Shadow Of Misgivings (Margot Harris 5)

“That’s not what I heard.”

Mal dropped into unconsciousness. Margot loosened her grip. She hoped The Cowboy didn’t notice.

“You’re going to have to take my word for it. He’s out.”

“He’s sleeping. I want him dead.”

Margot let go.

“I said, I want him dead.”

“He is,” Margot said as she unwrapped her legs and moved so she was on her knees, “check for yourself.”

“I can see him breathing. You should have believed me when I said I was going to shoot your sister.”

“Wait,” Margot told him as she pointed to his bloody foot. “I’ll prove it. Sleeper hold or not, I squeeze his foot he’s going to jump if he’s alive.”

“If he jumps, you still have to kill him and I’m still blowing a hole in Melanie's foot. Maybe you should choke him some more to be sure.”

“He won’t jump.”

Margot reached for his foot with her left hand while she put her hand down the boot with her right. She pinched the wound and Mal jerked awake as she drew the twenty-five caliber pistol he stashed there.

“I told you,” the cowboy said with a shrug.

Mal’s jerking around distracted him just enough so that he didn’t see she had the gun until it was pointed at him.

“Drop the gun and put your face on the floor,” Margot told him as she got to her feet.

The Cowboy kept the gun at his side, but he didn’t drop it.

“What are you going to do with that little thing? Don’t be stupid...”

Margot shot him in the chest. She fired twice, but The Cowboy was still breathing. She aimed for his head and fired twice more. One shot grazed his cheek, but the other caught him in the neck. Blood was spurting out of his split Jugular vein, but he was still trying to raise his pistol.

Margot pulled the trigger twice more. Mal’s Saturday Night Special only held five rounds, so the second pull didn’t produce any results. Shot number five hit him in the chest.

The Cowboy stumbled as the rapid blood loss caught up with him. He tried to raise his gun again. If he managed to do it this time, there was nothing Margot could do to stop him.

The Cowboy fell to the carpet before he could take aim.

Margot pried his gun out of his dead hand and ran to her sister. Mal had said he’d killed The Cowboy’s other man, but she needed to be sure.

There was no one in the other bedroom but her sister. Margot left her there and went to the front door. Two uniformed officers were standing by Melanie's car. Another two were standing by the front door, which they must have kicked in. They all looked confused.

Margot put down the gun and called out, “Wrong house!”

She went back inside and freed her sister. By the time she got her loose, the house was filled with cops, including Radcliff and Ames, who must have arrived while she was freeing Melanie.

“Are you okay?” Radcliff asked.

“I’ve been worse. Mal is in the other bedroom, he’s been shot.”

A uniformed cop poked his head in the bedroom and said, “Is Mal the guy dressed like a cowboy?”

“No, he’s the other one.”

“What other one?”