Needing Me, Wanting You(54)

Kimmi refused to come upstairs with us, so we left her down in the bar, biting her nails and sucking on a bright pink drink that probably tastes as nasty as it looks. Nobody wants to think their former lover's a bad guy. I think that's why Melissa's still struggling with Kent's death. It's not hard to be deceitful under someone's nose when they're in love. Love is blind, remember?

“This fucking sucks,” Gaine says as he stands to the right of the door. Mireya takes up the left side, and I step forward, taking the lead. I can tell Austin wants to do it, but he's President now. He has to learn to start delegating. According to Kimmi, Margot should be alone in here, so I'm not too worried. I doubt she'll even see this coming. If she's our rat. The more we worked through the evidence, the more sense it makes. Kimmi does have a bad habit of pissing off the ladies.

I knock gently on the door, and wait patiently. A moment later, we hear the sound of the chain being pulled back, and then there she is, Miss Margot Tempe, smiling sexily at me. She's a little beauty, won't deny that, but I can't look at her without that cloud of suspicion hanging over her head.

“Hi Beck,” she coos before noticing that I'm not alone. Her smile turns into a frown. “Is everything okay?”

“There isn't another crisis if that's what you're worried about, but we do need to have a little chitchat. Mind if we come in?” She shrugs nonchalantly and takes a step back, opening the door into the dimly lit room. The only source of light comes from the TV, and let me tell you this, those flickering shadows are a man's worst nightmare. I turn the light on right away, not that I really think Margot's hiding anyone in her room, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious. Gaine, Mireya, and I all move to the side and let Austin take over. He's getting better at it which is nice. I have no desire to be the President myself.

“Margot, mind if we talk to you for a minute about something?”

“Of course not,” she says, sitting down in a pink chair with tan polka dots all over it. “Go ahead.” The girl's hair is short and dark, and she's dressed in a pair of shorts and a white tank. I can see the nipples on her itty-bitty titties through the fabric, but I'm not interested. Still caught up in Tease, wouldn't you know. Margot is so slight, I can hardly imagine her capable of riding a bike, let alone climbing a roof to shoot somebody. Then again, pretty sure she's been piggybacking around on other folks' bikes. I don't recall that she even has one of her own. And she's still wearing a prospect's jacket. I almost feel sorry for her, like the girl's been forgotten in all of the crap we been wadin' through. No excuses though. If she started this shit, she's going to have to pay.

“I'm going to ask you straight, and I'd really like it if you just told me the truth,” Austin begins, laying it on her hard. “You lie to me and the consequences are going to hurt.” Margot wrinkles her brow and looks between us like she has no clue what's going on. Meanwhile, I start to drift around the room, just in case I find somethin' interesting. “Did you shoot Melissa Diamond in the back?”

“Wait, what?” Margot asks, blinking rapidly, the pulse in her throat fluttering. I pause in my search and just stare at her. Fuck. The girl's as guilty as a hangman at a rope convention. It's just too damn obvious. “Of course not! How … why are you even asking me this?”

“Kimmi's a bitch, I get it,” I tell her, moving across the carpet and pausing in front of her chair. I tower over the woman, probably intimidating as hell, but that's alright. She deserves it. “Is that why you been feeding information to Bested by Crows and Broken Dallas?” Margot shakes her head.

“I've been loyal to Triple M for years,” she says, which could very well be true.

“Years, but not recently,” I press, stepping back when Austin gives me a look. Margot looks between me and him, letting tears build up in her eyes. It almost, almost makes me feel sorry for her again. I'm a sucker for women, I guess.

“Did Kimmi ask you to do this? You know, she broke up with me just on the off chance she might be able to sleep with that Christy girl.” Margot shakes her head and wipes at the tears on her face. “The off chance. Why would she put you up to this? Why would you even do it? I'm already humiliated enough as it is.”

“We're not trying to hurt you, sugar,” Austin says, bending down and putting his hand on her knee. “But we want the truth. You admit it now, and you can walk away.” I come this close to protesting, but hey, Austin's the President. It's not up to me to argue that shit. “You lie, and there are going to be other punishments, Margot. The shooter, whoever it was, got eighteen people killed unnecessarily. That is punishable by death in most circles.” He pauses and strokes her hair back from her forehead. “You don't want us to find evidence that proves our point. If you really are innocent, you've got nothing to worry about. But if you're lying … ” Austin trails off and stands up, looking over at me and nodding his head gently. “We'll give you some time to think about it.”