Authors: Jacquie Johnson
Timmy tossed a friendly smile over his shoulder and nodded.
“If you don’t mind.
It’s old and tends to stick. I keep telling Miss Cat she should get it fixed, but she just laughs and says it adds character.”
Angela ambled toward them as Chase raised the garage door, the muscles in his biceps rippling as he lifted the door with ease.
Chase leaned against the frame as Timmy rolled the mower inside and parked it in the corner.
“Miss Cat?” Chase inquired with a raised eyebrow as Angela peered inside the dusty oversized one car garage.
“That’s what I call the lady who owns the house. She’s really nice.” Timmy’s warm brown eyes filled with sadness. “She’s not here right now, but I hope she comes back real soon.”
“Ah, she’s on vacation?” Chase probed, hoping the boy would offer more information.
“Not sure,” Timmy shrugged. “She just told me to cut the lawn like usual, and she’d pay me when she got back. Thanks for the help.” Timmy stood on his toes to reach the door. Chase helped him lower it and watched as Timmy locked up.
As Timmy headed up the street, Angela pulled Chase in the opposite direction, practically skipping back toward the car. “I know where Cat is,” she announced. “She went to see Maddie.”
Chase waited until they arrived back at the hotel before he asked, “What makes you think Cat went to see Maddie?”
“The bikes are gone,” Angela replied, and Chase shot her a quizzical look.
“Explain.”
Angela smiled. “Cat has a Harley. She’s been riding for years. When Maddie separated from her husband, she bought her own motorcycle and stored it at Cat’s. Both bikes were missing from the garage.”
“And the fact that the bikes were missing makes you think Cat and her male friend went to see Maddie?” Chase inquired. “That’s kind of weak reasoning, babe. They could have taken the bikes anywhere.”
“Cat doesn’t like to use the bike for long distances. She doesn’t usually ride any further than five hours away.”
Chase waited for Angela to continue, seeming to realize that she was trying to work things through out loud. “Maddie has a cottage about eight hours from here. Since someone else is traveling with her, she might consider making the trip on the bike. She’d be safe there. I’m pretty sure
Maddie’s
hiding out there this summer.”
“Why would Maddie be hiding out?” Chase wondered, lying next to Angela on his stomach, his chin resting on his connected hands.
“Short version?” she proposed, and Chase inclined his head in agreement.
“High society family, marital merger, nasty divorce, and cruel soon-to-be ex-husband.”
She flipped onto her stomach and rested her forehead on her arms, her words muffled by the covers. “Remember I told you
Maddie’s
family owns Madeleine’s Candies? Well,
Maddie’s
smart and sweet and thoughtful. A few years ago Carrington Enterprises tried to engineer a hostile takeover of Madeleine’s Candies. The Carrington family agreed to back off only if Maddie married the heir apparent, Thaddeus Carrington. For the good of the family, Maddie acquiesced even though she didn’t want to marry Thaddeus. He’s cold, arrogant and overbearing. Over time, he forced Maddie to withdraw from her family and friends, for various reasons. First, she was too busy taking care of her husband and her new responsibilities; then she was allegedly ill; and finally he informed everyone that she refused to leave the house. After three years of suffering, she finally contacted Cat for help. He’d started abusing her right after they were married. Initially, he threatened to hurt her family if she didn’t do what he wanted, but over time, he graduated to physical and then sexual abuse. It took a tremendous amount of courage for her to file for divorce. It’s actually not final yet because his lawyer keeps delaying the process. She has a restraining order against him, but her family’s appalled by her actions. Right now, she’s trying to rediscover herself and learn how to stand on her own two feet again. Last summer, she bought a cottage on Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. Her lawyer created some kind of
umbrella corporation
that officially owns the property. She claims tracing the cabin to her is almost impossible.”
“Sounds like life’s been pretty rough for her.”
Angela sensed that he was completely baffled by her friendships with both Cat and Maddie. The three of them came from such different walks of life. To this day, Angela was amazed that, despite their disparate economic backgrounds, both Cat and Maddie experienced abusive relationships.
“It has,” Angela replied softly, “but she’s finally bouncing back. Cat was a big help at first in terms of explaining what Maddie had to do to break away. But Cat can only do so much. The rest is up to Maddie. Since her family disagrees with her decision to divorce Tad, she’s really withdrawn from most of her old life and friends.” Her heart ached for her friend as she admitted, “I should have done more for her, but I was so busy with my own life. Even now, when I want to help, I’m too far away to provide the constant support she needs to remain strong against her family’s demands.”
“How dangerous is her ex?” Chase wondered if Cat would bring trouble to
Maddie’s
doorstep if she really was that fragile.
“He’s like that guy from
Sleeping with the Enemy
,” she finally answered. When Chase looked at her blankly, she tried again. “You know the Julia Roberts movie where she fakes her death to escape her abusive husband?”
Chase shook his head.
“Sorry, babe.
I don’t catch many chick flicks. I’m more of the shoot ‘
em
kind of guy.”
“Well,” Angela paused while she thought about how much to share. “
Maddie’s
husband is the only child of extremely wealthy parents. He’s used to getting whatever he wants, and when he doesn’t, he makes someone else pay. Maddie is a strong woman with her own thoughts and beliefs. Once they were married, he expected her to adopt his opinions and views whether she agreed with them or not. She refused and he started abusing her, verbally at first, then physically and sexually. He finally beat her so badly one night that the butler drove her to the hospital because he was afraid she was dying. He dropped her at the emergency room, where the doctors contacted the police since she had no identification. Once she regained consciousness, she contacted Cat.”
Angela paused in her recitation to brush away the tears that had leaked from her eyes, and Chase enveloped her in his warm embrace, comforting her the only way he could. “God, Chase, she was in such bad shape. Cat flew out to see her right away and had her transferred to a private facility equipped to handle her physical and emotional needs. Maddie was a broken shell. She spent six months there before she felt strong enough to leave and file for divorce. Her parents had a fit. They demanded that she return to Tad. Even when she showed them her medical file, they insisted the marriage could be fixed.
Montgomerys
do not get divorced, they told her. They were more concerned about the scandal than Maddie.” She snuggled against Chase, resting her cheek against his muscular chest, his strong, steady heartbeat comforting her.
“How bad were her physical injuries?” Chase rubbed a hand up and down her back.
Under different circumstances, she might have purred with pleasure. Instead, she remembered how frail Maddie had looked when she visited her in the hospital.
“Several broken ribs, a punctured lung, internal bleeding, and a concussion along with a fractured skull.
They had to remove her spleen as well.”
Angela could feel Chase’s muscles tense for a fight and sighed. A part of her was thrilled that he would react so strongly on behalf of her friend, but she lacked the energy to soothe his anger. She felt enough rage of her own every time she thought about how Maddie had suffered. “What happened to him? Is he in jail?” Chase’s voice sounded harsh in the quiet of the hotel room.
“Jail?”
Angela asked, amazed that he had even asked the question. Did he not understand who Tad was?
She laughed mirthlessly.
“Thaddeus Carrington in jail?”
She shook her head vigorously.
“Never going to happen.”
“What do you mean?” Chase asked as he pulled back from Angela and tipped her chin up so he could look her in the eye. “You said the hospital contacted the police. They had to have filed charges against him.”
“Cat and Maddie tried,” Angela announced, pushing away from him and pacing across the room, anger warring with frustration. “But the prosecuting attorney decided they didn’t have enough evidence
after
the Carrington family made a substantial contribution to his re-election campaign fund.”
“You’re kidding me,” he demanded. Angela could see the moment he recognized the truth of her statement. Money all too often bought forgiveness or at least exoneration. He shook his head as if to clear it before raising his eyes to meet her angry ones. He nodded once, acknowledging the truth of her statement without words. “You should call Maddie and see if Cat’s with her. Maybe Mac sent the software engineer, not the chip, to
Cat
.”
She pondered the idea. “It’s possible,” she admitted. “Dad knows Cat can take care of herself. Very few people are aware of our friendship. The mere idea of Dad sending this software guy to Cat is so far-fetched that no one would even consider it. Besides me, that is.” Wrinkling her nose, she looked up at him through her lashes. “I probably can’t get in touch with Maddie though.”
He raised one eyebrow and waited for an explanation.
“She doesn’t have a landline in the cottage, and the cell phone reception there is real spotty. I’ll try to call her, but I doubt her phone will ring. And I can’t email her because she doesn’t have internet service up there. The cabin’s real isolated.”
“Wait!” Chase interjected. “I thought her ex was still looking for her. You said she was hiding out?” Angela nodded, a slight smile crossing her face. She knew precisely where Chase was going with this conversation. “She has protection then, right? I mean, she’s not living in the middle of nowhere without phone service alone.” When Angela failed to respond, he prompted her by saying, “Right?”
“Wrong,” Angela replied holding out her hands in a calm-down gesture. “I understand your point. Believe me, I do. Cat and I made the same very valid points early on, but Maddie wants to be alone right now. She doesn’t trust anyone, other than us. Tad’s whole staff knew what he was doing, and they let him abuse her without helping her. The butler only intervened because he was afraid she was going to die that night. Besides, as she pointed out, the more services she has, the more of a paper trail there is. The cabin itself is pretty self-sufficient. It has a septic system, an independent well and its own generator. Besides, she’s taken several self-defense classes over the past year, and she has a couple of guns at the cabin. She’s actually a great shot.”
Angela waited as Chase leaned back on his elbows and looked up at the ceiling. A few minutes later, he pushed himself upright and rubbed his face with his hands. “Do you know how to get to
Maddie’s
place?”
Angela frowned and wandered over to the duffle bags. She focused on folding a shirt while she thought about how to respond. She wanted Chase to take her to
Maddie’s
, but she didn’t want to lie to him. She knew traveling was going to become more complicated now that her picture was all over the country. As different as she thought she looked with red hair, she knew changing her hair color wasn’t enough to avoid detection for a prolonged period of time.
“Well.” Angela closed her eyes and tried to remember
Maddie’s
instructions. The problem was she had absolutely no sense of direction. Finally, she sighed, admitting it was a hopeless effort. “I’ve only been to the cabin once and can’t remember how to get there. We can use a map to get to Thompson, but from there, we’ll just have to play it by ear. Maddie bought the old Thompson sawmill site. The sawmill owners created a tramway so the ships could come off the lake, cruise to the mill and load the lumber without venturing into the shallow waters near the shore. If we are on the lake, we should be able to find the channel.” She had absolutely no idea how she would find
Maddie’s
cottage from the road. All she remembered was lots of narrow, unmarked country roads.