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“Those are some pretty serious accusations, Madison. Care to elaborate on that? Over a meal, maybe?” Her gaze narrowed to suspicion, and I couldn’t say I blamed her. Based on her allegations, she either had a hard life or a very active imagination.
“Just use your inside voice, and I’ll keep an open mind. I promise.”
If nothing else, she was a kid in trouble, and I knew something about that. If I could help her, I would.
“For real?” I nodded, and she sat back, folding her arms defensively. “Why?”
“You said you know who I am, right? Not just that I run this place?”
She nodded, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “Yeah? So?”
“Then you know that I have nothing to fear from you and you also know that I can probably help.” I watched Madison weigh her options, chewing her bottom lip as she decided whether she could trust me, or if I would be just another person to let her down.
“It’s my sister, Molly. She came to Glitz to work as a housekeeper and cook for a nice Catholic family.” Madison said the words with derision and disgust. Her emphasis gave me a nasty feeling in my gut. “Anyway, the couple worked for some bigwig in The Church, so of course, our parents were happy to fork over the hundred bucks for her bus ticket, especially when she promised to send part of her paycheck home to them.”
“Where are you from?”
Madison blinked as if she hadn’t expected the question. “That’s not important.”
“It’s important to me.” The only way to ensure she was legit, was to check her story out.
“I’ll tell you when I decide if I can trust you or not.” Her words were spoken with the bravado of a street kid who had to be tough just to survive from one day to the next. I’d met plenty of kids like Madison. Hell, I’d almost ended up a kid like her when I was sixteen.
“Fine. Keep going.”
A waiter approached with a friendly smile. “Excuse me, Ms. Ashby, do you need anything else?”
“A coffee for me. Madison?”
She rolled her eyes. “Burger and fries. Well done, lots of ketchup.”
Yep, she was definitely a kid.
“Thanks, Brad.” The waiter left, and I turned my gaze back to Madison. “You were saying?”
Madison nodded and sucked in a deep breath that she had to let out slowly just to calm her nerves. “Three months in and Molly hated the job. Said the couple was weird and evil. Told me she’d caught the guy trying to sneak into her room, and she started pushing the small dresser in front of the door when she slept. Then on month five, I stopped hearing from my sister altogether.”
It was a story I knew well and had heard it at least a thousand times. “Shit, Madison, I’m sorry.”
She shook her head, doing her best to look tough even though I could see she was on the verge of tears.
“I don’t need your pity. I need answers. Molly sent me a photo of her inside their big ass house, so I have their address, but they moved. And I tracked them to your hotel. This hotel.”
Her words sent a tingle of awareness up the back of my spine, so much so that I had to tell myself to keep calm. To relax and not get too far ahead of myself. Yet.
“Do you have their names? Or a photo?”
She was a kid who’d done a little detective work, but I wasn’t holding out hope.
“Dennis and Debbie Smith,” she snorted.
Aliases. “I’ll look into it. I promise. Do you have someplace to stay?”
Brad chose that moment to interrupt with our food. “Anything else?”
“We’re good now,” I told him and watched him walk away to check on the other customers. Madison sank into her food like she’d skipped more than a few meals. My heart went out to the kid.
“Well?” I said.
“Well what?” She shook her head and took another bite, chewing like the food would disappear if she didn’t eat it all at once. “I don’t need your charity, rich girl. I just want to find my sister.”
I sighed heavily and reached for any patience I could find. Typically, I was the patient Ashby. Okay, well, Cal was the patient Ashby, but I came in a close second.
“It’s not charity. I’m terribly busy at the moment, and I won’t always be so easy to find. Do you have a phone, some way I can get a hold of you?”
“Why,” she asked with a sneer. “You gonna offer me a phone too?”
I rolled my eyes. “Do you have a phone or don’t you, Madison?”
She looked away, ashamed. “I don’t.”
Dammit, she was just a fucking kid. Too young to have to pretend she could handle all the shit life had already thrown at her.
“Finish your food,” I ordered and went back to my now lukewarm coffee.
