Page 88 of Deception

Combing Madison’s files for evidence of who might be out to get her seemed the more urgent thing to do.

47

Madison and Clayton entered the house from the back door. “Wait here, and I’ll grab my computer from my bedroom,” she said, her stomach growling.

“We never ate. Do you mind if I warm up something from your fridge?”

“Sounds good.”

She hurried to her bedroom and paused. Madison didn’t remember leaving the door open. Not with her father here. She quietly pulled her gun and eased into the room. Empty. She holstered her Sig. Maybe she’d left the door open—she had been in a hurry to meet with Clayton.

Madison grabbed her computer and glanced at the box of files she’d picked up at the supervisor’s office Thursday. Had it only been a day? Seemed like a month. The files in the box were neatly stacked, and she started out the door and stopped. Wait. She hadn’t left a tan folder on top.

While she’d waited for her dad to go to sleep last night, she’d rifled through the box, trying to get a feel for the task she had to complete, and the last file she looked at was one from Deon Cox and it had been blue.

Her father! He must have come into her bedroom looking for the file she took to Hargrove. Fuming, she hurried downstairs.

Clayton took one look at her and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“My dad—he went through the papers we picked up yesterday. Probably looking for the Hargrove file. I’ll bet he searched through Grandfather’s files again too.” She turned and headed toward the judge’s study. At least the door was still closed—she’d shut it behind her this morning after making a copy of the file.

Madison opened the door and gasped. The room was trashed with papers scattered everywhere. “No!”

Clayton pushed past her and stopped. “Your dad wouldn’t have done this.”

She started inside the room again, and he grabbed her arm. “You need to let Hugh take care of this.” He took out his phone. “I’m calling him.”

While he talked to the FBI agent, Madison surveyed the room from the doorway. Clayton was right. Her father would not have left such a mess. Who did this? And where was Nadine when it happened. “Nadine!”

Madison whirled around and rushed out the back to the housekeeper’s apartment with Clayton on her heels. She banged on her door. “Nadine!”

Loud thumping came from inside the apartment. Madison tried the knob, and it turned. With her heart knocking against her ribs, she pushed the door open. “Nadine?”

More noise came from the closet that had a chair propped under the doorknob. Madison knocked the chair out of the way and jerked open the door. The eighty-year-old housekeeper was on the floor, bound with a hood over her head. Clayton pulled the hood off and scooped Nadine up in his arms and settled her on the sofa.

Madison knelt beside her and took off the restraints. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, chère.” While Nadine’s voice was calm, her normally hazel eyes had darkened to almost black.

“What happened?” Clayton wrapped an afghan around her shoulders.

She gripped Madison’s hands. “After your father left, I tidied up the kitchen, and I came out the back door. I turned around to make sure it locked, and someone put that awful hood over my head and bound my hands before she made me walk to my apartment. Then she made me sit in the closet.”

“It was a woman?” Madison asked. “Did she hurt you?”

“Yes, it was a woman, and no, she didn’t hurt me. She kept saying how sorry she was. That someone would come along and let me out.”

Clayton’s phone rang. “It’s Hugh.” He listened a minute, then said, “Yes, she’s all right. We found her bound in her apartment closet.”

He listened again. “Will do.” And disconnected. “He said not to touch anything in the office.” Then he knelt beside Nadine. “Can I get you coffee? A glass of water?”

“Coffee would be good.” She threw off the afghan. “But I will make it. I’ve had your coffee before, Mr. Weak-as-Water Coffee Man.”

He laughed. “Then if you don’t need me, I’ll take photos of the judge’s study from the doorway.”

Madison gave him a thumbs-up and helped Nadine off the sofa, holding her arm until they were in her tiny kitchen.

“Stop hovering!” Nadine chided her as she plugged in her electric kettle. “I was not hurt and not even inconvenienced. I spent the time praying. Mostly for the woman,” she said softly.

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