Madison knew what had to be done. She worked in the forensics lab five, sometimes six, days a week. She knew what needed to be done after a violent crime like this. She knew the procedures. She just…couldn’t remember then now. Someone behind her said her name. She turned.
Tabby was there. She’d shown up from somewhere. When had Tabby shown up? Tabby wasn’t on the clock. Madison was sure of that—she’d made the schedule out herself. It was Tabby’s youngest’s seventh birthday. She’d taken the night off to be with her little girl.
“I came as soon as I heard about Hal and Hope,” Tabby said. As if she could read Madison’s mind. “I got here as soon as I could—the kids are in bed. I’m going to process you, Madison. I’ll get you processed now, then you can shower. It’ll be okay. We are going to process you now.”
Madison just nodded. She knew what was going to happen. How it all worked. She just…followed protocol, doing what Tabby and Ashlie asked her to do. Her mom stood there with her. Her mom wastraumaresponse trained. She was the one trained in forensic nursing. For…sexual assaults. Her mom had gone through the specialized training after Nikkie Jean had implemented the policy that someone on each shift had to be trained in sexual assault protocols at FCGH. No one…had argued…against that policy. Not after everything that had happened to all of them. There was another nurse there,too. Alyssia. Her name was Alyssia, she was trained in assault forensics, too.
Joey Costovia had tried to assault her. He had justdiedbefore he could rape her. Because Detective Kimball had killed him before he could.
Madison wassafehere. She knew she was. Her mother worked here. Her mother’s husband was the head of security here. Vince was here, too. And no matter what, he’d keep her safe, too.
She was safe.
She was calming down. Doing what had to be done. People needed toknowwhat happened out there tonight. They needed to know.
Joey Costovia had tried to assault her.
Madison let the people she worked with process her. So thateverymovement out there would be documented.
So that no one could say tonight didn’t happen the way it had later. So no one couldlie.
So they couldfixthis somehow.
Madison let Ashlie and Tabby process her. She denied the rape kit—he hadn’t raped her tonight. But Detective Joey Costovia had fully intended to. Sol Kimball had just…stopped him…before he could.
By killing Detective Costovia right where he was. Right on top of Madison.
That man had died right on top of her. Madison had felt the life drain right out of him.
That just kept playing over and over in her head.
When they were finished, she finally got a shower. She really needed to get…the blood…
She changed into the scrubs her mom brought her. Then let her mom clean the scrape above her eye and put a bandage on it. She was calming down. She had to calm down. Major Crimesneeded to know what had happened out there in the night. And from what she had heard, she was the only one who was going to be able to tell the story for a long time.
Kimball…he’d been shot, too. By Major Crimes.
Dom had been out there. It might have even beenDomwho had shot him.
She was going to tell itright.To make sure they all knew the evil that had been out there in the night tonight.
For the innocent ones who had been hurt by that monster.
Steve Wilson was the epitome ofevil.The world…needed to know.
Because there were more of him out there.
And she didn’t know who it would come for next. But it would.
Evil always found the innocent.
That was a lesson she would go to her grave believing now.
Now…now Madison had to pull herself together. So she could tell them all what happened. So they could make sure that bastard Steve Wilsonpaidfor what he had done to people. For every single woman he had hurt. For Hope and Haldyn—and Heather.
What he had done to Heather alone was just…evil.
“People need to know. What he did. So they keep him away from Heather. From Heather’s babies. People need to know about Steve Wilson. They just need to know so they can stop him.”
