Shadow Of Greed (Margot Harris 1)

Margot didn’t say anything. He put the tip of the knife on her right ear.

“I’m not going to watch this,” Lefty said as he walked to the door. “I’ve got a bar to run.”

The tall man shrugged and watched him go.

“I’m leaving too,” Trixie said.

The tall man looked up at her, “You’re not going anywhere.”

Margot turned her head and bit down as hard as she could on the tall man’s hand. He tried to pull away, but she held tight. She hoped that while she had her teeth clamped down on his hand Trixie would go for the weapons they had dumped from her purse.

Trixie, however, didn’t move and Margot couldn’t tell her to do anything without letting go.

“You bitch,” the tall man yelled as he reached behind his back and drew his gun.

Seeing the gun motivated Trixie. She ran forward and grabbed it before the tall man could point it at Margot. The tall man, however, pulled the gun away from Trixie and bashed her in the face with it. She fell down and he aimed the gun at Margot’s head. She was concentrating on keeping her teeth clamped on his hand and didn’t notice.

Instead of putting a bullet in Margot’s brain, he moved the gun to her thigh and pulled the trigger. Margot let go as she felt the lead slug rip through her leg. The tall man slapped her across the face with the gun and she and the chair fell over. The duct tape and the chair survived the fall. She was just as trapped as she had been before, only now she was laying on her side.

“I’m going to kill you even slower now,” the tall man said as he spun her around so she could see Trixie crumpled against the wall. “But first I’m going to let you watch me cut up Trixie.”

Someone kicked open the door. The tall man quickly turned that way, raising his gun as he spun around. Gunfire filled the small room and the tall man fell dead next to Margot.

She looked up to see Ames and his partner, Radcliff, standing at the doorway aiming their pistols at a dead man.

“I’m glad to see you guys,” Margot said.

“I bet you never thought you’d be saying that.”

“How’d you find me?”

“Ratcliff had to pee.”

“What?”

“We spotted your car and figured you might have walked to Lefty’s since it was a hangout of yours. We had someone go in and spot you. We figured it’d be easier to take you after you left, but then you didn’t leave for a while. We had a man go in and you weren’t at the bar. We were thinking you might have given us the slip again, but like I said, Ratcliff had to take a piss so he went in and happened to hear a gunshot.”

“Well, thanks.”

“Yeah, well, you’re welcome, but we’re still going to have to arrest you. I don’t know what this is, but it still looks like you and Mal decided to murder Mrs. Stone on behalf of her husband because she was talking to the F.B.I.”

Margot smiled. “There’s a digital recorder in my purse in a hidden pocket that might tell you differently. Oh, and I’d have somebody make sure Lefty doesn’t leave.”

Chapter 15 –

Two Days Later…

Mal ordered a beer and the bartender at Layla’s West proudly poured Margot a tumbler of Maker’s Mark over ice.

“Too bad about Lefty’s,” Mal said. “It was a good bar.”

“Yeah, well, this place seems alright,” Margot replied as she set her cane against the bar. The hospital had given it to her to use while the hole in her leg healed.

“So, did you think I did it?”

“The thought crossed my mind. Sorry.”

“It’s alright. You kept looking into it and your little digital recorder saved the day. Getting Lefty and the hitman to confess on tape was a stroke of genius.”