Page 25 of Deception

“Is there any chance she could be your twin sister?” Clayton asked as he joined her side.

She hadn’t heard him enter the room, and her heart skipped a beat, then took off like a dog after a rabbit.Stop it!Madison pulled her attention back to their Jane Doe and released her hand before turning to him. “I’m adopted, so I suppose it’s possible.”

“Is there any way you can find out?”

“DNA swab?”

“You can’t ask your dad?”

“No. Dad, he—” Madison stared at her clenched hand. “He’s never been the easiest person to talk to.”

“Did you ever discuss your birth parents with your adoptive parents?”

She shook her head. The only time she’d broached the subject, her mother had gone to pieces, and her father insisted that she never bring the subject up again. Not that he was ever around for her to ask again.

“You’ve been mostly happy, haven’t you? I mean, with your parents, growing up in Memphis...”Her grandfather’s question from earlier popped into her head. “I can ask my grandfather,” she said just as her phone vibrated in her pocket. She fished it out and frowned. Nadine’s name was on the ID. The housekeeper never called her. “I need to take this.”

She stepped out of the room again and punched the answer button. “What’s wrong, Nadine?”

For a few seconds, there was no answer. Was Nadine crying? Madison’s heart thumped wildly in her chest.

“It’s ... the judge. You must come, chère. He’s ... he’s ... the paramedics are here!” The housekeeper’s voice rose to a wail.

“He’s what?” Blood drained from Madison’s face and she leaned against the wall to keep from falling. “Nadine! What’s going on?”

“I hear a gun shoot. I come into the back door and go to the study, and I find your grandfather slumped over the desk. You must come now!”

“Is he...?” She couldn’t say the word.

“I don’t know! You come now!”

He couldn’t be dead. She clung to the thought. “What hospital are they taking him to?”

“I don’t know if they will, chère ... I fear he is gone ... and they didn’t think I heard them, but one said something about him taking his own life.”

16

When Madison didn’t return to Jane Doe’s room, Clayton stepped outside, searching for her. Where had she gone? He turned to the deputy. “Have you seen the woman I was with?”

“Last I saw, she was running toward the elevators.”

“Do you know why?”

The deputy shrugged. Madison would not have left unless it was an emergency. Clayton dashed down the hall. When he rounded the corner, the elevator area was deserted, and he jogged to the exit. Hoping to catch her before she reached her car, he bounded down the stairs two at a time. At the hospital doors, he spied her hurrying under the covered pull-thru at the entrance.

“Madison!” She kept running as though she hadn’t heard him. Clayton dodged a car and ran toward her as she approached the Impala. “Madison!” he called louder.

This time she stopped and turned around, her face the color of chalk. He quickly closed the gap between them. “Hey,” he said softly. “What’s going on?”

Tears glistened in her eyes. “My grandfather ...” She sniffed. “He’s ... been shot, possibly dead...”

Judge Anderson, shot? That didn’t seem possible. “I’m sorry ... what happened?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m on my way now tofind out. His housekeeper, Nadine, called a few minutes ago. She heard a gunshot and went to investigate.” Madison bit her bottom lip. “She overheard the paramedics say he may have tried to kill himself.”

“No way.” The man Clayton knew from the bench would never try to kill himself.

“My feelings exactly. He was upset at dinner but not depressed. He’d gotten news that a man he’d sentenced to prison had died, but nothing about my grandfather tonight pointed to...” Shuddering, she closed her eyes, then seemed to catch herself. “I have to go.”

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