Murder List

Chapter Twenty

“You’re back in.”

Lewis made the announcement from the doorway of his office. “Buchanan, did you hear what I just said? You’re back in.”

Alec didn’t bother to stand. He simply turned in his swivel chair and asked, “Back in what?”

Lewis strode forward. “I just got off the phone with the superintendent of police. That’s right,” he said. “The superintendent.” His chest actually swelled like a blowfish when he repeated the news.

“And?” Alec prodded.

“Did you have any idea who Regan Madison was when you interviewed her?”

Alec wasn’t in the mood to play guessing games. He’d been in the middle of doodling on his blotter while he watched the second hand circle the clock on the wall. It had been only a couple of hours since Lewis had taken his cases away from him, but he was bored out of his mind. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could stomach sitting there and knew that Lewis expected him to show up at eight every morning and do nothing for nine frickin’ hours. If Lewis had wanted to drive him nuts, he couldn’t have picked a better punishment. Three weeks of sheer boredom. Like it or not, he was going to have to deal with it.

“Well, did you?”

“Okay, I’ll bite. Who is she?”

“A Hamilton,” he said. He all but smacked his lips as he said the name.

Lewis stood in front of Alec’s desk and planted his sweaty palms on Alec’s blotter. “She’s Regan Hamilton Madison.”

“And?”

“Her family owns all those hotels.” He was frowning now, obviously irritated that Alec hadn’t been suitably impressed. “The Hamilton in Chicago is just one of several. They’re all top-of-the-line. The woman comes from money, old money.”

“So?”

“That wasn’t in your report. I checked. You should have said something. Why didn’t you?”

Alec didn’t know how to respond to the absurd question. “So what about her? And what did you mean when you said I was back in?”

“She has brothers.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Three of them,” he continued, acting as though Alec hadn’t acknowledged the fact. “The oldest one just called the superintendent. Seems he knows the Madisons quite well. They belong to the same country club,” he added. “The Clairmont Country Club, to be exact. My wife and I have been trying to get in there for over five years.”

“And?” Alec asked, trying to force him to get to the point.

“Aiden’s the oldest Madison,” he said. “He’s a very powerful man.”

He sounded like a fan now. Alec was disgusted. “So?”

“So he’s concerned about his sister’s safety.”

Alec leaned back. “Why are you talking to me? Wincott’s in charge of the investigation. Refer the brothers to him.”

“Wincott has enough to do,” he said. “And Regan Madison isn’t a suspect…”

“Did Wincott tell you she wasn’t?”

“I’m telling you,” he snapped.

He wasn’t going to argue. Come on, he thought. Spell it out. Lewis was taking forever to tell him what he wanted. And Alec had so many other things to do. Like doodling. He almost laughed out loud then. Lewis had made sure he’d be excluded from any and all investigations, wanting him to sit at his desk and stare into space. Fortunately, he had a lot of doodles to finish, and right now Lewis’s palms were sweating all over one of his more creative ones.

“I want you to look after her until Wincott brings in Sweeney’s killer.”

Alec dropped his pen. “You want me to be her bodyguard?” He got angry just thinking about it. “I’m not a damned bodyguard,” he muttered before Lewis could speak.

“You are now. Know why I decided on you?”

“Because you knew I’d hate it?”

“That too,” Lewis said, grinning. “You have a bad attitude, Buchanan. That’s why you were so good working vice. You fit right in with all those perverts and psychos.”

His insults didn’t faze Alec. “Nice of you to notice.”

“You’re going to stick with the Madison woman night and day, day and night. You got that?”

Was he more concerned about the wealthy woman being upset or Sweeney’s murder? It was hard to tell.

“If her family has so much money, why can’t they hire bodyguards?”

“They could. Of course they could,” he said. “And they might.”

Every time he opened his mouth, he spit all over Alec’s desk. Man oh man, three weeks suddenly felt like a life sentence.

“But I want someone from this office with her at all times, and I want Aiden Madison to be beholden. Got that?” He didn’t ex-

pect a reply. He straightened and headed back to his office. He was shutting the door when he paused and shouted, “Buchanan?”

Alec didn’t answer.

“This is my ticket into Clairmont. Don’t screw it up.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Keep her alive.”