Shadow Of Misgivings, Nora Kane [great novels .txt] 📗

“Nope. Why do you think Mal wanted to talk to ‘the cowboy’?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Give me the condensed version.”

“Mal and I got on the wrong side of the cartel. The cowboy was one of theirs. Mal made a deal with him, but it didn’t work out. The word is that the cartel decided to forget the whole thing when they had a change in leadership. This guy, ‘the cowboy’—according to Mal anyway—wasn’t ready to let it go.”

Marv nodded. Margot thought he might have some more follow up questions, but he didn’t say a word, so she asked one instead.

“I guess that brings up the question, are the Devil’s Racers working for the cartel?”

“I’d rather not say. What Manny said about talking out of school has some merit.”

Margot smiled, “That’s not a no.”

“I guess it’s not.”

“I’d say that makes it likely the cowboy was who Mal was trying to get a sit-down with. I can’t think of another reason.”

“That does make some sense. Doesn’t explain why he disappeared and why there are three dead men on ice back at the clubhouse.”

“No, it doesn’t. Could be Manny double-crossed him. Maybe the cowboy wasn’t interested in talking it out.”

“So, Manny sent three of our own to take out your brother?”

“Who else would he send?”

“Seems to me he could just rat Mal out and let them do the dirty work.”

Margot shrugged. “Maybe that was about something else entirely.”

“What?”

“I don’t know, you’re an outlaw group doing outlaw stuff. Shit happens.”

“Could be. The clubhouse is supposed to be off-limits to that stuff.”

“Is it? You have a ‘workshop’ with a freezer. Sounds like a place to get rid of a body.”

“Yeah, but as far as I know, we never used it. I’m not going to say no illegal business goes down at the clubhouse, but there are limits and there are rules.”

“My guess is whoever did the killing didn’t care much about the rules.”

“Yeah, I’d say they didn’t. Killing members is strictly forbidden, as long as they’re following the rules.”

“If you were following the rules then maybe you don’t have as much to worry about.”

“Yeah, well, Manny makes the rules and I already pissed him off bringing you around. I’m a dead man if I stick around.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“I figure I’ve got a day. Since this might be my last night here, do you want to have dinner with me? Maybe eat some Mexican food and drink Tequila until they have to carry us home?”

“It's a tempting offer, but I’m supposed to meet my boyfriend for dinner. It should be a good time, except for the part when he asks me how my day was and I leave out the part where I found a dead body.”

Marv lowered his head. “Sorry I got you involved. I should have known if Mal was involved it was going to be trouble. It always is with that guy.”

Margot wished she could tell him differently.

“Do me a favor, Margot? Leave this alone. I don’t want you ending up in the workshop freezer. ”

“You fired me, remember?”

“Yeah, I did, but you seem the stubborn type.”

“Don’t worry, I’m out. Knowing Mal, he’s going to show up in the next couple of days anyway, acting like nothing ever happened. Maybe for him nothing really did.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Odds are I am,” Margot told him, even though she had trouble believing it.

She got in her car, wondering if she had meant it when she’d said she was out. She’d just put the car in reverse when she saw a Ford Bronco speeding towards the parking lot. The SUV never slowed down as it hit the curb. It jumped the sidewalk and plowed into Margot’s Prius.

She had her seatbelt on and managed to cover her head and take her foot off the brake so her car would be knocked backward instead of getting crushed. Still, the impact flipped her over and sent the car sliding on its roof across the parking lot. She was hanging upside down with her head against the crushed roof of her car. If she’d been taller, her head would have been as crumpled and mangled as the top of her car.

She looked over and saw the boots. She’d seen them before. Either the person who hit her had the same taste in footwear as Deputy Brantley or Brantley himself was limping toward her car getting ready to finish her off.

She heard the gunfire and through the cracked window she saw the man in the boots stumble. Margot figured Marv was shooting at him. If it was Brantley, she figured he’d still be wearing a Kevlar vest. She hoped Marv had gone for the head, but then Brantley kneeled and she could see that he hadn’t. Brantley's right arm swung around revealing the H&K submachine gun in his hand. He fired in a wide arc in Marv’s direction. Margot hoped he got out of the way.

Her purse with the gun had been on the passenger seat, but now she couldn’t see it anywhere. Outside, Brantley fired some at someone Margot couldn’t see while she undid her belt and dropped to the ceiling of her car. She looked back to see Brantley reload his weapon and swing it her way.

She scrambled to the passenger door. The crumpled metal made it impossible to open, so she drove her elbow into the cracked window. It fell away and Margot rolled out of the overturned car as Brantley sprayed it with machine gunfire. While she ducked down, Margot saw her purse lying by the back window. It had been unzipped when she set it down, so the contents were spilled out. She couldn’t see the gun, but the mace was right by the window.

Like the window she had