Twisted Interest by Nora Kane (best mystery novels of all time txt) 📗

He didn’t seem to be asking.

Margot checked the time on her phone. If she left now, she could beat him there and be ready if he had some surprise in mind.

Chapter 7

Margot wished she had time to set up some backup. Since she was sliding into legally dubious territory, she wasn’t sure how comfortable she was asking Shaw or Radcliff. They were both probably busy with their own work, anyway. She didn’t doubt either one of them would do it, busy or not, which was part of the problem. She thought too highly of both of them to risk dragging them down to her level.

That was the nice thing about Mal. Working for Margot was as close as he got to going straight, but he always had her back, no questions asked. At least, until recently. It was that loyalty that had her going to talk to Harry Lee before she went to the police.

Layla's West was never full, but there were a few more customers drinking their way through lunch than there were the afternoon they’d met before. Margot was still able to get a table that let her put her back against the wall. Even though she’d turned down Phoebe and tried to take her no drinking during work policy seriously, Margot ordered her usual Makers Mark on ice. She justified it by telling herself this could be her last drink. Her last anything really; Harry Lee had a reputation for making people who got in the way of his business disappear. The fact she was working for him didn’t really change that.

Harry arrived a half an hour before he said he would get there.

Unlike last time, he had Bobby with him. Harry sent his thug/bodyguard to the bar and went over to join her at the table.

“Finish your drink. I had Bobby get you a fresh one,” Harry said as he sat down.

“Thanks, but I’m only going to have one. I’m working.”

“Bobby’s bringing it anyway. What you do with it is up to you.”

Margot didn’t want to make him mad, so she said, “Thanks, I appreciate the effort.”

“Good to see you’re not in custody.”

“Being innocent helps.”

Harry smiled. “I wouldn’t know much about that. What can I do for you, Margot?”

“Mal used to work for you back in the day.”

“That was the rumor.”

“It wasn’t a rumor.”

“He told you that?”

“No, but that doesn’t matter. Mal would never lie to me, but he would choose not to say if I put the question to him.”

“I take it he wouldn’t say anything about me.”

“Exactly. I’m not going to ask what he did for you—I don’t want to know—but I need to know if he’s back in your employ.”

“Why would you think that?”

“He’s in town, and he’s involved in this whole thing somehow.”

“What makes you think that?”

“A video Cassandra Cole showed to me.”

“The one they arrested you for trying to kill?”

“Technically, they never arrested me, but yeah,” Margot told him, “the video is the man they think contracted Lucas’s murder. The man looks a lot like Mal.”

“Looks a lot like Mal is not the same as being Mal.”

“No, but whoever he was he used the name Dennis Thorn.”

“So?”

“So, Dennis Thorn was Mal’s alias when he was working undercover.”

Harry smiled again. “Now that you say it, I remember when we first met he was Dennis Thorn. I’d forgotten.”

“So had I for a little bit.”

“Mal put the hit on Lucas?”

“Looks that way. The question is, who told him to do it? I don’t see him doing that on his own.”

Bobby brought them their drinks. Harry gave him a look and Bobby went back to the bar and ordered something for himself.

“So you called to ask me if he works for me?”

“Seems a reasonable question.”

“Except I hired you to find Lucas’s killer. It would be a weird thing to do if I was the one who ordered Lucas go down.”

“It would be, but if it was true, I’d guess you’d have some kind of angle.”

“What would my angle be?”

Margot finished her first drink. She took a sip of the second one even though she said she didn’t want it. Once again, Harry had picked out her drink of choice.

“I don’t know what your angle would be, Harry. I’m just a simple P.I. You're the criminal mastermind. Just because I don’t see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

“All that being true, I can still tell you Mal is not working for me right now in any capacity.”

“Okay, if not you, who?”

“I don’t know, but I can do some checking. These people will be much more inclined to talk to me than you.”

“Thanks. In the meantime, watch your back. It has the feel of someone moving in on you.”

“I’ll do that, Margot, thanks.”

“One more thing: if he’s not working for you, I’m giving his name to the police.”

“Really? After all you’ve been through together?”

“Someone tried to shoot me earlier tonight. It felt a lot like Mal. Even if it wasn’t, I can’t be holding out on an accessory to murder.”

“He’s not working for me. Tell whoever you want.”

“I wasn’t asking permission.”

“Just out of curiosity, if he was working for me, what would you have done?”

“You’re just going to have to stay curious about that one.”

“I’m not sure I like that answer.”

Margot drank some more of the drink she claimed not to want before she said, “I leave first. Take your time and enjoy our drink because if I see any of you coming my way, someone is getting hurt.”

“You still don’t trust me?”

“No,” Margot said as she stood.

“You sure you don’t want to hang around? Getting shot at is no picnic.