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  She rang the doorbell and waited. No one answered and she didn’t hear anyone moving around inside. She knocked and got the same result. Margot stepped back, thinking she should go try to track down the boyfriend and then come back later. She was turning to leave when she saw the stain on the sidewalk.

  This was the kind of place where a stain on the cement wasn’t exactly unusual. Margot gave it a second look anyway. It was brown, the color of blood dried in the sun, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t something else. As she looked, Margot noticed another similar stain on the faded stucco. While the stain on the sidewalk was a blotch, this one appeared to be in the shape of a hand. Margot looked down the sidewalk and saw there were more stains, each a few feet apart.

  If someone had spilled something, it was unlikely they would have left a trail, but if someone has been bleeding, they certainly would. The trail led to her car. She walked around into the street and couldn’t pick up more of the trail. A walk both ways on the sidewalk didn’t reveal any more bloodstains.

  If Choe or Chrissie had a visitor who had somehow been hurt, this was the closest parking space. Margot walked back to the front door, kicking herself for not noticing the potential blood trail before. A closer look at the area around the door revealed what could have been another handprint. Whatever had happened, it looked a lot like someone had stumbled out of the unit leaking fluid and had then gone and got into a car parked out front.

  Margot rang the doorbell and knocked again. This time she called out for both Jennifer and Chrissie. No one answered. The bleeding person stumbling out the front door wasn’t necessarily either Chrissie or Jennifer. The way they seemed to have gotten in a car parked on the street out front, instead of one in the garage, pointed to it not being either of them. That didn’t mean they weren’t hurt. Violence often goes both ways. Margot was becoming concerned for their safety.

  She tried the front door and it was locked. They had a quality deadbolt and the door looked solid: Margot wasn’t getting in that way. The townhomes all had a little backyard area. Margot walked around the back and found their backyard. It had a redwood fence around it and no gate. Unlike some of her neighbors, Jennifer hadn’t stained or replaced hers. Margot worried the rotting wood would fall down if she climbed it, but she didn’t see a better choice.

  She could call the police, but the chances they would break-in based on some stains on the sidewalk seemed unlikely. Margot looked around and didn’t see anybody watching her. She vaulted the fence, going as quickly as she could to avoid both being seen and having the old fence topple over.

  The small back yard, just a patio really, was kept up as well as the fence. There had been a little garden area, but it was nothing but weeds. The cracked cement patio contained nothing but a rusted out barbeque grill. The neglected back area made it look like they’d been gone for months.

  There was a sliding glass door in the back. Like the window in the front, the blinds were pulled shut and, like the front door, it was locked. Unlike the front door, the lock on the slider was just a latch. Margot took out her credit card that wasn’t a credit card; it was made of metal instead of plastic. She couldn’t buy anything with this card, but it was good for flipping locks.

  Thirty seconds later she was sliding the door open and stepping inside.

  The living room was a mess but what caught her eye wasn’t the dishes and clothes strewn about the room but the dead man on the sofa. He was well dressed in a suit and tie and he looked to be in decent shape. She got closer and saw the blue suit was shinier than normal business attire. She couldn’t be sure, but it looked like sharkskin to her. His mouth was open, revealing two rows of gold teeth. Since half the top half of his head was missing, it was hard to tell anything else about him. The blood- and brain-splattered wall behind him seemed to indicate someone shot with something powerful, likely at close range.

  The dead man in the blue sharkskin suit wasn’t Jennifer or Chrissie and unless he left and came back inside to get shot in the face, he wasn’t the person who left the bloodstains out front. Margot pulled her short-barreled Smith and Wesson out of her purse. She chambered a round and moved closer to the body on the sofa.

  Getting closer didn’t reveal much except to show he was starting to smell and draw flies. She noticed there was a pistol at his feet, below his lifeless right hand. Margot bent down and saw it was a Beretta, nine millimeter. If he was using hollow points, it certainly could have done the damage to his head himself. He could have shot himself or maybe he and the person leaving the blood trail exchanged bullets. Maybe it wasn’t even his gun.

  Margot held her weapon out in front of her as she checked the rest of the house. She found that the blood trail she had seen out front started in the living room. She learned neither Chrissie nor Jennifer were much for putting dishes or clothes away, but other than that, there wasn’t much to learn going through the townhome.

  She didn’t find any suitcases, but that could be because they didn’t own any, not that they packed them and left. She found a laptop in Jennifer’s room but not in Chrissie’s. She didn’t find any phones.

  She found a photo of Jennifer and Chrissie posing together in front of the waves at the beach. She recognized Jennifer from Lefty’s, but other than seeing her there slinging drinks, Margot didn’t remember anything about her. She took a photo of the picture just to have something to show around and then thought about deleting it. Whatever happened to Jennifer and Chrissy, this was going to be a murder investigation.

  She looked in the garage and found it empty. It looked highly possible the two women left on their own. Margot debated it but decided to go out the front door to call the police. She feared the fence couldn’t withstand another vault. She covered her hand with her shirt so she didn’t leave any fingerprints and opened the door.

  Margot froze as the dark blue sedan cruised slowly by. It looked like her maneuver a few blocks back hadn’t really fooled them; it had just let them know she knew they were following her. She stayed still as the sedan cruised by slowly. If they saw her, they didn’t give her any indication. Margot reminded herself it could have been a different blue sedan but still closed the door and called the police from inside the house.

  Chapter 3

  “What is it with you and dead bodies?” Detective Ames asked as they stood by Margot’s car and waited for the crime scene crew.

  Margot wasn’t sure how to answer that one so she didn’t. She and Ames were never friends, even when they were both cops. Her relationship with Mal made sure they never would be. There was a time when she felt he was out to get her, but he had saved her life not too long ago.

  “How about you tell me why you’re here?”

  In the past, Margot might have exercised her right to remain silent but keeping in mind that Ames had saved her life, she replied, “Missing person case. The kid’s aunt was worried. I’d say the mom is missing as well.”

  “Is that dad inside?”

  “Not as far as I know. He’s supposed to be out of the picture.”

  Ames’s young partner Radcliff asked, ‘What do you think happened?”

  “Does it matter?”

  Radcliff smiled at her. “You were a cop, I respect your opinion.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, really.”

  “My honest feeling is civilians should never tell the police anything unless they have too.”

  Ames shook his head. “You know you don’t always have to be so combative. For the most part, we’re on the same side.”

  Margot knew the ‘For the most part’ comment was about her continued friendship with Mal. There wasn’t much question about Mal being on the payroll for more than one local crime boss during his days as a cop. This had cost him his job. Even a straight-laced, by-the-book guy like Ames could probably get over that, but it was also alleged that Mal had earned the money they were giving him by using his badge as a hunting license and assassinating their rivals. If anyone could prove that, though, he wou
ldn’t be walking around free, picking a few bucks here and then helping out Margot. Even though he couldn’t prove enough to make an arrest, Ames was sure Mal was a hitman for local mobsters.

  “What if we’re talking as civilians?” Radcliff asked.

  “How are we going to do that? Are you quitting?”

  “No, but at the end of the day, when I take off the badge, I’m no longer Detective Radcliff. Without the badge, I’m just Rick.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Certainly is. Maybe we could have dinner and you could tell me what you think. Or, since I’m just Rick at that point, we could talk about whatever you want.”

  “Are you asking me out? At a crime scene?”

  “When else would I ask you out? It’s not like I see you anywhere else.”

  “Are you buying dinner?”

  “Sure, unless that offends you.”

  “Why would it offend me?”

  “I don’t know, feminism or something?”

  Margot laughed, then said, “That shit doesn’t pay the bills. Thanks to this, I’m out of a job.”

  “Last I checked, the daughter is still missing.”

  “True, but I’m guessing you guys will be bringing out the full-court press to find her and her mom since they might be only ones out there who could explain this mess. You’ve got better resources than me, my only advantage is I care.”

  “We care.”

  “You do now. Until I called, you never knew any of these people existed. Now that you guys are on the case, I’m kind of redundant. I’m sure my client will see it the same way.”

  Ames nodded. “No offense, but we don’t need to be tripping over each other anyway.”

  “For once we agree.”

  “So, is that a yes or a no about dinner?” Radcliff asked.

  Margot considered it while she looked Radcliff over. After a long thirty seconds, she said, “A yes.”

  “Is this really happening?” Ames asked.

  “I think so,” Margot told him.

  “Why?” Ames asked. His question seemed to be more directed at Margot than Radcliff.

  “Why not?” Margot replied, thinking Radcliff was a good looking guy, even though their longest interaction had been adversarial. Ames had hauled her in for questioning on another case and Margot hadn’t exactly been polite.

  “Okay, now that’s over with,” Ames said, “What are you looking for?”

  “Me? Inner peace and reconciliation with the mistakes of my past so I can get another step closer to enlightenment. Or if that’s not available, a nice stiff drink.”

  ‘That’s not what I meant. You keep looking at the road. It’s almost like you’re expecting someone.”

  “Really?” Margot replied. She wasn’t really aware she was doing it, but now that Ames pointed it out, she realized she was still looking for the blue sedan.

  “Yeah, really.”

  “I don’t know,” Margot lied. She hadn’t seen the sedan since she made the call and was now wondering if it was even the same one she had seen before. She decided she wasn’t going to discuss the sedan and instead told Ames, “I guess I’m hoping Chrissie and Jennifer will just come driving up. It’d be nice to give my client some good news.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind seeing that myself. I’ve got a bad feeling they’re going to be hard to find and we’re not going to like what we find when we do.”

  Margot couldn’t argue with that.

  They all turned and watched the crime scene van approach.

  “I guess you can go,” Ames told her, “but we’re going to need to talk later and not over dinner.”

  “You saying don’t leave town?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Why would I leave before your young partner takes me out to dinner?”

  “Just behave, okay?”

  “Got it.” She turned to Radcliff. “You want to pick me up at eight? I know you know where I live.”

  “You got it.”

  As Margot got in the car, she could hear Ames telling Radcliff, “Keep in mind the woman you asked out might be good looking, but knowing her the way I know her, she could be guilty as sin in all this.”

  Margot closed the door before she could hear Radcliff’s response.

  While she was driving, she called Randy and told him the police would be taking over the investigation and his mom could have her money back minus one day. He was good with that and they arranged to meet back at Layla’s West so she could give him his money.

  Chapter 4

  Even though she had to drive across town, Margot beat Randy to Layla’s West. Like the first time they met, they were just about the only customers. Since she was currently out of a job, Margot got Stan to pour her some Maker’s Mark over ice. She hadn’t seen the blue sedan or anybody else following her, but she still sat in the corner with her back against the wall.

  “I’ve got good news for you,” Randy said as he strolled in and took the seat across from her, “You still have a job.”

  “What do you mean? I explained what’s going on over the phone.”

  “Yeah, and I passed the information on to Mom. She didn’t see the cop’s involvement as a reason for you to drop out.”

  “Did you tell her the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of the cops finding her before I even get close?”

  “I did, she didn’t care. She wants you.”

  “I guess I should be flattered, but this is a waste of her money.”

  “I told her that too, but she said she likes you. The homicide cops? Not so much.”

  “Well,” Margot said as she looked at her glass of whiskey, “I guess it’s back to work. You want the rest of this?”

  Randy looked at the glass for a second before saying, “Sure. You mind if I ask what you’re going to do next?”

  Margot almost told him she did mind but since his Mom was paying her for what would ultimately be busy work, she explained, “I figure the boyfriend is next and then I’ve got an idea or two.”

  Randy nodded. “You know, I wasn’t worried before. I’m worried now.”

  “Yeah, I know the feeling.”

  Margot left Randy at Layla’s West and headed for the address he gave her for Mick. All they had was his first name and the address; neither Randy nor his mom even knew if Mick had a job or how old he was, though Randy said he was definitely too old to be dating a fifteen-year-old. On the way, Margot called Mal and explained the situation, especially the dark blue sedan.

  “I can’t say I’ve seen any blue sedans tailing me, but I haven’t really left the house. As to the other one, did you call Trixie and see if she’s still seeing the doc? Maybe the injured party went to see him.”

  “Since the Doc sold her out to a cartel hitman, she didn’t feel too bad talking to the cops about him. He’s in county awaiting trial. I figure if I find Chrissie, we can work out the rest and even if we can’t, that’s what I’m getting paid for.”

  “Yeah, I guess the rest doesn’t matter. Ames is going to be pissed you’re still involved.”

  “He’ll get over it. I’m almost to the boyfriend's house.”

  “Alright, call me if you need anything.”

  “I will,” Margot said, hoping she wouldn’t need his help.

  She hoped the things he was really good at, all of those involving violence, wouldn’t be needed. Plus, as mad as Ames was going to be about her involvement, his rage would go up another couple levels if Mal was part of it.