Madison's Halloween Predicament -- Chapter 6

[Johnny Lawrence]

Chapter 6


Pushing aside her surprise at, well everything about this town, Madison made up her mind. "You're just finding reasons to delay, girl." After driving for like ten hours, she was finally here. And now that she *was* here, she'd spent the entire time sightseeing and not asking questions. It wasn't like you could expect to turn the corner and find Kristen sitting on a park bench reading a book.

It was time for Maddie Rogers, Girl Detective, to get the investigation going. Turning her back to the courthouse and the intriguing stockade there, she jogged back over to her car. There was something creepy about this place. Time to find Kristen and get the fuck out.



There were six patrons sitting in the diner when Madison walked in. The two men she had seen earlier had left, but six was enough to start with. It was a smattering of
small town folk, people in blue jeans and ball caps and checkerboard shirts. A gray haired woman in an apron came out of the back room carrying somebody's check. Ten years ago she would have been tending towards fat, but some time back she had reached that destination and stayed there. The woman dropped off the check with an old farmer, reached down and straightened her apron, and looked up at Madison.

"Yes ma'am, how can I help you? Would you like a table?"

The uneasy sensation that Madison had been feeling since she left the courthouse was still with her, and as she turned to speak to the waitress, she figured out why. Everybody in the diner was looking at her. The old farmer hadn't so much as glanced at his check. The couple in their fifties sitting close to the register had both turned to stare. A young man and his girlfriend shifted their gaze from her to one another, and then back to her. Both had large grins on their faces. It wasn't just residents of a small town checking out the new person. This was different.

"Umm, yes. Or, no. I don't need a table. Actually I'm looking for someone who came through here, maybe a week ago? A friend of mine. Her name is Kristen Harmon. I've got a picture here..." Madison pulled out her phone and began scrolling through, looking for a photo she'd taken when they'd gone for drinks several months before.

The waitress stood patiently, and dutifully looked at the picture when Madison presented it. "I can't say that I recognize her," the woman replied. "Of course we get people coming in off the highway pretty regular, and I generally don't pay 'em much notice. They're always doing road construction or having a detour, and people stop in to eat. Maybe one of these boys can recall."

Something in the woman's mannerisms struck Madison as being odd. She'd handled evasive witnesses before, and could tell when people were hiding something. The woman knew more than she let on.

The other folks in the diner stood up, one by one, and shuffled over to see the photo. The young man and woman never lost their knowing grins, if anything they seemed to get wider. But every one of them shook their heads and denied having seen Kristen.

"Naw, I don't, I don't think I've seen *anybody* new in like, six months at least," said the young man. The girl with him shot him a stern glance, but whatever she was trying to communicate was lost on him. "Yeah, just normal town regulars is all."

"I thought the waitress said they were always doing road construction, and that you had people come in off the highway all the time?" Madison asked, easily slippng into cross-examination mode.

Bewilderment appeared on the young man's face, and slowly he began to understand what his girlfriend had been warning him about. "Well, yeah that's what I meant. Lots of people, but just... the regulars, who uh, always come in. People who take the detour a bunch, yeah." His grin returned, clearly pleased with himself for such a miraculous recovery.

His girlfriend looked at the phone. "Wow, she's really pretty. But no, I haven't seen her."

No one here was going to tell her anything. Madison turned to leave. As her hand reached the door, the waitress spoke out.

"Of course I don't work here every day. Maybe Alicia was working then."

A memory tickled at the back of Madison's mind. She paused, fingertips pressed on the door.

"Who?"

"Alicia. She's new. Been helping out around here lately. Maybe she saw your friend."

Wasn't that the name of one of the women in the videos? Madison couldn't be sure. There were so many of them. A waitress named Alicia? She struggled to call up vague recollections, but the image refused to come to mind. Too many videos to distinguish, especially since she had watched them back to back to back, fighting off sleep long enough to finger herself to another orgasm. And then crashing for the night.

"Where would I find her?"

"I think I got her address around here somewhere," the waitress said. She searched around in a drawer by the register for a few minutes before coming up for air. "Maybe it'll be easier if I just give you directions. She's just a couple blocks away. A couple minute walk."

Madison punched the directions into her phone. She didn't have service but her notes app still worked. She then thanked the woman and headed for the door.

"Wherever she is, I bet she ain't out on Ridge Road, that's for sure," said the young man. "Fuck! What'd you do that for?" he exclaimed to his girlfriend as she stomped on his foot.

Madison turned again and saw all the people in the diner staring daggers at him. He still bore the same self-satisfied smile he'd had when she came in. Not waiting to see the outcome, Madison slammed into the door, letting it fly open.

"Good luck findin' your doctor friend!" he called out after her.

A few seconds later and Madison was starting her car and throwing it in reverse. She didn't have a map, but odds are that Ridge Road was up on the large hill overlooking the town. Madison put the car in drive and headed for the tallest point she could see -- the water tower.




"Well, shit." Billy Johnson kicked at a broken piece of asphalt on the side of the road. "Where the hell'd she go?"

"You and your damn bladder," replied Jim. "You better sure as shit hope she didn't go back to the highway."

The two men stood beside the '73 Chevy, a police bubble light flashing away. They had just placed it on the roof of the car a few minutes before they turned the corner, only to find their quarry missing. The faded ad for RC Cola stared at them, mockingly.

"I thought she'd just stand there staring at the stocks for a while, maybe accidentally lock herself in," said Billy.

"Well she didn't, now did she?"



Next chapter -- what you've all been waiting for!

[ZeeChromosome]

I love the way you keep the tension going. Maybe "Madison, Girl Detective" will actually pull this one off!

[Citizen1069]

"Good luck findin' your doctor friend!" he called out after her.


"I thought she'd just stand there staring at the stocks for a while, maybe accidentally lock herself in," said Billy.

Next chapter -- what you've all been waiting for!

She NEVER said her friend was a doctor, he must have confused her with another woman that looks just like her with the same name, happens all the time in a small town.

He talks about the stocks like someone else might have accidentally got "stuck", I hope they did the right thing and helped her with what she was crying out for.