Shadow Of Suspicion Read online

  “This isn’t something I can ask just anybody to do.”

  “Yeah, but you shouldn’t ask me.”

  “You know you say you want to look out for me, but when I need your help, you tell me not to ask.”

  “Let me think about it,” Margot told her, “I can’t do it tomorrow and probably the next day anyway. I’m working.”

  “Okay, as long as you really think about it. You want to come inside? It’s weird talking to you like this.”

  “I do, but I’ve got somewhere to be.”

  “A date with the honest cop?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes.”

  “So, you really were coming by just to say hi.”

  “Yeah, but we’ll talk later. I’ll think about seeing dad with you.”

  “Thanks, I’d appreciate that. And…could you think about giving Randy another chance?”

  Margot was not going to think about that, but it was nice talking to her sister without arguing, so she said, “I’ll think about it, but don’t hold your breath on that one.”

  Instead of replying to that, Melanie looked up over the top of the car and waved at someone.

  Margot looked over and saw Gale standing by the front door of the house on her driver’s license. She was waving back at Melanie.

  “Who’s that?” Margot asked.

  “That’s Gale. You’d like her, she’s a pretty cool neighbor.”

  “You hang out a lot?”

  Melanie shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Like I said, she’s a cool neighbor. I’m not a big fan of her husband, but I like Gale a lot.”

  “Why don’t you like the husband?” Margot asked. She almost slipped and said Dan.

  “He’s not too bad, I guess. I’d say he has a bit of a wandering eye. He’s subtle enough about it that I could be misreading things, but I’m pretty sure he’s put it out there that if I wanted to, we could fool around.”

  “Did you say anything to Gale?”

  “No, I could be wrong and I wasn’t going to do anything, so why create drama?”

  Margot nodded and said, “I’d better get going, I’ll call you.”

  “Cool, I’ll answer this time.”

  Margot called Mal on the way to let him know they’d be headed out east tomorrow.

  Chapter 4

  Today

  As had been the pattern lately, when she went out with Detective Rick Radcliff, he picked her up, they ate dinner without talking much, ended up somewhere for drinks where they managed to have conversations about anything but their jobs and then headed to his place where, once again, they didn’t talk about much. When the sun came up, Radcliff got ready to go to work solving homicides and Margot took an Uber home. Radcliff always offered to pay for the ride back to her apartment and she always said no.

  It was a good pattern as far as Margot was concerned. No one talked about moving in together or long term relationship goals. They didn’t plan weekend outings. Other than picking her up, he’d never been to her place. As long as he had the nicer house, as far as she was concerned, he never needed to.

  Meet, eat, drink, get naked, and go home. Maybe someday they’d both need more, but for right now, as far as Margot was concerned it was perfect.

  She liked to think he was on the same page, but she wasn’t sure. He wasn’t complaining, but the last time they got together he called to make sure she got home. She wasn’t sure she liked it. It seemed the first step to a more serious relationship.

  She didn’t complain though; she didn’t see how she could protest him caring about her well-being without sounding crazy. Considering all the trouble that had come Margot’s way lately, it wasn’t really unreasonable.

  It still felt like an advance in the relationship and the last time she wanted more out of a relationship, she ended up following Mal as he destroyed both of their lives to the point that she wondered later if she had wanted things to go bad in her life.

  The funny part about that was they were still friends and she trusted Mal more than anyone. She really liked Radcliff, but she’d still rather have Mal watching her back when things got ugly.

  Margot was tired when she got home, but she figured she needed to start driving out to Dan’s trailer to pick up Lori fairly soon.

  She almost opened the door and stepped inside without looking at the piece of tape she put on the bottom of the door before leaving. She had already unlocked the door and was twisting the handle when she remembered someone still probably wanted her dead. If someone wasn’t looking for it, they would never see the clear tape at the bottom of the door. Like a lot of the extra precautions Margot had been taking lately, it felt silly, like a waste of time and energy.

  Upon seeing the tape peeled back—indicating someone had opened her door while she was gone—Margot no longer felt like she’d been wasting time and energy.

  It was tempting to walk to the parking lot, get in her car, and drive away. No one breaks into someone’s house with good intentions. Whoever was in there wasn’t likely to give up and go away though. It felt like if she ran away now, she’d just be putting off the problem for another day.

  Margot took out her phone and considered calling Mal or maybe even Radcliff but looking at the tape she started to have doubts. Margot meant to change the tape every day, but as the days without incidents piled up, she hadn’t been very diligent about it. She wasn’t sure of the last time she had changed out the tape. Even in the best-case scenario, Margot lived a block from the beach and the tape had been out in the elements nearly twenty-four hours. The sea air and the sun were hard on things; it could be that the tape had just peeled away on its own. Margot wasn’t above asking for help, but she didn’t like to do it unless absolutely necessary.

  Margot turned off the ringer on the phone, just in case it wasn’t just sun and wind. She put the phone back in her purse, drew her gun, and chambered a round. She stepped to the side and pushed the door open. No one opened fire, but Margot didn’t go inside. The temptation to just leave was stronger than ever.

  “I’m not here to hurt you,” a familiar voice called from inside.

  Margot stayed where she was and called back in, “Stone?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. I’m alone.”

  “You sure you’re alone?”

  “Do you think the assholes after me would go to the trouble of letting me live a second longer than they had to? Get in here. There are no gun thugs in your place right now, but the longer we’re yelling at each other, the more likely they are to show up.”

  Margot poked her head around the corner and drew back twice. The third time she stepped inside with her gun raised. No one was in the living or kitchenette except for Dean Stone, who was sitting on her sofa watching her television with the sound off.

  Margot checked her bedroom and her bathroom. No one else inside but Stone. She walked out to find he hadn’t moved. She stepped in front of the television and aimed her pistol at his head.

  “Be careful with that,” Stone told her as he looked down the wrong end of her gun.

  “How do you get in here?”

  “I’m a criminal. I know a lot of criminal shit. Can you quit pointing the gun at me?”

  “You’re a criminal who broke into my apartment. So no.”

  “Come on, Margot. You know I don’t mean you any harm.”

  “I do?”

  “You should.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I need your help.”

  “What makes you think I want to help you?”

  “I figured since you totally fucked up my hiding place, you owe me.”

  “I don’t owe you a damn thing.”

  “I also figured since you didn’t kill me when you had the chance…”

  “I have a chance now and you’re trying my patience.”

  “You haven’t shot me yet. Where else am I going to go? No one else who might help me wants to get on the cartel’s bad side. You, however, are already there.”

  “Does it occur to yo
u that makes me the last person you want to be hanging around? The same people looking for you probably have me on their shit list as well.”

  “Probably nothing. You messed up two of their operations and left three hitmen dead in the process. It might seem like they grow on trees, but trust me, even for the cartel, legit hitters are hard to find.”

  “I only killed two of them.”

  “Yeah, but they prefer not to go after American homicide detectives, so that guy Detective Ames shot is on you too as far as they’re concerned.”

  “Are you saying they’re going to run out soon?”

  “No, I’m saying they’re pissed off. It’s all bottom line to those assholes and losing an asset cuts into that bottom line. The other thing that cuts into the bottom line is looking weak, so they’re going to keep coming.”

  “You’re not painting a very rosy picture.”

  “You want me to lie? I know that’s not a big gun, but your arm has to be getting tired. Put it down and have a drink with me. Let me tell you how we all get out of this.”

  “It’s not even eight in the morning.”

  “Yeah, but you just rolled in wearing the same thing you were yesterday. I figured you might just want to keep it rolling.”

  “I’ve got places to go and things to do today.”

  “I get it, but if you want to keep having ‘todays’ we need to fix this.”

  “Fix this how?”

  “If we’re going to be working together, can you quit pointing the gun at me?”

  Margot lowered the gun.

  “Thank you.”

  “Start talking, I wasn’t kidding when I said I have things to do today.”

  “Okay, there were people here glad to see me go so they can move up a notch and it’s no different on the other side of the border.”

  “I think we can file that information under ‘no shit.’”

  “Yeah, well, the thing is, some of those people looking to move up don’t really care much about you and I.”

  “That’s nice, but how does that help us?”

  “We help them out and they forget about us.”

  “Help them out how?”

  “I was working on that part before you led two cartel gun thugs to my hideout.”

  “Look, if you’re looking for a gun thug of your own, I’m not in that business.”

  “There are two dead guys up in Riverside that would say different.”

  “That was self-defense.”

  “It’s all self-defense at this point, but don’t worry, that wasn’t what I wanted from you.”

  “Then what do you want?”

  “At this point? Just a place to hang out and make a few phone calls.”

  “And after that?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. It’s the cartel, so it’s going to be dirty, but it doesn’t have to be murder dirty.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel much better.”

  “I figure I’ll do the heavy lifting. Once the new man’s in charge, all it’s going to take is a good word from me on your behalf and this thing will go away.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yeah, you’re the old regime's problem and they won’t be around.”

  “Sounds too good to be true.”

  “Trust me, it ain’t going to be easy. You don’t get to be in charge of a cartel by being a pushover.”

  “That’s all good, but you can’t stay here today.”

  “Why not?”

  “I told someone I’d be out East today and I don’t like the idea of leaving you here.”

  “How far east?”

  “Past civilization east.”

  “Past phone service?”

  “No.”

  “Actually, that’d be perfect. I’d feel better on the move.”

  “You want to ride out there with me?”

  “Yeah. I’ll make my calls on the way.”

  “You do know I drive a Prius. I can’t exactly hide you in there.”

  “My man on the inside promised to keep them off us for forty-eight hours. I don’t need to hide.”

  “You’re hiding in my place.”

  Stone shrugged. “Better safe than sorry. I don’t know if you noticed this, but people in my business lie. A lot. Any time out in the open is a risk, but I figure this one will be worth taking.”

  “It’s not just the cartel. Sure, they’d be the worst, but the cops and the F.B.I. are looking for you too.”

  “Yeah, I know, but I’ll take that chance. Like I said, it’s a risk but one I’m willing to take.”

  “If I get caught with you, I could lose my license.”

  “If I don’t fix this you’re going to lose more than that.”

  Margot thought about that for a second.

  “Alright, can I trust you not to steal anything while I take a shower and change clothes?”

  “Steal? You’re hurting my feelings. I’m not a thief.”

  “You’re a criminal who gave information to the Feds.”

  “Sure, but still.”

  Margot decided that, for all of Dean Stone’s numerous faults, stealing was probably not one of them. She went to her room. She put her gun back in her purse and took out her phone to tell Mal what was going on. She saw that Detective Radcliff had called her more than once. She figured she ought to call him back so he didn’t worry. She was calling his number when someone kicked in her front door.

  Chapter 5

  Margot was grabbing her gun when she heard someone shout, “Freeze.”

  Since the voice was familiar and Margot knew hitmen didn’t yell freeze first, she put her gun away. She walked back into the living room as Stone was saying, “Easy on the trigger, cowboy. I’m unarmed.”

  She saw Detective Radcliff standing in her doorway aiming his department issue Glock 21 at Dean Stone. Stone, for his part, didn’t seem too worried.

  “Hey, Rick,” Margot said to him. “Long time no see. Sorry I didn’t answer your call.”

  “I was worried.”

  “I was busy.”

  “Wait,” Stone said. “This is why you stayed out all night? This douche?”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Have you looked in the mirror? You could do better.”

  “Why don’t you go ahead and lace your fingers behind your head and get on the ground face first,” Detective Radcliff told him.