Hunting Death

Chapter 27

"Oh, I've been hunting Mr. Walker for some time now." He eventually answered.

Madison gulped. Keith's theory becoming a little more believable by the minute.

"I'm not actually supposed to talk about this, but, what the hell, it's only fair, Ms. Adams, that you understand what kind of man your father hired." He boasted, making himself more comfortable by leaning back in his chair. "I didn't arrest Mr. Walker yesterday for simple fraud, I picked him up on the suspicion of murder, the fraud charges were only the sticking point until I proved he murdered that girl."

"And now you have proof?" She asked wearily, wanting so badly to trust in Keith's innocence, and hoping to God he hadn't murdered that girl in New York the other night.

"No," Damien admitted begrudgingly. "Not for the first girl anyway, Walker had an alibi, but I'm positive he's involved in it somehow, and when I connect the two, you can bet I'll make sure he goes down for it... but the murder from last night, well, that's a different story, I have ample evidence to..."

"Wait..." Madison butted in, holding up a hand. "What do you mean last night?"

Damien gave her a curious glance, and the two officers stopped dallying with their social media apps long enough to pay her mind as well. "I have evidence that puts Walker at the scene of a murder last night." He said cautiously.

"That's impossible, he's been here all night."

In one quick fluid motion, Damien pushed back from the table, the chair clattering to the floor as he leaned into Madison's face. "You want to run that by me again?"

"I'd rather show you." She replied, her voice laced with steel. She didn't particularly like the fact that the detective's face got within a scant few inches from her own. She smelled his cologne, and though he didn't exactly broadcast his emotions the way Keith did, she noticed he was angry. Almost like a small glimpse of what Keith had described to her.

She found a madness in his eyes. He buried it deep, but a glimmer of it rose to the surface when she'd challenged him. Damien didn't like being wrong about his instincts, and Madison saw now how dangerous he would be if he understood the truth.

Hoping that Keith had stayed put, Madison asked the officers to wait in the kitchen, and led Damien down the stairs into the basement, opening the door to the powder room.

"What the hell is this?" He barked, backing up a step as she walked inside.

Madison didn't answer, she threw a fleeting smile over her shoulder and began moving the panels aside. She heard Damien's quick intake of breath before the heel of his boots clicked on the bathroom tile behind her.

"Why wasn't this listed on the blueprints?"

Madison shrugged, walking into the safe room and heading for the monitor on the left, "We're allowed to have a panic room, aren't we?"

"How convenient." He rasped, watching the monitor as Madison began to rewind the tapes. "And I suppose you didn't tell us about this room during the search for a reason? Perhaps you were hiding something in here, or you simply didn't want us to view the tapes?" He prattled on, turning his attention to the monitor on the right that showed footage of the barns and cottage.

"I guess you'll never know, now will you?" She retorted, tired of his relentless accusations. She realized Keith had done some less than pure things, but a murderer he was not. At least, she seemed pretty sure he wasn't.

Damien scoffed. "Are there any other secret rooms in this house?"

Having rewound the footage to earlier in the day when Keith had first gotten home from the police station, Madison stopped, facing him. "I'm sorry, do you have a warrant to search the property?" She asked snarkily.