Simon Says Die

at the tire tracks. Again the grass was too thick here to offer any viable footprints to tell him who had moved the car. It could have been anyone.
    Even Madison.
    What the hell? Had she been abducted or had she snuck out and left on her own? Why would she do that?
    He turned back toward the house and stood in indecision. Hamilton was waiting for him on the front porch. The two officers he had brought with him were heading down the sidewalk in opposite directions, canvassing the neighborhood.
    Just like they should.
    Hamilton was following procedures.
    Just like he should.
    Was Pierce the one who wasn’t keeping an open mind? Was he allowing his past with Madison to cloud his judgment? Was the flooded backyard a diversion? To get everyone in the backyard? His brothers may have turned off the water earlier than the perpetrator would have expected, but eventually the water would have run to the front street. Someone would have noticed, and knocked on the front door to get whoever was inside the house to go around back.
    Wait, that didn’t make any sense. It couldn’t have been a diversion. Madison wasn’t staying in the house. No one could have known she’d be there this morning. If Pierce hadn’t brought her to get her laptop, she’d never have been here in the first place.
    Unless she’d called someone, to tell him she was there, to tell them to help her get out of the house, away from Hamilton.
    She could have called from the kitchen. She’d been in there with the door closed.
    Again, that didn’t make sense. Madison would have been outside if Pierce had let her.
    Or would she? Maybe she assumed he would stop her?
    He shook his head, but even as he told himself that thought was crazy, he couldn’t help but think that it made a bizarre kind of sense. Madison had been hiding something from him, all along. He’d known that, and had hoped she’d eventually trust him enough to confide in him.
    Was it possible that whatever she’d been hiding from him all this time was something that could put her in jail? That would certainly explain why she didn’t want Logan involved. She didn’t want her police chief brother to have to choose between his career and helping his sister.
    Especially if she were guilty.
    Of what? What could she have done?
    He raked his hand through his hair. Had she been abducted? By her alleged stalker? Or was she on the run, afraid of what Hamilton might find on her computer? The note had said: I ’M COMING FOR YOU. That could be a threat, sure.
    Or it could be a promise . . . from someone she knew, someone who was helping her get away, perhaps a lover.
    He closed his eyes, surprised at the pain that flashed through him at that thought.
    â€œBuchanan? You coming?”
    He opened his eyes. Hamilton was staring at him, waiting. Pierce headed back across the yard and up the steps, sparing Hamilton only a quick glance before opening the front door. There on the wall to the left of the entrance was the hook where Madison always hung her car keys.
    Her keys weren’t there.
    The only way to get the keys was to go into the house. The only way in the house was past the police officer who’d been stationed out front.
    Or through the basement.
    The question was whether someone entered the basement and took Madison, or whether she’d left the house, of her own free will.
    â€œI assume you called your boss. Did you find anything out?” Hamilton asked.
    Pierce studied the other man. No censure, no anger that Casey might be giving him advice, or even helping. Hamilton looked genuinely curious, concerned—an officer helping a fellow officer. Had Pierce only imagined Hamilton was biased against Madison this whole time?
    Hamilton was patiently waiting for an answer.
    â€œCasey’s still working the ‘Simon says’ case, but another agent—Tessa James—is coming over, unofficially.” His hands tightened into fists. “I found a path through the grass leading out of the basement to the street. I couldn’t tell if it was one person, or two. Madison’s car is missing, along with her keys.”
    Hamilton seemed to digest that for a moment. “What do you think happened?”
    â€œI wish to God I knew.”
    M ADISON STRUGGLED AGAINST the cloth that bound her wrists, but her awkward position, with her hands behind her back and her knees drawn up and her ankles tied together didn’t