Cold feet(62)
Author: Brenda Novak

"What’d you tell them?"

Sharon pressed her palms over her eyes before looking at Madison again. "Tye warned me to say I hadn’t seen Johnny, either. I told him I didn’t want to lie, that we could get into trouble doing that. And he grabbed my arm so hard, I thought he might break it. I’ve never seen such a fierce look on his face." She started to cry. "I told him he was hurting me, and he said it was nothing to what he’d do if I didn’t tell the police exactly what he told me to say."

"So Tye’s covering for Johnny?" Madison said. Was that why he’d visited the crawl space of her mother’s house?

"Of course," Sharon continued after a sniffle. "I told the police what he forced me to say, but I wasn’t sticking around. Not if my husband was going to risk himself and our whole family to cover for a murderer. Tye wasn’t acting like himself. He was tense, angry. I was afraid he might hurt me or one of the kids."

"So you took them and disappeared." Madison stood up to get some tissues. "What made you come here?"

Sharon accepted the tissues and dabbed at her eyes. "I keep hearing television reports about that woman who was killed, wondering if I’m endangering someone else’s life by not coming forward with what I know." She dug at her cuticles some more, even though they were already red and sore. "I don’t want to turn on Tye. But I don’t want to be responsible for–" Her voice caught and broke, and she buried her face in her hands.

Madison tried to comfort her. But she couldn’t seem to do anything more than awkwardly pat her shoulder. She felt numb. "We have to go to the police," she said, sick at the thought. Johnny had had such a bad childhood. And despite all her negative memories, she had a few good ones of him, too. When Perry Little across the street made fun of her because she wasn’t as developed as the other girls, Johnny had given him a fat lip. She remembered feeling quite vindicated when the other kids started teasing Perry because he couldn’t talk right. And there’d been that time when Tye was so angry with her for leaving the rabbit cage open, and Johnny had stepped in to defend her. Johnny rarely stood up to Tye. That day Tye had been so surprised he’d stared blankly at them both, then simply turned and left.

It had to be the drugs, Madison decided. She knew Johnny had problems, but she also knew he wasn’t innately violent.

"I can’t go to the police," Sharon said. "What if…what if Tye does something to the children? I have to let him see the kids eventually. I’m afraid he might try to get back at me through them."

"The police will protect them," Madison said, and hoped beyond hope that it was true.

"You didn’t see the look on his face."

Madison wished she hadn’t taken those sleeping pills. They were making everything fuzzy again. "Don’t worry. I’ll turn him in myself." She had to, before anyone else was hurt. "Just do me one favor." She checked the hall a third time. Empty. "Write down the address where you’re staying and a number where I can get in touch with you if I need to."

Sharon hesitated, but in the end gave Madison the information.

Madison let her sister-in-law out, and watched her disappear into the darkness, toward a car that was apparently parked around the corner. Then she walked as quietly as possible down the hall toward her bedroom. She had to get dressed so she could go to the police. She dared not call, not from here. Not with Johnny in the house. She wanted to get away from him while he was still sleeping soundly….

Only she didn’t think he was sleeping anymore. When she reached his door, it was open, and she could no longer hear him snoring.

CHAPTER TWENTY

CALEB STOOD with Holly and Gibbons at Lance’s front door. After Susan’s car had been towed away around midnight, Gibbons had tried to get him and Holly to go home. It was late, past two o’clock. They probably should’ve listened. After what had happened with Madison earlier, Caleb wasn’t in the mood to be out. But Detective Thomas’s wife had just had a baby, so Gibbons would’ve been alone if they hadn’t stayed with him. And Susan’s car had been found so close to Lance’s house that Caleb was as eager to catch him off guard as Gibbons was. He was beginning to wonder if he’d overrated the guy’s intelligence.

According to Gibbons, Lance now lived with a buddy from work. Caleb wasn’t particularly impressed by their small Renton neighborhood, but it seemed quiet enough. He’d seen a thousand streets exactly like this one, filled with inexpensive tract homes that alternated between four basic models. Most of the residences on Riley Way were well-maintained. But Lance and his roommate obviously didn’t possess the same domestic ambitions as their neighbors. The front window had been broken and was covered with tape and newspaper. The yard was overgrown. And what sounded like a very large dog jumped against a wobbly fence, barking wildly in the backyard.

Caleb glanced at Gibbons when they received no response to their knock and banged again.

When the door finally opened a crack, the wafflelike imprint on Lance’s face suggested they’d succeeded in surprising him. And the way he groaned as soon as he saw Gibbons left them in no doubt that he wasn’t happy about it. "Oh, man! Not you again. What are you doing here? I’ve already answered all your questions."

"We need to speak with you again, if you have a minute," Gibbons said politely.

"Now?" He squinted in the porch light, which he’d flipped on only moments before. His short dark hair was bleached at the ends and that, taken together with his fake tan and slouchy posture, made him look like a misplaced beach boy. He was young–maybe twenty-five. "You can’t go around waking people up in the middle of the night, you know," he said, his voice petulant.

"Who is it?" called another male voice from somewhere in the house.

"Don’t worry, Ross, it’s for me." The night was cold and he was wearing only a pair of jeans, but he stepped outside and closed the door behind him. "You know, I really don’t like how you guys keep poking around in my life. I haven’t done anything. I already told you that."

"You don’t call using my sister something?" Holly said, immediately going on the offensive. "You don’t call killing her something?"

Gibbons held up one hand. "I’ll take care of this–"

"Look, I had a fling, okay?" Lance interrupted, scowling at Holly. "Screwing around on the side might not be right, but it doesn’t make me a murderer!"

"What’s the matter?" Holly retorted, leaning closer. "Did Susan find out about your fiancee and threaten to tell her about the two of you?"

"Holly," Caleb snapped, moving between them, "maybe you should wait in the car."