by Nora Kane
“You were a snitch?”
“I prefer to call it a marketer of information.”
“I’d call it a snitch.”
“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t be wrong.”
“I wish you’d never hired me.”
“That didn’t work out for either of us and it really didn’t work out for Katrina.”
“Especially since you were the one banging a cocktail waitress. Kind of a double standard you’ve got going.”
“It's not like that. I really like Jennifer. If Katrina was seeing somebody, I wouldn’t have done anything.”
“You just wanted a clear conscience for your own infidelity?”
“Yeah, in my business I don’t get to have a clear conscience very often.”
“None of this changes the fact Jennifer and Chrissie would be safer with the police. We could leave the feds out of it and you could come in as well. Whatever happened at Jennifer’s, it sure looks like self-defense.”
“It was. You got somebody you can trust that much?”
“Yeah, I think I do,” Margot said thinking about Radcliff and Ames.
Ames didn’t like her, but there was no question he was a straight shooter. If Stone could convince him the Feds had a part in Katrina’s death, he’d do his best to keep Stone out of their hands. Stone seemed to be thinking about it when Margot’s phone buzzed. She saw it was Doreen and went ahead and answered.
“We got lucky and they used the same fake I.D.,” Doreen told her. “They picked up a 2018 Chevrolet Impala last night.”
“Silver?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“I saw them,” Margot said as she left the room and headed for the window. Outside was a silver Chevrolet Impala. No one was inside.
“What’s going on, Margot?”
“I’m going to give you an address, send somebody fast.”
Margot was reciting Dandridge’s address as she went back to the living room.
“What’s going on?” Stone asked.
“Trouble,” Margot told him as she ended the call and picked up the shotgun. She pumped a shell into the chamber and then moved around towards the back door. She got there just as somebody used a steel card much like hers to flip the lock on the sliding glass door. Behind him was another man carrying a pistol with a long suppressor screwed into the end.
Margot raised the shotgun. She was going to yell freeze and tell them to drop their weapons, but the back guy was already raising his gun. She fired a split second before he did. Her shot took off the top of the gunman's shoulder and his shot went wild. She worked the pump-action and fired again as the guy who jimmied the door drew his own gun. He took the blast in the chest and went down for good.
The other gunman was still alive. With a huge chunk of his shoulder missing he couldn’t raise his arm to shoot so he switched the gun into his left.
Margot worked the pump again before she said, “Don’t even think about it.”
He was clearly thinking about it as he raised his left hand.
She fired and she blew a hole through his chest she could almost see through it.
“Damn,” she heard Dandridge say from behind her, “I guess Stone wasn’t kidding when he said you’d kill me.”
Jennifer was right behind him saying, “How’d they find us? Were they following Mick too?”
“Either him or me,” Margot said.
“So, they were after you?” Jennifer asked as the sound of sirens filled the air.
“No, if they wanted me, they could have done this breaking and entering act at any time. They were here for you. How well do you and your sister get along?”
“Camile?”
“She have a son named Randy?”
“Yeah, that’s Camile. I know we’re blood, but honestly I hate that bitch and the feelings are mutual.”
“She and Chrissie close?”
“If by close you mean Camile hasn’t acknowledged her existence in over a decade, yeah.”
“So, why would she pay me to find you?”
Jennifer looked at the two dead men on Dandridge's back porch. “My guess is she was just handing you their money. I take it you wouldn’t work for them?”
“I’d like to think so,” Margot said, even though she had just recently let a criminal scumbag like Dean Stone hire her.
Since Stone was on her mind, Margot went to check on him. He was the main target and there might have been more than two shooters.
Stone was gone. On the cushion he’d been sitting on was a note: “I’ll think about your offer. I’ve got your number.”
Margot put down the shotgun and put the note in her pocket as the police arrived.
Chapter 13
Randy saw Margot coming as he smoked a cigarette out in front of his mom’s house. He didn’t know Mal was there until he felt the barrel of his pistol against the back of his ear.
“Is this really necessary?”
“I guess that’s up to you.”
Randy kept his eyes on Margot, he opened his mouth like he was going to say something but then he seemed to be considering what to say and closed it.
“I think you know why I’m here,” Margot told him.
“Look, I didn’t know why she hired you. I thought it was weird too.”
“Yet, you never mentioned it to me.”
“Why would I? It seemed weird but not that weird.”
“I’m curious what Camile would say about all this.
“Yeah, well, that’s too bad. She left town.”
“To where?”
“Nowhere you’re ever going to find.”
“When is she coming back?”
“Hard to say.”
“You know what, Randy? I have a feeling your mom had nothing to do with this shit. I think you saw an opportunity to get back at me for kicking your ass and as a bonus make a few bucks.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, tell me I’m wrong.”
Randy paused long enough to make it obvious he was thinking of a good lie. He knew it too.
“So what if I did? You going to have this asshole shoot me?”
“Maybe.”
“No, you’re not. I know all about his history. Cops would be lining up to put this asshole away and you both know it.”
“You don’t think you’re worth going to prison for?”
“No, I don’t.”
“He’s right,” Margot said to Mal. “He’s not worth it. He’s not worth a damn thing.” She turned back to Randy. “I’m curious how much did they pay you to set me up?”
“Two grand.”
“Two grand was worth getting your cousin killed?”
“They said they were after Dean Stone.”
“You had to know.”
Randy shrugged. “Yeah, well, shit happens and two grand is two grand. If you guys aren’t going to shoot me or beat me up, can you leave? I’ve got things to do.”
“You know the way you talk about your mom makes it sound like something bad happened to her.”
Randy shrugged again. “Like I said, shit happens.”
Margot and Mal left him there to smoke his cigarette. Mal went left and Margot went right. She climbed into the unmarked car and sat in the back. Both Ames and Radcliff looked back at her. Margot took the recording device out of her purse and handed it to them.
“You get enough?”
“Yeah, I think so. He didn’t confess about his mom but put together what he said with the fact she hasn’t been seen in weeks ought to be enough to start an investigation. I’m guessing once someone starts looking, they’ll find something. Randy’s not exactly a criminal mastermind.”
“Awesome,” Radcliff said. “So…how about we try that dinner again? Say tomorrow around seven?”
“Sounds good to me.”
To Be Continued in Book 3 - Shadow of Suspicion…
Here’s an excerpt from the book.
It took a minute to put it together. Somewhere between the car and his ho
use, something happened, most likely something involving a taser. That might explain the burning sensation on his side. After that, everything was a blank, but somehow, he found himself hanging from a hook in the ceiling of an empty room. Most likely by his own handcuffs. The thug who slapped the bracelets on had taken them a notch too tight, so they were digging into his wrists. The same thug, wearing a cowboy hat two sizes too big for his head, was standing in front of him.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I’m just enjoying myself. You have to understand, once you get a reputation, people just don’t cross me very often,” the man in the cowboy hat said as he twirled a combat knife that was probably big enough to qualify as a sword in his hand like it was a baton. “It might be months before I get to do this again.”
“Enjoy your work?”
“I do. What you should be doing is trying your best to make sure I don’t get to have any fun.”
“How? You want me to talk? I don’t know anything.”
“Come on now, use your imagination. I’m sure there’s something a man like you could do for a man like me.”
“You can do what you want to me. I’m not going to hurt her.”
“Well, you’re going to need to hurt someone. If and when it's time to hurt her, don’t worry, she’ll be hurt. I was thinking someone more difficult to find, someone your friend already found before.”
“You want me to kill Stone?”
“I want someone to kill him. You seem to be a good candidate. He seems to trust you, or at least your partner, and she—despite the fact you are something of scumbag—seems to trust you.”
“If I do it, what do I get?”
The man in the cowboy hat nodded to someone lurking in the shadows. He never saw the man, just felt the uppercut he delivered to his ribs before going back into the shadows.
After he caught his breath, the man in the cowboy hat told him, “We aren’t negotiating. Get this done, show you might have some use to us other than as an example to others, and then we’ll talk. I can’t guarantee you doing us this favor will make everything square, but I can tell you what will happen if you don’t do it will be much worse.”
“I just find and kill Stone?”
“For now.”
“You know, you could have just told me that without the abduction and the handcuffs. I know who you are.”
“I know, but like I said, I don’t get to do this kind of stuff as often as I used to. I’ll give you a week.”
“He won’t be easy to find.”
“If it was easy, I’d do it myself and we would be having a very different interaction right now. Any more questions?”
“I think I’ve got it.”
“Good. I’d say don’t let me down, but I’m kind of hoping you do,” the man in the cowboy hat said. He turned to the shadows and ordered, “Take him down. Call him an Uber something.”
Instead of taking him down, the big man stepped out of the shadow and dug and another uppercut into his stomach. Satisfied with the pain the blow caused, he undid the handcuffs.
Get the next book – Shadow of Suspicion here
Books by Nora Kane
1. Secrets of Woodcrest Manor
2. Wolverine Harbor Novellas Series
Book 1 - The Veil of Deceit
Book 2 - The Veil of Envy
Book 3 - The Veil of Vengeance
3. Emmy Grimm Series
Book 1 - Lured
Book 2 - Chased
Book 3 - Blindsided
4. Margot Harris Series
Book 1 - Shadow of Greed
Book 2 - Shadow of Pretense
Book 3 - Shadow of Suspicion
Book 4 - Shadow of Betrayal
Book 5 - Shadow of Misgivings
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When the Patriarch of the Woodcrest Family was found dead in the flowerbed under his bedroom window, the local police department called it suicide. His son hired Private detective Emmy wanting to uncover the real truth behind his father's death. Surrounded by so many individuals who could benefit from his death, now the responsibility is on Emmy to figure out who was responsible. When Emmy starts to talk to the heirs the Woodcrest family's secrets begin to emerge.
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