Chapter 11 - Madison Wasn't With Her
I showed Dad the photo.
He swore under his breath.
The detective took my phone.
“When was this sent?”
“Now.”
He studied the image.
“Are you sure it’s current?”
Madison wore the emerald dress from the night before.
Veronica wore the same champagne blouse.
Dad called Madison.
No answer.
Again.
Voicemail.
He called Madison’s grandmother.
She answered on the first ring.
“Richard, thank God.”
“Where is Madison?”
“With you.”
“No.”
A pause.
“She left with Veronica.”
“When?”
“About an hour ago.”
Dad closed his eyes.
“Did she want to go?”
“I thought so.”
That sentence hung in the cold air.
The detective asked for the grandmother’s address and dispatched officers.
I stared at the photo again.
Something bothered me.
Then I saw it.
“Zoom in.”
The detective did.
Madison’s left wrist.
A green paper bracelet.
“What is that?” Dad asked.
“Hospital bracelet.”
I knew because I had worn the same kind at urgent care.
The detective enlarged the background.
Concrete pillar.
Red stripe.
Partial word: MED.
He made a call.
Within ten minutes, police located the garage at St. Anne’s Medical Center.
We drove there behind an unmarked car.
My knees would not stop bouncing.
Dad kept saying, “She’s okay.”
Neither of us knew.
The garage level was nearly empty.
They found Veronica’s car.
Unlocked.
Nobody inside.
On the passenger seat sat Madison’s phone.
The screen was cracked.
Dad grabbed it before the detective could stop him.
There was one unsent text.
Claire please don’t hate me.
I felt the floor drop under me.
“What happened to her?”
A security guard approached.
“I saw the blonde girl.”
“When?”
“Maybe forty minutes ago.”
“Was she alone?”
The guard nodded.
“She was crying. Went through the emergency entrance.”
Dad and I ran.
A nurse stopped us at the desk.
“Madison Bennett?”
The nurse checked the computer.
Then looked up.
“She’s here.”
Dad exhaled.
“Is she hurt?”
I closed my eyes.
“Can we see her?”
The nurse hesitated.
“She specifically asked for her sister.”
Dad looked at me.
I went alone.
Madison sat on the bed in a hospital gown, mascara streaked down her face.
When she saw me, she started crying.
“I didn’t know,” she said.
“Know what?”
She held out a tiny flash drive.
“Mom made me steal this from Dad’s office.”
I took it.
May you like
“What’s on it?”
Madison whispered, “The reason she married him.”
