Twisted Game (Margot Harris 6)

“Nothing to be sorry for. If you didn’t see her, you didn’t see her.”

“She looks familiar though. Should I know her?”

“No, you shouldn’t,” Margot told her, even though it was possible she’d seen her on the news. “Theodore said something about a bellhop.”

“Yeah, Dylan. He’s helping a guest. He’ll be down in a bit. You might as well wait and enjoy your drink. It’s a sin to waste good whiskey.”

Margot sipped her drink and decided she had a point about the whiskey.

She took her time and finished the tumbler without Dylan showing up. She was considering ordering another, even though that was really breaking her ‘no drinking during work’ rule, when a big man in a suit jacket too small for his massive shoulders sat down next to her.

Another good-sized man who was a little older and wearing a suit that did fit him sat down on the other side. Margot decided she should have been more concerned about Theodore’s phone call.

“I heard you were asking about a friend of mine,” the second man said.

Margot gave him a good going over before she said, “Harry Lee?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Educated guess. Am I wrong?” Margot replied as she moved her purse to her lap and slid her hand inside.

“No, you’re not. You got a name?”

“Didn’t Theo tell you?”

“He said the name on your license was Margot.”

“It’s my license.”

“I’d like you to come with me, Margot. You and I need to have a conversation.”

“We can talk here.”

“I’d prefer somewhere more private.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Maybe I’m not asking.”

“Maybe I don’t care if you're asking or not.”

“Come on, Margot, you don’t want to make a scene in this nice hotel. Follow us out to my car.”

“What makes you think I don’t want to make a scene?”

“Tough chick. I kind of like that,” Harry said as he looked over her head at the bruiser on the other side.

Margot felt a big hand on her shoulder.

“We can play rough if you want, but we both know you don’t want to,” Harry told her.

Margot pulled the mace out of her purse and gave Harry’s thug a faceful before she grabbed the stool he was sitting on and yanked it out from under him. She got to her feet and stomped on the thug’s groin before she pointed the mace in Harry Lee’s direction.

He was standing, but he froze when he saw the wrong end of the tube of mace.

While he was looking at the mace, she reached into her purse with her other hand and took out her gun. She lowered the mace and let Harry get a good look at the wrong end of her gun as well.

“Tell your ape to stay down or I put a bullet in your face and then do the same to him.”