“And that makes you afraid?”
“Yeah.”
“The easiest way for you to get out of this is for him to talk.”
“Sure, but what do I get into after that? He’s not a guy you want to be on the wrong side of.”
Margot, who had some experience getting on the wrong side of guys like that, couldn’t tell Phoebe she was wrong with a straight face. Instead, she said, “Maybe we can back door it. Did you go anywhere public?”
“No, we met at a hotel.”
“Did you walk through the lobby?”
“Of course, but…”
“Then someone could have seen you.”
Phoebe smiled. “Lee wouldn’t have to come in that way.”
“It’s possible.”
I don’t know if anyone saw me though. Part of the deal was keeping a low profile.”
“It’s worth checking out.”
“The Palms off Highway One.”
“That in La Jolla?”
“Yeah, it’s a nice place. They wouldn’t be happy being known as a gangster’s love nest, so I don’t know how cooperative they’re going to be.”
“That’s what you pay me for.”
Chapter 2
Margot and Radcliff left the county jail together. Radcliff had picked her up and given her a ride from her job. Shaw would be glad to see she had hooked up with not only a high profile case but would be working with a law firm that did a lot of their kind of business. In the private detective game, big law firms were the best kind of clients. Normally, a firm like Browers and Associates wouldn’t give Shaw and Margot the time of day, but thanks to Radcliff’s connection to the case—and his ex’s general distrust of how much her lawyers really had her best interests at heart—Margot was in.
They noticed a young woman dressed in black filming them as they made their way to Radcliff’s car. She wasn’t being very subtle about it.
“Excuse me,” Radcliff said to her, “what are you doing?”
“Just getting some footage for my story,” she replied.
“Your story?”
She lowered her phone and reached into a little black purse. Out of habit, both Margot and Radcliff tensed; it wasn’t long ago that dangerous people were looking to harm them. Even though that wasn’t supposed to be the case anymore, it was still in the back of their minds.
The woman in black pulled out a business card. Margot also had her hand in her purse, but she was not reaching for a card. In fact, she had her hand on the short-barreled S&W .40 she kept in there.
“Cassandra Cole, Cassandra’s Coastal Crime Alert,” the woman said as she handed Radcliff her card.
“Coastal Crime Alert? Is that a newspaper?” Radcliff asked.
“Newspaper? No, it’s a YouTube channel. Are newspapers even a thing anymore?”
Radcliff didn’t see any reason to further engage, so he just told her, “Have a nice day, Ms. Cole,” and kept moving.
“You’re not the detective assigned to the Masterson case,” Cassandra said as she followed them.