That bastard Grundenman had made it clear several times—Dom had listened to the recordings Hope had taken—Heather had gotten too close four years ago. Whatever investigations she’d worked back then could potentially hold the key to identifyingallof the bastards involved, not just the Grundenmans.
And there were more of Trey Grundenman’s cronies out there. Right now, Heather was as vulnerable as she could get. She was also the one with the information they needed most. Dom wasn’t taking that knowledge lightly.
He finished with his father and went in search of the chief of the TSP. Elliot Marshall was in the building somewhere. Daniel McKellen and Gunnar Erickson were Marshall’s closest friends on the planet. Elliot wouldn’t be too far away. They needed to have a talk. Fast.
But first…Madison.
He just needed to know she was okay. He needed to see her. Just for a moment. See how she was dealing with this now.She was sitting in the corner, next to Hope, when he walked in. “Madison. We need to talk.”
She stood. It surprised him. Normally, she fought Dom on everything. From principle alone. And had for years. Sometimes, he thought she just liked triggering him. Well, he did it to her, too. He loved it when her eyes snapped fire at him. “In the hallway?”
“We’ll go for a walk. Outside.”
Madison followed him,until they were in the rear garden of the hospital. There were benches in the center of the small courtyard. She sat. Waited. “Okay, I really need to know what’s going on here. I’m just getting bits and pieces from what I can put together from what Hope’s family is saying.”
“Trey Grundenman and his friends—I’m assuming Wilson was a part of it, as well—were using foreclosed properties in Hughes Heights to store Opal Joy. That was behind Powell being targeted in the first abduction attempt.”
“I figured that part out. But…how? I mean, Hughes Heights has security. And people walk around there everywhere. Plus, some pretty important people live there. Judges, lawyers, people whorunthe TSP. And it was all happening right there—with security everywhere.” She’d been to Hughes Heights a million times. Powell lived there; Shelby, too. Madison and her friends spent a lot of time at Shelby’s. They always had. Every time, they had to check in at the gates. And they saw the security team patrolling all the time.
But…question the premise. Maybe…the security hadn’t been keeping thingssecureat all. Maybe they were as dirty aseveryone else in this town seemed to be. People weren’t safeanywhere.
Madison had learned that lesson a long time ago.
“That’s something I’m going to find out.”
“So why are all the Colesons involved?” Cara, Hope’s niece, had spent most of the time in the cafeteria reminding her family of their Miranda rights. So much so, they hadn’t done much talking about what had happened tonight at all. Madison had listened to what they were all saying and tried to figure out some sort of timeline for what had happened. “This seems a bit crazy, with them.”
The Colesons were all talking in circles—at the same time. Confusing everyone who listened. So much so, Madison was almost thinking they were doing it on purpose.
She just hadn’t been able to figure out why.
The one thing she hadn’t missed was the fear on their faces, though.
Joy Coleson had kept telling Jake the scientific names for every bone in the body alphabetically. Every single one. Then she’d informed him what they were in reverse alphabetical order. Then…by location. Then, by size. The woman had a phenomenal memory, apparently.
The rest of her family had let her do most of the talking. Which…she did. At almost warp-speed. She was like Hope on four energy drinks or something—and that was saying a lot.
Jake was probably still recovering. The blonde—Heather’s twin—had followedhim around to give him her bony statement, too. She seemed to take a particularjoyout of doing her best to annoy Jake for some reason.
“Heather orchestrated a rescue mission, with help from Rodriguez and some of her family. Grundenman forced Powell to call her, to lure her out. He intended to kill Heather—to keep her quiet about what she may have found during previous casesshe’d worked. Or revenge or something. Or both. Didn’t want her putting things together, apparently.”
“Like what?”
“That’s what I need to get in to find out. Or get one of those Coleson lunatics to actuallytalk.Give a statement or something.” His frustration was obvious to her. Maybe not to someone who didn’t know him—but she saw it in his eyes. “They are being difficult and will apparently only talk to Murdoch now. They said Jake is too…difficult to communicate with. One of Zoey’s sisters asked if Jake needed to eat moreprunes.He apparently seems constipated tonight. Another niece offered to give his wife a high-fiber diet plan for him to follow.”
“I think it’s because they are all very afraid of the TSP. Likely a conditioned response. Is Heather safe?”
“I’ve already spoken with Dad. And Marshall’s bringing in guards. We’re going to keep Heather as safe as we possibly can.” Dom was watching the doors to the courtyard. He had that warrior look in his eyes again. The one that said he was holding back something—and going into overprotective mode. “I think this shit is just now getting started.”
Madison nodded, fighting the urge to go home and hide under her bed until it ended. She’d been so afraid, for weeks. “I just don’t think it’s all over yet. What do we do now?”
“Now?Youget back upstairs. Stay with Powell. But…watch yourself. This…I don’t know what direction we’ll be attacked in next.” His dark eyes were full of anger and…secrets. But the rage—it was real. These were his friends, too. People he cared about. And she knew…he was hurting.
They all were. Hurt and fear—it had been constant companions since the choir hall shooting. She was so sick of the darkness. It didn’t feel like it would ever end now.
“You think there will be more attacks.” If everything they had been through was just the warmup act, she didn’t know howmuch they could all take. Who would be next? Because from where she was standing, the list was getting shorter and shorter.
“I think if I had something going on that I wanted to protect or hide and theenemywas getting a hell of a lot closer to me, then yes. I would go on the offense. To make sure I protected what was mine. Even if what is mine is illegal. We’ve taken out major players repeatedly lately. Someone is going to be feeling the heat of that.”
