Hunting Death

Chapter 8

The first several documents Madison opened all pertained to the ranch and its inner workings, as well as a thorough look at her father's financial portfolio. She found it odd that in a day and age filled with technology her father still kept physical records, but perhaps he'd been the paranoid type. It made her smile. The further she dug though, the more she wondered why she'd even bothered in the first place.

If there had been anything of import in the safe she'd yet to find it. While it made her happy to see that her father's finances looked well tended, and it gave her peace of mind knowing exactly how he spread out his wealth and who looked after it, it honestly bored the crap out of her.

Al had already told her he had more money than she'd be able to spend in several lifetimes. She'd been told as well that her Aunt agreed to oversee everything and anything involving her father's share in the family company, and seeing as her Aunt's own wealth continued to accrue, the family business appeared to be in good hands.

He also gave her the contact information for the longtime investment firm her father used. So why she still sat here at, what time was it? She turned and looked at the clock on the desk, saw that the clock read 10:00 pm and stood to stretch.

Rolling her neck to get the kinks out she walked to the window and pulled back the curtains. The office faced the front of the house and looked out over a large portion of the farm, she also had a really good view from her second story vantage of Keith's little cottage.

She saw a light on in the back of the house, which she assumed had been left on for Jewel, but otherwise, the place was dark. Feeling a headache creep in behind her eyes, Madison began to rub her temples and looked back towards the desk where the contents of her father's safe had been stacked into neat little piles.

She groaned. As much as she wanted to go through it all, she didn't care about the money, not really. If her father had simply stuck a bunch of copies, of what his financial planners probably had stored in their computers and filing cabinets, in that safe, count her out. She had no interest in it.

Her father had set the ranch up to work with or without her, everything else was semantics.

Torn between calling it a night and getting through another pile, Madison took another long look out the window. The night seemed incredibly quiet and dark. Off to the left of the house, from her current viewpoint at least, she noticed a big eerie shadow, the wolf enclosure, and it surprised her that, being creatures of the night and all, the wolves didn't make more noise.

Tapping on the window however she discovered they were thick, likely double pained, and probably soundproof. Practical or not, her father hadn't spared any expenses when he'd built the house, there was no denying that.

Deciding that she'd get through one more pile at the very least, Madison began to close the curtains, surprised when she saw headlights coming up the driveway. She took another peek at the clock on the desk, it said a quarter after 10:00.

And yet the truck pulled up behind the cottage and only Keith got out of it.

Huh. She said to herself, must not have been a very good date.

She wasn't completely sure, but she thought he'd left her sometime after or right before eight. Two hours didn't seem like much time for a date in her book. Hardly enough time to do anything. Although she supposed it depended on what kind of date they had, he'd already had dinner after all.

Imagining Keith and another woman getting freaky beneath the sheets together made Madison all flustered, and even a bit jealous, groaning inwardly, she stepped away from the window and sat down in front of the desk, her back against it as she grabbed a small box that sat next to one of the piles.