Hunting Death

Chapter 4

Madison woke up bright and early the next day, making sure she had all of her belongings ready to go when Al arrived. Double checking her appearance in the mirror, the idea of meeting people her father had known for years making her a bit vain, she became startled when she heard the knock on the door.

Al said he would be earlier than the day before since he wanted to get her there before the sanctuary woke up for the day, but she'd hoped she'd at least be able to get some breakfast before he arrived.

However, she opened the door to find, not Al, but Molly, dressed rather casually, with a McDonald's bag and a coffee in hand.

"Al couldn't make it, he asked me if I minded," she shrugged, handing the bag and coffee to Madison. "I didn't. Figured you might want something to eat before we left, the kitchen here isn't open this early."

Madison thanked her and sat down to eat as Molly began taking her bags out to the SUV. Thankful for both the food and the fact that she didn't have to lug the suitcases out herself.

Molly seemed like a sweet kid, but she couldn't have been much more than twenty if she had to guess. That youthful aura practically glowing. Probably only an inch or two shorter than Madison's five-nine, Molly had strawberry blonde hair, green eyes, and lots and lots of freckles. But she looked pretty. And so far, she'd been nothing but friendly.

Despite being pleasant himself, Madison hadn't been comfortable enough around Al to ask him some of the more personal questions that she had wanted to, but she liked Molly, and she felt at ease with her.

"Hey Molly," she said once on the road. "What can you tell me about the ranch?"

"Oh, everything!" Molly gushed. "I worked there doing community service for a few summers before I graduated, it looked great on my college application. I want to be a veterinarian."

"So you're in school?"

"Yeah, but I work as Al's personal assistant during the week when I don't have classes, he pays pretty well, and I still help out at the ranch sometimes on the weekends. It's mostly volunteers there, except for Keith, and probably like two others. That's where I met Al. Your father actually introduced me to him, he told him I'd make a great assistant."

A hint of jealousy started to take root in Madison as she listened to Molly babble on about having been part of the ranch, and her father's life, for quite some time. She really wished she'd been able to meet him now. So far, nobody seemed to have anything negative to say about him.

"Wow, so you knew my father?"

"Yeah, a really great guy. Like a second dad to me." Molly frowned when she saw Madison flinch out of the corner of her vision. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay." She said with a forced smile. "It's good to hear that he was such a great person."

"Oh, absolutely. An amazing man! What he did for those animals, I mean, he's my hero. I'm so sorry you didn't get the chance to meet him."

With a nod, Madison looked out the window, hoping to hide the tears that once again threatened to fall. She wished she had been given that chance too. Madison didn't normally hold grudges, but she thought it might be a while before she'd be able to forgive her mother for what she had done, what she had robbed her and her father of.

"So the ranch is up ahead, not too far past Beechdale Farm," Molly noted a few minutes after the conversation lagged.

Madison didn't see much of the farm in question as they passed it from the left, with the entrance located a mile or so down a side street that they'd already driven by, but what she did see looked breathtakingly beautiful. Large, open, green fields, several outbuildings, at least one of them resembling a big barn, and what appeared to be a huge gray brick house.