Margot looked at him.
“I can prove it. It’s a high traffic time so it’s not a solo shift like graveyard. Not counting customers, I’ve got two people that can tell you I was here all night.”
Margot planned to check, but right now, she had no reason not to believe him.
“Shooting or not, she wants you to leave her alone.”
“I thought I was doing that?”
Margot was about to tell him to continue when she heard the squeal of tires and the roar of an engine. She turned back to see a big American muscle car, most likely a Dodge Charger, come screaming into the parking lot. She saw the arm coming out the window and immediately recognized what the long metal finger pointing her way was.
She pulled Trevor down as the passenger opened fire. The shots went above their heads, shattering the big glass window that took up the entire front side of the store and showering the two of them with glass and shredded posters advertising beer.
The car came to a stop and Margot could tell they were coming back to finish the job. She stayed down and plucked her own pistol out of her purse. As the car started backing up, Margot aimed and fired. The short barrel on her gun meant it wasn’t very accurate, so she picked big targets like the back windshield. The glass fell and the gunman disappeared into the car.
Margot emptied her magazine into the car as it drove by. With her shooting, the gunmen didn’t raise his head. Margot reloaded using her only spare magazine as the driver sped into the night.
“You make anybody mad, Trevor?” Margot asked as she stood up and brushed the glass off of her.
“Me? I figured they were here for you.”
Margot wished she could argue with him. The car was too much like something Mal would drive. As she brushed the glass from her hair, she couldn’t help but wonder if her former lover just tried to kill her.
Chapter 5
“Did you get the license plate?” Ames asked. He’d subbed in to do an overnight shift when a couple of detectives were out sick.
Margot thought it was weird seeing him without Radcliff. If Radcliff was around, he’d play nice, but without him, Ames didn’t even attempt to hide his disdain for her.
“I was kind of busy,” Margot told him.
“Maybe you should have been doing that instead of shooting up the city.”
“I don’t know about you, but I like to save my reading for after the gunfight is over. Are you going to arrest me?”
Ames shrugged. “I’d like to, but honestly, I can’t think of a time since you and Mal left the department when I didn’t want to arrest you. Just like every other day, though, it looks like I’m going to have to wait. With the clerk telling everybody you saved his life, dragging you away in handcuffs would look bad. Plus, I’m homicide, it doesn’t become my problem until one of those bullets hits someone.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I heard you were here and thought I might come by and see if you got shot.”
“Thanks for the concern.”
“Maybe next time.”
Margot didn’t have anything to say to that.
“That’s the problem with you, Margot. There will be a next time and a next time after that. One of these times, a bullet is going to have your name on it.”
“You think I want this?”
“You say you don’t, but here we are again. Why were you talking to the clerk anyway? Looking to step out on my partner?”
“Work. He was harassing my client.”
“Any chance they were shooting at him?”
“I don’t know him well enough to say no, but I doubt he has my history.”