Chapter 7

Madison met up with Leah on the beach under the pier. It was just like old times except this time Madison was able to walk out the front door of her house instead of having to slip out her window. Being back in Haven was almost too weird for her to handle. Everything was the same, the small-town drama, Nathan's worried side glances, Duke's comforting touch, and the whispers from the ones that remembered the accident. She thought it would be different after all these years but she was coming to realize she was the one that had changed.

"I have to say it's kind of weird not to have to sneak into my parent's liquor cabinet," Leah popped the top off a beer she had brought with her, the case sitting between the two girls. "It's good to have you back."

Madison snorted, setting her beer in the sand, "Crocker definitely thinks so."

Leah was quiet for the briefest of moments until she was hit with the realization, "You slept with Duke?!" She fully turned toward Madison, interested in every little detail. Madison shrugged, grabbing a handful of sand, and letting it seep slowly through her fingers. "No way, Maddie, I need actual answers here. I mean I know you two were close before...but you left Haven for a reason and as soon as you get back you jump Duke?!"

"It's not like that," Madison tried to defend herself but she was instantly cut off.

"Then what is it like? Do you actually have feelings for him or was this just a walk down memory lane?"

"I don't know."

Leah took a long pull from her beer, "You need to figure it out. You left, Maddie, without a word to anyone. We were all still dealing with the shock of Jay and you just disappeared. You didn't even call me until you were settled in New York."

"I had to get away," Madison started to try and explain her reasoning to her best friend again but it was no use. She had tried multiple times before over the phone and now in person was no different. No one would truly understand what she went through that night.

"He was heartbroken. I don't know what you and Duke were before you left and I don't know what you guys are now and I love you, Maddie, I do, but please think about what you are doing. He doesn't deserve it."

Madison nodded as she took a sip of her beer. She knew when she left she was being selfish and that it would hurt those she left behind but in her mind it would hurt less than any physical pain her being around them may cause.

Leah sighed pulling them out of the heavy conversation, "So, how was it?"

Madison laughed, a blush creeping across her cheeks that the night sky easily hid. "I'd definitely do it again." She stretched, reaching her arms above her head trying to release the tension in her back but the movement had her shirt raising up to reveal the handgun she had tucked in her pants.

"The hell did you get a gun from?!" Leah loudly whispered as if there was anyone around for miles.

Madison pulled out the piece, releasing the clip before popping it back in place. Making sure the safety was on, she set it on the blanket next to her, Leah's eyes never leaving the gun. "I was out of Haven but New York City isn't some quaint little town. I got it for protection."

"Did you ever shoot anyone?" Leah questioned, still whispering.

"Yep. His body is probably stinking up my studio now that you mention it." Madison started to weave a story when she saw Leah's eyes about ready to pop out of her head. "No, you idiot I never shot anyone."

Leah shoved Madison for teasing her, "Do you at least know how to use it?"

Madison smiled grabbing a few of their empty bottles and moving down the beach, placing them in the sand about five feet apart. She came back to stand next to where Leah had gotten off the blanket, took the safety off and took her stance.

She hit two out of the three bottles but it was enough to impress Leah.

"Nathan know you have this?"

Madison snorted, clicking the safety back on, "Are you kidding me he'd probably take it away."

"True. You should definitely find a way for Duke to find out though because seriously you looked so hot doing that."

X-X-X

Madison wondered if she'd ever get tired of walking into the police station. It wasn't exactly her favorite place in the world but at least she was walking in on her own terms and not in handcuffs. She smiled at Stan as she passed him and made her way right into Nathan and Audrey's office. She was actually relieved to see that Nathan wasn't there at the moment.

"Hey," Audrey greeted with a smile as Madison took a seat in the empty chair across from her desk. "I'm guessing this isn't a social call."

Madison crossed her legs, shifting uncomfortably in her chair, "Now why would you say that?"

"Intuition," Audrey closed her laptop and gave her full attention to Madison, waiting to hear what was on her mind. When she didn't speak up right away Audrey gave her the extra security she figured she needed. "Nathan isn't here."

Madison trusted Audrey but couldn't help but look over her shoulder to make sure they were truly alone before she started talking. "I want to look at the police report from the night of the accident."

Audrey understood now why Madison made sure Nathan wasn't around because she knew there was no way in hell he would agree to that. She thought about it but was reluctant, "I don't think that's a good idea, Madison. There are pictures and graphic details in there that you just don't need to put yourself through. I went over it myself and there's nothing in there that could help point us in the right direction if it was a troubled person that caused the accident."

"If?" Madison accused Audrey and while she wanted nothing more than to get into that argument at the moment she was her only hope of seeing the report. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "What if there is something that anyone else would overlook? Or this is Haven, what if they changed something in the report. There isn't anyone else that would know what really happened."

"I still don't think this is a good idea."

Madison uncrossed her legs and leaned forward in her chair, "Please, Audrey. I know it's not going to be easy but what if I can help and I never look at them because of my own selfish reasons. I can't be the reason this never gets resolved. I owe that much to Jason."

"Fine," Audrey finally agreed against her better judgment. She opened the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out the file she had tucked away. She held it in her hand, staring Madison in the eyes making sure this was the right call, before placing it in front of her. "You don't have to do this."

Madison's eyes landed on the file in front of her and everything else melted away. Her intentions had been true but now that it was sitting in front of her she wondered if she had the nerve to open it. Audrey said something but she couldn't process what it was. She took the approach of ripping a band-aid off and quickly opened the file, the picture of the mangled car was the first thing she saw.

She swallowed the lump that began to form in her throat and carefully flipped through the pictures. Nothing out of the ordinary was standing out to her. It was as she remembered and just as she relived every night in her dreams. There was a picture of her bloodied shoe lying on top of the glass that blanketed the wet roadway. The next picture was of Jason's necklace that had somehow come off in the crash and was wedged between the seats. The third picture was of Jason, a mangled mess, his lifeless eyes open and staring right at her.

The picture fell from her hand as she ran out of the office and through the front door of the police station just in time to lean over the railing as she emptied the contents of her stomach. She had never seen his face, the way they were in the car that night she was barely able to reach his hand, but this was too much. Audrey was right she should have never looked in the file but she had to try. She sat heavily on the stairs, needing to catch her breath. She waved Audrey off who had followed her out promising she just needed some time.

X-X-X

Duke busted into Nathan and Audrey's office later that same day, "Seriously, a parking ticket? I was at the Gull which if you remember I own! How do I get a parking ticket at my own establishment?"

Audrey took the ticket from his hand and read it over. "You were parked in front of a fire hydrant."

Duke went to argue with her but Nathan spoke up before he had the chance to. "Duke, we don't have time for this right now. The next trouble has hit Haven and it's a little more pressing than a parking ticket."

"Do you know any of them?" Audrey pointed to pictures they had pinned up, hoping for any information that she could get.

Duke glared at Nathan but walked over to the corkboard and looked at the names. "I don't know about him but these three I think are about Maddie's age."

Nathan's cell phone rang, "Wuornos."

"Nathan, something is wrong with Leah. I don't know what happened she was going to go get the rest of the groceries from the car. I heard a crash. I ran out to see what happened and she's…"

"Dylan, what's wrong?"

At his question Duke looked over to him, concerned about what was going on. Dylan and Leah had gotten married the month after graduation and while they used to tease them that it would never last they proved them all wrong.

"She's three years old, Nathan. What the hell is going on?!"

Nathan paused for a moment trying to wrap his head around Leah being three. She and Madison had been friends for years. "We'll fix this," Nathan promised before ending the call. He went back to the corkboard and looked at the names again now adding Leah to the list, "They are all from her graduating class." Nathan made eye contact with Duke, "Where is Mads?"

"Last I knew at the house," Duke answered slowly, still staring at Nathan wondering what was going on, and now not feeling so confident about when Madison wanted to be alone for a while.

Nathan pulled his cell phone out and dialed Madison's number while it rang he made eye contact with Duke. "Everyone who is being affected was in Mad's graduating class." When the call went to voicemail he grabbed his keys off the desk. "We need to find her."

X-X-X

"Are you trying to tell me Maddie is three years old?" Duke questioned from the backseat of the Bronco as Nathan sped towards his childhood home.

Audrey answered, "We don't know if it's the whole class or not but it's the only common denominator between the victims."

Duke's mind reeled at the word victim. Madison was never going to be a victim of anything ever again if he had anything to do with it.

Nathan threw the Bronco in park and ran towards the front door that was open, not bothering to turn the truck off. Madison's car was in the driveway which gave them two seconds of relief until they heard a scream coming from inside the house.

The three of them pulled out their guns and rushed into the house fearing the worst until Nathan turned the television off that was playing a scary movie. Popcorn and beer were on the table as well as her cell phone. Wherever she was she couldn't have gotten too far.

"Maddie?" Duke called out as he searched the main floor while Nathan headed upstairs. "Mads?"

Audrey happened to look out the window and saw a little girl hiding behind the tree in the front yard. She tucked her gun away and slowly made her way to the tree trying not to scare her away. "Hey," she smiled at the little girl. "What are you doing out here?" The little girl went to cower away from her and Audrey took a shot in the dark, "Madison?" When the little girl perked up at the name Audrey took a deep breath. She took her badge out and showed it to the little Madison. "Look, I'm a police officer just like your brother, Nathan…Nate," she corrected herself and little Madison took the badge in her hands.

"Where's daddy?" she questioned, seemingly trusting Audrey now that she knew she was a police officer.

Big blue eyes stared up at her and Audrey could understand almost immediately how Madison had gotten away with so much when she was younger. She put her hand out and little Madison took hold, "Let's go see if we can find him." When they got closer to the house Audrey called out, "Nathan. Duke."

Both men rushed to the front door and Duke stopped short seeing a little Madison. It was almost too weird for him to even put into words.

"Mads," Nathan breathed out, looking at his sister who was indeed three years old. She stared up at him through her lashes and he took in her pigtails, overalls, and freckled face.

"Madison," Audrey crouched down to her level, "Why don't you go with Duke here and I'm going to talk to Nathan for a minute, okay?"

Little Madison thought about it and glanced over to Duke who was shooting daggers in Audrey's direction. She shook her head and held onto Audrey's hand tighter. "He looks funny."

Duke couldn't hide the surprise on his face and the mock hurt as Audrey had to bite back a giggle. She made eye contact with Nathan asking what they should do. Nathan took a deep breath, "She wasn't the easiest when she was younger. Fairly sure around this age is when the chief started smoking."

"Oh c'mon," Audrey shook her head. "How bad can she be?"

Nathan sighed and crouched down to Madison's level. "Hey, Mads, can you tell me the last thing you remember?"

"Why?"

"Just trying to figure out what is going on," Nathan answered and when little Madison didn't look like she was going to answer he tried again. "We can go get snow cones if you answer my questions."

Little Madison thought about it again, skeptical if she was really going to get a treat or not. "Blue ones?" When Nathan nodded she stuck her hand out, "Deal."

Audrey raised an eyebrow and Duke chuckled at the interaction. Nathan shook her hand, "Deal. Now, what is the last thing you remember?"

Little Madison scrunched her face up as she tried to think. "I wanted to watch 'toons but they were too scary. I tried to find daddy. Momma wasn't home. Nate not here either. I ran outside but…"

Nathan could see she was getting scared a put a hand on her shoulder, "You're doing great, Mads. What happened when you went outside?"

"Momma's going to be mad," Little Madison shook her head, eyes filling with tears, and her bottom lip started to tremble.

Nathan paused a moment hearing about the chief and their mother still being alive was a lot to take in but nothing compared to having a literal little sister standing in front of him. He swiped away a tear that escaped, "Mom's not going to be mad. She'll be happy that you told the truth. Remember what the chief…dad," Nathan corrected himself, "always said? You will always get in less trouble if you just tell…"

"The truth," Little Madison sniffed her tears back.

"So, what happened when you went outside, Madison?" Audrey tried again.

Little Madison glanced over to Duke leaning in the doorway of the house and made a face before turning her attention back to Nathan. "I left the door open."

"Why would your mom be mad you left the door opened," Audrey gently pressed her.

Little Madison started to cry again, "Ollie."

Audrey looked to Nathan for an explanation. It took him a moment to figure out what she was talking about and then the realization hit him, "We used to have a cat, Ollie. Mads would leave the door open when she went outside and the cat would get out. If we didn't find it before bedtime she would cry all night long so mom told her if she didn't shut the door when she went outside and Ollie got out again he was going to go live with a new family."

"That's kind of harsh," Duke commented.

Nathan nodded, standing back up, "Around this time," he motioned to little Madison, "the chief was just a beat cop pulling extra hours because mom lost her job at the grocery store. Things were tight. The troubles had returned and I couldn't feel anything. Tempers flared more often than not and having Madison scream her head off over a cat was just too much to deal with after a long day."

Little Madison incessantly tapped Nathan on the leg but since he couldn't feel it Audrey cleared her throat to get his attention. When he met little Madison's eyes she rubbed the back of her hand across her nose to get rid of the snot that started when she cried. "Can we get snow cones now?"