by Nora Kane
“This isn’t about that. I want to hire you.”
Chapter 3
Margot sat at her desk and Cassie sat in the client’s chair directly across from her. Before they started, Margot hit record on the digital recorder she used when conducting interviews.
“You have a problem if I record this?”
“No, I guess I don’t.”
“Good.”
“First, let me apologize for the cops coming after you. It was the younger cop’s idea. He saw the episode where you threatened to hit me and was convinced you were a suspect.”
“I never threatened you.”
“Yeah, but you managed not to threaten me in a way that scared the shit out of me.”
“That didn’t stop you from reporting things about me.”
Cassie smiled. “I guess there are different levels of scared, which is why I’m here.”
“Because you’re scared?”
“Terrified. I don’t know how you felt when someone shot at you, but I didn’t like it.”
“Me neither. Terrified is a good way to describe it.”
“Which is why I want to hire you to find this person and stop them.”
“You’ve got two detectives on the case.”
“Yeah, but they seem to be wasting their time harassing you.”
“Considering the things you say about me in your videos, I’m surprised you’re so confident I’m not the one. Shouldn’t you be afraid of the feared cartel assassin Viuda Negra?”
“Who better to have on my side?”
“I have other cases right now.”
“So, you won’t do it?”
“Like I said, I have other cases right now.”
“What if I could tell you who it was?”
“If you can tell me, why didn’t you tell the police?”
“You of all people should understand.”
“I should?”
“Your friend Mal is a wanted man. Even before his current situation, he was thought to be some sort of hitman in a cop’s uniform. The rumor was he worked for Harry Lee among others. Yet, you stuck by him, even after you two were no longer an item.”
“That was different.”
“Only in the details. He was your man and you stuck by him. Then, when he wasn’t your man anymore, you still didn’t want to see him hurt if you could help it. That’s how I feel about Trevor.”
“Okay,” Margot replied, “except one of those details you mentioned was he took a shot at you.”
“He missed. I’d say he missed on purpose.”
“Even if you’re right, that’s going way too far.”
“Maybe, but I’m not ready to throw him in jail for attempted murder. Not if there’s another way.”
“Okay, what exactly is that other way?”
“I think you know. I’ve heard it’s kind of a specialty of yours.”
“I’m not a thug for hire.”
“Okay, I get that. I’m not asking you to beat him up or break his legs, but it might help my cause if he thinks you can. It will make him more likely to listen to what I need him to hear.”
“You want me to deliver a message for you?”
“Yeah, a simple one. Tell him I’m sorry, but it has to be over.”
“You couldn’t tell him that yourself?”
“I’ve tried. I’m afraid of him though, and he knows it. I can’t meet him face-to-face, but you can.”
Margot really wanted to tell her to go away, but the thing she said about being afraid of her boyfriend struck a nerve. Her mother was in a similar situation with her father, only no one ever warned him off. Her mother lived afraid because of her father and then she died because of him. Margot didn’t wish that kind of abuse on anyway, even Cassie.
Margot thought it over for another second. She wondered if Cassie knew her past and was manipulating her. She decided to ask a few more questions before she made a commitment.
“Anderson and Cranston heavily implied the person harassing you left you a message about your show. I believe they wanted me to say something like: ‘I hear my name coming out your mouth one more time, bitch and I’m putting a cap in your pretty face.’ That sounds a lot like they’re talking about your show. Why would your old boyfriend care about the show unless he’s been on it?”
Cassie was quiet.
“You look like you’re trying to think of a lie.”
“It’s not the same person. The call, I think, was just a threat to try to get me to back off.”
“From whom?”
“I’m not sure. I might have said you, but you seem more a face-to-face person than a threatening call. Could be Harry Lee, or someone working for him. He certainly likes his name kept out of things. I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to the Masterson Hot Tub Massacre lately. I think it’s someone involved in that.”
“In my experience, Harry is more the tell-you-in-person type as well.”
“Which is why I’m less worried about that and more concerned with Trevor.”
“I don’t suppose you’ve made a list of all the people you’ve named in recent episodes?”
“I have, but—no offense Margot—I handed that one to the police. The only name I didn’t give them was Trevor.”
“Because you want me to handle that one?”
“If possible. If you don’t think he’s getting the point, then I’ll tell the police about him. Can you help me?”
Margot didn’t have it in her to say no. “I can squeeze it in, but I’m not cheap.”
“I can afford a day and honestly, it shouldn’t take that.”
“Leave me off your YouTube show, and I’ll do this one for free.”
“Considering you’re in the middle of the biggest story I’ve got going, I don’t think I can do that.”
“Okay, how about you quit calling me ‘Viuda Negra’ and implying I’m some sort of cartel super-assassin?”
“I don’t think I ever said ‘super.’”
“You know what I mean.”
“You do this for free if I agree?”
“It’s what I just said.”
“You must really hate that. Honestly, I think it sounds cool.”
“I don’t.”
“Okay, I can do that. I really appreciate this.”
“I hope it works out. In my experience, words aren’t always enough, but I’ll do what I can. Tell me everything.”
Even though she was recording the encounter, Margot took notes.
“When are you going to do this?” Cassie asked.
“Ideally tomorrow, but I can’t guarantee it. Before the end of the week for sure. I don’t want to give him another chance to take a shot at you.”
“I appreciate it,” Cassie said as she stood up.
She was almost to the door when Margot said, “You seem to be on top of a lot of this stuff.”
“I try.”
“Can I ask you a question then? It needs to stay between you and me for the time being.”
“Are you using me as your source?”
“Depends if you know anything.”
“Ask away.”
“Does the name Dennis Thorn mean anything to you?”
Cassie turned around and went back to the chair.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“I asked you first.”
“There are six suspects in the murder of Lucas Lau. Basically, the only six people who could have had access including the staff. Fun fact, your favorite detectives, Anderson and Cranston, missed being on the list of suspects by an hour. Of the six, one of them, Conner Heller—the main suspect, if you ask me—had a visitor named Dennis Thorn.”
“Okay, so what?”
“Dennis Thorn doesn’t exist. His I.D. was bogus.”
“There should be video.”
“There is,” Cassie said as she reached into her purse and retrieved her phone.
“You have surveillance video from county jail?”
“I have connections
,” she said as she pulled up the video. “Whoever Dennis Thorn really is, he knows the set up over at county. He never looks directly into the camera, so all they have is an approximate height and weight. He probably has tattoos since he went to some effort to make sure he was covered up.”
Margot watched the video and saw she was right. Something about the man did seem familiar, however.
“They figure he made some sort of deal with Heller to off Lucas. If Heller had a personal reason to want Lucas dead, no one’s found it. Of course, that goes for everybody else.”
“Lucas was the kind of guy who could make quick enemies.”
“I heard the same thing, though if he was telling the truth about the Hottub Massacre though, it was in someone’s best interest he shut up.”
“Did you name some of these “someones” on your show?”
“I named a couple of them, you included. If you’re wondering, the death threats came soon after.”
Margot took one last look at the video and then handed it back.
“Thanks, that was helpful.”
“Helpful enough I can do another Viuda Negra story?”
“No.”
Cassie shrugged, “It was worth a try.”
This time, when she went out the door, Margot let her. Even though the video never came close to showing what Dennis Thorn really looked like, Margot thought his walk looked familiar. As far as she knew, a person had never been identified by their gait, at least not in court, but the way this guy walked reminded her a lot of Mal. He looked the same height and weight as well.
As she sat there thinking about Mal, Margot remembered where she’d heard the name, Dennis Thorn.
She knew Mal’s phone number was long dead, but his email address was probably still good. If he had a burner phone, he might even check it once in a while. He might not, but Margot figured it would be worth a try.
She sent him a message saying: We need to talk.
After thinking about it for a few minutes, she left another that just read: Dennis Thorn.
She finished up some paperwork until it was time to meet Radcliff. She checked her phone before she left. Mal hadn’t responded.
Chapter 4
Cassie thought it was odd when Margot asked her if Trevor smoked. Especially when she was in the middle of telling her about Trevor’s job on the night shift over at 7-11. What his nicotine habit told Margot was Trevor would be outside sometime around two hours after his shift started. This meant she wouldn’t have to go inside and if things did get a little dicey, none of it would be recorded by a security camera.
Radcliff was disappointed when she left after dinner and didn’t stay over at his place. Margot was disappointed too; being with Radcliff would have been much more fun than staking out a convenience store in a questionable neighborhood in the middle of the night.
Just as she figured, two hours after his shift was supposed to start, Trevor was standing by the trash can firing up a Marlboro Red.
“Hey Trevor, how’s it going?” Margot asked as she walked up.
“It’s going,” he said with a smile. As Margot stepped into the light, he asked, “Do I know you? You don’t have the kind of face I’d forget.”
“No, but I’m a friend of Cassie’s.”
“Whoa, I take that back, I do know you. You’re that Viuda Negra chick. I’ve got to say her video doesn’t do you justice.”
“Is that so?”
“I don’t normally go for older chicks, but I think I’d make an exception for Viuda Negra.”
“You know calling a woman old is never a good idea.”
“I said older and I meant it as a compliment.”
Margot nodded. “That sounds like you’re over Cassie.”
Trevor had to think about that for a second before he said, “What she don’t know won’t hurt her.”
“How about bullets? Would they hurt her?”
“That’s kind of a weird question.”
“Somebody shot at her last week.”
“No shit?”
“No shit. Fired a .40 at her.”
“Are you implying something?”
“Why would you say that?”
“I’ve got a forty, under the counter inside.”
“It’s not that uncommon, plenty of people have them. Of course, you’re the only one of those people who Cassie broke up with.”
“It’s less a breakup and more just a break. We aren’t even seeing other people, just not exactly seeing each other.”
“Sounded like you wanted to see me.”
“I was just flirting.”
“What if I said yes?”
“Are you saying yes?”
“No.”
“You come out here to talk about Cassie?”
“I came here to tell you something for her.”
“She couldn’t tell me herself?”
“After you shot at her, she didn’t want to get too close.”
“Wait, when did this happen?”
Margot told him.
“You say it happened around eight? At night?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it wasn’t me. I was here.”
“You work midnight to nine.”
“I was filling in for somebody and took an evening shift. Made for a long ass day since I worked graveyard the night before, but I was here.”
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.