by Nora Kane
“Sounds like you’ve got a date and time in mind. What’s going on?”
“Someone rented a car from you that was used in several drive-by shootings.”
“You know, some of my customers come to me because I value their privacy.”
“Which is why when the police came around asking about the car in question, you handed over all the paperwork but didn’t tell them you had the guy on camera.”
“They didn’t ask.”
“I’m asking.”
“I like the work you did for me, and I like you, Shaw, but this is my business…”
“One of the people they drove your car over to kill was me. A couple of others are these two young ladies behind me. This isn’t really business for us. It’s personal.”
“Well, I sympathize, but it’s not just about discretion. I don’t want anybody driving over to my place with bad intent.”
“If these guys were still capable of that, we wouldn’t be here asking you for a favor.”
“Then what do you need me for?”
“It’d be kind of nice to know if they had an accomplice.”
Boyle thought it over for a minute and then turned the monitor back so he was facing it.
“You got to promise that whatever you do with this information, no one knows it came from me.”
“That goes without saying.”
“Okay, give me the date and time.”
Cassie read it off her notebook.
Boyle typed as she read it.
“You’re going to have to give me a minute, I’ve never gone back this far.”
It seemed longer than a minute but eventually, Boyle turned the screen back so they could all see it.
“Damn if he doesn’t look familiar,” Shaw muttered.
“Who is it?” Cassie said as she leaned forward to get a better look.
“Dithers,” Margot told them.
“The dead lady’s husband?”
“Ex-husband. Looks like he’s more than just a bagman.”
Shaw leaned back and looked at Margot. “This actually makes some more sense. He works for our mystery person trying to take over. You probably witnessed a payoff on your own contract.”
“We still don’t know who’s paying,” Margot said.
“Yeah, but we know one more person who does.”
Boyle turned his monitor back around and took Dithers renting a car with a fake I.D. off the screen. “Looks like we’ve got a few customers.”
“You mind if I look?” asked Margot, who was thinking of Clive's phone call.
“I guess not, why?” Boyle said as he turned the screen back so they were looking at it.
“Is there any reason for Clive to be telling them where your office is?”
Boyle looked at the screen and saw two men wearing long coats that looked too warm for the weather. One of them went to the front door, flipped the open sign to closed, and then locked the door. When he turned around after turning the deadbolt, his coat opened enough to reveal a shotgun hanging by a cord over his shoulder.
“Is there another way out of here?” Margot asked.
“Yeah, straight back. You guys go, and I’ll stall them. Then I’m firing Clive’s ass.”
The three of them went one way and Boyle went the other.
Chapter 10
They made it out the door before the two men in long coats turned the corner and found themselves in the small lot where Boyle kept his inventory. It was surrounded by a tall fence with barbed wire across the top. They looked and found the gate, but it was locked with a thick chain and a hefty padlock.
“Boyle trapped us,” Shaw said as he yanked on the gate.
“What now?” Cassie asked.
“Find a place to hide,” Margot told her as she took her gun out of her purse.
Cassie ran a few steps and then rolled under a party bus. She curled up and got behind the front tire so she was only visible if someone looked down from the front or the back.
“I think your doctor would frown on a gunfight,” Shaw told her.
“You want to hide too?”
Shaw reached behind his back and drew the Glock he’d had in his glove compartment yesterday. “No, but I am going to take cover.”
Margot and Shaw got behind a limo and took aim at the door.
“Call the cops,” Shaw said, “maybe we can hold them off long enough for them to get here.”
Margot got down behind the car and got her phone. She kept an eye on the door as she dialed nine-one-one. Someone kicked it open and one of the guys in the coats stepped through. Shaw fired twice and he ducked back inside.
“Damn it, rushed my shot,” Shaw said as the door cracked open just enough for a shotgun barrel to poke through. They fired blindly into the parking lot and ruined the passenger door of the limo they were hiding behind. Shaw fired into the door, but it had a steel coating that was thick enough to stop a bullet. It did remind the shooter what would happen if they came through though.
“You get through to the cops yet?” Shaw asked.
“Still busy, I guess it’s been that kind of day for more people than just us.”
From inside someone called out, “Just give us the girls, Shaw.”
“Why the Hell would I do that?”
“So you can live and I don’t have to shoot Mr. Boyle in the face.”
“The police are on the way,” Shaw called back. “Walk away and we can all write this off as a mistake.”
“We both know they won’t be getting here in time. Give yourself a chance.”
Before Shaw could respond, Cassie yelled, “Look out.”
Margot turned and saw that a blanket had been thrown over the barbed wire on the fence so they could climb over it. She scanned the lot and saw Mal come around the front of the bus Cassie was hiding under. He already had his gun raised and was aiming for Shaw.
Cassie grabbed his ankle and pulled. Mal stayed on his feet, but his shot went over Shaw’s head and took a chunk out of the wall. He pulled his foot out of her grip. Cassie tried to scramble away, but Mal stepped on her wrist and held her in place. He swung the nickel-plated Colt Python around and put Cassie’s head in his sights.
“Don’t even think about it,” Margot told him as she stood up and aimed her gun at him.
Mal paused and looked at Margot. Cassie tried to get away, but her arm was pinned under Mal’s boots.
The door opened but Shaw turned back that way and fired two shots. Again, all he did was put a couple of pockmarks in the door, but it was enough to send the shooter scurrying back inside.
“We both know you’re not going to pull the trigger Margot,” Mal said. “Let me do this and it can all be over.”
“Put down the gun, Mal.”
“Or what?”
“Or I kill you.”
“I don’t think so.”
Mal turned to Cassie.
Margot pulled the trigger twice, putting both bullets in Mal’s chest. He stumbled back and turned to face her. He looked more surprised than hurt.
“Not cool Margot,” he said as he brought the Colt around toward her.
Margot shot him twice more.
Mal fell on his back, losing his grip on his gun as he hit the pavement.
The back door swung open but another shot from Shaw had them closing it back up.
Margot went over to Mal.
“Why’d you make me do that?” she said with tears in her eyes.
Mal coughed up some blood and gurgled out the words, “I told her she shouldn’t make it personal.”
“Told who?” Margot asked, but Mal was beyond answering.
In the distance, they could hear sirens. After another minute, the door opened just a crack.
“It’s Boyle, I’m alone. Don’t shoot me, please.”
“Come out slow, and make sure I can see your hands,” Shaw said as both he and Margot took aim at the doorway.
Boyle stepped out with his hands up. He let the door close behind him.<
br />
“They ran for it. Including Clive,” Boyle said. “You can wait inside, if you’d like.”
“You trapped us in the parking lot.”
“I didn’t know the gate was locked. Come on in and sit down.”
Thinking this could all be a ruse, Shaw said, “We’ll wait here, thanks.”
Boyle shrugged. “Suit yourself. They should be here any minute.”
“Good thing,” Margot said as she looked down at the blood on her pant leg, “I think I popped a stitch.”
“Told you the doctor would have said no gunfights,” Shaw remarked as the first cruiser arrived.
Chapter 11
Two days later
Margot was sitting up on the hospital bed with her laptop when Radcliff came in. Shaw was there too, sitting in the corner reading a book.
“Did you guys tell them to keep me here?” Margot asked. “I never even passed out this time!”
“She’s a little stir crazy,” Shaw said. “She thinks we’re to blame.”
“Do you think I really have that much say with the doctors?” Radcliff replied.
Margot shrugged, “You could try.”
“Since the last time they let you out, you went to question a witness instead of telling the police about him and then got in another gun battle, it seems good medical practice to keep you here where it’s safe. So, I think everybody, including your doctor, wants to see you here until they’re sure you’ve healed up. Unfortunately for us, though, other people keep getting hurt and sick, so they’re probably going to release you today.”
“Speaking of my witness. Did you guys find Dithers?”
“Yeah, foolishly enough, he booked himself a room at the Sandpiper. Someone ratted him out on the first night. Not that it mattered much. Just like before, he clammed up like a hardened con.”
“I think he’s not the mild-mannered banker who made a mistake he likes to present himself to be. He’s probably the number two man now in the new operation.”
“I tend to agree, and so does Myers and the F.B.I., but if he doesn’t talk, whoever has been calling the shots is going to remain a mystery. I guess if Mal’s last words were right though, we’re looking for a she.”
“I don’t know why he’d lie at that point.”
“Any idea who?”
Margot hoped the long pause didn’t give her away before she said, “Not really.”
“You doing okay?”
“Yeah, I only popped a couple of stitches…”
“I mean about the other.”
“You mean shooting Mal?”
“Yeah, he meant something to you.”
“He used to.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“He was going to kill Cassie and then probably Shaw. Given the choice between living with that and living with putting Mal down, I’m putting Mal down every time.”
“You know, you scare me sometimes.”
“Hopefully not too much.”
“Not yet. After you get out, are you staying with me?”
“Do you really want me to?”
“Yeah, I really do.”
“Would that make you get me out of here faster?”
“Yeah, if I had any control over that kind of thing.”
Margot looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll go talk to the doctor.”
After he was gone, Shaw looked at her. “You feel bad lying to him?”
“Worse than when I shot Mal.”
“Good, if you didn’t, I’d worry about you. We don’t have a lot of choice on this one, but let’s make it the last one.”
Chapter 12
“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you. Last I heard, you were in the hospital.”
“Can I come in?”
“Of course, can I get you something? I think it’s late enough in the day that we could have some cocktails.”
Margot stepped into Phoebe’s house and told her, “Sounds good, but I’m working today, and the doctors told me not to mix my pain meds with alcohol.”
“Probably sound advice. What can I do for you?”
“For starters, call off the hit on Cassie. Me too, for that matter.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” Margot told her as she let her gun slide from her palm into her hand.
“Are you going to shoot me if I don’t do whatever it is you asked me to?”
“I might do it out of general principle.”
“I’m sorry, Margot, I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Perhaps your pain meds don’t agree with you.”
“I know Dithers financed your husband’s business, among other things. The one that was a front for Harry Lee and is now a front for you. I’m not the best at forensic accounting by a long shot, but Shaw knows some people who are. You and Dithers aren’t the best at hiding things either. He did a lot of things for your deceased husband, and it seems he did even more for you.”
“I’m not sure how having a financial advisor is against the law.”
“It is when you send him to pay off a hitman.”
“I did that?”
“You did. The only thing I’m curious about is, did you kill your husband and his mistress with the idea of taking over his business and cutting Harry out? Or did you think of it after your husband got murdered by someone else?”
“You think I saw an opportunity?”
“I know you saw an opportunity. The question is when.”
“Does it really matter?”
“It does to me since I was the one who made sure you never were punished for the crime.”
“Then I shall delight in the fact that you’ll never know. I think I’ve had enough of this conversation.”
“I haven’t.”
“You just got out of the hospital. I don’t think this is the time for us to be fighting like a couple of schoolgirls.”
“You know, if you’d left Cassie out of it—and even better, if you’d left me out of it—and just concentrated on having Mal and your cartel buddies eliminate people in the business I would have never shown up at your door like this.”