Chapter 74

Hotel room. Beckett wasn't really asleep. Thanks to some things that had happened in the past, he'd been dealing with chronic insomnia, relying on sleeping pills just to make it through the night. Carl had left a bottle of pills on the nightstand earlier, but Beckett hadn't touched them—not tonight. His mind just wouldn't shut down. All he could think about was Madeleine. Weird, really. He never thought some woman could get to him like that. She'd told him so casually—like it meant nothing—that her left ear was deaf. Said she'd tried to take her own life more than once. No tears, no breakdowns, just plain facts… like she was talking about the weather. He checked the time. 3 a.m. Running a hand through his hair, Beckett let out a frustrated sigh. Why the hell couldn't he stop thinking about her? The screen lit up with an incoming call, but with his phone on Do Not Disturb, it didn't even vibrate. … Outskirts of the city. Madeleine was shaking all over, barely able to hold onto her phone