Chasing Suspect Three

by Rod Hoisington

  “You didn’t know that the drug gang had sent a man up here after him and the money?”

  “My plan was to get all the money. I wanted Margo out of the way, because she knew about the drug runs and the money. He screwed up and missed her at the Community Center. Then after he was killed, I needed to include her.”

  “But at first you intended her to be killed.”

  “And to give me an alibi for the time she would be shot, I set up a meeting with your boyfriend under the pretense of returning a book of poetry he supposedly gave me.”

  “But he’d never given you a book, and it wasn’t actually a book of poetry, was it? It was your red-hot diary you gave him to turn him on. If he didn’t take up with you again, at least he’d regret splitting with you.”

  “That red hot diary was all someone’s erotic dream.”

  “It wasn’t true? You made that stuff up?”

  “I didn’t make it up, Margo wrote it. John found it and gave it to me for laughs.”

  “Margo? So the male wasn’t Chip?”

  “You still don’t get it. Margo was obsessed with a TV star, Richie Grant. She’d daydream about him and even started a diary fantasizing about him. She talked about how she was going to fly out to Hollywood, and he was going to fuck her brains out. I used to tease her about him and ask if she still had all her brains. I know, silly question. Then after the murder, when she needed to lie, she blamed a boyfriend. When you started pressing her for a name, Richie Grant was the first name to pop into her mind. She got the bright idea to use a made up boyfriend as her alibi. The only clever thing she did in her entire life.”

  “So, her real boyfriend wasn’t actually named Richie Grant?”

  “There was no real boyfriend.” Claudia paused long enough to roll her eyes. “God this is fun—you’re so out of it. I’ll say it one more time. Margo’s boyfriend is totally made up. Never existed. He’s a phantom.”

  “But you both identified him in the morgue.”

  “Wasn’t that too clever for words?” Claudia smiled. “You kept asking Margo to produce Richie and, of course, she couldn’t. Feeling desperate, she identified the corpse in the morgue as Richie. She phoned and told me what she’d done. I was ready to call him Richie Grant whatever he looked like.”

  It wasn’t too clever for words, it was a screw up, but Sandy wasn’t going to point that out. True, they made up an imaginary man and called him Richie Grant, so they could blame everything on him. Except, they didn’t know that the unclaimed stiff they said was Richie Grant was actually Gerardo Diaz, the murderer of Margo’s husband. That mistake immediately tied Margo in as a conspirator. In effect, Margo was saying her boyfriend shot her husband. They should have left Richie out in no-man’s land.

  “You didn’t know who he was?” Sandy asked.

  “Beats the hell out of me. Just some ugly dude.”

  Sandy was beginning to get it straight. The Miami gang sent Gerardo Diaz up there to get rid of John Larena and recover the money. It was Diaz she encountered in the condo. He was never Margo’s boyfriend. The two women didn’t know him at all. They were just after the money. Diaz torn up the condo looking, but the two women already had it.

  “What if the body in the morgue was proven to be someone else?”

  “We didn’t care. We’d just swear we knew the guy as Richie. Not bad having an unidentified body show up. He’d get the blame, we’d never have to produce our imaginary man, and the police would stop looking for him. I went along with it as it took the heat off both of us. Boy, did you ever buy that loony tune. You were wiggling your ass all over town looking for Margo’s fantasy.”

  Hard to imagine, yet it did begin to explain everything. “Geez, did I underestimate you, I could see you had the looks, but didn’t realize you had the brains.” Anything to keep her talking, she might move away from the gun. “How did you end up with the money?”

  “Margo knew all along John was delivering drugs and money. When she heard the FBI had arrested the vice consul, and John unexpectedly shows up, she guessed what had happened. She couldn’t believe it when he shot at her. She wasn't fighting the divorce, and she didn’t have anything he wanted. After steaming for a couple of hours, she decided to go over and confront him.”

  “Confront the husband who had shot at her?”

  Claudia shrugged. “He was already dead in the shower when she got there. She was going to hurry out of there. Then she remembered he had made off with the money and decided to look in the freezer. There was the money pouch. She grabbed it and took off.”

  “That’s when you had to move in on her.”

  “I tried to convince her she couldn’t handle all that was going down, but together we’d be rich. Later the detective shows up at her place asking questions. Wants to look around. The money is now a few feet away in her own freezer. When he leaves, she knows he’ll be back with a search warrant. She frantically phoned me needing help. At that point, she started relying on me for advice. She brought the money over here. I told her to act as if we hated each other. That would keep me in the clear in case something went wrong.”

  “What about her share?”

  “I had something special in mind for her.”

  Sandy shook her head slowly at that. Then said, “May I at least put my dress back on?”

  “Why don’t I let you fix your hair and do your nails as long as we’re at it? All women want to look good naked, don’t they? Even if they’re dead.”

  She noticed Claudia’s fingers tighten around the pistol grip. “Wait! You don’t have to kill me. You two are innocent. You haven’t done anything yet. I discovered the identity of John’s killer. I can get Margo out of the murder charge...she’ll walk free. And you as well. You’re in possession of some money that you thought legitimately belonged to John. No one can blame you for that.”

  Claudia took a step closer, and pointed the gun directly at her. “I don’t mind telling you all this. In a second, all of your memories are going to vanish.”

  The sound of footsteps in the hall startled them both. Claudia pointed her gun at the door. They waited. They heard the squeak of the door knob slowly turning. The door inched open. They saw a gun first. Then Margo cautiously peeked in.

  “Oh, good it’s you,” Claudia said, as she lowered her own revolver. “Come on in and lock the door. You can put that gun away.”

  Margo lowered the gun to her side. “I came for my money. What’s she doing here? I saw her car outside. What’s going on?”

  Sandy answered. “First, she kills me. Then she kills you. That’s what’s going on. You don’t want that. We can straighten all this out.”

  “You’re not on my side anymore,” Margo said. “Claudia told me you’re actually working for the cops. Why did you turn on me, Sandy?”

  “I didn’t turn on you. I’ve been working on your behalf. In spite of you never being straight with me. You were more interested in the money than saving your own life. I’ve identified the real murderer. You’re free now. You see I never stopped for a second. The cops thought they had a solid case. But I believed in you, I knew you were innocent. I’d never give up trying to prove it. And I did it. You can go free now.”

  Margo looked at Claudia. “Why are you going to knock her off?”

  “Smartass knows too much. As soon as she walks out that door, all the cops in Florida will come down on us.”

  Sandy shook her head. “She told John to shoot you at the Community Center that night. She wanted you dead and a clear shot at the money.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “She made that date with Chip Goddard. He would be her alibi for the time John killed you. Then she’d go after John for all the money. For chrissake, she gave him her gun. He wasn’t supposed to miss. You’re supposed to be dead.”

  “Is that true, Claudia? Behind my back, you set up an alibi for yourself and left me for dead? You told me John had a hundred thousand. We agreed to go after it and split it. That’s all it
was supposed to be.”

  “Don’t let her trick you,” Claudia broke in, “The only way you can be free is to simply run away with plenty of money and have a beautiful life.”

  “See, that’s what she told me, Sandy. I like South America, and with fifty grand I could live like royalty.”

  Sandy yelled, “Why only fifty grand! Claudia’s holding out on you. The FBI told me John made off with a half million dollars.” That lie should stir up things. “Claudia has it all figured out. You get locked up. She gets the money.”

  Margo shouted, “Half a million! Claudia, what’s going on?”

  “She’s lying, it wasn’t a half million,” Claudia said. Then she stopped and screwed up her face. “Was it really? That bastard John was holding out on me. He said only three hundred grand.”

  “He told you three hundred? You told me one hundred grand.”

  “She lied to you.”

  “No I didn’t!”

  “Yes you did!”

  “Yes she did.”

  “You stay out of it!” Claudia reached for her gun.

  “Stop! Or I’m pulling this trigger.” Margo had turned quickly with her gun now pointed at Claudia. “Put that gun over on the floor...very slowly. I gotta think about this.” She looked confused.

  “She told you John stole a mere one hundred thousand? Didn’t you stop and count the money?”

  “Shut up, Sandy!”

  “It was all in the pouch wrapped up in different packages,” Margo explained. “It sure looked like a lot of money. I played with it a little. I was going to count it in the morning, but then the cops showed up.”

  “Damn you!” Claudia scowled at Sandy and looked down at the gun on the floor, then up to see if Margo was watching.

  Margo noticed the look and kicked the gun farther away. It slid across to the sofa. “Just stay still and don’t make any sudden moves.”

  Claudia protested, “I never meant to say one hundred. I’m not good with numbers. And I don’t know about any half million dollars.”

  “She’s lying, Margo. Of course, she knows about the half million. She wants it all for herself. And when she gets it, you’re dead. I think you’d better stop right here and count the money.”

  “Good idea. Where’s the money, Claudia?”

  “She has us against each other,” Claudia said. “Don’t you see what she’s doing?”

  “I want to see the money right now. I know it’s here someplace.” Margo brought the gun up even with Claudia’s eyes. “There better be five hundred thousand there.”

  “Let’s do all that later. We need to get rid of this tricky smartass once and for all. We don’t have time to count it now.”

  “I think we have plenty of time to count it now.” Sandy said.

  “You shut up.”

  “Where is it?” She poked toward Claudia with the gun. “I’m warning you?”

  “In the hall closet...over there. Go and get it.”

  “No, make her get it, Margo. She’s pulling something.”

  “You get it, Claudia.”

  “She wanted you arrested and put away for life,” Sandy kept talking. “You’d rot in jail forever, and she wouldn’t spend a dime of that money to get you out.” Her eyes went over to Claudia’s gun on the floor by the sofa.

  Margo frowned. “Maybe that’s true. I told her to give you fifty grand for my defense. She said that was too much and delivered only ten grand to you.” She waved the gun again. “Get the money, Claudia.”

  Margo watched carefully as Claudia walked to the hall closet and opened the door. Claudia was moving so slowly Sandy was certain she was about to make some sort of sudden move. Sandy was ready. If either one of them did something unexpected, she’d go for the gun on the floor by the sofa.

  Claudia took out the vacuum cleaner and carried it out to the middle of the floor. “It’s in the bag.”

  “The money?”

  “In the bag. Don’t expect a half million.”

  “Well, take it out. I want to see it.”

  Claudia unlatched the bag. There was no filter inside, just bundles of money. “You can have it all, Margo. You take all of it.” She poured it out on the floor. “Even the ten thousand dollar check I wrote out of my business account to pay Sandy. We’ll forget that too. This isn’t like you, Margo. We should be friends. I don’t want you mad at me. You need me to guide you and decide things for you. You can’t handle all this. Without me you’re going to screw it all up and be left with nothing.”

  Sandy noticed Claudia staring at Margo’s gun. She looked over and could see why. Margo had lowered her gun, pointing it at the floor. Sandy didn’t like how this was going. Margo looked confused. She was buying Claudia’s story. This was bad.

  “Margo listen,” Sandy quickly spoke up. “Before you came in, Claudia told me you are a loveless pity. Those were her exact words, a loveless pity. No man can stand you. You had to make up Richie and pretend. She told me how they laughed at you.”

  “I don’t pretend about such things.”

  Sandy said, “Yes you do, it’s in your diary.”

  Margo looked shocked. “My Diary? How do you know about that?”

  “Because Claudia stole it.”

  Margo screamed at Claudia, “You stole my diary. That’s where it went. You had it all along. You didn’t read it, did you? Did you read it? I want it back, right now.”

  “She stole it, read it, and showed it to everybody. By now, lots of people have read it. They’re all laughing at you. She said it was real raunchy.”

  “Wasn’t raunchy, it was beautiful. You shouldn’t have done that, Claudia.” She brought the gun back up.

  Margo appeared ready to tear into Claudia at any second. Sandy thought if she could set her off, she might be able to escape when the fight broke out. Claudia’s eyes had narrowed looking at the gun by the sofa leg.

  “That was my diary. One of the precious things in my life. I didn’t dream it all up, well maybe some of it.” Her eyes were starting to glisten. “I haven’t had many men, but that diary was my best memory of those I did know. And you treated it like a joke? That’s horrible! You knew it was precious to me. You didn’t care. The bits and pieces of my entire love life—was a joke to you.” Margo’s hand was trembling.

  “She shit on your diary, Margo, and laughed as she did it. Do you realize that?” Sandy pointed at Claudia like a defendant in a courtroom. She put her hands on her hips, leaned forward, and shouted at Margo, “She shit on your diary. Don’t you understand!”

  Margo fired without hesitating.

  All three of them jumped at the blast. The last sound Claudia ever heard.

  Sandy screamed in surprise, “My God, you pulled the trigger.”

  Claudia staggered and collapsed to the floor. Margo swung around. She pointed the gun at Sandy. She fired again. Sandy lunged for the gun on the floor, twisted, and fired back. Margo’s entire body seemed to be shaking as she fired again. But she was falling backward, and her third shot hit the ceiling. Blood instantly spread across her blouse.

  Sandy was still on the floor when she saw the apartment door slam off its hinges down into the room with a crash. She pointed the gun with both hands before she saw Chip bound into the room with his gun drawn. She dropped the gun and stared wildly. “Good God, what have I done?”

  He quickly scanned the room then knelt beside her. She was sobbing. He said, “You okay? Were you hit? Are you okay?” Martin was right behind him. “Stay with her,” Chip said and went over to where Margo was lying. He kicked the gun away from her hand and holstered his own gun. He took his radio and called for assistance and an ambulance. “This one should make it. I can tell from here that blonde over there is gone. That’s Claudia isn’t it?”

  When she realized it was Martin, she grabbed him. “Margo fired. She didn’t need to do that.” She tightened her arms around him. “I did something horrible. I don’t know why I did it. I said all those horrible things to her. I don’t know whe
re it came from. I never thought she’d fire that gun.”

  “You’re all shaken now. We’ll talk about it later.” Martin held her. “You’re safe, Sandy. You’re alive and safe.”

  “So loud, so loud. My ears are still ringing,” she said as he helped her up.

  “Are you sure you’re all right,” his voice was just as shaky.

  “She’s in shock,” Chip said, as he came back and gathered her into his arms. “Martin, check Claudia for a pulse.” He reached down and touched the barrel of the gun at her feet. “This is warm. Did you shoot both of them?”

  “Not sure...I don’t remember. Everybody was screaming at everybody. Are they both dead? I hope they’re not dead. Chip, can you save them?”

  She looked around at the scene. Margo was lying in blood along the wall. Claudia was lying in blood in the center of the room. A pile of blood-spattered cash and a vacuum cleaner were on the floor between them. The apartment door was lying flat on the floor surrounded by splintered pieces of wooden door frame. At the opening where the door used to be, stood a young man with wild red hair and a wide-open mouth.

  Chip saw him. “Who the hell are you?”

  “I own this place. I live across the hall. Who’s going to pay for this?”

  Chip pointed at him and ordered, “You! Lock all the building doors and stand guard. Don’t let anyone in except police.”

  “I want to know who’s going to pay for this.” Then he saw the bodies sprawled on the floor. “Oh God no, Claudie!” He started into the room.

  Chip blocked him. “Go back to your apartment, sir. Martin, get him out of here.” He helped Sandy over to the sofa. “You’re in shock. Just relax. You’ll remember everything.”

  “How about that gun, Chip? How about that?” She was speaking rapidly. “I saw that gun...on the floor. Just like the one you showed me at the range. I knew if only I could get to that gun—.”

  “You fired only one round,” Chip said inspecting the revolver. “I told you if someone’s coming at you with a weapon, to keep pulling the trigger.”

  “Don’t scold me. It’s coming back to me now. I’m responsible for murdering two women.”