Twisted Interest (Margot Harris 7)
Page 27
“According to the log, they left at least an hour before the crime took place yet Heller says he saw one of them while the murder took place.”
Heller looked at his lawyer like he really wanted to talk.
Fred considered what Margot said and said to Heller, “Answer her.”
“They were both here and they definitely didn’t leave an hour before it happened,” Heller said. “They came in to talk to Lucas while I was sweeping the floor.”
“They were together the whole time?”
“No, when I was talking to Bateman and Darius, the fat guy came back.”
“Where’d he go?”
“I don’t know.”
“Back to see Lucas?”
“Could be.”
“Are you saying Lucas was murdered by an officer of the law?” Fred asked.
“I’m not saying anything of the sort,” Margot told him. She didn’t want to go into why, so she changed the subject, asking Heller, “What did you and Dennis Burns talk about?”
“Don’t answer that.”
“Were you his lawyer at the time?” Margot asked.
“I was.”
‘Why did you let him talk to Burns?”
“Burns was an old acquaintance of Mr. Hellers. It was a social call, not an interrogation.”
“Is that what it was?” Margot asked Heller, “a social call?”
Heller looked at Fred who nodded. Heller said, “Uh, yeah.”
“Thanks,” Margot said, “to both of you.”
Chapter 11
Margot got Cranston’s number from Radcliff and set up a meeting without Anderson. He wouldn’t meet at Layla’s West; apparently, he’d given up drinking and didn’t want the temptation. Instead, they met at a taco shop near the coast.
Margot would have rather had a whiskey on the rocks than a Carne Asada burrito, but she was willing to make the sacrifice.
“You come to turn yourself in? Ready to confess?” Cranston asked her as he unwrapped his burrito.
“No.”
“Then what can I do for you, Margot?”
“Did you know your partner is screwing Phoebe Masterson?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Phoebe isn’t exactly discreet,” Margot said, fudging the truth. Phoebe wasn’t discreet, but she hadn’t shared anything with Margot. If Cranston called her bluff, she didn’t have a second play.
Cranston thought about that a second, “No, she isn’t. I can’t say I blame Anderson, though, I mean look at her. If I was twenty years younger, he would have had to get in line.”