by Nora Kane
“What were you and Kevin Tankerson arguing about?”
“Who?”
“Kevin Tankerson. His friends call him ‘Tank.’ He was one of the victims. You knew his father, Kenneth.”
“Who?” Paulie repeated, but he was too slow. The jolt of surprise at her putting the names together had caught him off guard. Up until that point, Margot wasn’t sure the two Tankersons were really even related. Now she was.
“You both got busted in possession of stolen goods. You were already on parole, so you went to jail while his lawyer successfully argued you two had no idea the goods were stolen.”
“Is that so?”
“Turned out to be a good thing for you.”
“Going to prison is never a good thing, trust me.”
“Better than being dead. You were on the wrong side of the penitentiary walls when Tankerson, Graves, a guy named Rollins, and Fast Tony ‘The Wheelman’ Wyland decided to take down a Credit Union. Otherwise, it probably would have been you instead of Rollins who ended up dead in that parking lot.”
Paulie shook his head. “What do you know about that?”
“I was a cop. I was there, though only for the aftermath.”
“Then you don’t know anything. Fact was, if I had been there, we would have just got the money. Rollins was an amateur and Wyland would have taken a bullet to the face if he hadn’t opened the door for me.”
“Is that so?”
“The thing about that kind of job is it has to be quick. The timing has to be perfect and if you’ve got to pull the trigger, then someone better go down. You can’t do any of those things if you’ve got an amateur on the crew.”
“Rollins fired the first shot, if I remember right.”
“Yeah, and missed, just like an amateur. Instead of getting out of there, they were all ducking for cover while the cop returned fire. He screwed up the timing and it cost them everything.”
“You saying you wouldn’t have missed?”
“If I pull a trigger, someone goes down.”
“You pull the trigger a lot?”
“Never, just saying.”
“So, what were you and Tankerson arguing about?”
“Just the pool game. I think he was hustling me. His old man could play some pool too.”
“You want to know something crazy?”
“What’s that?”
“Tankerson wasn’t the only person there related to the Surf Coast Credit Union Shootout.”
“No shit,” Paulie said in about the least convincing way ever. Margot was now sure he’d passed on information to stay out of prison. He wasn’t much of a liar.
“Yeah, ‘The Wheelman’ Wyland’s son was there too.”
“You know, I’d prefer we not include him with the others. They were stand up guys. Wyland is a scumbag.”
“He did what he had to do to stay out of jail. You saying you never done what you had to do?”
“You implying something? Don’t compare me to that piece of garbage. Just because you roughed up Mack doesn’t mean I’m going to put up with it.”
Margot ignored that and added, “It gets crazier. He was there to meet Graves' daughter. They had a date.”
“I didn’t see her there.”
“So, you know her?”
Paulie had nothing to say to that. He looked like he was going to close the door in Margot’s face so she quickly said, “You haven’t even heard the good part.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“Wyland’s son is Anthony West. He never took his dad’s name.”
“That is crazy, but I don’t see what it has to do with me.”
“Kind of weird, all of you together like that.”
“I guess it’s a small world. We done here?”
“Where’d you go after you left Swifty’s?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Probably nothing, but there’s no reason not to tell me, is there?”
“Other than it’s none of your business.”
“Maybe it is. What were you and Tankerson arguing about?”
“Baseball. He loves the Mets, I can’t stand the Mets.”
“It was about pool before.”
“Maybe it was both or neither. I don’t remember because I could care less.”
“Was it about the c-note Tankerson gave the bartender?” Margot asked, taking a long shot.
Paulie's face said it wasn’t that long of a shot before he said, “This conversation is starting to get on my nerves. I’m going to shut the door but only because kicking your ass will put me in jail.”
Margot, thinking about Radcliff’s case, took another long shot: “Where were you about two weeks ago on the fifteenth?”
“What happened on the fifteenth?”
“You tell me.”
Paulie shrugged.
“It was quick, done with almost perfect timing and when someone had to pull the trigger, he didn’t miss.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Paulie said before he shut the door.
Margot went back to her car but didn’t leave. She felt like she’d stumbled onto something. Paulie was definitely up to something and getting West into that bar at that time seemed to have been done with intent. That didn’t mean Anthony West didn’t kill Tankerson and Hatten. Just because he was lured there so Tankerson could punch him in the face, didn’t mean he hadn’t gone home and got his gun.
Margot had recorded the conversation; she always did. However, the non-verbal cues Paulie’d given wouldn’t be on tape. Even if they were, someone looking dishonest didn’t meet the standard of proof.
Then she remembered Paulie was on parole. His parole officer could search his place at any time, for no reason at all. The standard of proof didn’t matter that much.
She called Radcliff.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“I may have stumbled onto something. A witness I interviewed for my case just got incredibly squirrely when I mentioned the armored car job you’ve been working.”
“You brought up the armored car job?”
“It made sense at the time. The thing is, the guy I was talking to is an old school bank robber going way back.”
“I guess I can look into him…”
“You can do better than that. He’s on parole.”
“All right, give me his name, and I’ll find his P.O. and check him out. It’s not like I have anything else going on this one.”
“Paul ‘Paulie’ Garris. You might want to hurry, I might have spooked him.”
“I’m looking him up as we speak.”
Margot was about to say more but stopped and watched Paulie Garris come into the parking lot with a suitcase in each hand and a duffle bag thrown over his shoulder.
“I don’t think you’re going to be fast enough. He’s rabbiting as we speak,” she told Radcliff as she watched Paulie toss the bags into the trunk of an old Pontiac Firebird.
“Look, Margot,” Radcliff said urgently. “Don’t follow him. Get me his plate number, and I’ll put out a BOLO on him.”
“Eighties vintage Pontiac Firebird, California plates, IIA 243.”
“A Firebird? It’s not like there’s a lot of those on the road these days. He won’t get far.”
“Unless he does. I’ll call you when he stops.”
“What part of ‘Don’t follow’ did you miss?”
“Did you say something? I’ll call when he goes to ground.”
“That could be in Nevada, for all you know. If you have to follow, stay on the line. You can help us set up a roadblock.”
“Got it,” Margot said as she settled back two cars behind Paulie. She didn’t think he knew what she drove but figured if he was running, he would be watching for a tail. “He’s headed north on Coast Highway. I’d bet he’s going to get on the five.”
“State patrol has a unit in the area. Do you think he’s going north or south?”
“I don’t know, why?”
“We can only block one o
f them.”
“He doesn’t seem like a Mexico guy. I’d say north.”
“I’ll pass it along. I don’t suppose you have any more evidence other than that he acted squirrely? He could just be going to visit a cousin or something.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll owe everybody an apology.”
Paulie took the exit going north. A state trooper hit his lights and pulled in front, blocking the exit. Paulie started to back up, but he wasn’t the only car looking to go north and was blocked in. Margot was on her way to do it, but with her keeping her distance, someone beat her to it.
Paulie got out, an HK M-10 sub-machine gun in his hands. He fired on the state trooper, making a mess of his windows and flashing lights. He emptied the magazine into the squad car, put the HK in his left hand, and drew a Glock 21 just like Anthony West’s from a holster tucked into the small of his back. The guy who’d blocked him in was already backing up before Paulie turned and aimed the pistol at him.
Margot pulled over and took her gun out of her purse. Her short-barreled S&W had a lot of stopping power for a gun that size, but she still felt outgunned. With the lane clear, Paulie was getting back in his car when the state trooper came up from the other side of his shredded squad car. Paulie's boast that ‘When I pull the trigger, someone goes down,’ proved to be an exaggeration. The trooper fired three times, hitting Paulie with all three shots in the back. Paulie fell against the hood of his car and slid down to the pavement, leaving a trail of blood on the old Pontiac’s faded paint.
Margot put her gun away.
“What happened?” Radcliff said over the Bluetooth.
“Paulie decided to shoot it out with the state trooper. It didn’t go well for him.”
“I don’t have to tell you to wait there, do I?”
“No, I’m good. All I did this time was talk on the phone. Didn’t even have to fire a shot.”
“Don’t sound so disappointed.”
Chapter 8
“I know I told you not to follow him, but I have to say, you did good,” Radcliffe said when they got back in touch later that day. “His bag was full of money from the armored car. The bills were marked; a little green dot in the corner, just enough off to be seen if you look for it. So I don’t think there’s a lot of doubt he’s our man.”
“Glad to assist. Too bad it didn’t get me any closer to helping out Anthony West.”
“Could be he did it and there’s nothing to be done. That was my conclusion and I’m not half bad at this.”
“You’ve got a point. Are you going to get a chance to ask him about the others?”
“Unfortunately, no. He died during surgery. We’re combing over his known accomplices, but almost to a man, they’re either dead or serving time. Bank robbers don’t get to get old unless it’s behind bars.”
“What about Mack from Swifty’s?”
“We’re looking, but it seems they knew him as a bartender. His record’s clean. It would have to be to get a liquor license out here.”
“How about sons and daughters of old accomplices?”
“You think he recruited Tankerson?”
“It’s possible, or Tankerson came to him. Either way, Tankerson’s not going to be talking either. I guess you’ll have to wait until someone spends some money.”
“That’s not happening anytime soon. They’re going to count again but pretty much every bill is accounted for. They came up about ten grand short, but other than that, Paulie had it all.”
“Except ten grand?”
“Maybe, mistakes get made.”
“Let me check something out, and I’ll call you back.”
Margot took a chance Mandy would be able to answer the phone and called her. She answered on the second ring.
“Sorry to bother you, but do you still have that hundred dollar bill that Tankerson gave you? You said you took it out of the register when you closed?”
“Yeah, I still have it. Why?”
“Good. It’s probably a marked bill from a bank robbery. You don’t want to be the one spending it. If I gave you a hundred bucks, could I have it?”
“I’d rather have your hundred than a c-note that’s going to get me in trouble. Mack’s not here for another hour, come on down.”
“I’ll be there in twenty.”
Chapter 9
Not long after, Mandy texted Margot:
Sheila’s here, maybe come back another time?
Margot was actually glad she was, so she ignored Mandy’s message.
Mandy didn’t look very happy when Margot walked in. Neither did Sheila.
“You can turn around and walk away or you can get your ass kicked,” Sheila told her.
“You know, I hear that every time I come here,” Margot quipped as she took a seat at the bar.
“This time, it’s going to come true.”
“You didn’t bring your wrench.”
“I brought something better,” Sheila countered as she pulled a little twenty-five caliber pistol out of her purse.
The look on her face said she thought Margot would be scared, but she’d had guns—much bigger guns—pointed at her before. She grabbed the little pistol and twisted it out of Sheila’s hand. Then after checking to make sure the safety was still on, she slapped her across the face with it.
“You’re going to a lot of trouble to avoid telling the truth about what happened. Did you think shooting me was going to help?” Margot demanded.
“I just wanted to scare you,” Sheila replied.
“Why? West’s lawyer saved the screenshots of the messages you exchanged. What happened to me is irrelevant. You’re going to get to testify at the trial. It won’t be pretty, and I could see how you’d want to avoid it, but that ship has sailed.”
“What would I testify to?”
“Funny you should ask. They think they can argue that, because you lured him there for Tankerson to assault him, that he had good reason to fear for his life. It’s a long shot, considering the way it went down, but crazier things have happened. I’m guessing they’ll file charges on you too. They pretty much have to once it gets in the public record.”
“All I did was make a date.”
“No, you conspired to commit a felony.”
“I could go to jail for that?”
“Yeah, especially if they can show they meant him more harm than just a punch in the face. Conspiracy to commit murder is a heavy charge.”
