Simon Says Die

might as well go back to the office, see what other projects you can work on. Braedon and I can handle this mess.”
    â€œWhat are you going to do, Lieutenant?” Pierce asked.
    â€œWe’ll do what we always do—investigate. I’m not assuming anything. We’ll go around the neighborhood, see if the neighbors saw or heard anything. Does that satisfy you?”
    Pierce nodded. “That’s what I would do.”
    As Hamilton got on his cell phone, Pierce headed around the side of the house to the front. He nodded to Officer Williams who was standing outside the front door, and headed inside. He was surprised when Madison didn’t meet him right away with a barrage of questions about the vandalism. Maybe she was in the kitchen.
    He slid the pocket door open between the family room and kitchen, but the kitchen was empty. He checked out the mother-in-law suite, the mudroom, and made a complete circuit of the downstairs.
    â€œMadison, where are you?” he called out, but no one answered. The first stirrings of unease flashed through him.
    â€œMadison,” he said, louder this time, as he hurried through the rest of the rooms on the ground floor.
    The front door opened just as he was starting up the stairs. He turned around, disappointed to see that it was only Officer Williams.
    â€œWhere’s Mrs. McKinley?” Pierce asked.
    Williams’s face showed his surprise. “She should be inside, sir. No one has gone past me except you.”
    â€œSearch the basement while I look upstairs. The entrance is in the closet in the back hall.” He pointed toward the hallway, then jogged up the stairs to the second floor.
    A minute later, full-blown panic had him running back down the stairs. Williams was waiting, along with Hamilton.
    â€œNo sign of her in the basement,” Williams said, before Pierce could ask.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Hamilton asked.
    â€œShe’s gone.” Pierce headed toward the front door.
    â€œWait a minute. What do you mean she’s gone?”
    Pierce yanked the door open and paused. “Missing, vanished, gone.”
    He slammed the door on Hamilton’s next question, then jogged down the front steps. He walked around the house’s foundation, looking for footprints, something to explain how Madison had left the house without anyone seeing her. On the right side of the house, away from the driveway where all the trucks were parked, he stopped at the entrance to the basement.
    He punched the speed dial for Casey as he bent down to study the ground outside the basement steps. The grass, even though it had turned brown in the cold weather, was still too thick to show any useful impressions. But it was bent back, showing someone had recently passed this way. Or, possibly, one person carrying another?
    â€œPierce,” Casey’s voice sounded through the phone, obviously recognizing his cell number. “What’s up?”
    â€œMadison McKinley is missing.” He straightened. “It looks like someone left the house through the basement, but I can’t pick up any distinct footprints.”
    He tightened his hand around the phone and followed the faint impressions in the grass out to the street where they abruptly ended. “The trail ends at the street. No tire tracks.”
    â€œWhat are you thinking? She left, without telling you?”
    â€œNo, she wouldn’t do that.” His heart slammed in his chest. “He’s got her, Casey. Damn it. I shouldn’t have left her in the house alone. The alarm was off because the cops were here, going in and out. I shouldn’t have left her. Her stalker, Damon, whoever . . . he’s got her.”
    â€œI’ll help in any way that I can. Hamilton won’t be pleased about my involvement since I’m focusing on the ‘Simon says’ murders. I’ll send Tessa over, unofficially —as your friend. That should placate Hamilton. But I’ll do what I can behind the scenes. Give me the address.”
    Pierce rattled off Madison’s Gaston Street address. “She was taken within the last half hour.”
    â€œGet me a vehicle description.”
    â€œWorking on it.” He hung up and headed around to the other side of the house. He expected to see Madison’s little red convertible parked in the driveway on the other side of Braedon’s massive B&B work truck.
    The car wasn’t there.
    He frowned down