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Fifty-Two
Madison had one thing to see through before the wedding, even if it meant Cynthia might kill her. She still had a few hours before the wedding.
Michael Carter had been taken off in a body bag, but Rauch was taken to the hospital and slated for surgery. Madison’s bullet had hit her in chest. Doctors thought she’d live, but Madison would make sure Rauch spent those remaining years behind bars.
With Terry at her back, Madison stood next to a groggy and heavily-medicated Rauch.
“You shouldn’t have killed him,” Rauch said.
“Do you really think you’re in any position to threaten me?” Madison tossed back. “Michael Carter was a murderer, and you were hiding him from the police. I’d like to know why.” She glanced at Terry, who stood at the end of the bed. She’d stretched the truth, because the final word wasn’t in yet. There was still the matter of getting the unregistered .357 S&W tested—the one with which Carter had been armed—along with Rauch’s unregistered Glock. Carter’s prints were being compared to the third set pulled from Lynch’s vehicle—the ones connected to the Boyd murders. His DNA would also be run through the system, but that would take much longer than the prints.
“I think you should have just minded your own business,” Rauch spat out, her eyes briefly rolling back into her head. “You and Lorene.”
The way Rauch had hissed out that statement, the glint in her gaze, her reaction to Madison’s telling her she was under arrest for harboring a murderer sprang to Madison’s mind. Rauch had laughed, heartily, after just being shot. Madison went cold and backed up from Rauch even though the woman was cuffed to the bed.
Rauch sneered.
Madison recalled their visit to Rauch when they’d asked her about Michael. Rauch had asked, “You don’t think that Lorene’s looking into her birth parents somehow resulted in her death?”
“You knew all about Lorene investigating her parents’ murders,” Madison accused.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Madison moved in close and applied pressure to Rauch’s wound.
Rauch cried out in pain.
A nurse peeked her head in, and Terry told her everything was fine.
Rauch grimaced and gritted her teeth. “They got what was coming to them.”
“Are you confessing to killing Mrs. Malone and Saul Lynch?”
Terry’s phone dinged a notification, drawing Rauch’s and Madison’s gazes.
He consulted the message and said, “Detective Knight, can I see you in the hall?”
Her partner looked and sounded like he’d just been struck by a truck.
In the hallway, he held up his phone. “Mark just texted on behalf of himself and Sam. Everything’s been rushed and quickly reexamined—”
“Terry, I know we’d asked him to—”
“The shoeprints lifted from the Malone crime scene? They matched the shoes Carter was wearing when they brought his body into the morgue. It’s conceivable that he was present at the murders of Lorene and Lynch—the familial DNA match to Lorene and all.”
“I saw that he did have an injury on his hand.”
“I saw that, too, but we know there’s no way DNA results will be back today. But that third print on Lynch’s steering wheel tied back to—”
Madison could see the answer in his eyes. “Rauch,” she concluded.
Terry nodded. “They were also on the .357 S&W found in the trunk of Lynch’s car.”
“The gun that wasn’t a conclusive match to the bullet fragments taken from Lorene and Lynch.”
“Yup, that one. Well, there’s more.” Terry’s face took on shadows. “Those prints also match the ones left on the Boyds’ eyelids.”
“She killed them, too?”
“At the very least, she was present. Now Sam super rushed the ballistics testing on the .357 S&W that Carter was armed with today. That gun was a match to the bullets extracted from the Boyds.”
“So it’s likely either Rauch or Carter pulled the trigger,” she concluded.
“It would seem. Now, Stephanie from Lynch’s PI firm also got back with the translation of his notes. Lorene had hired Lynch to find her brother, not her parents.”
“But Lynch had uncovered the parents’ murder and— Wait a minute. The cook told us that Lorene and Lynch were happy on Monday night, like they were expecting someone they were looking forward to seeing. Was it to be a reunion?”
“Yep. Lynch had arranged for Carter to meet him and Lorene at the Malones’ on Monday night at eight thirty.” Terry tucked his phone away. “There’s more, though. Lynch’s notes indicate that he felt Rauch might be dangerous.”
“Did he pass that message along to Lorene?”
“No way of knowing for sure.”
“So, what are we looking at here? Michael killed the Boyds for giving him up as a boy—though we can place Rauch there, too—and Rauch killed Lorene and Lynch because they could have exposed the man she loved for murdering the Boyds, and we assume we can place Michael at the Malones’ house.”
“Or he killed all four victims, and she was along for the ride.”
Madison shook her head. “Not the way she reacts so smugly to my saying she’s harboring a murderer. I wouldn’t doubt she pulled the trigger for at least one of them.”
“That’s so not how I saw this all going down. Guess our bets even us out.”
“Guess they do.” She’d lost the bet about Steven Malone’s guilt/innocence, and Terry had lost the bet where he saw Adach as the killer.
“Now, I also found out why Lynch’s prints weren’t in the system,” Terry began. “The simple answer is he was a fraud.”
“But that framed—”
“A fake. I finally got a hold of the state and their certificates have gold foil. Lynch’s was just printed gold.”
“Huh. Guess his reason for doing all that has gone to the grave with him.”
“Best as I can tell.”
Madison took a step toward Rauch’s room, then circled back. “That’s all?”
“Yes, Christmas is over.”
“No, it’s just beginning.” She looked forward to telling Rauch they had her, not just for the attempted murder of a police officer, but for her role in four murders. If she pushed hard enough, maybe she’d get a confession.
Madison took the deepest breath she had in days when she reentered Rauch’s room. Not only had they solved the murder of two people, they’d cleared a cold case. That always made for a good day.