Surely Madison wasn’t homicidal…was she?
Standing, I looked around the front room, my fingers clenching into fists at my side. “Where the fuck is Julia?”
With my pulse drumming in triple time, I rushed from room to room, opening doors—the office, the exercise room, the bedroom. Lastly, I hurried to the bathroom.
Crystal shards glistened on the tile floor.
No Julia.
Albert was speaking on his phone in the front room as I hurried back into the bedroom to search the one spot I’d missed. Holding my breath, I opened the large closet. The presence of Julia’s clothes and personal items was a kick to my heart.
Her things were present.
Not her.
“The ambulance is coming,” Albert said, sticking his head into the bedroom. “Ms. McGrath?”
I shook my head.
The new security system came to mind.
I pulled my phone from my coat pocket and pulled up the screen with the heat sensors. The schematic of the floor plan appeared. On the second floor, I saw our four circles of light. It was on the first floor that I saw one. “Shit, she’s downstairs.”
As we started to leave, Margaret began coughing and choking. “Stay and help her.”
A cold breeze blew from the first floor as I made my way out of the suite and onto the landing. The French doors and the large front door beyond were open wide. Standing at the railing, I peered down at the solitary figure in a cream cape standing in the open doorway with her back to the house.
Déjà vu.
Years ago, I stood a story above, calling out to Madison and my brother. I’d been distraught that Madison was leaving, that she was doing what she’d promised, and that I wasn’t her first choice. My fingers gripped the railing, knowing that despite the way the person below was dressed, it wasn’t Julia.
I’d wasted too many years on a dream that wasn’t meant to be.
The fates dropped my perfect woman into my world when I least expected her.
Now it was up to me to save her, save her from my past sins.
Despite my belief, I called out the name of the woman I loved. “Julia.”
The figure squared her shoulders, becoming perfectly still.
I tried one more time. “Julia?”
Silence was my answer.
The cold January breeze fanned the velvet cape as the figure moved, stepping toward the open doorway. Hurrying down the stairs, I saw her silhouetted by the glare of the afternoon sunshine. In the bright light with the snow as a backdrop, she appeared to be a ghost or an illusion, dressed all in white.
“Stop.”
It was as I reached the first floor that she turned, her green orbs staring from beneath the faux fur. They were the eyes in my dreams and now my nightmare.
Everything within me said to charge after Madison, to demand that she tell me what she’d done with Julia. The urge fueled my forward progress, yet it was her stance and the way she shuddered that sent cold over my skin.
She blinked as her head tilted. “How are you here?”
“I live here, Madison.”
She sighed in relief. “Van.” A grin curled her lips seconds before she spoke. “I see you.” There was a soft melody to her tone, as if she were singing.