Chapter 2 - THE MAN BY THE GARBAGE CAN
Six years later, Madison sat behind the wheel of a white luxury SUV and
barely recognized herself in the mirror.
That was intentional.
At thirty-four, she wore control well.
White blouse. White trousers. Gold earrings. Hair perfectly smooth.
Nobody looking at her now would guess she once spent three months waking
at 3:00 a.m. because a bedroom door kept replaying in her head.
The traffic light turned red.
Madison stopped.
She glanced toward the sidewalk.
A man was digging through a garbage can.
She looked away.
Then looked back.
Something about his shoulders.
The way he bent one knee when he reached down. The way he pushed messy
hair away from his forehead.
Her stomach dropped.
No.
The man straightened.
Madison stopped breathing.
David.
Not the David she remembered.
This David wore a dirty gray T-shirt, worn black pants, and shoes with
one sole peeling loose at the toe. His face was unshaven. His hair had
grown too long. A large dirty bag of empty cans hung from one hand.
Madison stared.
The car behind her honked.
She barely heard it.
She pulled toward the curb.
Jumped out.
“DAVID?!”
He looked up.
The moment he recognized her, his face filled with fear.
Not embarrassment.
Fear.
He turned.
“David!”
He walked faster.
Madison ran after him.
He broke into a run.
She caught him at the corner and grabbed his arm.
“What happened to you?!”
David spun.
“LET GO OF ME!”
Madison stared.
“You look—”
“Go back to your car.”
“What happened?”
“Madison.”
He said her name like a warning.
She held tighter.
“Why are you running from me?”
David pulled away.
His dirty sleeve slid up.
Madison saw the band around his wrist.
Plastic. Old. Yellowed at the edges.
Hospital identification.
She grabbed his wrist.
David went pale.
“Don’t.”
Madison read the print.
MADISON PARKER.
Her name.
Her date of birth.
Her former address.
St. Catherine Medical Center.
Madison felt all the air leave her lungs.
“What is this?”
David yanked his arm.
She did not let go.
“Why do you have something from MY hospital records?”
His eyes moved past her.
Across the street.
Then behind her.
His face changed.
“Madison.”
“What?”
“You need to leave.”
“No.”
“NOW.”
Tires screamed.
A black SUV stopped across the intersection.
Another behind Madison’s parked vehicle.
Two more came from opposite directions.
The street became boxed in.
Madison turned slowly.
Every SUV door began opening at the same time.
Men in dark jackets stepped out.
David went completely white.
Madison looked at him.
“Who are they?”
He whispered:
May you like
“The reason I never came back.”
The men began moving toward them.
