Endangered: A Delecoeur Mystery #1 (7 page)

Madeleine looked just as tired and worn
down as he felt. "Have you eaten? Would you like some dinner?"

“Sounds good. What do you have?”

“Sandwiches.”

“Hmmm Julia’s no doubt.”

He laughed. “How hungry are you?”

“Hungry enough to eat Julia’s
sandwiches.”

M
ax put his robe
on and left to get the sandwiches. He returned a few minutes later with a tray
that also included fruit and champagne.

“Looks like someone is hoping to get
lucky,” Madeleine said. She didn’t hold her champagne well. It made her tipsy
and amorous. Max sometimes liked to take advantage of that. Madeleine liked to
let him.

He grinned. “I already did.” Oscar
trotted in and barked a greeting. “Someone else is glad you’re here.”

“I’m so glad to be home. With everything
going on, it helps to have some semblance of normalcy.” She patted the bed and
invited Oscar to sit with her.

“I still don’t know that it’s the best
idea.” He passed her a glass of champagne.

“You aren’t going to try to talk me into
leaving are you?”

“No. Turns out I need some of that
normalcy too. I’m just uncomfortable with the whole situation. The only thing
we know now is that Alan wasn’t involved.”

Madeleine’s smile faded. Alan was dead
and Madeleine couldn’t help but feel responsible. She felt guilty that she’d
even suspected him. Lt. White had told her that Alan's briefcase held documents
that suggested the money had been used to care for his daughter who was
incapacitated following a car accident. Alan had been in Las Vegas during the
time he’d disappeared and was gambling to repay the money. Madeleine wished
that he’d come to her about the money, not because she didn’t like that he
stole from the foundation, but because she would have been eager to help him.

“Why didn’t he come to us about Jackie’s
condition?”

Max shrugged. “I don’t know. Pride
maybe?” He sat on the bed next to Madeleine and handed her a plate with a
sandwich on it.

“We should have known."

"Why? We're not psychic. For some
reason he didn't want us to know."

“Well, hopefully, wherever he is, he
knows that we have made arrangements for her care."

“I didn’t realize how good a gambler he
was. He made five thousand in Vegas and put it back into the foundation.”

“He was there to tell us the situation,
I just know it.”

Max nodded. “I’m sure he was too.” He
took her hand. “It's not your fault.”

“I could have stayed home.”

“I would have preferred that, but we
don’t know that would have changed anything. For all we know he was the
target...”

Madeleine gave him doubtful look.

"The point is, someone else pulled
the trigger."

“I know, it’s just so sad.”

“You’ll be happy to know that Corbin is
doing great.” Max said.

“Corbin?”

“Mr. Tamm.”

“Oh, wonderful.”

“He’ll be getting a nice raise and cushy
job when he’s done recuperating.”

Madeleine smiled. She knew Max would do
something extra special for him. By saving her life, Corbin Tamm had earned the
moon as far as Max was concerned. “He certainly deserves it.”

“He certainly does." Max turned to
her. “Have you been able to remember anything about the shooter?”

She shook her head. After the shooting,
she tried to remember what she’d seen, but all she could recall was Alan
falling and Mr. Tamm pushing her out of the way. Both had been shot and in
Alan’s case, it was fatal. She remembered Max entering the garage and how he
fell to the ground at the site of Alan’s covered body. She realized that he
thought the body was hers and she rushed to reassure him that she was alive.
During their marriage, they’d gone through many emotional experiences together,
but never had the emotions been so intense and raw. She had never seen Max come
completely undone before. It still tore at her heart to think of it.

“I’ll never forget that day and yet, I
can’t seem to recall seeing anything but Alan and then a gun. The person was
passing in a car. A non-descript black car. Everything happened so fast.”

"I hate that Alan is dead and
Corbin was hurt, but I'm forever grateful that you weren't killed. I don't know
how I'd survive without you." Max moved the tray away and pulled Madeleine
back into his arms.

"This is much nicer than being
apart,” she said making the point that she wasn't leaving.

"True."

"Although, I got the impression
that Julia would be happy to oblige you in the love making area."

"When?"

"Tonight. I thought she'd never
leave."

"You were in the house then?"

"Yes." Her tone and expression
were defiant.

"Sure took you long enough to
reveal yourself."

"I had to be sure everyone was
gone."

"Where were you?"

"Laundry room."

He laughed. "No wonder Oscar was so
intent on being in the laundry room."

"He kept me company."

"I guess it's good I sent Julia
away. I was feeling pretty down and there was a time that Julia was good
friend."

Madeleine narrowed her eyes, but didn't
take the bait.

"I remember when my foster parents
chose to adopt Kevin Dreker instead of me. I was devastated, but Julia was
there."

Madeleine frowned up at him.

"What?"

"That was true?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because the very same thing
happened to Bobby Wilde in Julia's book."

"Really?" He looked surprised.

"Yes."

"Well, isn’t the writing motto,
'write what you know'?"

"It can be. I wonder what else is
true in the story?" Madeleine jumped out of bed.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“To get this,” she said picking up the
manuscript from her desk and climbing back in bed.  "Let's see." She
flipped through the pages. "Did you save her from drowning at Lake Sonoma
like Bobby did for Diana?"

He thought a moment. "I don't know
if I really saved her. We were 16 years old and in bathing suits. I think she
just wanted me to hold her. If I remember correctly, that was also the first time
we…” He grinned. “Well, you know.”

"That’s in the book too. In great
detail," she said wryly.

Max blushed, but wasn’t too embarrassed
to ask, “How was I?”

Madeleine made a face. "How about
prom?"

"Prom was not so great,” he said.
“She spent the whole night telling me how rotten I was for deciding to go to
college back east."

Madeleine gaped. "Max, the first
part of this book is almost exactly like your life."

"I never thought my life was that
interesting."

Madeleine rolled her eyes, "Oh
please mister rags to riches."

He laughed. "So how does it
end?"

"It hasn't ended yet, but it's
clear that Bobby and Diana will get together. He's married now to a
lawyer."

"Well that is different."

Madeleine frowned. "I wonder
..."

"What?"

"Well, in this story, Bobby leaves
for college and Diana tries to forget him in the arms of Samuel."

"I would hate to think I was that
easy to get over."

"You're not."

"Have you tried?"

She leaned in and kissed him.
"Never."

"Good."

"Diana gets pregnant and goes to
Bobby hoping he hates the east coast and will come home, go to medical school
and marry her. He says he can't...blah blah blah… So she marries Samuel. We
still don't know who the father is."

She looked at Max, worry furrowed her
brow. "What if that's true too?"

Surprised, Max jerked back. "Julia
and my relationship was not interesting enough to carry a book. She had to add
that in for drama."

"So she never visited you and
begged you to come home."

"Well, she did. She came at
Thanksgiving I think. She wanted me to go to Cal Poly to study engineering. But
she never said she was pregnant. That is where the story is different."

Madeleine looked Max straight in the
eyes. "Diana never told Bobby either."

He shook his head. "That's
ridiculous. It's just a story."

"She has a boy and names him
James.... it's Bobby's middle name."

Max turned away and she could see he was
putting the proverbial puzzle pieces together. His middle name was Charles and
some people named Charles went by the name Chas. She watched as he began to
count on his fingers, nine months. She saw the dread in his eyes and regretted
putting it there.

"You know, you're probably right,”
she said throwing the manuscript on the floor. “It’s just a story. People's
lives are not usually so dramatic."

"It could be possible."

"Certainly she would have told
you."

He starred at her for a long moment.
"Julia had cared for me as much as she was capable of caring for anyone,
but she was always looking out for herself first. She chose William Newcomb
because he had money and I had nothing."

"You had something more important
than money; integrity and heart."

"She said she would wait for me
while I went to Cal-Poly because she knew engineers made good money, but I
wanted to go down a different path, one that didn't include marriage to her...
But if she told me she was pregnant-"

"You would have done right by
her." Madeleine shuddered at the thought that she and Max could have had a
life without each other.

"I would have come back to
California, but I don't think I'd have married her." He sighed. "I
wonder what kind of man that makes me."

"Max?" Madeleine held his face
in her palms. "It's probably not true. This story will end with Bobby,
Diana and James living happily ever after. That didn’t happen in this
case."

He stopped and new dread shone in his
eyes. "What happens to Bobby's lawyer wife?"

"I don't know. She hasn't written
that far."' Then she realized what he was thinking. "She could die,
but Diana wouldn't kill her. Romances don't work like that."

"But it could in real life."

Madeleine thought about it. "I
still can't see her killing me."

"She's made herself very accessible
to me."

"Yes, and I'm sure she'd love to be
there for you in every way possible, but I still don't see her killing me to
get you. Julia is vain. She'd rather steal you. She needs to know it’s her
wiles that got you. Plus she and Chas both were here in Los Angeles when I had
the accident in San Francisco."

"I still don't like it."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to read this manuscript
and talk to Lt. White in the morning when I send you back to the safe
house."

Madeleine's back went stiff. "You
will not."

"If it is her, you can't be here. It's
too risky."

Madeleine was about to argue, but the
dark look in Max’s eyes changed her mind. She wasn’t going to give in, but she
wasn’t going to argue about it while he was upset.  Instead, she retrieved the
manuscript and settled next to him giving him enough space to read, but still
maintaining contact.

Max leaned over and kissed her temple.
“I love you. You know that.”

“Yes, I do.” She saw the same
determination in his eyes, but like her, he elected not to press his point. She
decided she'd let him read and then she'd use the rest of the night to show him
why he should keep her around.

T
he phone rang at
8 a.m. Max was just rolling out of bed after Madeleine had woken him in the
most sensuous way possible. It wasn’t unusual for him to wake up with her
making love to him, but he knew her motives were to guarantee he’d keep her
around. He was still bothered by Julia’s manuscript, but was trying to talk
himself into believing it was a whole lot of fiction built on a little bit of
reality.

“Max Delecoeur,” he answered a little
too animated for someone who was supposed to be grieving.

“It's Harry,” Lt. White said on the
other end. "How are things?"

"You know how they are and I don't
like it."

"I don't believe you," Harry
said. "But if you want, you can send her back."

"Do you have news?" Max asked.

“I got a call from Springer this
morning. They found the truck.”

“What’s the word?” He tapped Madeleine
to let her know there was news.