Loving Madison

Twenty-Four

I'm such a fool!

Cameron gripped his fingers around the reins as he pushed his steed faster. It had been an agonizing twenty-four hours without Madison, and as each minute passed, he knew he'd made a colossal mistake.

Wind whipped around his face and stung his cheeks. He leaned down, closer to the horse as he raced through the fields, wishing speed would also remove the mistakes he'd made recently. Beginning, of course, when he allowed Madison to walk away.

Why had he verbalized his doubts? He was allowed to doubt since he'd been raised to see proof before coming to a conclusion of guilt, or innocence. But since meeting Madison, all of his training flew out the window and left him wondering about her every move. Now he realized the mistake. Her method of finding people was entirely different from his, but that wasn't necessarily wrong, was it?

Despair and loneliness had been his companions since she left. He deserved this harsh punishment, for letting her leave. Yet, perhaps it was best that she wasn't in his life any longer. Indeed, he'd been sinking fast in that emotion called love.

Or had it been infatuation? Now he'd never know his true feelings for Madison.

Alice had been livid when he'd returned home without Madison, but he assured his sister that Miss Haywood's services were not required any longer. If only he could convince himself of that, too.

That night he had returned to Mr. Bailey's house to spy on it from a distance. He saw nothing that made him believe Rosie was there. In fact, he hadn't even seen Gaynor.

Once he had returned home, he tried pushing Madison out of his mind by focusing on the evidence and things Madison had seen in her visions. Unfortunately, no matter what he did, that woman was in his head. Every time he turned around, he was seeing her in his home, remembering when they had talked in the music room, and watching her eyes light up. He saw her in the sitting room when he'd walked in as Uncle Henry. She'd laughed, and the uplifting sound of her voice was permanently engraved in his mind.

He'd been a complete imbecile this whole time. He shouldn't have run from Captain Orwood, but instead, Cameron should have stood his ground. He had not killed Mr. Bailey, and he could prove it...even though there was no physical proof, but he was certain his sister or Mrs. Trumble had heard him come home that night. Cameron would also remind the captain of all the many things he had done to earn his superior's trust. Cameron was a very good inspector, and he wouldn't let one man's death make him believe otherwise.

As his destination came into view, he slowed his horse. The small cottage up ahead belonged to one of the other officers. Since talking to Garrick and Flannery the other night, Cameron had been thinking of Douglas McGreer quite often. Cameron needed to know for certain if McGreer had come to the station, taken the key, and went down into the cells. And if the man had done that, what was his purpose?

The closer he came to the cottage, he studied the layout. The two-story structure sat back amongst the trees. Three children played with their Golden Retriever in the yard, as Mrs. McGreer took down the laundry from off the line. Near the house, Douglas sat on a chair with his broken leg propped on a box; his crutch lying on the grass next to him.

It was a cozy little scene, if Cameron said so himself. He'd never imagined Douglas McGreer to be a violent kind of man, and seeing the family this way made Cameron question the other man's motives. Had McGreer been in Mr. Bailey's cell and killed him?

Cameron's gut feeling told him no.

The dog was the first to spot him as he trotted his horse upon their property. The animal barked and ran toward him as the family turned and looked his way. Cameron lifted his hand toward Douglas in polite greeting.