by Nora Kane
“Turns out that was bullshit. She did stay with her friends and she did stay at the hotel. Her stay ended when deputy Brantley ‘arrested’ her. The clerk wasn’t in the loop on this part, but he thinks Brantley was holding the mom for ransom. He thought it was odd Brantley would be expecting a loser like Randy to come up with anything to make it worthwhile.”
“He wanted the money the cartel gave him to hire me back.”
“Yeah, but my guess is Mrs. Cantor was dead before Randy got here, judging from the shape she was in. Whether Randy raised the money or not didn’t matter. He killed her and Randy was next.”
“Then me and Mal after that.”
“Well, you anyway. I was under the impression Stone had straightened everything out when it came to the cartel.”
“So was I. Mal seemed to think there might be some rogue out there still loyal enough to the former boss to finish what he started, regardless of who was in charge. He called that guy the ‘cowboy’.”
“Well, that certainly describes Brantley.”
“I wouldn’t have figured it would be a sheriff’s deputy.”
Ames shrugged. “It wouldn’t be my first choice of suspects either, but it happens. Organized crime recruits cops when they can. Just ask your friend Mal.”
“We’re not that friendly these days.”
“About time. Anyway, the clerk more or less corroborates your story and I’m guessing when Shaw is able to, he’ll back up the rest. I suspect that, given the circumstances, the sheriff will forgive you for stealing the vehicle since it saved a respected law enforcement veteran’s life.”
“Which has me getting out when?”
“Actually, I’m sure he’d release you into our custody if I asked him nicely.”
“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
“Is that what you want?
“As opposed to staying locked up here?”
“Yeah.”
“Damn right, that’s what I want. What are you waiting for?”
“I don’t know, this just seems like where you belong. A please would be nice.”
“Okay, please get me the hell out of here.”
“Well, since you put it that way.”
Margot looked at Radcliff. “Were you just going to leave me here?”
“No, we had a date.”
Margot gave him a puzzled look and he shrugged as he said, “He’s the lead detective.”
“So, we could have been having this conversation in the car?”
“No, I figured you can drive your own car back,” Ames told her as he stood up and left the two of them in the interrogation room.
“Maybe I’ll ride back with you, if that’s okay,” Radcliff said as he took Ames' chair.
“I’d be good with that. Actually, I’d be good with you driving. I’m exhausted.”
“I bet. Maybe we skip going out and you just come back to my place. I know you can handle yourself, but with Brantley still out there, I’d feel better knowing where you are.”
“Even if he’s somehow alive, I don’t see how he’s going to be a threat for a while. I shot him five times at close range. Last I checked, they don’t make body armor good enough to stop that. Hell, if he is the cowboy Mal was talking about, this might be the safest I’ve been in a while.”
“Does that mean you don’t want to spend the night?”
“No, but let's do it for fun, not because some killer in a cowboy hat is looking for me.”
“Actually, that sounds better to me too.”
END OF BOOK 4 – Shadow of Betrayal
Excerpt From Book 5 – Shadow of Misgivings
“Sorry man, but business is business.”
“He could have at least heard what I was proposing.”
“It’s clear he wasn’t interested.”
“How about you? You interested?”
The man smiled and shook his head. “Come on, bro, we both know there’s nothing you can propose that will come close to the scratch we’re making from them.”
Mal had nothing to say to that. He certainly didn’t want to tell the man he was right.
“You know if I go with you, I’m going to go slow, right?” Mal asked.
“What do you mean ‘go slow’?”
“I mean when he kills me, he’s going to take his time about it. He’s going to torture me.”
Mal could tell the man in front of him, the oldest of the group, couldn’t care less. The kid behind him though? He looked concerned.
“Don’t look at him,” the big man directly in front of him said, “he’s not going to help you. The question is, do you want to walk out of here like a man on your feet? Or do you want us to carry you out like a little bitch?”
“Is there a third option?”
“Not really.”
Mal nodded and hung his head like he was sad about his impending demise. True, he wasn’t happy about it, but that’s not why he’d taken the stance.
“Is he going to cry?” one of the trio of would-be abductors asked.
“I hope not,” the big man standing in front of him said. He bent down so he was eye level with Mal and lifted his chin before he said, “Come on, man. I didn’t figure you to be the type to get all weepy.”
When Mal lifted his head, he’d taken the little twenty-five caliber pistol—what they used to call a Saturday Night Special—out of his boot. It wasn’t something he advertised, but he’d been carrying the little cheap five shot pistol there ever since his days as a cop.
He put it under the big man’s chin and growled, “I’m not crying. Even if I was, it wouldn’t be for me. I’d be crying for you because you and your boys need to do what I say or you’re a dead man and you don’t really look like the type who can follow directions.”
“Come on, man. What are you going to do with that little peashooter?”
“Send a bullet through the bottom of your chin and up through your brain for starters,” Mal said as he stood up.
The man with the gun under his chin stood up with him. Mal remembered that, when they had come in, the big dude had snatched his Glock 21 from the nightstand and stuck it in his belt. Mal took the gun and pointed it at the man behind him on the left while he kept the gun under the other man’s chin.
This did nothing to stop the man to his right from drawing his gun and pointing it Mal’s way.
“You sure you want to do this?” Mal asked him. “Once the shooting starts in this kind of situation, things tend to go bad for everybody.”
The man didn’t lower his gun.
Mal pulled the trigger on the Saturday night special as the man with it under his chin tried to grab it.
As Mal predicted, things went bad for everybody. Some worse than the others.
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Books by Nora Kane
1. Secrets of Woodcrest Manor
2. Wolverine Harbor Novellas Series
Book 1- The Veil of Deceit
Book 2 -The Veil of Envy
Book 3 -The Veil of Vengeance
3. Emmy Grimm Series
Book 1- Lured
Book 2- Chased
Book 3- Blindsided
4. Margot Harris Series
Book 1- Shadow of Greed
Book 2- Shadow of Pretense
Book 3- Shadow of Suspicion
Book 4- Shadow of Betrayal
Book 5- Shadow of Misgivings
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When the Patriarch of the Woodcrest Family was found dead in the flowerbed under his bedroom window, the local police department called it suicide. His son hired Private detective Emmy wanting to uncover the real truth behind his father's death. Surrounded by so many individuals who could benefit from his death, now the responsibility is on Emmy to figure out who was responsible. When
Emmy starts to talk to the heirs the Woodcrest family's secrets begin to emerge.
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