Shadow Of Greed (Margot Harris 1)

Mal scrolled through a bunch of shots of Katrina and the unnamed man having dinner and then stopped.

“Here’s lover boy getting into his car, not a Chrysler in sight.”

Mal flipped to the next photo and they both saw it. Katrina was getting into her convertible, parked next to her was what looked like it could be a Chrysler 300.

“It wasn’t there before,” Margot said. “He arrived while she was there.”

“Or someone else with a big black sedan did.”

Margot got her phone and googled pictures of a Chrysler 300. She found plenty of different views on the Chrysler website, including one from the back.

“Looks like the same car to me,” she said.

“Sure does, that doesn’t mean it’s our guy.”

“True, but it’s worth looking into. If it is him that means he showed up after they were there. That could mean he was tipped off about where she was and what she was doing.”

“A guy like Dean Stone putting out a hit on his cheating wife while he’s out of town makes sense, but if that’s the situation, why hire you? Paying a witness to show up seems like a dumb play and Dean Stone isn’t dumb.”

“Yeah, except it’s working out. All the blame is falling on you.”

“Stone might know I work for you, but there’s no way he’d have known it’d be me last night.”

“Maybe they wanted to set me up.”

“You wouldn’t make a good fall guy. I would, but he’d go to me directly if he wanted me there. It would have worked too.”

“Maybe I was supposed to be there to confirm his alibi.”

“Could be, but there are a lot of easier ways to set up an alibi.”

Margot looked at the photo again, “Can you get the plate?”

Mal enlarged the picture and then smiled, “Most of it.”

Margot smiled too. With the make and model, a partial would be enough.

“I guess I need to call my one remaining fan in the department and see if she can run a plate.”

Mal didn’t say anything. Instead, he put the gun back on his lap and put his right hand on top of it, just like he’d had it when she walked in. It seemed unnecessary.

“Feeling a little paranoid?”

He looked at her and without a trace of humor said, “It’s not paranoia if someone actually is out to get you.”

For a long second she looked at him and wondered if she could be missing the obvious. The rumor was that Mal was some sort of gun for hire, one with a badge. The idea Stone or some rival of Stone paid Mal to kill Katrina Stone wasn’t that far-fetched. It wasn’t impossible that she had shot him in self-defense. Once again, the only person who didn’t believe he was guilty was Margot.

If he hadn’t got shot, she wondered what he would have said to her. Everything she was doing could just be him keeping her busy while he figured out how to get out of town. Finding out who owned the car might be the first step to putting an end to the charade.

“I’m going outside to make the call, I think better while I’m walking,” she told him, keeping her eye on the gun as she spoke.

“Okay, say hi to Doreen for me.”

He didn’t sound like someone thinking about killing her.

“I’m asking her for a favor. I don’t think bringing you up is a good idea.”

He smiled. Margot wished seeing him smile made her feel better.