Madison's Quest Read Online Free PDF Page A

playing
cards.
    “Lady Luck?” she guessed.
    He grinned. “That would be her.”
    Shane stopped playing with the ring. “So, you want to give
me the details?”
    “Of?”
    “Uhhh… The case?”
    He didn’t know? And why did she suddenly feel so much relief
because of it?
    The answer to that question was immediately there. She
didn’t want him to have been the one to investigate her for Bio-dad.
    She’d Googled Shane after watching the Braves play. He might
have bad-boy looks, but he was a success and she was what? Not even close to
being that.
    In Miami, it’d been easy to believe success was just around
the corner. Most of the people she had meaningful contact with were like her,
struggling toward a dream. It’d been kind of a badge of courage and show of self-confidence
to work going-nowhere jobs, because those jobs were all about surviving while
pursuing music.
    But getting the call from her mom when it looked like the
cancer might not be beat, going back to Richmond, discovering how little she
could help her parents…
    “Hey, you okay?”
    She realized she’d been rubbing the place above her heart
and forced her hand to her lap, only to fight the urge to rub her palm against
her jeans. “I’m good. There’s a lot going on in my life right now.”
    “I can relate.”
    Weirdly, it made her feel better.
    She found herself wishing she’d met him in Miami. It was
easy to picture him leaving the beach, coming up to one of the outdoor bars she
worked during the day and claiming a seat, ordering a drink and staying to
talk, the ocean breeze playing with his hair, his face and bare chest giving
the scenery a run for the money. It was easy to imagine getting to know each
other, with a counter between them, turning into getting to know each other
with nothing separating them—specifically, clothes.
    She blinked the fantasy away. Shane asked, “So what kind of
music do you play?”
    “Rock, mostly alternative stuff.”
    That started a riff of conversation about sounds and songs.
It put her head in a good place. It helped block memories stirred by the wreck,
and the worry about her parents, until they parked in front of a small,
stand-alone office building.
    Shane opened the driver’s door. “It’s safe to leave your
stuff in the Jeep.”
    She got out.
    This is it.
    What she felt about it was harder to get her head around,
but mostly, it still felt wrong, because of the money, because she had the only
parents she needed or wanted, because they wouldn’t want this even though they’d
support her if she had an honest desire to get to know Bio-dad.
    The sidewalk was barely wide enough for them to walk
side-by-side to the door. When they got there she saw Crime Tells written in
gold script.
    “Somehow I expected a logo with playing cards on it.”
    “Bulldog compromised.”
    “It’s got to be fun, working together, playing together.”
    He smiled what she’d already labeled his trademark smile.
“Yeah, I love it.”
    “I read that Bulldog won’t hire anyone to work for Crime
Tells without testing them with a game of chance, even family.”
    “True. Nobody gets a pass. Fourth try Gramps said maybe I’d
outgrown enough of my impulsiveness to work for him. Can you believe it?”
    She laughed. “Didn’t I read that the casinos paid your
grandfather big money to spot a con?”
    Shane slapped a hand to his chest. “Oh man, dissin’ me
already. For the record, it took my cousin Lyric four tries too. She has a
little trouble staying inside the lines.”
    “And you don’t?”
    His gaze dropped to her lips then met hers, and she’d swear
she saw a hint of vulnerability in his eyes. “Depends on the line.”
    They entered the office. Amusement and an unexpected kind of
longing slid into her at seeing a table in the reception area with a rack of
chips and a couple of decks of cards, at spotting another loaded with board
games.
    “Might as well warn you,” Shane said. “When it comes to
dealing with the