Her ex was never out of touch; he lived with his cell phone and BlackBerry. Chloe’s condition must be serious after all. “She’ll be okay. It’s not life-threatening. Is it?”
Jade shook her head. “Aiden called earlier. She has a staph infection but they’re getting it under control.”
“He’ll be in later?”
“He doesn’t want to leave Chloe if she needs him. How cool is that?”
Touching. Positively touching. Madison reached down and stroked Aspen’s silky head. She couldn’t help thinking this might be Chloe’s just deserts. The woman had been blessed with a brilliant scientific mind, yet she relied on her body to get what she wanted. Chloe had gone after Aiden with the determination of a shark after a fish.
After Aiden had left her for Chloe, Madison had run into an old friend from MIT. Pamela Nolan had gone on to grad school at Stanford, where she’d known Chloe. Pamela had described her as “pathologically sexual” and told tales of the havoc Chloe had wrought upon the grad program while she’d been at Stanford. Pamela didn’t know what had happened, but Chloe had left before receiving her master’s degree. No one knew why she’d headed to Miami.
Madison had considered telling Aiden, then thought it would sound like sour grapes. What was the gossip worth, anyway? Not much. People always talked about each other. Nothing she could have said would have changed Aiden’s mind. He was head over heels in love with Chloe.
A pang, a yearning as familiar as Madison’s own reflection in a mirror, hit her. Was there nothing Aiden wouldn’t do for Chloe? He’d never once treated Madison with such adoration. Too often her longing to understand his betrayal had a rough edge that morphed into anger or self-pity. Don’t go there, she warned herself. Keep your mind on business.
“I’ll be at my desk.” Madison jiggled Aspen’s leash. He’d settled himself on the floor while they’d been talking. As he jumped to his feet, she remembered the food. Even though it was barely midmorning, heat had purled up from the asphalt parking lot when she stepped out of her car and with it came a suffocating wave of humidity. It would be an oven in less than half an hour. “There’s food in my car from the reception. I want to put it out in the break room for everyone to share. Will you help me—”
“I’ll get it.” Jade popped out of her chair and Madison handed her the car keys. “You have work to do.”
“Okay, boy, here we are,” she told Aspen when they reached her office. “Find a spot and make yourself comfortable. We’ll be here for a while.”
Aspen cocked his head and gazed up at her as if he truly understood. He was an amazing animal. She knew from experience that he would nudge her with his nose when he had to go out. He was so well trained that it amazed her he could have wound up in a testing facility. Had he been stolen from someone who’d lovingly trained him?
Madison sat in her swivel chair, wondering as she had many times about the dog. She was tempted to search for his owners, but she was afraid to call attention to Aspen. Rob had warned this could result in the lab being able to prove it legally owned Aspen. She’d already decided that this dog would never be returned to a lab if she could help it. The retriever settled under her desk at her feet.
She sifted through the pile of messages that Jade had placed in her phone message box. Paul Tanner had called several times; he’d also left messages she’d ignored on her cell phone. Would the man ever give up and go away?
Madison was positive she hadn’t been conceived through some anonymous sperm donor. She was her father’s daughter. Zach Connelly had shared many secrets with her during the final days before cancer claimed him. He would have told her if she hadn’t been his biological daughter.
Not that it made any difference. Titles like father and sister were merely words. Erin’s death had sent Madison into an emotional tailspin. It was like losing her sister. She wouldn’t have loved a real sister any more than she had Erin. That’s why Erin’s secrets hurt so much. Why hadn’t she mentioned that the property her parents had left her had suddenly become so valuable?
Madison tamped down another emotional response and turned her thoughts back to her father. He’d raised her with so much love that she doubted any father and daughter could have been closer. When she spoke to her mother about Paul Tanner’s outrageous claim, they’d share a real hoot.
There were stacks of printouts on her desk. She knew most of them were trivia questions programmers wanted to post on the site but worried that players might have problems with. Trivia players were classic nitpickers. If an answer wasn’t exactly correct, the site would be inundated with e-mail complaints.
The first question she scanned asked about the tallest mountain on earth. The obvious answer was Mount Everest, but there was another mountain in Africa that was nearly half a mile taller. This was because the earth wasn’t round like a basketball, but elliptical, meaning it was wider at the equator. This width translated to additional height, making some obscure African mountain taller than Everest. This was exactly the type of question Total Trivia gamers adored, but it would have to be phrased properly to add the key element of the shape of the earth.
Madison was usually good at rewriting confusing questions, but her mind was still muzzy from lack of sleep. She scooted the stack aside and turned on her computer, wondering why Aiden had been in her office. It certainly wasn’t to rework questions. Though Aiden was great with the computer and finances, he was terrible at rewrites. He left those to Madison.
Still suspicious about Aiden’s motives, she opened her e-mail folder and found hundreds had come in while she’d been away. She could have checked them from home, but she hadn’t bothered. Squinting at the screen, she scrolled through the list to see if any of them were really important.
Madison was still answering e-mails when she heard Jade walk into the cubicle. A quick glance at the time on her computer told Madison that nearly two hours had passed.
“There’s, like, someone to see you from the police,” Jade informed her. “How cool is that?”
Right behind Jade was one of the homicide detectives who’d questioned her at the station the day Erin’s body had been discovered. Suddenly there was a weight in the center of her stomach. She ventured a sideways glance under the desk where Aspen was sleeping. The dog couldn’t be seen from the opposite side of her desk where the detective stood watching her.
Madison rose, extended her hand and forced a smile. “Detective…”
“Lincoln Burgess.” The stout man with sparse gray hair and a walrus mustache shook her hand. A trace of stale cigarette smoke rose from his lightweight sport coat as he moved. “Mind if I sit?”
“Please.” Madison slowly sank into her own chair. She’d mentally prepared herself for this moment but now that it had arrived she couldn’t help being edgy.
“I just had a few follow-up questions.” His tone was conversational but it did nothing to ease her nerves. “It’s about the dog.”
Dread rolled over her like a silent, all-encompassing fog. She waited with what she hoped was a neutral expression on her face.
“The dog you had with you at the crime scene. Had it been in the house?”
Madison had prepared herself for this interrogation with Rob’s help. No sense in lying more than necessary. Forensic experts would know Aspen had been in the house. Work around this—don’t fight it.
“Yes. Erin told me she had a golden retriever for me. When I came to pick up my cell phone, he was in the kitchen with his bill of sale and everything.”
The detective’s pale blue eyes narrowed. “When did she tell you this?”
“On Friday night when we went clubbing. Erin said a woman she’d met had a dog she couldn’t keep. Erin knew I was looking for a pet and bought him for me.”
Two beats of silence. “You never mentioned the