“What are you doing here?” Devereaux snarled from the doorway. He wasn’t wearing his normal suit. He’d swapped it for jeans and a burgundy collared shirt. If it weren’t for the expression of fury on his face, he might have looked like a normal person.
“Phil—” Ryan said weakly.
Devereaux strode into the room. “How incompetent are these nurses?”
“I said she could stay,” Ryan said.
“She’s the one who got you into this situation to begin with.”
All of my anger toward my parents and Devereaux built up to a tipping point. “I’m standing right here,” I said.
“Actually, it was the both of us, if you remember our conversation,” Ryan said.
Devereaux narrowed his eyes at me. “Five more minutes. Then Ryan needs his rest.”
I had only that amount of time left before I had to leave regardless, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
Devereaux remained in the room, staring at his phone. He was either reading something very engaging or counting down the seconds until I left.
Ryan and I didn’t have any meaningful conversation with his brother in the room, but I was happy I’d come to see him instead of continuing to make up worst-case scenarios in my head.
After saying goodbye to Ryan, I left the room. I drew in slow, steady breaths on the way to the elevator. He was going to be fine. As much as I wanted to get answers and closure about Joe’s death, it wasn’t worth the risk of anyone else getting hurt. I hoped that Devereaux could find a new lead based on the information Ryan revealed to him.
The elevator opened and two doctors came out. They brushed past me, continuing their conversation without missing a beat. I entered the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby.
As the doors were closing, a hand stopped the movement of the doors.
I looked up. “Oh sorry, I didn’t—”
Devereaux entered the small space and I moved away from him, shoving myself into the corner as much as I could.
The doors closed, sealing us inside.
“Ryan told me everything about the case,” he said. “And, while he said you weren’t involved as much as I suspect, I have to treat this as a case with you as an unreliable witness.”
I wasn’t sure whether it was the fact that Ryan almost died or that my patience with Devereaux’s accusations had worn thin.
“What is your problem with me?” I hated that my voice shook, but the idea that Ryan almost died overwhelmed me.
“Excuse me?” he asked.
“From the first interview, you always had it out for me and I want to know why.”
He smiled smugly. “I don’t have it out for you.”
“You don’t even know me.” I had the urge to wipe that smile off his face. “You took an overdose case and accused a seventeen-year-old girl of murder. If that isn’t having a problem with someone I don’t know what is.”
“You’re taking this a little too personally.”
“Wouldn’t you?” I pressed.
“I’m just doing my job,” he said. “I have to explore all avenues.”
“Well, you’re crap at it. There’s a big possibility the person you should be looking into almost killed your brother, yet you continue to focus on me. Why is that? What did I ever do to you?”
The elevator doors opened in the lobby and several people looked at us, waiting to get in.
“You know what? Forget it. I hope you get your priorities straight before something worse happens.”
I stormed off through the lobby, and he didn’t follow that time.
By some miracle, I beat my parents home by only a few minutes. I was in the kitchen, raiding the refrigerator when the front door opened. The confrontation with Devereaux gave me a serious appetite.
“In here,” I said.
Mom rushed into the room and wrapped me in a hug. “I’m so sorry about Ryan.”
“Me too,” I said, sinking into her embrace. Tragedy had a way of bringing people together. Even if those people had lied to me about where I’d come from. In some ways, I’d already forgiven them, but I would get the truth I deserved. Even if I had to demand it.
“I can call Detective Devereaux for an update tomorrow,” Dad offered.
“That would be great,” I said, moving away from Mom. I hoped Devereaux wouldn’t tell him where I’d been that afternoon.
Mom checked her watch. “I told Madison to be here by now.”
“Let me try her,” I said.
A few minutes after I texted her, I received a message in return. “I need you to come get me.” An address came through after that. I wondered if our conversation had anything to do with her confronting Alice.
“Is she coming?” Mom asked.
“She’s at a friend’s house and needs a ride.”
Mom sighed and turned to face me. “What is it with her lately?”
“Not sure. Maybe you should ask her?”
“I’ve asked her every day for two months since the gray cloud settled over her head.”
I grabbed my purse and keys. “Don’t stop asking. I’m sure she’ll open up soon.” Mom gave me a look. “I’ll be back soon.” I walked to my car while entering the address into my phone. Within seconds the map with directions filled the screen.
It wasn’t like Madison to be late. Ever. Especially when it came to family meetings. For as much as I wanted to fit in at school, she was determined to be the good girl at home. Something must have happened with Alice. I couldn’t imagine anything else getting to her the way her fight with Alice had.
I drove past the beach toward the downtown area. I followed the blue line on my map through downtown and the destination ended on the marina. A big blue dot mocked me from my phone. I looked around, confused. Unless Alice lived on a boat, I was sure Madison had given me the wrong directions.
As if she heard my thoughts, my phone lit up with another text.
“Last slip, red and black boat.”
My hunch was right.
I parked in a random lot outside of the marina and walked through the rows of docks to the last slip. There weren’t many boats parked on the docks. I assumed a lot of them were still out in the distance, soaking up the remainder of the day. The sun had just started to set in the distance; the yellow-orange ripples in the water reflected harshly into my eyes. The scent of seawater filled my nose. I realized I hadn’t spent one day at the beach this summer and, since Ryan and I were done with our investigation, I planned on taking him there as much as I could when he felt up to it.
Eventually, I found the boat that Madison described. The slick black vessel with red stripes down the side was one of the bigger ones. It gently rocked with the slow waves.
“Madison?” I called. If she was inside with Alice I didn’t want to embarrass her again by surprising them.
I stepped onto the boat. The deck could have used a wash. Various specimens of sea life clung to the spaces between the wood. As I looked around, the entire boat appeared as if it hadn’t been used for a while. Warning bells went off in my head. If Madison was here, I needed to get her out.
“Madison?” I called again, approaching the door to the interior of the boat.
I opened the door and peered inside the dark space. I hadn’t had the opportunity to see many boats outside of the Blairs’ yacht but I knew something was off. The interior was stripped of all furniture and the ceiling was open in numerous places; insulation and other material hung down like sleeping bats. The windows were covered or boarded up, I couldn’t tell.
For a moment, I thought I had the wrong boat—until I heard a scraping sound and a small whimper in the corner of the space. Someone was there.
“H-hello?” I said, my voice trembling. If I did have the wrong boat I didn’t care to be on it a minute longer.
“Hello, Cara,” a voice said in the darkness.
A bright beam of light stung my eyes. I held up my hands against it. The beam moved, pointing to another part of the room. I blinked rapidly. Black voids in my vision prevented me from seeing what was really going on. The steady beam focused my attention, yet I couldn’t get rid of the black spots.
“Madison?” I called, thrusting my hands out in front of me for balance.
Another muffled sound, then shuffling footsteps, made every single hair on my body rise.
I followed the sound. The beam of light shone on someone in a chair. No, not just someone.
Madison.
Her wide eyes reflected the light. Her mouth was covered with fabric and she was bound to a chair. The thick rope held her ankles down and her arms were pulled behind her. I assumed they were tied as well.
What had I walked into?
My legs were rooted to the floor and my mouth went dry.
A lantern clicked on, revealing Madison’s captor. When the masked face was revealed, I gasped.