Madison nodded. “She would have recognized me, known I wasn’t her—Julia. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“The sirens are from an ambulance. Margaret is sick.”
“I couldn’t let her see me.” Madison laughed. “It doesn’t matter. She made her choice by befriending…I heard them talking. She never talked to me like…” Madison lifted her chin toward the sky. “She doesn’t matter. She got what she deserved. They all did.”
“Madison, what did you do?”
Her laugh grew louder. “Julia saw me. Talked to me. Did you know that I helped her find her dress? Not hers. Mine. For us. She didn’t know. I told her.”
My thoughts were all over the place. “What didn’t she know? Why can’t Phillip sign the divorce papers?” I asked again. “Where is Julia?”
“She didn’t know that you were already taken—by me. I let her think…” Madison pulled her hand away. “Don’t lie to me, Van. Stop lying to yourself.” She wrapped the cape around her frame.
“What am I lying about?”
“Mr. Sherman,” Albert called from above, drawing my attention away from Madison.
“Albert…” When I turned back to Madison, light was reflecting off the small gun in her grasp.
Her expression was again hard, her jaw clenched, her forehead furrowed, and her tone ice cold. “Make him go away.”
“Albert,” I said, looking at him as he descended the staircase. “The ambulance is almost here. Please stay with Margaret and Vicki.”
“Sir.”
When I looked back at Madison, she was holding the gun with two hands, having lifted the barrel toward me. “Tell me the truth.”
I lifted my palms toward her in surrender as I contemplated making a move for the gun. “What do you want to know?”
“Who do you love?”
Julia.
With all my fucking heart and whatever was left of my soul.
“Give me the gun,” I said, reaching forward.
“Who?”
“You’ve always known. It’s never been a secret.”
“Mr. Sherman,” Albert said, now at the bottom of the stairs. “The third floor. It’s locked.”
I lifted my hand toward Albert, gesturing for him to stop where he was. I couldn’t tell if he could see Madison’s gun from where he stood and the way she had the cape draped over her. “Third floor? Yes, we don’t use it.”
“Sir, there’s smoke…”
Madison’s volume increased. “Make him go away.”
“Sir,” Albert shouted as he drew his revolver.
“Do what I say,” Madison screamed.
“No.” My one word swirled in the cold air combined with the increasingly loud sirens. The ambulance was getting closer by the second.
I turned back to Madison as a gun fired.
Van