Chapter 4
Madison was on her way back to Maitland when her cell phone rang.
“Agent Hart.”
“Agent Hart, this is Detective Logan with the Maitland Police Department. Can you come by the station? There’s been a development with that missing person you were inquiring about.”
“I’m on my way.”
Madison hoped they found the missing woman. It sure would be good news for Margaret’s family and friends. She drove down 17-92 and passed Lake Lily. Madison turned down Maitland Avenue, which ran along the lake’s edge. It would bring her to the rear of the police station. Just as she pulled into the parking lot, Detective Logan was coming out of the building and motioned for her to come with him. Madison didn’t waste any time and jumped into the passenger’s side of his squad car. Logan started up the car and backed out like he was on his way to a fire. “What’s up?”
“A fisherman found a body of a young woman out past Lake Sybelia.” He flipped on the siren.
“Is this the new development you mentioned?”
“It could be. I thought you’d like to be in on this. It matches the description of the woman you were inquiring about.”
“I appreciate it.”
“I’m not sure why the FBI would be interested in this case, but your expertise may be of some help in our case here.”
Oh hell. I hope Logan hasn’t checked to see if the FBI has assigned me here. If so, I’m going to be in hot water for sure.
“Well, since it’s your case, I’ll try not to interfere too much.”
“Sorry, Agent Hart. I didn’t mean to sound sharp with you, but we have not officially asked for the FBI’s assistance on this, yet. It could just be an accidental drowning. We won’t know anything until the coroner looks at the body. You understand, don’t you?”
“Of course. The FBI will not get involved here unless you request it, and we find it warranted, but I do appreciate you calling me in on this. It just may have something to do with the investigation I’m working on.”
Madison was afraid she was digging her hole deeper. If this did not involve the FBI, how was she going to explain her involvement without giving away her assignment with Jim Tucker? She would have to choose her words more carefully from this point on. Detective Logan was no country bumpkin, and he would surely start suspecting she was up to something.
They pulled up next to a marshy area along the edge of the lake. The grasses were high, and this specific area didn’t have too much foot traffic. The officer at the scene had already started taping off the area as the coroner drove up. Detective Logan stopped and introduced Madison to the coroner and then they followed him to the edge of the water.
Doc Webb looked up at Josh. “This body has been in the water for some time. By the decomposition of the body, it looked as though she may have been here for a week or more.” The coroner leaned down and pulled back the flaming red hair from the victim’s face, and noticed a bullet had entered the back of the woman’s skull. “I can’t give you the exact cause of death until I do the autopsy, but I can tell you her death was no accidental drowning; she was shot at close range. This young lady was murdered, but I’ll know more when we get her back to my lab.”
Madison scanned the area looking for s clues and noticed the sun was reflecting on a shiny object in the underbrush, not too far from the body. It was a rhinestone earring. She called Logan over and pointed it out. He laid down his marker, photographed it, and then hollered back to the coroner as they were bagging up the body. “Doc, does she have earrings on?”
“She has one earring on.”
Once Detective Logan bagged the earring, he walked over and unzipped the body bag. The earring Madison found was a match to the one the victim was wearing. It was a rather fancy earring for someone to be wearing for a casual date. This victim had been planning something special.
Madison was sure it was the missing waitress Margaret, and if it was, there was much more to this case. She was eager to get back to her small make-shift office. A theory was formulating, and she wasn’t about to lose any more time. If there was a connection with the other missing women, then this town could have a serial killer on the loose. Madison wanted to find out what that connection was before any more bodies started showing up.
Detective Logan and Madison got back into the squad car and headed to the station. There was silence for most of the trip and then Logan turned to Madison. “Do you think that was the woman you’ve been looking for?”
Madison shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure, but she does have many of the same features of my missing waitress.”
“Your missing waitress?” Detective Logan blurted out.
“What I meant was, the woman I’ve been investigating. I have no misconceptions about this being your case Detective Logan. But if this is the woman I’ve been trying to find, I sure would like to know why she was murdered.” Madison showed that she was no pushover and was not easily intimidated.
“Excuse me, Agent Hart, I didn’t mean to snap at you, but we’ve had the FBI on cases before. Although I’m sure you know your business, this is our jurisdiction.”
“The FBI has no intentions of interfering in your case unless you officially request us.” She hoped he would drop the FBI issue. “Let’s just say I’m here on an unofficial case, but anything I can do to help, I’m at your disposal.” Madison gave him a slight smile.
“Well, that would be nice. But if you’re going to stay around and get in my way, you might as well call me Josh.”
“It’s Madison.”
“Nice to meet you, Madison,”
“Likewise, Detective.”
Madison didn’t want to get too comfortable with this man. She suspected he was up to something and she had no intentions of revealing all her cards in this case to him.
“Well, Madison, can I buy you a cup of coffee? I’d like to pick your brain on a few things about this case.”
Two can play this game. “Thank you. That would be nice.” She gritted her teeth and forced a smile.
They pulled up to a little diner not far from the police station. “They make a pretty good cup of coffee here.”
“This’s fine.”
They sat at a booth near the back of the room. Josh sat with his back to the wall so he could see anyone coming in, and Madison sat facing him. “I guess old habits die hard. Being a cop, we never want our backs to the door. I’m sure you do the same, being an FBI agent, don’t you?”
“No, not really.”
“Just coffee, Sue,” he said to the waitress.
“What’ll you have?” Sue asked Madison.
“Just coffee, thank you.”
“Now where were we?”
Madison grinned. “We were just talking about seating arrangements.”
“Oh yes. I guess it’s different when you live in the same town where you work. With your job, it probably takes you all over. Besides, you don’t look like a Fed.” Josh tried to lighten the conversation.
“I don’t mean to be rude, Josh, but can we talk about the case. I need to get back to work soon.”
Sue came up to the table with their coffees and then left. She hesitated for a moment and smiled at Josh. “Good to see you again, Detective Logan.”
“Nice to see you too, Sue.”
He turned back to Madison, “A lot of us come in here often for coffee.”
“Nice. Now, what was it you wanted to discuss with me?”
Josh straightened his back and took in a big sip of his coffee. “Okay. I wanted to know a little more about this woman you’ve been looking for, and why she come across your desk? Is she involved with something I should know about?”
“Josh, I was doing someone a favor. Someone asked me to look into her disappearance. If this is the woman that I have been looking for, then I’m faced with the harsh reality of having to tell him that she’s been murdered. And if that’s the case, then it puts another
dimension into my investigation. To be honest, that’s all I can reveal to you at this point. You understand, don’t you? I can tell you this; if I find out anything that will help your case, I will not hold out on you. That I can promise.” She leaned back and sipped her coffee.
“You’re a strange one, Agent Madison Hart. But I will hold you to that promise. If you find out anything, please let me know anytime, day or night. I don’t like the idea of someone murdering people in our town.” He took a sip of his coffee but didn’t take his eyes off of Madison.