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  “I didn’t tell him anything he shouldn’t have already known.”

  “You know what, Margot? I think I’m going to arrest you and then throw your ex-cop ass into the general population. Maybe I’ll whisper in a few ears who you used to be and see how it goes.”

  “On what charge?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’ll make something up on the way. Maybe while you’re gone, someone will search your place and find something incriminating. Maybe even a murder weapon.”

  “Like a butcher's knife?”

  “Could be, that is a fine murder weapon.”

  “Did Phoebe put you up to this?”

  “What makes you think she had to? I make my own decisions; I don’t need some trim to tell me when something has to be done. You want to put your hands against the wall and spread your legs?”

  “No.”

  Anderson waved the gun to remind her it was there. “Are you resisting arrest, Margot?”

  “Not yet.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Margot punched him in the throat.

  Even though he was struggling to breathe, Anderson tried to raise his gun. Margot caught his wrist and slammed his arm against the wall. He didn’t drop the gun, but she elbowed him in the temple and then twisted his arm a way it wasn’t supposed to go until the gun dropped. Margot kicked the gun off the walkway in front of her second-floor apartment and then pushed Anderson away. He tripped over his own feet and landed on his butt.

  Margot saw him reaching for his ankle and realized he had a backup gun holstered there. She turned and ran. She moved fast enough Anderson never got a clear shot at her.

  As she ran, she heard him shout, “You assaulted a cop, Margot! Now I don’t even have to make something up to throw your ass in jail!”

  Chapter 13

  “You know, I knew you were stupid, Margot, but I didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to show up at my office,” Anderson said as he walked into the Homicide commander’s office. He’d thought it was strange she’d asked to see him but had never expected he’d walk in to see Margot sitting there. He added, “If I’d known you were just going to show up this morning, I wouldn’t have spent all night looking for you.”

  “Actually, Anderson,” Ames told him, “She came to me.”

  Anderson looked over at Radcliff who was leaning against one wall. Ames was against the other. Margot sat in one of the chairs at the front of the homicide commander’s desk. The commander, a woman named Rodriguez, was sitting on the other side.

  “I thought you were the one she was fucking,” Anderson said to Radcliff. “Why’d she go to your partner? She dump you for him?”

  “You should shut up before I let her kick your ass again,” Radcliff told him.

  “We were just talking when she punched me in the throat for no reason. Though I suspect she did have a good reason. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn’t something to all this Viuda Negra stuff that goth chick has been reporting. Wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Harry Lee hired her to clean up the mess Masterson and his little girlfriend were making.”

  “Is that what you think?” Ames asked.

  “I think, given the way she attacked me, we might find some interesting things back at her place.”

  Radcliff shook his head.

  Anderson looked his way and said, “Given the way she’s had a thing for corrupt cops in the past, I wouldn’t be surprised if you aren’t the choirboy everybody thinks you are.”

  Radcliff looked at Rodriquez. “Do we have to listen to much more of this?”

  “No,” Anderson said, “I’ll put the cuffs on her, take her county, then I’ll get a warrant and be out of your hair, choirboy.”

  Rodriguez lifted Margot’s digital recorder off her lap and set it on the desk. She hit play.

  “You know what, Margot? I think I’m going to arrest you and then throw your ex-cop ass into the general population. Maybe I’ll whisper in a few ears who you used to be and see how it goes.”

  “On what charge?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’ll make something up on the way.”

  “I hit record before you told me to take my hand out of my purse,” Margot told him.

  “You can’t prove that was me.”

  Rodriguez moved the playback forward and hit play again.

  “You assaulted a cop, Margot! Now I don’t even have to make something up to throw your ass in jail!”

  Anderson pointed at his eye where the swelling from her elbow was starting to turn purple. “Whatever I may or may not have said, she still assaulted me.”

  “Seems kind of like self-defense to me,” Ames said. “You said you were going to toss her in jail on a made-up charge and make sure everyone knew she used to be a cop. That’s pretty much telling someone you’re going to kill them.”

  “She can present that as her defense at trial. In the meantime, she’s still going to county.”

  “We already talked to Phoebe,” Ames said, “and Cranston.”

  “What do they have to do with her assaulting me?”

  “Why did you go back to Lucas Lau’s room?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Someone changed the logs to show you left an hour before the murder, but Cranston confirms you were both still there.”

  Anderson didn’t say anything.

  “Phoebe Masterson says you kept her out of jail and her husband in the dark about Harry Lee in exchange for sex.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “She thinks you and Lucas killed her husband. Lucas for his boss and you because you wanted her for yourself.”

  “Nonsense.”

  “She says you asked her to leave her husband. She says she told you that you don’t make enough money. She would have stuck with a good looking detective like Radcliff if she wanted to live on a cop’s salary.”

  Anderson didn’t reply to that.

  “Are we going to find the murder weapon at Margot’s? The one you put there after she ran away?” Radcliff asked.

  “I didn’t put anything at Margot’s.”

  Rodriguez cued up the recorder and pressed play.

  “Maybe while you’re gone, someone will search your place and find something incriminating. Maybe even a murder weapon.”

  “Like a butcher's knife?”

  “Could be, that is a fine murder weapon.”

  “Is that going to be the butcher’s knife that stabbed Tim Masterson and Rita Helms?” Ames asked.

  “Did you know Margot has a solid alibi for that night?” Radcliff added.

  Anderson drew his gun. So did everyone else—except Margot, who had given hers to Ames when she turned herself in. Anderson swung the weapon her way, but Radcliff stepped in front of her with his gun raised.

  Everyone held their fire. Anderson moved his gun from one person to the other as the three cops kept him in their sights.

  “Come on Anderson,” Ames told him, “You don’t want to go out like this.”

  “I don’t?” Anderson said as he put the gun under his own chin and pulled the trigger.

  Rodriguez shook her head and sat down.

  “I knew we shouldn’t have done this in my office,” she said as she put her gun away.

  Chapter 14

  “You still awake?” Radcliff asked as they both laid on his bed in the dark.

  “Yeah.”

  “You should be exhausted. You’ve been up nearly twenty-four hours.”

  “I could be in jail right now while the D.A. charges me with a double homicide. Assuming no one shanked me already.”

  “It didn’t happen though.”

  “True, and I didn’t get shot in that drive-by either, but it would be nice to get a night in without someone trying to kill me.”

  “It’s after midnight, you’re at my place. I think you’ll make it.”

  “Do you think Anderson really killed Masterson and Rita Helms?”

  “He had the murder weapon. Otherwise, he couldn’t have planted it at you
r place. He had motive and opportunity. He most definitely killed Lucas who was probably helping him. And I don’t think he would have shot himself in the face for no reason.”

  “Worked out for Phoebe.”

  “Maybe that’s because she didn’t do anything wrong?”

  “Maybe. If she did, she got away with it and I don’t like that part.”

  “Sometimes people get away,” Radcliff said. “Honestly, while I think Phoebe is capable of a lot of truly bad things, I don’t see her doing that. I never did, and nothing that’s happened has changed my mind.”

  “I wish I could be as sure.”

  “Yeah, but on the bright side, even if she was involved, I’d say for her it was a one-time thing.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

  “It’s what I tell myself when I let one get away.”

  “Does it help?”

  “With a couple of shots of Patron, it’s pretty effective. Do you think Anderson set up the drive-by? He’d have known someone willing to do it.”

  “I’ve been thinking about it and no. He had no reason to worry about me at that point. He wasn’t even on my radar.”

  “He knew you were investigating, and he knew you found Lucas.”

  “True, but I think he’d be more about the frame job. He didn’t save the murder weapon as a souvenir. He was going to plant it on somebody at some point.”

  “True. You sure it wasn’t Mal?”

  “He could have killed me anytime and while it wouldn’t stand up in court when he told me he wouldn’t do it that way, I believed him.”

  “So, who?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t know what Mal is up to. Two more reasons not to sleep. I just have a bad feeling this isn’t really over.”

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  EXCERPT FROM BOOK 8 – TWISTED HOPES

  “If you’re right, you need to quit all this YouTube crap. I know you’re getting some views and even making some scratch, but it ain’t worth it,” Trevor told her.

  He was still wearing his uniform from working the graveyard shift at 7-11. Normally, he went back to his own place after a graveyard shift and drank a few beers to help him sleep. Instead, he was at his parent’s house where he’d put up Cassie last night before he went to work. She’d called him yesterday sounding scared, which was weird for her in Trevor’s experience. He’d suggested his parents' place since they were out of town and to his surprise she’d agreed.

  “It’s not about the money,” Cassie replied.

  Trevor shook his head and took a deep breath. When Cassie said stupid shit like this, he tended to tell her so in ways that no one would describe as diplomatic. It was one of the reasons she’d broken up with him. Now, she’d come to him for help and he didn’t want to blow any chance they had of getting back together by saying something that would piss her off.

  After taking another breath, he told her, “Whatever you get out of it, I guarantee it’s not worth dying for.”

  Cassie couldn’t really argue with him. As much as she loved being the host of Cassie’s Coastal Crime Report, she had to admit she loved being alive just a little more.

  “I’ll be fine,” she said as sat at the kitchen table and booted up her laptop. “No one will find me here.”

  It was Trevor’s turn not to argue. He didn’t figure anyone would track her to his parent’s house. Since they were in Hawaii all week, she would have the place to herself.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Putting the finishing touches on the newest episode.”

  “Uh, weren’t we just discussing how you should be calling it quits?”

  “Yeah, but I’ve already got this one put together. There’s no reason not to post it. In fact, maybe this will give whoever it is second thoughts.”

  “Unlikely.”

  “Yeah, but it won’t make it worse.”

  Cassie’s phone buzzed. She checked the screen and typed in a short reply. She set the phone on the counter and continued posting her latest video.

  The doorbell rang.

  “Are you expecting someone?” Cassie asked.

  “No, maybe just something from Amazon. My mom probably ordered something.”

  “While she was in Hawaii?”

  “It’s kind of an addiction for her. You should see all the crap in the closet.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t answer.”

  “Why? No one knows you’re here.”

  “Yeah, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

  Trevor went to the door anyway. He looked into the peephole before he opened the door to make Cassie feel better. He didn’t see the Amazon delivery guy.

  A bullet came through the peephole and Trevor’s brains exited through the back of his skull and made a mess on the tile floor.

  Cassie was already running when Trevor’s dead body hit the floor. She heard more shots and then the sound of the door swinging open and smacking into the wall. She didn’t look back. She ran out the back door and straight for the back fence. Even though Trevor had insisted his place was safe, Cassie had made an escape plan the moment she arrived. She hoped it would be enough to keep her alive.

  Whoever she’d pissed off with her show seemed very determined to see her dead.

  Continue Reading HERE…

  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

  Book 6 - Twisted Game

  Book 7 - Twisted Interest

  Book 8 - Twisted Hopes

  Book 9 - Twisted Judgment

  Book 10 - Twisted Redemption

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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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