Loving Madison

Thirty-Nine

Cameron turned toward the street until he hailed down a hackney. He said nothing to her as he assisted her up into the vehicle and climbed in beside her. He gave the driver the address before sitting back in the seat.

Madison hated the awkwardness between them. One could not kiss with so much passion, and say the heart-felt things he'd said, only to turn a cold shoulder. But she was afraid to say anything, which was not like her. If anything, she should apologize for the way her mouth ran off last night when she suspected Rosie was the Hanover's missing daughter.

After a couple of minutes passed, she could stand no more, and so gathered the courage to say something. Just as she opened her mouth, Cameron turned toward her.

"Madison, I want to apologize for storming out of the house last night."

Her breath caught in her throat and the shock immobilized her tongue for a few seconds. Why was he apologizing? "Actually, Cameron, you have nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who was at fault." She sighed. "I have a habit of saying what's on my mind. I don't think things through first, and when I received the vision last night, I just couldn't keep my thoughts from running out of my mouth."

One side of his mouth lifted higher than the other. "I'll admit, what you told me was quite a shock."

"I realize that now, and I'm so sorry."

"Are you saying that you don't think the missing girl is Rosie?"

She shrugged. "Well...I suppose what I'm saying is that I could be wrong about my assumption. In fact, if I could read your father's notes, I'm certain it would help me out considerably."

The half-smile left his face. "I'm sure they will." He expelled a breath slowly. "I'm sure you can imagine how I'm feeling right now. I don't know how I would handle it if I found out my father kidnapped the girl." He arched an eyebrow. "But from your vision, it was a boy who kidnapped her, correct?"

She folded her hands on her lap. "Yes, but then after the second boy stopped them, the girl started running toward the crowded street. She saw a woman and reached out to get her attention, but that's when you brought me from out of my vision."

"That's very interesting." He crossed his arms and tapped a finger against his muscular arm.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because in my father's report, he mentioned that there were several people who had sent Lord Hanover ransom notes for the girl's return. All of them turned out false, of course."

"Did Lord Hanover pay any of them?"

"Only the first one. After that, the police instructed him not to pay anymore until they investigated it further."

"I would love to find out who that boy was...the first one, anyway. I couldn't see his face well. He wore a large hat which shadowed his eyes, and then when his hat came off, his long hair hung in his eyes." Madison thought back over her vision, trying to go through every detail. She sucked in a quick breath. "However, that particular boy had a cut across his left hand, and I'm sure there's still a scar today. And he had brown hair."

"I suppose that will narrow the suspects list down a bit."

"True, but not much."

Silence built between them again, and this time Madison didn't know what to say. Did she think the elder Mr. Westland could have kidnapped the girl and brought her into his own house to raise her as a daughter? No. But then, she didn't know the man at all. Besides, who would kidnap a child and raise her in the same town where the crime took place without anyone noticing? It certainly didn't seem logical.