Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

MADELINE

Three months later…

"Heyyyy Handsome," Madeline answered the FaceTime request, smiling at Noah's enthusiasm. "You are early, and I just got off of work. I'm actually walking home right now."

"Well, why are you talking to me?" he chastised, but his smiling face held no rebuttal. "Focus on what is around you and be careful. I'm setting a timer right now. If I don't hear from you in ten minutes, then I'm sending the police to your door, missy. Nobody messes with my wife."

"Ten minutes, huh?"

"You better hustle, sweetheart," he grinned – tapping his watch. "Tick tock."

"Oh my gosh," she burst out laughing at his antics and then saw a few smiling faces pop into the screen behind Noah. "Hi, Orion. Hey, Trophy. Hi, Shellac."

"Hey, look, it's Mrs. New York…"

"When's the swimsuit competition…"

"She's got my vote already…"

"You sure you want to be married to Memphis? He's a jerk…"

"Ignore them," Noah countered, frowning and glaring at his friends. "Don't you twerps have something else to do? Go put a fork in a socket or something…"

"Noah!" Madeline exclaimed in horror as several people passed her on the sidewalk, looking at her in shock because they'd overheard his comment.

"'Memphis' is a much better name, Sir Nerd-a-Lot…"

"Ooooh, Noaaaaah …"

"How long can you tread water?"

"Where's your ark, Boy Scout?"

"Show me how big that ‘oar' is, ya' bad boy…"

And a series of wild laughter surrounded her husband, who was currently blushing and grim faced. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else at that moment.

"Ten minutes," Noah said tightly – and she smiled. Her husband was all bluff and bluster. When he was away from his friends, he was always talking about how great the other guys in his squadron were. This was his extended family, and ‘big brother' was about to get put in a headlock, apparently.

"Ten minutes, Handsome… and find somewhere where I don't have to listen to Trophy's mouth," she said loudly – only to see a middle finger appear in front of Noah's face not a second before her husband hung up the call. Yeah, Noah was probably about to take that finger right off the other man's hand for being so rude to her, and she smiled, stepping into the building.

Eight minutes later, Madeline was not smiling.

She was back downstairs, standing in the lobby, waiting for the police to arrive. When they ended the call, Madeline had stepped onto the elevator to go up to her apartment. As the doors opened, she started down the hallway… only to see her door was open.

Someone was either in her apartment – or had broken in not long ago. Either way, she was not about to find out which instance it was without the police being there. As she clicked send on a text message to Noah, the first squad car pulled up to the building just as her phone rang.

"Noah, the police just pulled up…"

"Are you safe?" he interrupted bluntly.

"Yeah, just scared. I would rather be on the safe side…"

"You mean Jacksonville?" he retorted, and she could tell he was worried about her.

"Jacksonville isn't exactly the safest place."

"Compared to New York City, it is."

"I can't argue about this right now…"

"Because you know I'm right?"

"Quit being so pushy because the police are here, and I need to handle this," she retorted glibly. "I love you – you might be right – but I still need to go. I'll call you back shortly."

"I'll be waiting… and looking at airline tickets."

"Point taken," she chided, ending the call as the officer walked in and looked at her.

"Dr. Bennington, I take it?"

"Yes, officer. I made the call. "

"What's going on?"

"I went up to my floor, and when I got out of the elevator, I saw some of my things were dragged down the hallway, and my door was kicked open," Madeline explained nervously. She had avoided telling Noah that tidbit because she knew he would already be beside himself.

The carrier was scheduled to pull into the harbor in just over a week. If Noah was here, she might not have felt so frightened but then again, that also might have been enough for him to lose his cool. Her levelheaded husband never got upset. He might be firm about something or appear extremely intense – but the man never yelled or raised his voice during some of the worst moments they had experienced together.

Riding in the elevator to her floor, she stayed in the car with her finger on the ‘hold' button as the officer moved toward her doorway. She had never seen an active police investigation or witnessed an officer doing his job, so she had no clue if it was bad, safe, or if she should be running for the hills. Time seemed to tick by ever so slowly, and she heard her phone ding a few times, knowing it was Noah blowing up her phone – concerned.

Finally, she let out her breath and stepped out of the elevator car allowing it to close when the officer waved her forward.

"Do you know of anyone who would be searching your apartment? Can you think of something specific that might be missing?"

"No…" she replied, completely confused. "I barely have anything. I mean, you saw my place. There's not much to hide in an apartment this small. I don't even have a jewelry box."

"No enemies? "

"No?"

"Do you do drugs, or do any of your neighbors? Maybe this was a case of a mistaken address?"

"I don't even know my neighbors," she whispered, horrified. "I haven't met them yet, so I couldn't say. I work at the museum and use this place simply to eat and sleep."

"I figured you worked at the museum. So, nothing is ringing any bells?" the officer continued nonchalantly, scribbling something down in a notebook… and Madeline hesitated.

"Wait," she whispered, looking at the older man who looked like he would rather be anywhere else than here. "What did you mean, ‘I figured you worked at the museum'… why did you say that?"

"The new Egyptian exhibit, lady," he said gruffly and pointed behind her with his ink pen. "That, and that weird do-hickey you've got thumbtacked to the wall…"

The officer hadn't even finished speaking when Madeline took off into the apartment to see what he was talking about. She had barely moved in when she went to see Noah, and because they were talking about her coming back to Jacksonville in four more months – she never bothered to decorate. The apartment was sparse, with a mattress on the floor, a few cups, plates, bowls, and towels, her clothing, and some food. She literally bought the cheapest microwave possible on Amazon so she could eat at home and cook without any pots or pans.

Sure enough… there was a postcard thumbtacked to the blank wall before her. Horrified, she stepped forward, looking at the illustration, and nearly vomited on the floor. There was a printed picture of a man's profile holding an ankh, with two serpents on his headdress, complete with two blue feathers and a crescent – and she knew this image .

Petbe - the god of the sky… and the deity of revenge.

"Does that weird-looking fella mean something to you?" the officer asked, and Madeline turned around, her ears roaring as she looked at him, nodding.

"I'm in danger."