Page 114 of The Dollmaker

Anguish deepened the lines around his eyes. “I wasn’t stalking her. I just wanted to talk to her. Tell her I was sorry.”

“I watched the surveillance tapes from the camera next to Diane’s front porch. You showed up at her house at least twice.”

Madison rubbed his forehead with trembling fingers. “I was having second thoughts.”

“Why’d you throw away all your paintings?”

He crumpled into a chair. “I couldn’t look at her. Jesus, her eyes seemed to follow me. Haunted me. I couldn’t take it. I kept thinking if I’d stayed with her, she’d still be alive.”

“How long were you two together?”

“We met in college, but then lost touch. We met again two years ago at one of my art openings. She came to say hi. Said she recognized my name. We were together a couple of years. She was my muse. The woman gave me inspiration. But as my workload increased, she began to resent it. She started making demands on my time. I resented her getting in the way of my work, so I broke it off.”

“But you moved to Richmond a couple of months ago. Why break up and then move to her city?”

“It didn’t take long for me to realize the breakup was a mistake. Without her, I couldn’t work. I wanted to make it right between us. I thought I could save our relationship.”

“Her mother says Diane was the one that broke it off.”

“Diane’s mother didn’t like the idea of me as a possible son-in-law in the first place. And then to have me break up with her daughter, well, she was embarrassed. But the old woman did her best to poison Diane against me. The harder I tried to win Diane back, the more she seemed to resent me.”

“It must have been frustrating trying to apologize and then have her refuse you.”

“I was so sure she’d take me back eventually. And when she didn’t, I couldn’t eat or sleep. It was terrible.”

“Did her rejection make you angry?”

“Sure, it made me angry.”

“Were you mad enough to kill her?”

Bloodshot eyes rose to Sharp. “God, no!”

Sharp scrolled through the images on his phone and showed the picture of Diane’s face to him. “Someone did a number on her face. It’s what an angry man might do to a woman who’s rejected him.”

Tears welled in his eyes. “Jesus, that’s Diane?”

“It is.”

Tears streamed along his face as he looked away. “I would never hurt her. Never.”

“You’ve been in the city for the last two months. You had the opportunity.”

“I couldn’t have done that to her, and I wasn’t here the entire two months. I was in Florida for two weeks.”

“When?”

“I left about three weeks ago and only returned last week.”

“You could have left her locked in a room with food and water.”

“I wouldn’t do that!” he shouted.

“What do you know about Kara Benson?” Sharp asked, shifting directions.

“Kara?” He slowly shook his head. “She and I went out a couple of times in college.”

“Do you remember what happened to her?”

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