Shadow Of Misgivings (Margot Harris 5)

“Move your hand Clive,” Margot told him.

“You pull that trigger and they’ll cut you down.”

“Okay, but you’ll still be dead and that’s good enough for me.”

Clive stayed still. He looked over to Marv as if he expected his fellow club member to help him out.

“Sorry Clive, but you’re on your own on this one,” Marv told him.

“You picking her over the club?”

“Is that the way you see it? Sorry Clive, but I see it differently.”

“You want to find out if that story about what I did to the cowboy is true?” Margot said before Clive could reply. “You want to find out if I’m the kind of girl who’d pump five slugs into a man already on the ground?”

Clive moved his hand away from the gun.

“Go back inside, Clive.”

Clive was slow about it, but he turned around and went back into the trailer.

Once he was gone, Marv said, “That went about as well as it could’ve.”

“You mean just now or the whole thing?”

“Both. Get on before someone tougher than Clive decides to give you a try.”

Chapter 6

Marv stopped his bike at Margot’s car.

After she dismounted, he said, “Maybe you need to be done with this.”

“Are you firing me?”

“I guess I am.”

“I don’t usually give refunds unless I solve the case early.”

“I’m not asking for any money.”

“You sure you want to do this?”

“I am. If Mal is going to get one of us killed over this, it ought to be me.”

“What is this?”

Marv shook his head. “I don’t honestly know. I don’t even have a good guess. How about you?”

“I’ve got a few guesses, none of them good.”

“Was Manny telling the truth about you and the cowboy?”

“I only shot him five times. I should have emptied the mag. That way, I wouldn’t be worrying that he somehow walked away.”

“You beat him up with a shovel too?”

“Yeah, trust me, he had it coming.”