Position of Honor The Honor Series Book Two

Chapter 8

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Chapter 8

The house was just as she remembered it. The sweet warm scent of something that had been freshly baked still loomed in the air. Toys, from who she assumed were the grandchildren's, covered the floor in the family room. The family photos covered the wall going up the stairs, taking up much more space than when she had been there last. It warmed Madison's heart, but at the same time, that empty feeling of what she had missed out on registered in the pit of her stomach.

She was still the outsider. They had taken her in for shelter now, as a family, but Madison still felt she didn't belong. Two of the men with her were cops and she was a suspect in her father's murder.  They needed to keep an eye on her.  
But Matt said he wanted to help her. Madison swallowed hard as she looked around the room. So much was the same and so much wasn't.

She remembered the few afternoons she got to spend in their kitchen with Matt's mother, helping her fold laundry or learning the basic cooking skills she needed to live on her own. Dottie McKennan had been the nicest woman she had ever met. Her heart was so big and full of love, not just for her boys and husband, but for those who needed that love, as Madison had when she was young.

"Come on," Matt took her hand and began to lead her to the stairs. "I'll show you to your room."

Travis' eyes zeroed in on his brother as Matt moved passed him. He wondered if moving Madison into the family home wasn't a good idea after all. She is different, changed from what he remembered of her, which to his own chagrin, wasn't much. She wasn't much younger than Matt. Travis just never noticed her, but then he didn't notice much of anything back then. He was too anxious to get out of this town and on his own.

It hadn't taken much for Cassie to get his attention, Travis remembered. She flashed that bright smile at her small son and Travis was a goner. The fire in her eyes, all that blonde hair blowing in her face, and her voice as she would sing Jacob to sleep was all it took to catch him.

Matt hadn't seen him fall, but understood how strong that love Travis felt for Cassie was. Matt had jokingly said it was pitiful to watch his big brother fall so hard. As the memory passed over him, Travis smiled. When Matt passed him with Madison in tow, Travis wondered if Matt realized he had fallen just as pitifully hard as he himself had not so long ago.

Madison wasn't guilty of killing her father. Travis could see that now. From the way she reacted to the fight, to the way she maternally cleaned each and every wound on all of them with such care. She didn't have it in her. No, she didn't have the violent streak needed to take another's life. Matt had been right about that. Travis took a breath and moved through the house into the kitchen to brew some coffee. Madison was innocent, but the problem they were going to face was proving it.

Evidence was tampered with. The scene had been compromised. Someone had sabotaged the case.

Travis ground up the coffee beans in silence letting the facts roll through his head. Candace had committed suicide ten years ago. Now, Pierce Stone had come up dead. It looked like a burglary at first, but then turned into a murder.

Coincidence? Doubtful, Travis thought as he poured the water into the machine and pushed the button to brew. No, there was no such thing as coincidences when it came to murder, not even in the small town of Dahlia.

She waited and watched in the doorway before she saw the worry and fatigue on her husband's face. "What are you thinking about?" Cassie asked as she stepped up behind Travis and wrapped her arms around his waist. Resting the side of her face against his strong muscular back, she gave him the comfort he needed.