Vanishing Acts by Phillip Margolin, Ami Margolin Rome Read Free Book Online Page B

years ago, Madison and Peggy had had a serious talk about Madison’s mother. Madison had been in a school play, and Hamilton couldn’t come because he was in a big trial in California. Madison had been staying with Peggy, and Peggy had come to school in Hamilton’s place. After the play, Madison saw all of her friends with a dad and a mom and she’d gotten teary-eyed. Until that day, Madison had accepted having a dad and no mom. She knew her mom was dead, but they had never really talked about it. On the ride home, she’d asked Peggy why other dads had wives and other kids had a mom and a dad.
    â€œYou had a mother, Madison. She was lovely, one of the sweetest women I’ve ever known.”
    â€œWhy can’t I remember her better?” Madison had asked.
    â€œYou were too young when she passed away.”
    â€œSome of the kids in my class have two moms,” Madison said. She knew this because she had playmates whose fathers had remarried after divorce or death. “I’d like to have a mother, even if it wasn’t my first mom.”
    Madison had seen tears form in Peggy’s eyes before she turned her head back to the road.
    â€œYour mother was so special that your dad hasn’t found anyone to replace her,” Peggy said.
    â€œDoes Dad work so hard because he misses Mom?” Madison asked.
    Peggy looked surprised. “I think that’s it,” she said. “When your mother was alive, he didn’t work nearly as hard. After she passed away, Hamilton buried himself in his work because he was very sad. I guess he never got out of the habit.”
    â€œHey, you okay?” said Jake, waving a hand in front of her face.
    Madison snapped out of her memories and looked across the table at Jake. “My mom died when I was young,” she said, hearing her voice go quiet.
    Jake stopped smiling. He put his pizza down. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean . . . ”
    â€œIt’s okay. You didn’t know. How about you?” Madison asked quickly, to change the subject. “What do your folks do?”
    â€œThey’re doctors. They both work at OHSU,” he said, referring to Oregon Health Sciences University, the hospital that had been built on a high hill overlooking Portland’s city center. “That’s why we moved from Atlanta. They got jobs here.”
    â€œWhat kind of doctors are they?”
    â€œMom’s a cardiologist, a heart doctor, and dad is a neurosurgeon. He operates on brains.”
    â€œDo you want to be a doctor like your folks?” Madison asked.
    â€œNo. Their work is really interesting, but you have to be good at science if you want to be a doctor, and I am definitely not good at science. I really want to be a cartoonist or write graphic novels. But right now I just want to play soccer and make it through junior high in one piece.”
    Madison laughed. “I guess we don’t have to make up our minds for a while,” she said, but she’d known for a long time what she would be when she grew up.

Chapter 8
The Mystery Woman
    T he Multnomah County Courthouse was a blunt, eight-story building of gray concrete that took up an entire block in downtown Portland. On Friday morning the line to go through the metal detector stretched out of the courthouse and along the sidewalk in front of the building. In the line were intense-looking lawyers carrying attaché cases and making important calls on their cell phones, uniformed police officers who were scheduled to testify in cases, and nervous-looking men and women with greasy hair and dangling cigarettes. Madison tried to keep away from the nasty cigarette smoke as the line inched forward. She scanned the street, anxiously looking for Jake, who was late. Five minutes after they’d agreed to meet, a Volvo station wagon stopped in front of the courthouse and Jake hopped out. Madison waved and Jake ran over. He was dressed up for his first visit to