Beyond Secrets, The Art of Murder_A Madison Hart Mystery Read online

  “We just want to find her and make sure she’s okay. Is there any chance that she left town with someone that night?”

  “I’m sure Margaret would have told me if she had planned something like that. We were pretty close. She did tell me she was going to introduce me to her new friend, so why would she run off?”

  Madison thanked Sandy for her help and gave her a card. “If you can think of anything else you can call me at this number.” As Madison left, she saw Sandy staring off across the park.

  Madison took another trip to the art center, only this time with a picture of Margaret, and she was going to investigate this case officially.

  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 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 is 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 Madiso
n, “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.

  Chapter 5

  Detective Logan walked Madison back to her car. “Keep in touch, Madison.”

  Madison smiled. “Will do, Josh.”

  All she wanted to do was get back to her office and update her board, and call Jim to let him know what she had found out. She opened the door of her office, dropped her purse on the desk, and stood there looking at the board and then moved Margaret’s picture to the top. Though there was no confirmation on the ID yet, Madison felt it was most likely Margaret because of her red hair.

  Madison called Margaret’s friend, Sandy, from the restaurant, and sent a picture of the earring via text. She asked Sandy if she had ever seen one like it before. Immediately, Madison got a response. “Yes, I’ve seen one like it. My friend Margaret had a pair just like that. It was a gift from her special friend. Where did you find it?”

  Madison didn’t want to alarm Sandy, so she just told her that the earring was found in Maitland. She hoped Sandy wouldn’t ask too much or become fearful there was something Madison wasn’t telling her. Without proof that it was Margaret they found, there was no point in upsetting Sandy? “Thank you for your help Sandy.” Madison quickly hung up before Sandy could ask anything else.

  Madison was now sure the murdered woman found that day was the missing Margaret Hill. She called Jim. “Jim, this is Madison. The Maitland Police Department found a body of a young woman, and it may be one of our missing women. I’m getting a bad feeling about this assignment. I hope this isn’t a pattern, and we end up finding more victims.”

  “Thank you, Madison. Keep on it. See if you can find out anything else on the other missing women I told you about.”

  “I will. I’m planning to contact my sources in the FBI to see if I can find a connection or anything they have in common. I’ll talk to you soon. I’m going to fax you what I have so far, and a copy of the information to Winter. I know she still wants to put together the story as it unfolds.”

  Madison taped Ms. Hill’s picture at the top of the board along with the photo of the earring and then lined up the other photos of the missing women. She stood back looking at the photos. “What in the hell do these women have in common? What is their connection? I know once I figure that out, it will lead me to Margaret Hill’s killer.”

  This case was bothering Madison. She felt the answers were right in front of her, but she was missing the obvious. She called Detective Logan and asked if the coroner had made a positive ID yet.

  “Funny, you should call. I was just about to call you. Doc Webb determined that it was your missing woman, Margaret Hill. He has officially ruled her death a homicide. She was shot at close range in the back of the head, but no shell casings were found in, or near the body. He’s not sure of the type of weapon used until he gets the report back from ballistics. I was planning to go back to the crime scene and wondered if you’d like to tag along?”

  Madison bit her tongue at the remark “tag along.” This man certainly is full of himself, but I won’t let his arrogance deter me from using him for information. “I appreciate that. I’ll be right over.”

  “I could pick you up if you’d like.”

  The last thing she wanted was for him to step into her space, snooping around for information. “That’s okay. I’m practically out the door now. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” She quickly hung up the phone, so he wouldn’t have time to suggest driving over to her place.

  She grabbed her bag, swung it into her car and took off toward the station. It was only a block away, but she didn’t want him to know how close she was. She wasn’t ready to share everything with him yet and wasn’t sure how much she trusted him at this point.

  Her car barely got warm before she was parking in front of the station. She entered the lobby and stepped up to the receptionist’s desk. Just as she was about to ask for Detective Logan, Betty, the woman behind the desk looked up. “Agent Hart? Detective Logan is on his way out. It will just be a minute. Would you like to have a seat?”

  “No thank you. I’ll just wait here.”

  Betty continued with her work and left Madison to roam the lobby. There were several plaques on the wall for outstanding accomplishments, and a few were honoring Detective Logan’s investigative work. She turned back to the desk, “Excuse me. I see Detective Logan has several plaques on the wall for outstanding work. What type of cases were they that earned him such high recognition?”.

  Betty stood up with a big grin on her face; it was as if Madison had praised her. She stepped up to the counter and was just about to enlighten Madison when Logan came through the door. “I hope I didn’t keep you long. I was just going over a few things with the Chief. Are you ready?”

  “Uh…yes.” She turned back to Betty. “Maybe another time?”

  “Sure,” Betty replied.

  Detective Logan led the way to the door and opened it for her. Madison was startled when he held the door open. “After you.”

  “Thank you.”

  He led her to his squad car, but this time did not open her door. It was back to business. They headed down Packwood Drive toward Lake Sybelia. As they passed the Maitland Art Center, Madison felt that she wanted to return there later.

  They continued driving along the south side of the lake. The canal opened into a smaller section of the lake where they found the body. Detective Logan pulled up as close as he could to the area that had been taped off. He lifted up the tape, and they entered the crime scene. The site was somewhat compromised but still secured enough that possibly they could find some clues.

  Josh combed the area, looking for any evidence that would indicate where the crime took place but found nothing. Madison stood back surveying the area from a distance and noticed a slight indention in the grass. She backed up to the road to get a better panoramic view. It looked like something was dragged through the tall grasses.

  “Detective, I think I have something here. I’d like your opinion on this.” He turned and made his way back to the road.

  “What is it?”

  “Do you see anything strange?”

  He quickly scoped the area and then turned toward the direction Madison was facing and pointed. “Yeah. Drag marks right to the area where we found the body.”

  “That’s what I thought, too. I don’t believe this is where the murder took place, do you?”

  “No, I don’t. I think our victim was dragged down to the water, and that’s why no one heard anything out of the ordinary. The questions now are where was she killed, why was she killed and who killed her?” Josh looked around as he scratched the top of his head.

  Madison was impressed with his observation and genuine concern for the case. Up until that moment, all she had seen in Detective Logan was a cocky cop trying to make an impression, but beneath that exterior, he just might be good at his job.

  “Agent Hart, you have
a good eye for details. I believe I’ve underestimated you. What do you think of us working on this case together?”

  “I think I could work with that. I need to check with my boss and see if we can assist. Are you officially asking for the FBI’s help in this case?”

  “Ah hell, I guess I am.”

  “Okay then, I’ll make a call and get back with you. Either way, I will help you with this one. I have a feeling about this case but don’t want to speculate right now until I have more facts in place. Also, if we are going to work together, it’s Madison.”

  He extended his hand to shake hers. “It’s Josh.”

  “Josh, let’s finish up here for now, so I can make a few calls. I don’t want us to waste any time. However, I will need you to request the FBI's assistance formally. I’ll get back to you shortly on this.”

  They drove back to the station and Madison returned to her office and called her boss at the FBI, Agent Stratton Wells. “Stratton, as you know, I’m here in Maitland helping my sister with her recovery. I was doing a little P.I. work for her on a story she started and stumbled onto a murder that might be connected to Winter’s story. Detective Josh Logan of the Maitland Police Department would like our help and resources in this case. Stratton, I’d like to be assigned to this one. What started out as a missing person’s case has now become a homicide.”

  “Send me what you have so far. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can,” Stratton said.

  “I don’t want to wait too long. I fear more bodies will be found, and if so, we have a serial killer in the area. We need to find soon. I’m faxing over the information now.”

  Stratton called Martin Baines in so they could review what Madison had faxed. “Martin, I hope she’s wrong, but there are some strange similarities here. You know Madison has a knack for identifying that sort of thing.”

  “She does, and I’m going to trust her on this one, but I want her to keep us posted on every step in this investigation. She’s treading on thin ice with this, and I don’t want our office caught off guard.”