The Madison Files (Vol. 4 - Case Closed) (3 page)

Madison had left Trent alone to eat and relax while she showered and tidied up her room a bit. She was just getting ready for bed when she decided to go visit Trent, just to make sure he had settled and everything was well, though at this point, she trusted her knew his way around well enough. Approaching the door, she knocked on the wall near it and then leaned in.

Trent was stretched out on the bed, a random magazine she didn’t even know about in his hands. He looked to the door once she leaned in and she realized, oddly at that precise moment, that he was only wearing some pajama shorts. She stared for a moment before mentally shaking her head. “I’m heading to bed,” she stated.

His head bobbed in a nod and he set down his magazine. “Have a good night,” he responded, standing up. She moved out of the way of the door, thinking he was going to head to the bathroom to clean up a little, if he hadn’t already.

“Good night,” she responded with a small smile. Instead of moving passed her, however, he stopped in front of her and smirked a bit. He leaned down, his lips touching her forehead. She felt the warmth of a flush rise over her cheeks as she stared up at him. He pulled back, grinning a bit, and went back toward his bed.

“I’m not a very patient man,” he responded with a small chuckle as he crawled under the covers. All she could do was stand there, mouth slightly open and cheeks red as she stared at him. It took her several moments before she realized exactly how quickly her heart was racing and to realize he was just watching her, with that stupid grin on his face.

“I’m going to bed,” she finally blurted out.

“You said that,” he responded.

“Well… I’m saying it again,” she muttered before practically darting into the hall and racing off to her room, heart still pounding. She wasn’t sure if she was flustered because of the suddenness or because it was actually something she wanted. Yes, she agreed to give it a chance once the case was over, once she had closure, which meant there was something there that she wanted, and she knew there was something there, but she didn’t know how deep it ran or how big.

Maybe it was more than she though, more than she’d expected. She really wasn’t sure what to think, but she knew her heart was still racing as she flicked off the light and flopped onto her bed with a frustrated groan. It seemed bad enough, to her, that she goes into work one day with after reading a simple, and in her mind, rather callous ‘Dear John’ sticky-note – or in her case, ‘Dear Jane’. But on top of that, she came to find that her partner and friend, Drew, was murdered. Things seemed to smooth out for a bit, with Louise’s murder and nothing personal attached, until she found out that the woman, and her partner, had paid her now ex several large amounts of money.

Then there was a third murder, leading to what should have been good news in capturing the murderer, but instead it lead to the worst news of all – that her ex really was the culprit behind it all. And now she knew she was falling for her boss, though she didn’t know the extent to which she was, and she knew he had fallen for her. It seemed to be just too much added stress, something more that she didn’t really need, but yet she wanted it, obviously.

She groaned again and wrapped her arms around a pillow, only half pulling the blankets over herself as she stared at the dark ceiling. They always said things would get better, that everything happened for a reason, but even remembering that just didn’t really help her put her mind at ease.

Finally, she let her eyes closed, mentally telling herself that she needed to just relax, to take her mind off of it and let the blissful throes of sleep cover her. She needed to be prepared for the next day, for the next confrontation with Liam and more plotting how to bring him in and make him the villain. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. It was going to be a long day tomorrow…

*****

Liam strolled into the station, a nice three-piece suit adorning his body and his hair neatly taken care of. He smelled of nice cologne, too expensive for many people to casually go out and buy and wear on a regular occasion. His gaze shifted around the room a bit before he noticed the receptionist. His brows rose as he watched her, waiting for the greeting he figured a receptionist should give, but got nothing. With a roll of his eyes, he moved closer to the desk and cleared his throat. “I’m supposed to speak with Trent and Madison,” he stated.

“What is this concerning?” she asked. He almost rolled his eyes again.

“Their current case and my possible involvement,” he answered. She stared at him a moment, letting her eyes wander over him and size him. Whatever ran through her mind, he felt it somewhat favorable as she picked up the phone and pressed a single button.

“A man is here to see you,” she answered. She shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t ask… Yes he’s…” She let out a loud sigh and put a hand over the mouthpiece. “What’s your name?”

“Liam Amsel,” he answered. She removed her hand from the phone.

“A Mister Amsel,” she stated. “Very well…” She hung up the phone and stood up. “Come with me,” she muttered. He followed after her, rather unimpressed with her attitude. She led him to Trent’s office and opened the door, allowing him to step in. He glanced around, noticing the rather scarce decorating, and then looked to the man at the desk. It actually surprised him to see that Madison wasn’t there, making him question what was really going on.

“Good morning, Mister Amsel. You’re a little late,” Trent greeted. He stood up from his desk. His office wasn’t the place for this; they needed the video cameras and the recorders.

“You need a new receptionist,” Liam quickly responded. Trent arched a brow and walked passed him.

“Follow me,” he answered. As far as he was concerned, no one needed to treat this man with courtesy or respect. Anyone who had the nerve to send an innocent person to their untimely execution wasn’t worth respect or kindness. Perhaps if they had shown the same decency and mercy, but of course they never did. Human life seemed to be nothing more than a toy to them, something they could play with and throw away once it got boring.

He led the other man through the main room of the station and into the hallway, toward the holding cells, the labs, and the rooms they used to interrogate suspects. Normally, he had Billy or his current partner leading the suspect so he could keep an eye on their body language from behind, but he had already sent Madison to retrieve Billy. It felt necessary to have all three in the room, especially given the fact that Billy had already interrogated Jasper and gotten the man’s statement, still void of Liam’s name.

He opened the door to the room and motioned him inside before following after him. “I trust, as a lawyer, you somewhat know this process?” he asked. Liam shrugged and took a seat at the table.

“Not firsthand, but I know the process. You’ll want to question me,” he stated, his eyes wandering to the corners of the room. “With the cameras recording everything.” His gaze shifted back to Trent. “And then you’ll want to get a written statement. Then you’ll process everything and find me either innocent or guilty.” He grinned a bit and Trent shook his head.

“We’ll find that you are either guilty or we lack the evidence to prove you are,” he corrected. He took a seat across from the man. His arms extended slightly over the table and his fingers laced together in front of him. “We’re just waiting on a couple of people and then we’ll start.” Liam seemed to straighten just a hair, his brows furrowing some as his eyes shifted to the chairs, one on either side of where Trent sat. “Madison and the chief of police, he’ll introduce himself.”

The other man gave a small nod and leaned back in his seat. His eyes shifted up to the cameras again a moment before looking back to Trent. He didn’t fear this process. There didn’t seem to be a reason for it, in his opinion. He knew the man they had was Jasper, he just needed to make sure he didn’t slip up and show signs of either knowing him or knowing that he was in custody. Then, there was the fact that he covered his tracks well. Even with the memos from the three victims, he knew there wasn’t anything to fear there. There was no proof of what they were for; they were just large sums of money that they were assuming were used for drugs.

His attention shifted to the door as Madison and a third man entered – the chief of police, he assumed. Madison took the seat on Trent’s left and the other man took a seat to his right. Billy held a manila folder in his hands, with “CN#105341” written on the tab. He set it on the table and studied Liam. “Good morning, Mister Amsel. I trust you’re well,” he answered. He flipped open the top cover of the folder and studied the first picture. Madison didn’t recognize the person, partially as she was expecting the picture of one of the victims or of Jasper.

Billy passed the picture over to Liam, who studied it a moment before looking up to the man. “Do you recognize that man?” he asked. Liam nodded and crossed his arms over his chest.

“He was arrested two months ago as for being a drug dealer,” he answered. The police chief shook his head.

“He was arrested as a drug lord,” he corrected. Liam arched a brow. “Which is what you’re suspected of being. Do you know the sentence this man got?” he asked. Liam shook his head.

“Life sentence, no chance of parole. He never specifically hired someone to kill those in debt, either, or at least not that anyone could find. So you understand, if you’re proven guilty that your sentence will be worse.”

“Well, even if your theory was true, it won’t ever be much worse, not with the death sentence recently abolished,” he answered. Trent arched a brow and glanced to the man at his side and then back.

“In that case, why don’t you give us your statement?” he asked. Liam shrugged a little.

“I’m an honest, hard-working man. While dating your colleague, I was going to school for law and doing some practices on the side to build up reputation and experience. In the process, I gained several enemies who I’m sure would love to find a way to frame me, and it seems one of them already may have,” he stated with a small shrug.

“So you think this is just a grudge match?” Madison asked. He nodded slightly before shrugging.

“Did I ever show signs of malevolence or a connection to drugs when I was with you?” he asked. She promptly shook her head.

“But you also never mentioned law school or these private practices. You promised me marriage and children and a life together and then just left a sticky note on my alarm clock one night and were gone; all your things cleared out with no warning,” she stated. “On top of that, this man that’s accusing you, knows far too much about our life together to just be a man holding a grudge against you; unless you’re claiming you had a stalker?”

Liam chuckled a little before shaking his head a bit. “Just because I didn’t tell you everything and changed my mind, doesn’t mean I’m some sort of murderous villain. Fortunately for me, life isn’t that clear cut,” he answered. Madison’s eyes narrowed at him. She was ready to snap, to start yelling at him about how he was a liar and she knew the truth now, but she also knew that was unprofessional and about to cross a certain line that she shouldn’t cross.

“It may not mean that, Mister Amsel, but it certainly means you can be an adequate liar or at least a man who’s good at leaving out large, important facts,” Trent stated. Liam’s head slowly shifted to face Trent.

“It just means that I don’t expose everything to everyone. I know at this point, most of the world is connected by the Internet and all of the technology we have, but I still prefer to have a personal life.” Billy sighed and shook his head a bit. This was already going nowhere fast, and he had a feeling it wasn’t going to really get anywhere, not without enough proof to debunk his story.

He flipped through a couple of pages until he stopped on a set of pictures. He pulled each one out and displayed them on the table in front of Liam. “Do you recognize any of these people?” he asked. Liam took his time to study each one before shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders.

“No idea who they are,” he answered. The police chief didn’t really think he’d get anywhere by showing the pictures. The man could easily have anyone executed without ever seeing the victims or knowing them personally. He pulled two of the pictures back and left the first victim’s, Drew’s.

“This is Drew MacEnfield. He was a detective, the partner of Miss Rose here, and the first victim. On his bank memos was your name, none of the statements were for less than three hundred dollars,” Billy stated. He pulled that picture back and put another one down. “This is Louise Butler, the second victim and a worker at a call center. On her bank memos was your name as well, with nothing less than five hundred attached to it.” He removed her picture and put out the last picture. “And this…”

“Is Joseph McKenzie. I’m sure you’re going to tell me the same thing, yes?” Liam asked. He leaned back in his seat. “Seems I made a mistake,” he stated with a small chuckle. Trent gave a small nod and a smirk.

“It would seem so, what’s your excuse for it?” he asked. The other man frowned and arched a brow.

“I made a mistake, there is no excuse, but I still haven’t admitted to a crime, nor will I. So I claimed I didn’t know them when I did, how are you going to prove I knew them through this supposed crime?” he asked. Billy smirked a bit.

“You should know this, Mister Amsel, you’re a lawyer. We’re going to get a warrant to search your home because you’re withholding information and lying to us,” he answered. He stood up and Liam’s eyes followed him. “Unless you’re willing to tell us what we need to know.”

The other man’s shoulders rolled into yet another shrug and he leaned back more. “I’ll be waiting here for you,” he answered. Billy gave a nod to Trent and Madison, who stood up and followed him out. Two other officers were standing outside the door to the holding cell as the three headed down the hallway.

“You know getting the warrant will take time,” Trent stated. The other chief nodded and pushed his hands into the pockets of his uniform.

“I know,” he answered. “But I have something to speed up the process.” He grinned at Trent’s rather confused look as they walked into the main room. The man motioned Trent and Madison to keep following him as he headed into Trent’s office. There, he took a seat at the desk, ignoring the almost annoyed look the chief detective shot him. “I already contacted a judge about the case, seeing as I managed to get Jasper to confess Liam’s name,” he stated. Trent stared at him as if he had multiple heads before chuckling a bit.

“So all you have to do is tell them what transpired here with Liam,” he stated. Billy nodded and Madison couldn’t help her own smile. The man in that room definitely wasn’t the man she’d dated for two years of her life. He would never have hidden information or lied or act so arrogant in front of the authorities. But she knew now that the one she had dated as a lie as well.

“So how long do we have to wait?” she asked, almost too eagerly. Billy couldn’t stop his chuckle and shook his head.

“I just have to go see our friendly judge again,” he stated. He stood up from the desk, opening his folder up again and placing a piece of paper on the desk. “But I think you should look over this before I go,” he added. Without another word, he headed to the door, leaving Trent to pick up the note. He motioned Madison over and kept it on the desk. She glanced over his shoulder, noting it was the witness statement of Jasper.

On the date of Monday, the sixth, I was hired to kill a Drew MacEnfield. He was indebted to my employer for the amount of three thousand fifty six dollars and thirty-nine cents. We attempted to contact him on several occasions, Mister MacEnfield knowing the consequences of not paying and the time in which we agreed for him to pay his debt. On Monday, we waited to hear from him, but heard no report and saw no money paid off. Early in the evening, before a man would have dinner but after he would finish work, I called and left a message on his voicemail. Later that evening, after hearing no word from the man in question, I entered his home, picking the lock with a locksmith kit. I traveled up the stairs to the room I knew to be his bedroom from scoping out the location.

He pulled out a gun and fired, missing me and hitting the wall. I took the opportunity to shoot him myself, hitting him in the head with ease. The man had, at an earlier date, revealed to my employer where he kept his stash of drugs – the reason for his debt. It was a vase with Japanese flowers painted on it. I took it in hopes of covering evidence of drugs.