Beyond Secrets, The Art of Murder: A Madison Hart Mystery (Madison Hart Mysteries Book 1)

by DB Jones

  Madison just kept sipping her wine, while studying the board as if something was going to pop out and pull the case together. But there wasn’t enough information or pieces of the puzzle to formulate a clear picture. Madison finally tilted her glass up and swallowed the last sip, then she turned towards the table and reached for the bottle. She poured herself another glass, and reached over and poured Josh another.

  “We need to talk to Cora Franklin’s parents tomorrow. Then, we need to see if we find out anything about the next woman that went missing. What was her name? Josh asked.

  Madison tapped on the board with the picture of the third missing woman on the timeline, Erin Wise. Erin was reported missing on October 12th, and no one has heard anything from her since. “I guess we can’t do much more tonight. I’d like to get an early start tomorrow. Are you up for that?”

  “Yes, but I have a briefing at the station at 8:00 a.m. It shouldn’t take too long. The chief wants me to bring him up to speed on the investigation and go over the coroner’s report. How about if I pick you up around 9:30, and then we can head out to Ms. Franklin’s parents? Do you mind giving them a call to see if it would be all right to come by in the morning?”

  “No problem.”

  The more they drank, the more Madison’s mind wavered from the case and more on Josh’s well-built physique. It had been a long time since she’d been with anyone, and Josh wasn’t bad to look at either. He was a little rough around the edges and a bit cocky for her taste, but the wine helped her overlook that. She better call it a night before she did something she couldn’t take back.

  “It’s getting late. I want to get up early to make sure we have all our ducks in a row. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Madison started toward the front door.

  What’s with this woman? God knows she’s a looker, but all she can think about is her work. I wish she could loosen up a little. He got up and followed her to the door. “I get the hint Agent Hart; I’ll get out of your hair. See you in the morning. Good night.” He started to swing the door open.

  As he passed Madison in the doorway, she reached over and grabbed him and pulled his face to hers and planted an unexpected kiss on his lips. It startled him so much; he pulled back for a moment. But then he wrapped his arms around her and drew her to him. She pulled back. “You’d better leave while you still can, Detective Logan,” she said with a big smile.

  “Woman, you’re filled with surprises. Until tomorrow, Agent Hart.”

  Josh walked to his car and then turned back expecting her to be standing in the doorway, but Madison had already positioned herself back in front of the board.

  I can’t figure her out. Madison’s not like anyone I’ve ever known, and I like it. She’s a puzzle. He backed out of the parking lot.

  Madison was about to call it a night when her cell phone rang. She glanced down at the caller ID and saw that it was Winter.“Hi, Sis, what are doing up this late? I thought you’d be in bed by now.”

  “I just wanted to talk to my sister. I miss you, Maddy. When do you think you can come out and visit again? I’m dying to hear all about the case. I’m ready to do some work and thought if you could bring me up to speed on the investigation, I could start working on my story.”

  “Things are moving fast, but we still need to dig deeper into the lives of some of these women. I don’t know how Jim knows these things, but he certainly hit this one on the nose, too. The missing women have a connection. We just haven’t figured out what it is, but we will. I am assuming that Jim told you that two women found murdered in Maitland were two on the list Jim gave me.”

  “I keep hearing you mention we. Have more agents joined in this investigation?”

  “No, I’m strictly working with Detective Logan right now. I keep Stratton and Martin informed of what we’re finding, but for now, the department is letting me work solely with the Maitland Police. Detective Logan is very competent and knows his way around a crime scene, so I don’t mind working with him. I’ll try to get out there to see you this weekend. How are Cole and your friends in Cassadaga?”

  “Cole is wonderful, as always. He’s taking such good care of me. I’m just getting restless and want to work. The doctor said that I could work from home for now, as long as I didn’t overdo it. Cole and Jessie will make sure of that. Jessie comes up frequently but rushes home to be with Jim. I’m so happy for those two. Now, we need to find someone for you.”

  “Don’t you worry about me, I’m too busy for romance. I’ve got a case to solve, and I need to get a killer off the streets. But I promise I’ll do my best to come by Sunday,” Madison promises.

  “Okay, I’m holding you to it. Love you, Maddy. Be careful out there.”

  “I will, and you take care of yourself, too, Win. Love you, too,” Madison hung up the phone and walked to the back of her office and pulled back the curtain to her bed. The day had been a long one, but this case was eating at her. She hoped the wine would settle her down, but all it did was bring to the surface some pent-up sexual drive. She wondered what Josh must be thinking about her grabbing and kissing him. He must think I’m some sort of lunatic, but that guy is growing on me. I need to focus on the case, or I’m going to end up jumping his bones. She chuckled to herself.

  She jumped into the shower and put on her tank top and yoga pants, and strolled back to the office area. She pulled down the blinds toward the parking lot. “I don’t want someone passing by and seeing me in here. It wouldn’t look very professional for an FBI agent to be strolling around in her PJs in an office setting.”

  There was still some wine left in the bottle on the table, so she emptied it into her glass and stood there staring at the board again. Something was troubling her about the case other than the missing and murdered women. The more she studied the information under each name the more a pattern was evolving, but there was a piece missing, and it was driving her crazy. Madison was good at her job as an investigator and profiler, but this one had her stumped.

  She finished her wine and looked at the clock. It was already 1:30 a.m. She was finally feeling the exhaustion of the past day and knew there was going to be much more work coming up in the morning, and she needed to get some sleep. I’m not so sure living in my office is a good idea. I need to sleep, or I’m not going to be able to think straight, and I need to be on top of my game with this case.

  The next morning came quickly. Madison was still asleep when she heard pounding on her front door. She pulled back the curtain slightly and saw Josh standing behind the tinted glass door with two cups of coffee. She recognized his stance. She hollered out, “Just a minute!” tossed on some clothes and staggered to the door. She was still half asleep and was combing her hair back with her fingers.

  When she opened the door, Josh burst in as if he didn’t even notice her disheveled appearance. “We’ve got to get going. It’s going to be a busy day.” He handed her a cup of coffee. Madison shuffled toward the table where the wine glasses were still sitting from the night before, but Josh picked up the empty glasses and placed them in the small sink on the other side of the room. He turned towards where Madison was standing. “You look like you could use some strong coffee.”

  “Thanks. I didn’t get to bed until late last night because I was still mulling over this damn case. Let me shower and change. I’ll be ready in twenty minutes. If you want to wait here, that’s fine, or if you have something to do at the station, I can meet you there.”

  “Oh, that’s okay. I’ll just wait here and drink my coffee.” He watched her pull the curtain behind her.

  Josh sat at the table facing the board but could hear the shower running and began to imagine what she looked like washing her hair, as the soap ran down her naked body glistening beneath the hot water. The more he could hear her moving around behind that curtain, the more aroused he became. I’d better pay attention to the case, or I’m going to embarrass myself when she comes out. “I’ll be right back. I have some things in the car I need to look at,” he
hollered to Madison as he heard her get out of the shower.

  “I’ll be ready in five minutes!” she hollered back.

  He raced out the door before Madison had a chance to pull back the curtain to say anything else to him. He opened the back of the car and pulled out a long jacket and immediately put it on. He fumbled with rearranging some items in the trunk. He glanced back at the office and saw Madison raising the blinds and knew she was just about ready. His embarrassment subsided some but was still there. He jumped into the car and placed a file on his lap. He pretended to be reading something when she came out of the office. She got into the car, “You must be as eager to get going on this case as I am, but do you think we could grab another cup of coffee first?”

  “Sure, we’ll just swing through the drive-through at Starbucks on the way to Ms. Franklin’s parent’s house.” As he started to back up the car, the file on his lap slid to the floorboard. Fortunately, things were nearly back to normal. He hoped Madison didn’t notice anything. He stopped the car, leaned down, picked up the file and handed it to Madison.

  “What’s this?”

  “Oh, I was just looking over the coroner’s report on our latest victim to make sure we didn’t overlook anything,” Josh replied nonchalantly.

  “Did we miss anything?”

  Josh started driving off. “I don’t think so.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  He gave a quick smile. “Of, course.”

  Madison tilted her head. “Hey, you’re not upset about that kiss last night, are you? It was just a kiss.”

  “No, not at all.” He shrugged his shoulders.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t drink on the job.”

  “I had no problem. And hey, you’re not a bad kisser. Nice way to end a busy day,” he said jokingly, trying to ease the tension.

  “You weren’t too bad yourself, partner.”

  The banter back and forth between them seemed to ease the tension, and it was back to business for them, or at least on the surface. The attraction between Madison and Josh was there, but neither one would admit it.

  Josh smiled. “Okay, Agent Hart, what’s our next move?”

  “Did you talk to Ms. Franklin’s parents to let them know we were coming?”

  “I did, and they are expecting us this morning. As you can imagine, they’re as eager as we are to find out what happened to their daughter.”

  Madison tightened her lips. “It’s never easy facing a family who has lost a child, no matter what age they are. The not knowing must be extremely difficult for them. I doubt they get much sleep, but that might be to our advantage. I’m sure they have agonized over and over, trying to figure out where their daughter could be.”

  Ms. Franklin’s parents lived about an hour from Maitland, and the morning traffic was hectic. Josh pulled into the drive-through at Starbucks and ordered two more large coffees. It was going to be a stressful morning, and they both needed to be awake and alert. Neither of them wanted to miss any details that might give them a clue to what happened to Ms. Franklin.

  “Josh, we have three missing women who are unaccounted for, we need to find them. However, something tells me that we are not going to find them alive.”

  Josh handed her the coffee. “Yeah, I’m afraid you’re right.”

  Finally, they arrived in Apopka and followed the GPS directly to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin. They were modest people living in the same home that they had lived their entire married life.

  Madison and Josh walked up the three steps to the covered front porch and knocked. Madison could hear the footsteps of a heavy individual making his way to the door. The door opened, and there stood a strong-looking, older man. He invited them into the house. Mr. Franklin escorted Madison and Josh into the kitchen and motioned for them to have a seat at the dining table. The kitchen was an old fashion one where the table was the center of the room. The family ate meals together in the same room where they cooked. Newer homes replaced the dining tables with granite islands, and now families would grab something and head back to what they were doing in various parts of the house.

  It brought back memories for Madison. Her family always ate their meals together at the dining-room table, and you never left the table without asking to be excused…God forbid, or you would face the wrath of your father.

  “May I offer you some coffee,” Mrs. Franklin asked.

  “No, thank you,” Madison replied.

  Madison leaned into the table and softly asked the Franklins to tell her about their daughter. “Tell me about your daughter. What brought her to Winter Park?”

  Mr. Franklin reached over and held Mrs. Franklin’s hand as she started telling Madison about her daughter.

  “Cora was an ambitious young woman. She was always studying cultural things, like music and art. She wanted to leave Apopka for as long as I can remember. She is a good daughter, and always called us every week until she disappeared. We are so worried about her. It’s not like her to stop calling,” Mrs. Franklin said with tears welling up.

  “Was she involved with anyone?” Josh asked.

  “What do you mean by involved?” Mr. Franklin asked.

  “Did she have a boyfriend?”

  “Cora never mentioned to us that she was seeing anyone special. I’m sure she dated from time to time, but she would have told us if there was anyone serious in her life. She just wanted to improve herself, be more educated and worldly. She’d say she wanted to travel someday around the world to all the places she’d seen in the books, and I believed she would. You don’t suppose she just up and left the country, do you? It’s not like Cora to do anything like that without telling us first.”

  “We don’t know,” Madison quickly interjected, and then tried to change the subject. “We heard you brought all Cora’s things back here from her apartment. Would it be possible to look through her belongings? It may be helpful in finding where she went.”

  Mrs. Franklin wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “We put them back into her old room. We’ve left her room the same as she did when she moved to Winter Park. She used to come and visit and stay the night, and we wanted her to know she always had a place here.” She led Madison to Cora’s room, and Josh stayed in the kitchen with Mr. Franklin.

  Josh leaned across the table. “Mr. Franklin, I know this must be very difficult for you both. I see the pain in your wife’s face, but how are you holding up?”

  He rubbed his eyes and sniffled. “I try to stay strong for Mabel, but it’s not easy. I tell you, Detective, I want to believe that my little girl is still out there somewhere, but I’m afraid something has happened to her. She would not put her mother and me through this if she were still alive.”

  “We’re doing everything we can to try and locate your daughter. We appreciate your letting us come out here. The more information we find, the quicker we can piece together where she is.”

  “Do you think she’s dead?”

  “Let’s just concentrate on finding your daughter, and as soon as we hear anything, we’ll let you know. I promise.”

  “If anything has happened to Cora, I don’t think my wife will survive. She’s holding on so tightly to the hope that our daughter will return.”

  “We’ll do our best,” Josh whispered.

  Mrs. Franklin escorted Madison into Cora’s room. She stopped at the door and reached for Madison’s hand. “Do you think something has happened to our daughter?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “I don’t think Frank could live through it if something happened to Cora. I try to stay strong for him, but my heart feels something is very wrong. Cora would have never let us suffer like this if she were alive.” She squeezed Madison’s hand harder. “I’m so afraid. I hope you can find her.”

  Madison patted Mrs. Franklin’s hand. “We will do our best to find her.”

  Mrs. Franklin released Madison’s hand and left her in Cora’s room and then joined her husband in the kitchen. “I left Agent Har
t in Cora’s room to look around. I didn’t want to interfere with her investigation. I know you both are doing everything you can find our daughter.” She turned toward her husband and put her head on his shoulder.

  Josh sat with the Franklins while Madison went through Cora’s belongings. He didn’t need to oversee her every move. If there were things in that room that would give them a better look into this young woman’s life, Madison would find it.

  Madison opened every drawer and looked through the closet. She sat on the bed and went through all the boxes of items brought back from the apartment where Cora had been staying when she disappeared. There were very few personal things. It looked like she had not planned to stay long, or just didn’t want a lot of “stuff” to overshadow why she was in Winter Park. She had very few clothes, and the ones she had were of good quality. She seemed to dress well, even though she was a clerk at a bank. Cora’s room was well-kept. Madison wondered if her mother kept the room that way or was that the type of person Cora was.

  She opened the last box and saw a few brochures from the Tiffany Museum on Park Avenue and a play at Rollins College that she had attended. At the bottom of the box was a flier from the Maitland Art Center. Madison stumbled onto what would give her a clearer picture of why this woman wanted to be in Winter Park. She gathered everything in the box and walked back to the kitchen. “Mrs. Franklin, may we take these things back to our office? I promise to return them when we’re finished. I think these items may give us a better picture of your daughter’s life in Winter Park.”

  “Sure, if you think it will help. We want to do whatever it takes to help you find our daughter. Please, let us know if we can do anything else.”

  Josh stood up and gently shook Mr. and Mrs. Franklin’s hands. Then he and Madison loaded the box into the trunk. The couple was still standing on their front porch, with Mr. Franklin’s arm around his wife, as Madison and Josh drove off.

  “Man, that’s got to be hard,” Josh said. “I know that you’ve dealt with this a lot in your line of work, but Maitland hasn’t had this type of thing in our small town. I almost got choked up talking to Cora’s father. I could see the pain in his face, and can only imagine what they must be going through, not knowing the whereabouts of their daughter.”