Cold feet(77)
Author: Brenda Novak

"But you didn’t get them killed. Do you realize that if you hadn’t come back, we still wouldn’t know the truth? Holly would still be preying on innocent people."

Caleb smiled. There was definitely some solace in that. As much as he hated the fact that he hadn’t been able to save her past victims, his returning to Seattle had saved any future ones. "Thanks."

"Have you heard from Danny?" she asked.

"No."

"I guess I should call him." She sighed. "No one likes him much, but he is Brianna’s father and should probably know what’s going on."

Caleb chuckled. "Do you think he really intends to take Madison back to court for custody?"

"He might. He threatens often enough. But after what Madison just did for that child, I don’t think there’s a court in the country that would take Brianna away."

"I hope not," he said.

"Well, I’ve made some chicken soup for the both of you. I just wanted to let you know I’m on my way over."

"I’m sure it’ll be good for Madison to see you–and Brianna."

"She’s been asking about her mother. But she’s been asking about you, too," Annette said. "Seems she’s growing quite attached to you."

"You might mention to her that–" Caleb was about to tell Annette he was going back to San Francisco right away, as originally planned. But Madison called to him just then and suddenly San Francisco seemed very far from home.

"Never mind." He wasn’t sure he could gain Madison’s confidence again. He’d betrayed her trust and unwittingly put her in danger. But he did have a lease on the cottage. And it didn’t run out for another five months.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

MADISON STUDIED CALEB as he came to stand in the doorway of her room. He was wearing a gray polo, a pair of jeans and a Giants cap, and the dark shadow covering his jaw indicated he hadn’t shaved this morning. But he looked as good as always–strong, masculine, confident.

"How do you feel?" he asked, the muscles of his arms flexing as he hooked his fingers on the doorjamb over his head.

"I’m still tired," she admitted.

"You want to sleep some more? Or are you ready to eat something?"

She wriggled into a sitting position. "I want to talk."

He cocked an eyebrow, as though he was a little worried about what she might say.

"I need to understand what happened," she explained.

Letting go of the jamb, he moved closer, and she slid over so he could sit on the edge of the bed. "It was Holly," he said simply.

"How could that be? How could she kill her own sister?"

"Obviously she’s not right. I arrived here just after the police arrested her. She was hysterical by then, cursing at the top of her lungs and blaming me. I couldn’t get any coherent answers out of her. But I called Detective Gibbons from the hospital later, and he filled me in on a few things."

Madison blinked in surprise. Caleb had gone to the hospital with her when he finally had the killer for whom he’d been searching so long? "What did the detective say?" she asked.

"The day before Susan died, Susan and Lance, the guy she was dating, got into an argument. Susan suspected Lance was seeing someone else, which was true. Anyway, she was upset and showed up at Holly’s house unexpectedly, late at night. Holly was gone and the door was locked, but Susan managed to fit through a window Holly had forgotten to close. While she was there, she found some Roofies hidden in a Tylenol bottle in the kitchen cupboard."

"Roofies?"

"Date rape drug."

"How did she know what they were?"

"The tablets are marked, and they’re not as scarce as you might think. Susan was a partier. I’m sure she’d run into them before. Only, finding them at Holly’s worried her. She started poking around, wondering what else she’d find, and discovered a jacket that belonged to the woman who was just murdered in Spokane. The police had made a big deal about it because–"

"It had her initials embroidered on the front," Madison interrupted. "I heard someone talking about it at work."

"Exactly." He leaned across her, propping himself up on one hand. "Susan confronted Holly. Holly said she’d bought the jacket at a garage sale, but she knew Susan would eventually figure it out and possibly even tell someone. She felt she had to do something. So she called Susan and told her she wanted to meet her at the Pie in the Sky Pizzeria the following night."

"Why such a public place?"

"She needed a place where she could convince Tye to meet her."

"Tye?" Madison exclaimed in surprise.

"Don’t worry. He was as manipulated as the rest of us. Holly just wanted your father’s truck and Susan seen in the same vicinity. She wanted to throw the police off track. And she wanted me back. She knew how interested I was in the old case, and was afraid I might not take enough interest in Susan’s disappearance if it didn’t tie in somehow."

"But I don’t understand why he’d agree to meet her," Madison said. "Weren’t they total strangers?"

"She promised to provide Tye with information that would prove your father innocent of the killings."

"Why would he bring the truck?"

"Because that’s what the note she sent him said to do, so she’d be able to recognize him. When he arrived, no one came forward to meet him, of course. But Susan nearly backed into him when she was trying to park, which caused an argument between them."

"Tye never said anything about a note or anything else," Madison said.

"Can you blame him? Susan wound up dead, and he’d met her the night she was murdered, even argued with her. I’m sure Tye smelled a setup, but he didn’t have any idea who’d sent that note, and after what happened to your father, he had no confidence that the police would believe him if he came forward."

"So Holly didn’t even go to the pizza place that night."

"No."

"Then how did she kill Susan?"

"She simply called Susan, told her she couldn’t make it and asked her to come to the house instead."

A creeping sensation made Madison shiver and pull the blankets higher. "And Susan went to her house, after finding that jacket?"

Caleb sighed. "Holly’s an incredible liar. And Susan had all their years as sisters working against her. She probably couldn’t fathom that Holly could really be what the evidence seemed to suggest."

"Like I could never believe it of my father," Madison murmured. "Despite all that evidence."

"Even if Susan thought Holly capable of violence, she probably never dreamed her sister would harm her. There wasn’t any Rohypnol in her blood, though, which leads us to believe she was leery enough to refuse a drink from Holly. She also put up a damn good fight."