Shadow Of Betrayal (Margot Harris 4)

Today

Stick stopped the first place he could get service on his phone. He had driven a long way before he could get a single bar. He got out just because the nervous energy he was feeling was making it hard to sit still. He was in the middle of nowhere for sure; he was amazed at how much darker it was out here than the city. A look around revealed nothing but darkness in all directions except where the stars lit up the sky.

The starlight didn’t do much to illuminate the road, but he thought that might be a good thing. If someone came after him, he’d see the threat coming.

Normally, he liked to do this kind of thing from his office or his laptop, but Stick didn’t think he should wait, so he was sending out the message on his phone using his thumb. He didn’t like to use his phone to send emails. He didn’t really even like to text. Because of this, he was sloppy and realized after he hit send that he may not only have left out some vital information but failed to send it to everyone he should be.

After he hit send, he considered sending out another message explaining the things he hadn’t made clear, but he decided he’d do that once he got back to the city. The still air and total darkness were making him feel vulnerable. Stick was starting to get back in his car when he saw the headlights approaching.

He drew his gun and moved to the side of the road. The vehicle slowed as it passed his sedan, but they kept going. Stick didn’t worry too much about them. He didn’t think anyone knew what he had stumbled upon so there was no reason anyone would be chasing him.

Stick waited until they were out of sight and then started driving. He still had an hour and a half to go before he made it to his place out on the coast. He was tempted to stomp on the gas and make the trip faster, but he kept his speed reasonable. He didn’t need a ticket.

He was just about to the turn that would take him west when the bright lights hit his face. There was a big vehicle coming right at him with their lights on. He couldn’t see anything as he swerved hard to his left. The oncoming car caught his bumper and spun the car around. Stick skidded off the road, but the tires held onto the dirt and the car stayed upright. He steered out of it and this time he stomped on the gas.

Having failed to run him off the road, they started shooting at him. Stick got as low as he could as the back window fell out. The next bullet put a spider web pattern across the front windshield. The way the bullets were coming, he was thinking someone—or maybe more than one person—had something that could fire full auto. He kept his hands on the wheel and foot on the gas as the bullets peppered his car.

Once the shooting stopped, he could see the truck turning itself around so they could continue their pursuit. He put his foot down until the pedal hit the floor as he turned off the lights. Stick drove by moonlight over a rise and dropped out of sight of his pursuers. It was hard driving by moonlight, but the little dirt road he had spotted going in was just reflecting enough moonlight for him to make the turn.

He pulled in and left his lights out. Once he exited the sedan, Stick got out his pistol and leaned on the front left side of his car. If they spotted his car, Stick felt this was as good a place as any to shoot it out.

He was glad they chose to drive past. He let them get ahead a little bit and then stood up. It was at this point he felt the pain and wetness around his lower back. It was too dark to see anything, but he could feel the warm sticky liquid covering the lower half of his shirt from the front and the back.

Considering all the ammunition they had fired at his car; he shouldn’t have been surprised they had hit him. Stick tried to dial 911 but he was in another dead zone. He told himself he could get to the hospital faster on his own anyway. Stick got behind the wheel and started driving as the blood continued to leak out of him.

Chapter 1

Two Days Ago…

“Are you kidding?”

Melanie took a seat on Margot’s couch before she said to her older sister, “Of course not.”

“You want to hire me?”

“Do you ask all your clients really obvious questions you already know the answer to?”

“I’m not cheap.”

“I can afford it. I make more than you, I bet. Plus, I figure there ought to be a family discount.”

Margot wished she could dispute her, but Melanie was probably right about both the amount of money they made and the family discount.

“Okay, what did you have in mind?” Margot asked.

“I want you to find Randy’s mother and maybe Randy too.”

“Randy’s missing?”

“He went to find her himself. He told them where she was, but the cops would rather harass him than just go talk to her. That was three days ago.”

“Why would you know Randy’s been gone for three days?”

“We talked on the phone. Who else would he talk to?”

“Literally the whole world as far as I’m concerned.”

“You know, just because Dad beat on Mom doesn’t mean every man is abusive.”

“No shit, which is why I could care less about you dating Randy until he beat the shit out of you,” Margot told her. She caught herself before she said more. They’d already covered the subject of Randy’s abusive ways. As much as it drove her insane, if Margot was going to have any relationship with her sister, she was going to have to agree to disagree. At least

to a point.

“Look, I don’t want to rehash this. I get where you’re coming from. He called me and I answered. He just wanted to talk, so we talked. He said he’d call me when he got back. I guess the cabin his mom has doesn’t have any phone service and I haven’t heard from him since.”

“There could be a lot of explanations.”

“I know, which is why I want to hire you to find out the one that’s true.”

“I have to ask again, are you kidding?”

“Look, I know you don’t like him, but he needs help. He could be hurt or worse and even if he’s fine, he needs someone on his side right now. These two detectives…”

“Ames and Radcliff.”

“Yeah, that’s them.”

“I ever tell you the name of the cop I’ve been dating?”

“Is it Ames?”

“Hell no, but it is Radcliff. Are you really asking me to take the side of a man I despise, a man who almost got me killed, over my boyfriend?”

“No, I want you to find the truth. Randy didn’t do anything to his mother. He wouldn’t hurt her, he couldn’t hurt her.”

“The truth could be different. Most likely, he’s guilty and the reason he hasn’t come back is because he’s running.”

“If that’s the truth, I still want to know.”

“The last time I worked for Randy, it went really bad for everybody.”

“You’re not working for Randy, you’re working for me.”

“You’re paying the bill, but this is still for him.”

“I don’t see it that way.”

“I do.”

Melanie looked at the floor. “I thought we were trying to get along. I thought you were going to try.”