/Zane's POV/
The past 12 hours left me not just emotionally drained but physically exhausted, leaving me awake with a throbbing head after walking groggily into the kitchen early in the morning to get some water.
I returned to my room afterward to see my phone blaring at my bedside which multiple missed calls that kept me wondering how I'd missed them.
"What?" I muttered tiredly into the phone, lazily rubbing my eyelids while processing the voice that came in later.
"I've sent the investigation report you ordered." Noah informed me and my eyes flared open, if I wasn't properly awake before, that was enough to kick me awake. "Dropped a copy into your email," He added.
Noah's words made me recall how I'd given him till morning to find out everything on Madison.
Walking over to my working desk, I turned on my computer and went straight to review what Noah had sent.
Madison didn't have much on her and most of everything in the report correlated with what Allison had mentioned about her in the past.
Madison lived with her family until they were 7 and was separated from her siblings after the deaths of their parents, unlike Allison and Addison, who were taken in by their aunts, Madison stayed in the countryside with her grandmother, there was nothing special about her; however, that was until I realised she practically disappeared after her grandmother's death.
They had nothing on her for a distance of 10 years and only resurfaced 2 years ago.
She was basically a ghost for 10 years; there were no sightings of her and her credit card wasn't in use for that period, nor was her phone, not like she had that many people in her life but practically everyone who knew her before 10 years ago said the same thing: she vanished.
But 2 years ago, she reappeared and opened a bar by repurchasing her grandmother's land and from the report, I could tell she was doing well.
I didn't want to trust the background investigation report since the private detective in charge couldn't even figure out what happened with the missing 10 year gap in Madison's files but since the report even detailed Madison's visit to Allison as well as her movements to the hospital before she disappeared again.
I couldn't question their thoroughness. They were good after all, I tried hard to erase that she was ever in the city.
Every damn thing about the report was detailed but what the hell happened during that missing 10 year gap? Where was she and what did she do?
Does it really make sense for someone to vanish and reappear like that? I have questions I'm damn sure I wasn't gonna get answers to anytime soon.
Maybe asking the woman herself would have made it a whole lot easier, but I hardly know her.
The bits and pieces I know were information pieced together by listening to Allison's stories of her and though I'd done a background investigation, she still felt like a total stranger.
She's hiding something and I intend to find out about it.
Maybe it's a good call that I decided she stayed here in my house. Well, most of the reason was that I couldn't afford to get her killed and let all our plans go to shit; secondly, it was just easier to keep an eye on her if we lived together.
Snapping out of my reverie and looming thoughts by the door sound from outside my room, I hurried towards my door to check who it was.
It was Madison, now in a hospital two-piece, heading towards the kitchen and soon she was out of my sight.
Her messy bedhead and yawning face looked strangely similar to Allison when she's caught off guard and dozed off.
But unlike Allison, Madison couldn't seem to care less how she appeared, her nonchalant demeanour and relaxed attitude contrasted Allison's serious and calculating attitude.
Even though we've just met and I can see how much they look like each other, I could pick out their differences and I think I kept subconsciously doing that.
I found myself blinking in surprise when she appeared at the side of the kitchen.
My eyes could no longer reach her from my door; she kept looking around the house while drinking water she must have gotten from the kitchen.
Her dazed, concentrated look enhances more of her feminine beauty and strangely enhances her features, making her look more like her sister, she was just as attractive so I guess I could work with her after all, she has to get into the role of acting like Allison until we have the killer on our hands.
With her perfect side profile, modelling using that particular angle would bring out all that's perfect about her.
"What am I even doing?" I wondered why I was hiding behind my door and analyzing my sister-in-law.
Allison would often scold me about my occupational disease, my ability to analyse and evoke the best in even the worst people and make them shine best, it's what I do; it's how I started and it's what got me to where I was and many times, I found myself studying people, often people I found potential in and my intuitions were never wrong.
Madison would make a great model with a little effort. I'm not sure I'd be able to make an actress out of her yet but those sharp features, elegant, and sometimes broody look would look great on camera.
"Fuck! I gotta stop doing that!" I mumbled after giving myself a mental shake while leaving my room but almost bumped into Madison, who was now climbing down the stairs leading to the living room away from the kitchen.
"Hey," She blurted out, taken aback by my sudden appearance.
She appeared even more awkward than the first time we met; the memory had my heart squeezing out in pain that I tried so hard to bottle in and bury, and resurfacing the thoughts I tried so hard to avoid, Allison's look of total agony on that floor, her bleeding out and barely hanging on…
"Are you okay?"
Madison broke my train of thought with her question, concern evident in her tone, while I quickly fixed my expression.
"Yes, I'm fine," I replied with a business smile.
Well, I'll be the moment I tear apart whoever was behind the attack on Allison.
"Look, I know losing my sister like that must be rough on you. I can only imagine what it feels like to lose someone you already have your life planned out with but just give it time. You're gonna be okay." Madison sounded sympathetic and worried, a total contrast to how I portrayed her.
She looked better than at our first meeting too; the distress and rage on her face were gone, replaced by a blank, almost unreadable expression.
Trying not to act confused by the change in her disposition, I replied, "Thank you." And advanced toward the kitchen while trying to get some water even though I already had my morning fill.
"Um, cool place, by the way." She commented, breaking the silence that followed our awkwardly emotional moment.
"Thanks," I said again as a strange sense of pride filled my chest; it felt warm to be acknowledged for my taste.
Allison never liked my place, said it was too bland and simple.
The gray and ash theme of the whole house didn't make it better.
"Gray is my favourite colour," Madison commented, my eyes catching a small smile on her face as her hand moved over the sofa as if enjoying the feel of it.
"Coffee?" I offered, distracting myself from my straying thoughts since I found myself enjoying that small moment of break in the gloom shrouding her face.
"Yes, please," She replied while I brought a cup of coffee to her in the living room. "This is really strange, isn't it? Yesterday, we were nothing more than strangers; today…we are having coffee together. I wish Ally was here." She sounded melancholic, her expression downcast as she pointed it out.
Even as she wore her sadness like a sleeve, she appeared poised, and though her face was pale and drawn, the ache in her eyes was raw but distant, as if her grief had been carefully tucked away behind a veil of restraint and patience.
The dejected look on her face made me want to doubt that she could ever murder her sister but… I can't be so sure until I'm confident I understand her real identity.
Just who are you, Madison Reyes? Why did you disappear for 10 years and only reappear 2 years ago?
"So, why did you and Allison separate? She mentioned you got separated about 23 years ago and have been completely off the grid since then." I found myself asking as I settled opposite the sofa she was in.
"Yeah, that's true. Aunt couldn't take care of all three of us so I had no choice but to stay with my grandmother but when she died, I…sorry, I think your phone's been ringing for a while." Madison pointed out, and I furrowed slightly since I didn't pick the sound until she mentioned it, forcing me up out of the chair and into the room.
It was a call from the tech support team informing me they managed to break into Allison's phone, retrieving her messages and contacts, while I had other people looking into anything else that could point out who Allison's killer was, I had a feeling maybe the clue wasn't so far off; just maybe her phone would get us what we needed.
And I was right. I thought after checking her messages with Madison, I found myself looking straight in her direction.
Just what sort of relationship did the two have and why does this sound like a threat?
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