Excerpt from: “Madeline West - Light Hearts Live Long” by Katalyn Louis Parks
Loading ...– Chapter 1 –
As far back as Madeline West could remember she had always been the best. From kindergarten, right through high school and then eventually becoming an FBI agent, she had always been the top of her class. And if only as much could be said about her associate, the pair would make a deadly combination.William Heist sat in front of her now. His endless vindication was now becoming nothing more than a low and dull ringing in her ears. And after hearing the first few moments of this speech she was glad the words had lost their way. She touched her lips, eyes focussed on the cause of that ringing, as if she were actually listening, and with one finger she lightly began to trace her bottom lip pensively.
A thought had crossed her mind. But not until now, when her own valuable life was slipping away in the midst of Heist’s so called revelation, did she ever comprehend that she could have enough time to think about it. Now - she thought about that phrase; the one she heard when she was younger — How did it go?“Can’t see the wood for the trees”. Not until she was paired with Agent Heist did she ever understand that phrase completely. Of course she hadn’t thought about it since her younger years when she had passed it off as a meaningless idiom, but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed logical that he was infact the origin of that saying. The very source from whence that phrase had came –
“What do you think, West?”
Madeline blinked. She obviously had no say on the matter. The only opinion she had after that eternal drone was that it was successfully the most annoying noise she had ever heard a human being emit. The only upside she could think of was that he had effectively helped her solve the mystery of that expression’s origin. At least one mystery had been solved.
“I’m sorry, Heist. I don’t understand. You think it was the shopkeeper?”
“Yes! Isn’t it obvious? He was the one that was first at the scene of the crime and he had access to their personal information.”
Agent Heist was overjoyed. Agent West was not.
“It’s not the shopkeeper, Heist.”
His eyes, that were just moments ago, bursting with excitement dulled to a hollow stare. He glared at her but didn’t ask for an explanation. He had felt that coming. They sat in silence for a while. Madeline sighed. Heist spun his pen around his thumb. Back to square one.
At that moment there was a knock on the door. The void knocking echoed through the office in the dead silence. The two agents looked to each other. Neither moved.
“Heist, get the door.”
Heist rose and took the five steps to the doorway and opened the door. An empty corridor. Heist turned to look at Madeline, still seated at the desk but her eyes fixed on something of interest. He followed her curious stare until his eyes met its cause. A small parcel sat at the foot of the door, a brown padded envelope. Padded? There was no address marked but the knock at the door had defined its arrival as a hand delivered package. But by whom? The most blatantly curious thing about this parcel was that it didn’t even have a name on it, whether recipient or deliverer. So what was so mysterious about it’s contents if neither party could be identified in ink? One mystery not too difficult to solve was that it was meant to fall into the hands of someone sitting in this office.
She looked to Agent Heist, who still stared at the package as if someone had just delivered a bag of faeces. She shook her head. Of course it wouldn’t be for him.
Madeline held out her hand and Heist understood the command. He picked it up and without an ounce of curiosity and he handed it to her. She dismissed him.
With Heist out the room she now had the space to think. She sat in the still air staring at the package while her thoughts whirled in the silence until she couldn’t stand it any longer. She turned to her computer and after the click of a mouse a slow beat started to play. Jazz. She liked to think that the quiet lull of brass and the dull beat of drums helped her to think. Whether or not it did was another story.
She ran her fingers through her dusted blonde hair and as her hand reached the back of her head, the shorter pieces of hair fell softly back in place, draping over and around her delicate and feminine features. But as stunning and beautiful as she was, she didn’t ever admit it. Of course, recognition of her own beauty and the obsession of appearance would be giving into the all too tempting stereotype of the average woman. And average was something she never wanted to be. Although a light layer of powder and dark red lipstick never went a miss.
She reached for the package. Hesitated. Was it was from him? She took a breath. Released it. She seized the package and ripped it open before she could restrain herself any longer. It was a small envelope, just big enough to fit a video tape into. But not as much room was occupied by the contents of this particular parcel. It fell into her hand.
A heart.
Madeline held the silver heart in her hand delicately. The thought of wearing plastic gloves hadn’t occurred to her, as there was a diminutive hope that it was from Vinnie. But it was not until now that she realized it was the real thing. It was the parcel she had been waiting for. Something so small and fragile triggered a thought, and she was off. And although she had had no warning of the parcel or contents, she knew that this was going to be his next move. She just couldn’t figure out when. At 3.49pm on Wednesday the 5th of September, it had been delivered with a simple knock on the door. But where would that piece fit into her puzzle?
He knew where her office was and he had been in the building. Hadn’t he? Surely it couldn’t be that easy. She leaped out of her seat, still clutching the cold metal pendant, now warming to her hands temperature.
Out of the door, along the empty corridor and into the elevator. She pressed a button, taking her to the top floor of the building. Could it really be that easy?
The elevator stopped. She got out and marched the crowded top floor corridor. He wouldn’t be this stupid.
Without even looking up from the heart, she turned and entered a room.
She gasped.
He wasn’t that stupid after all.
The Excerpt from: “Madeline West - Light Hearts Live Long” by Katalyn Louis Parks by Katalyn Louis Parks, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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