. You’re asking did anyone have a reason to kill her that I know of? No.”
“How did you see her relationship with Kevin?”
“They got along fine. I noticed them laughing together on more than one occasion.” Dunn fidgeted with the cuff of her sweater. “I found it odd she disappeared the same time as Kevin was let go. I assumed it was a coincidence, and now they’re both dead.”
“Likely unrelated.” Madison lied. She had the feeling they were connected on a deep level, but Dunn didn’t need to be witness to her suspicion. “To reiterate, Lacy didn’t seem depressed to you at all?”
“Like I said, she seemed happy and I assumed it went beyond these walls.”
“Okay, thank you for your time,” Terry said and rose from the chair.
“Give me a call if you think of anything.” Madison handed the woman her card.
-
Chapter 36
“I THINK THAT WOMAN KNEW about Lacy already.” Madison did up the seatbelt and turned the key in the ignition.
“She was a good actress if she did.”
“People only project what they want you to pick up on. It’s the small things—”
“Yes, thank you. I did graduate the academy and make it to Detective.” Terry glared at her.
“Don’t be like that. I’m just saying, the fidgeting, the eye contact, the seemingly lost in space routine. Besides all of that, she was put together.”
“She’s a businesswoman. It comes with the territory.”
Madison pulled the car from the lot and took a right, taking them in the opposite direction from the station. “Here’s another thing, don’t you find it odd that Hargrove mentioned trying to get Lacy a job? Meanwhile, Hargrove got Lacy one and was paying her wages. Why did he withhold that information?”
“Good question, but I’m not really sure where it gets us.”
Madison pulled around a slow moving SUV. “And the other thing, Hargrove and she must be close. He and this Dunn lady. I think he told her about Lacy’s past. She’s not naive.”
“She probably even called him to say the girl was AWOL.”
“Yes, Terry. AWOL.” Madison smirked. Her partner had a way with words.
MADISON PULLED THE CAR INTO the Paradise Motel parking lot. Three other cars were parked in front of rooms, no doubt rented out for the purpose a nooner or afternoon romp. Motels like this made the perfect nesting spot for cheating spouses who would duck out during the work day or call it a day at noon. Their mates would be none the wiser. It churned Madison’s stomach if she gave it too much thought.
For some reason, the thought of sex and love brought the faces of two men to mind—two men she wanted to forget. One being her colleague Sovereign and the other being Blake Golden, a defense attorney—neither of whom she could ever get completely away from.
Terry touched her forearm and pointed to the maid cart outside of room fifteen.
“At least we know she’s here.”
The door was ajar and Madison knocked on the frame as she pushed it farther open. “Ms. Bolton?”
She heard the hum of a vacuum cleaner and Madison stepped into the room.
“Sheila Bolton?”
A woman of about sixty turned the upright off. Her silver hair was cut in short, choppy layers. She dropped the cord to the carpet. “Yes.” Her voice was quaky and had Madison wondering if she estimated her age incorrectly.
“We’re detectives—”
Concern swept over her face; it fell and paled. “I already spoke to a detective.”
“Yes, we know you did, but we have some follow-up questions.” Madison continued with the formal introduction.
“He killed himself. I…I found him like that…in the tub.” She dropped on a corner of the made bed.
“I understand this may be difficult for you to talk about, but we need you to run us through it again.”
Bolton looked between Madison and Terry. “You think I missed something the first time around?”
“I think it would have been a very traumatic thing to find and that it would be easy for the mind to shut out some details.” Madison had noted in the file that Sovereign had visited Bolton a couple weeks after Thorne was found. It was the last investigative thing he had done before the case was ruled.
“I don’t know what else I can say. I want to help, but didn’t the poor guy—” Her eyes communicated that she found it too hard to say the rest.
Madison could tell by the woman’s drooping eyes that she was fatigued. She could also discern Bolton was still coming to grips with what she had seen.
“Run us through this again, one more time if you could. Maybe something will be clearer to you now. Or maybe you saw something you didn’t even know you had.”
A slow nod and a deep sigh, Bolton opened her mouth. “I showed up for my shift as normal.” She looked at Madison for reassurance this amount of detail was required. Madison encouraged her with eye contact to continue.
“I got my cart ready to go, stocked up. The day was going good and I was making fast progress, until his room.” Her eyes glazed over as if she were transported back to the discovery, everything clear in her mind, the dead body, and all that blood.
For a moment, Madison was happy Sovereign had been assigned the case. It was one thing to witness the amount of blood in crime scene photographs and quite another to be immersed in the scene with the smells and visual combination.
“I knocked on the door and no one answered. I let myself in and set my mind to finishing things up. I only had that room and one more before I could call it a day.”
“When you went inside, what did you see?”
“The room was a mess. The comforter was on the floor. Clothes were on the floor. There was an alcohol bottle sitting on the nightstand. Empty.” She looked at the detectives. “People do stupid things when they drink. And when it’s not their place, why care about any mess they make.”
“Did you notice any drug paraphernalia?”
A rapid shake of her head came to an abrupt stop. “There was a razor blade on the tub ledge and a bottle of—what was it now,” her eyes pressed shut, “tequila on the nightstand, I think.”
Madison gave her a small, reassuring smile. “The clothes on the floor, were they all men’s clothes?” Madison knew how the file read; she wanted live testimony.
Bolton took a few seconds. “Yes. Boxers, socks, dress slacks, and a shirt.”
“When you went into the room, did you call out?”
“Yes, as soon as I noticed the clothes. It’s not uncommon for guests to leave their clothing on the floor, but there wasn’t any luggage in the room. There was no answer to my calling out, but I started to notice a smell. It was metallic and very strong.”
“You didn’t notice this right away?”
“My nose isn’t the best.” Bolton’s eyes misted as she continued with her recounting. “I followed the smell and found him there. In the tub. Blood was everywhere. I still have nightmares. Benefits here are a joke. I’d have to pay to see a shrink.”
“Yet you’re a strong woman. You came back to work.”
Bolton’s eyes went to Madison as if scolding her for the reassurance. “I need my paycheck. What choice do I have? Your PD set me up with a psychiatrist, but I can’t afford that. And I’d probably come out with more problems than I went in with.”
“Is there anything else you noticed in the bathroom?”
Bolton’s eyes shut and tears soaked through her eyelashes. “I knew he was dead. His eyes were fixed open like he was staring at me, but the only thing is, he faced straight ahead. He faced the faucet of the tub. I screamed when I saw him and fell to the floor. It took me minutes to get myself together enough to call the police.” Her eyes
opened. “I called you on my cell phone. I watch those cop shows. I know better than to touch anything. It was bad enough I had lifted the comforter from the floor to the bed.”
“You had no way of knowing what you were going to find.” That piece of information had been recorded in the file and it hadn’t come as a surprise to Madison. “Anything else you can remember?”
“No. That is all.” Bolton stood up and straightened out the impression her weight had made on the bed, returning it to a condition ready to welcome new guests.
“Well, thank you for your time. If you think of anything else.” Madison extended her card to the woman, who took it and stuffed it into a pocket of her uniform without even looking at it.
“I won’t, but I will.” Bolton offered a weak smile.
-
Chapter 37
MADISON SLIPPED BEHIND THE WHEEL. Terry did up his seatbelt and looked over at her. “Nothing that we didn’t already know there.”
“Are you certain of that?”
Terry’s brows furled and he rubbed the back of his neck. They had too few answers for his liking. “You pulled something from that? Something we didn’t already know?”
“She said there was a razor blade on the tub ledge.”
“We knew that. The surfaces in the room were also analyzed and nothing was found to indicate powdered drugs. The blade only had Thorne’s prints on it.”
Madison glanced at Terry. “Why a blade at all?”
“Not following.”
“Well, if we’re to believe he brought the blade to kill himself, why have company? And he wasn’t a drug user.”
“Maybe he was going to score some to help him take his life?”
Her partner’s eyes darkened.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Crime Scene found a razor, but Richards found a spot between the toes where Thorne shot up. And if Thorne did it himself—”
“Where’s the needle?” They said this together.
“Maybe he did it before reaching the motel?” Terry suggested.
“Vilma didn’t mention he was high. Maybe she was in denial about that? Anyway, a man with no history of drug use shot up and drove safely may I add, to his destination only to down a full bottle of tequila and kill himself in the tub? Not to mention he somehow managed to get it up and have sex with a female.”
“Blue pill?”
Madison rolled her eyes and smiled. “No evidence of that in his system.”
“Maybe it reacted to the drugs and it wasn’t able to be detected.” Terry’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the ID and answered. “Hey.”
Madison could hear the person on the other end. It sounded like a woman. She spoke quickly and loud. She was panicked about something. Possibly Annabelle, Terry’s wife. It would also explain the informal answer.
Madison split her attention between the road and passing looks at Terry.
“I’m sure everything will be okay…okay, what did he say…all right, well, let’s not get worked up about it…I know, baby.” Terry glanced at Madison but continued on with his phone call. “Do you need me to come home?” A few seconds’ pause on Terry’s end was accompanied by a flurry of talking from the other end. “All right…yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He went to put his phone away but lifted it back to his ear. “Love you.”
Madison didn’t look at him. She kept her attention on the road, even though she was dying to ask him what was going on. He told her before that she had a way of prying and asking too many personal questions at times. She knew she had let that weakness create a fracture in her relationship with Richards. She didn’t want to do the same with her partner. Sometimes caring about someone at a distance was more acceptable than trying to worm in close to a situation.
“I’ve got to call it a day,” Terry said.
“Sure.” She kept driving, trying to keep her focus on the case and the afternoon traffic all around her.
“You’re not even going to ask?”
Through her peripheral, she noticed him look at her.
“It’s not any of my—”
“If you say not any of your business, I will punch you.”
She faced him. “Hey.”
“Well, there are times it’s okay to ask. Now is one of them.” His one hand rubbed the back of his neck again.
She pulled the car into the department lot and parked it. With the car still running, she looked at her partner. His eyes were heavy with concern and cloudy with apprehension, yet there remained a glimmer of hope buried deep within them.
“Everything okay?” she asked as gently as she could, worried that something was wrong with the baby.
“I don’t know.” He exhaled deeply. “The doctor’s saying her blood sugars are high.”
Madison remembered her sister had gestational diabetes with her first daughter. “Is it—”
“Diabetes? Well, no, I don’t… That’s not what we’re concerned about.”
Madison gave him time to gather his thoughts.
“Anna’s been doing some research and high sugar counts can cause all sorts of things to happen to the baby.” He searched her eyes. She remained quiet and let him continue. “It’s possible our baby could be deformed.”
His last statement sank in the air, with the density of a heavy burden no parent should ever have to face—that of worrying about their child’s health.
“He’ll still be the luckiest kid—”
Terry half-laughed. “Maddy, you’re not the best at the pep talks, but I appreciate your effort.” He reached for the door handle.
Madison extended her hand and gripped his forearm. “I’m here for you, no matter what.”
Terry nodded and got out of the car. He ducked his head back in. “I’ll be in tomorrow.” He tapped the roof of the car and was gone.
Madison remained behind the wheel, staring at the brick of the station. Her heart felt heavy for her partner, and with the uncertainty of not knowing the future. All Terry and his wife wanted was a beautiful, healthy baby. Would they get that?
-
Chapter 38
MADISON SPENT A FEW MORE hours back at the station, writing out reports on where the investigation was so far when it came to Lacy Rose. She also made a compilation of notes when it came to the suspicious death of Kevin Thorne. Somewhere between the two of them lay the truth.
Cynthia Baxter said they were still backed up in the lab. Even though it would be a fast check, she wouldn’t have her comparison between Lacy and the vaginal fluids pulled from the motel sheets until the morning. Toxicology results on Lacy were still in the works, as was the final processing of evidence removed from Hennessey’s apartment and the property.
Around six, Madison called it a night and headed home. She would pull in Hennessey and Bates for further interrogation come morning and push them about Kevin Thorne. Maybe he was the older man they knew about. Maybe they assumed he was the one who set her up with a condo and tried to free her from their lifestyle. Maybe they were the ones who took Thorne’s life in their hands.
She picked up Hershey and then got a hamburger from a drive-thru. She justified the meal choice because she had hardly eaten all day, and she had been good most of the week. The fact that it was only Thursday didn’t matter.
She dropped in her office chair and flicked on her computer monitor. As her e-mails downloaded, she unwrapped her dinner and ate. She swore she moaned as she bit off mouthfuls of the meat patty, cheese, and bacon.
“Damn, people food is good,” she said, with a mouthful, to Hershey. She bit off more. “Looks so much better than that kibble of yours, my friend.”
Four e-mails filtered in from printing companies. One insisted that she meet with them directly to discuss her business’ needs. They attached a ten-page document providing her with testimonials. She skimmed through t
hem and went back to the other e-mails.
The other companies were more forthcoming and she was reading through their e-mails when there was a knock on her door.
So much for a locked building.
She stuffed the rest of the burger in her mouth, wiped her hands on her pants, and went to answer it.
She looked through the peephole. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“There’s nothing for us to talk about.”
“Please just open the door.”
She took a deep breath and opened the door.
Toby Sovereign had both of his hands tucked into his jeans pockets. He wore a collared, black shirt with the top two buttons undone, under a leather coat that was unzipped.
He pushed past her into the apartment. As he did, his head turned, taking in everything. “Nothing much has changed.”
The smell of his cologne hit her sinuses, threatening to rapture her to the past.
“Can you leave?” She stayed at the door and held it wide open.
“Hey, who’s this?” Sovereign got down on his haunches and Hershey bounded toward him. He stopped a few feet shy and sat there barking. It caused Madison to laugh. Sovereign looked over his shoulder as he stood back up. “Even your dog hates me.”
“We had a talk.”
A grin lit his face. “About me?” He took off his jacket and slid it over the back of a dining chair.
“Get over yourself.” Madison let out a deep sigh. Why was he getting comfortable?
It was evident that he wasn’t leaving until he said what he came to say. She closed the door heavily. He didn’t even seem to notice. She picked up his coat and hung it on a hook before even realizing how she swooped in and did that. She pinched her eyes tight for a second. She felt a headache coming on.
“How did you—”
“Get up here? Easy, Maddy—”
She knew he kept talking, but hearing her first name come from his lips in such a casual manner, she was transported back in time. He used to always blend her first name with variations of nicknames he had for her, “pet names” he said. He could keep them. If she had to choose between Love Vixen and Maddy, the choice was obvious. She would prefer he called her Madison if he had to address her at all.
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