Page 31 of Deception

“Again?”

Chief Nelson nodded. “It’s very important.”

“Starting...?”

The chief took out a pad and pen. “With when you last saw Judge Anderson.”

“Then I need to fortify myself with more coffee.” She rose and walked to the coffeepot. “Anyone else want a cup?”

“None for me,” the chief said.

“I’ll take one, without chicory if possible,” Madison said.

“Me too,” Clayton added.

Nadine gave them both disapproving looks, then shook her head. “Black for you, Clayton, if I remember correctly from Sunday,” the housekeeper said and turned to Madison. “And for you as well.”

Clayton looked surprised that Nadine would remember that, but from Madison’s experience, an elephant’s memory had nothing on the housekeeper’s.

Once Nadine was seated at the table again, she said, “I last saw the judge when I took the bread pudding and coffee to his study. You were with him, chère. He told me not to wait for you to finish, so I went to my apartment and prepared for bed before I watched the ten-o’clock news on TV.”

“What happened next?” Madison asked.

“I had just settled in and was almost asleep when I heard gunfire.”

“Could you tell where the sound came from?” Clayton asked.

“It wasn’t loud, and I knew the judge had a gun in his desk drawer ... I assumed it came from the house.”

“How many gunshots did you hear?”

Nadine stared into her cup, then looked up. “One, I know.Then I heard something else, but I can’t say for sure it was gunfire.”

“How far apart was the noise?” Madison asked.

The tiny woman pinched the bridge of her nose. “The time it took me to get out of bed, get my slippers and robe on.”

Madison calculated how long it would take to put the revolver in her grandfather’s hand and fire the gun a second time. “Would you say the sounds were two minutes apart?”

“Probably.” Nadine tilted her head. “Have you called your daddy?”

“Not yet.” Madison glanced at her watch. Half past eleven. A couple of days ago, she’d called his office and his secretary told her he was away on a business trip and hadn’t known exactly when he would return. It had frosted Madison that she had to learn he was out of town from his secretary. But what else was new?

Madison hoped he was already home and took out her phone. When she dialed his cell number, it went straight to voicemail. Evidently, he’d turned off his phone. She left a message, asking him to call her, and then turned to face the others. “I’ll try again in the morning if he doesn’t return my call.”

Even though there was no love lost between the two men, there would be the devil to pay if her father first heard about her grandfather’s shooting on the news.The press.She turned to Chief Nelson. “Can you keep this out of the news until I can get in touch with my dad?”

“Should be able to. Our radio system is fully encrypted, so only our scanners pick up the transmissions, and I’ll tell everyone involved to keep it quiet. But you know as well as I do, this isn’t something you can keep quiet for long.”

“I know, but thanks.” She shifted her gaze to Clayton. “And thank you for helping tonight.”

“No problem. Have you talked to Hugh?”

Hugh!Her face flushed—she’d meant to call him after seeingthe Jane Doe, but then Nadine had called ... and while Clayton and the chief had called Hugh, he would expect a call from her as well.

It was late, but she didn’t want to wait until morning. Madison fished her phone from her back pocket, but before she could make the call, the chief stood. “I’ll notify the US Marshals as well as the FBI in Jackson that this is a criminal investigation.”

“I’m calling Hugh now,” she said.

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