Beyond Secrets, The Art of Murder, Page 3

  Chapter 3

  Madison set up her makeshift office and put a screen up in the back for her temporary bedroom. She was ready to tackle the so-called plot line for the investigation. She taped the pictures of the missing women onto her board. The women had no similar traits and looked nothing alike. “I wonder why Jim chose these women since they don’t even look similar. Winter did tell me that Jim had a sixth sense about this sort of thing, so, for now, I’ll follow his lead.” The only thing they had in common was that they were all young and attractive, and, of course, were missing.

  After Madison had organized everything, she drove over to the Maitland Police Department. She planned to use her clout as an FBI agent, hoping they would be more open to divulging information. However, she had to be careful not to imply that she was on a case for the FBI. At this point, it was only missing person investigation and would not warrant FBI involvement.

  As she entered the police station, she passed the wall of photos of past chiefs of police, and it took her back to her childhood. She remembered a time in her youth when she took her father’s car out for a spin, while her mom and dad were at a neighbor’s party. She got caught by one of the officers. The town was much smaller back then, and everyone knew each other. It didn’t help that her father was on the city council either. She was busted and taken home, but that wasn’t the worse part. The officer had called her dad at the party and told him what happened, and then that’s when all hell broke loose. It was bad enough they called Mr. Hart at the party about his daughter breaking the law, but then he had to face the ridicule from everyone at the city council meetings. I think Dad put me on restriction for a very long time. No car privileges, no phone and no parties for a month. I remember thinking, at the time, that a month was a lifetime. Now I can hardly get everything I need to do done in a month. Never enough time. Ah, the times of our youth.

  “Excuse me, Miss, can I help you?” Madison nearly tripped over herself getting up to the counter.

  “Actually yes. I was hoping you could point me in the right direction. I’m Madison Hart. I’m with the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Division and was wondering if I could speak to someone about a missing person’s case.”

  “Of course. Could you wait here for a moment?”

  Madison stood at the counter looking at the photos again. Within moments, a tall dark-haired, good-looking man came out from an office in the back. “I’m Detective Josh Logan. How can we help the FBI?”

  “My name is Madison Hart.” She showed him her ID. “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

  “Yes.” Detective Logan motioned her toward a conference room in the back.

  “What case is the FBI looking into?”

  “I’m working on a missing person’s case. However, at the point, the FBI is not officially involved.”

  Detective Logan nodded his head. “I understand. Which case are you interested in?”

  “Margaret Hill. She disappeared on her way to a gallery showing about three weeks ago. What can you tell me?”

  Detective Logan unbuttoned his jacket and got up from his chair. “Let me get you the file on what we have so far. I’ll be right back. Can I get you some coffee or water?”

  “No thank you.”

  Detective Logan swaggered out of the room like he owned the place. He was nice enough but seemed a little cocky. It didn’t matter to Madison how he acted as long as he gave her the information she needed.

  He returned shortly with a file and a mug filled with black coffee. He set the coffee down and then pulled his chair up across the table from her. He opened the file and started thumbing through it as if he was going to decide what she could see.

  “Detective Logan, may I look at the file? Time is of the essence. I need to see what you have so that I can proceed with my investigation.”

  “Of course.” He closed the file and slid it across the table. Madison quickly opened it and started reading through what their department had on the case so far. She was pleasantly surprised they had quite a bit of information, which would save her a lot of legwork.

  “Can you make me a copy of this entire report?”

  “Sure.” He opened the door and hollered down the hall, “Miss Stephens.”

  Within seconds, a young lady entered the room, “Miss Stephens, would you please make Agent Hart copies of this file?” “Of course, Sir.” She turned and scurried down the hall.

  “How else can we help you, Agent Hart?”

  “As soon as I know, you’ll know.” She didn’t want to give away too much and didn’t want the detective to pursue any more questions. She was eager to get the information and head back to her office and start compiling what she had so that she could move to the next step.

  Madison thanked Detective Logan, picked up her copies and headed toward the door. “Agent Hart, where can I reach you if something else comes up with the case?”

  “I have an office in the old White building.”

  “Are you going to be there the entire time?”

  She stopped and turned around to see him standing there with one hand on his hip with his jacket opened and leaned against the table. “Well, no.”

  “Do you have a number where I can reach you, or leave a message in case I need to contact you?”

  “I’m sorry, of course.” She handed him her card with FBI written across the top with her cell number.

  “Thank you, Agent Hart.” Madison started down the hallway. She nodded to the woman behind the desk and left.

  Detective Logan walked up to the front and watched as she drove off. The woman behind the desk smiled. “She sure is a looker, isn’t she?”

  “She may be a looker, but she has an attitude about her. I guess she thinks we can’t handle things around here.”

  The woman snickered. “That makes two of you.”

  “What’s that suppose to mean?”

  “I’m just saying.” She turned back to her work. Josh turned back toward the window to see if he could see which direction she headed, but Madison had already gone.

  Once back in her temporary office, Madison spread the files out on the table to organize her thoughts. She wanted to formulate a profile of the missing women, hoping she could find a common link. She had set up the dry-erase board in her make-shift office and placed the pictures of the missing women across the top of the board. Then she began to jot down the data she had under each photo. She thumbed through the information Detective Logan gave her and compiled that information under Ms. Hill’s photo. “I guess I was a bit abrupt with Logan, but at least I have a name now.”

  Madison wrote the name Margaret Hill across the top of her photo. She felt the more she knew about Margaret Hill, the better chance she’d have of connecting the dots to the others. After lunch, she’d headed toward Winter Park to talk to some of Margaret’s friends. Madison hoped they could tell her more about Margaret’s habits and who Ms. Hill was planning to see, the night she disappeared. The files from Logan were brief but detailed, and that gave Madison a place to start.

  The only thing Madison knew so far about Margaret was that she worked as a waitress at a local restaurant on Park Avenue, in Winter Park. Ms. Hill had hoped to be able to return to school and finish her degree in Psychology. Working on the Avenue, she’d make better tips, but still, she was struggling. She came from a low-income family and moved to the Central Florida area from the west coast near Tampa so she could attend Central Florida University.

  Madison drove into Winter Park and parked across the road from the 310 South Restaurant. It was a casual place with outside seating overlooking the park across Park Avenue. Madison watched for awhile. The place remained busy, but the lunch crowd had slowed down, so she approached a few of the young waitresses. “Hi, my name is Agent Hart, I work for the FBI. May I ask you a few questions?” The young girl began to tremble at the site of Madison’s badge.

  “Sure,” she replied.

  Madison showe
d the girl the picture of Margaret Hill, “Do you know this woman

  “Oh yes, that’s Margaret. She’s missing.”

  “Yes, I know. Did you know Ms. Hill well?”

  “No, but Sandy did.” She pointed to a young woman clearing off tables in the back of the restaurant.

  “Thank you.”

  The girl escorted Madison to the back, “Sandy, this lady is from the FBI and wants to know about Margaret.” Madison thanked her and stood until she got the hint that it was going to be a private conversation with Sandy. “Oh, I’ve got work to do.” the girl said as she hurried off.

  Madison stepped up closer to the young lady. “Have you got a minute, Sandy?”

  “Not really, we’re busy right now. I’ll be off in about a half hour. I can meet you then. Is that be okay?”.

  “Great. I’ll be waiting for you across the street in the park.” As Madison was about to leave, the hostess brought in another group of people and escorted them to Sandy’s table.

  After Sandy had cleaned up her station, she walked across the street and joined Madison on one of the park benches overlooking the rose garden. She was a small young lady and a bit shy. “I’m sorry it took so long. My boss is firm about us making sure the next girl doesn’t have to waste time setting up, so she can immediately start serving. I know some of the other servers think I spend too much time doing it right, but I try to be a team player. What did you want to ask me about Margaret?”

  Madison leaned back on the bench.“What can you tell me about the day Margaret disappeared? Was she nervous or excited about where she was going? Was she going to meet someone specific?”

  “Well, let me think for a moment. We were working together that afternoon, and Margaret asked to go home early. She told the boss she wasn’t feeling well, but she told me she wanted to take a rest before her big night.”

  “What big night?”

  “Margaret wouldn’t tell me too much, only that she was involved in a project, and that night was the big reveal. She was so excited, not only for the project but she believed her relationship was about to go one step further.”

  “Was she seeing someone?”

  “I think she was. She wouldn’t tell me much about him, except that he was an important person, and they had a special bond. She told me that night was going to be very special for her, and she wanted to look her best.”

  “I heard she planned to attend the showing at the Maitland Art Center that night? Did that have something to do with it?”

  “I believe it did. Margaret mentioned to me that she had been spending a lot of time there lately. She loved being around all the creative people. I think she even told me that she planned to take some art lessons there, but I can’t remember. I’ve been so upset about her being missing.” Sandy’s eyes began to well up with tears. “You don’t think something has happened to her, do you?”

  “We just want to find her and make sure she’s okay. Is there be any chance that she left town with someone that night?”

  “I’m sure Margaret would have told me if she had planned something like that. We were pretty close. She did tell me she was going to introduce me to her new friend, so why would she run off?”

  Madison thanked Sandy for her help and gave her a card. “If you can think of anything else you can call me at this number.” As Madison left, she saw Sandy staring off across the park.

  Madison took another trip to the art center, only this time with a picture of Margaret, and she was going to investigate this case officially.