Vic moved with Margolin, as did Evan, who said
quietly, "That's not what she says."
"Who the hell are you two?" Margolin asked angrily under his breath.
"As I said, acquaintances of Mrs Peake's,"
Vic responded, gripping Margolin's shoulder. "I think we should talk about
why."
Margolin nodded toward a door at the side of the
room. "In there, and this had better be good."
Vic smiled, noting the beads of sweat that had broken
out on Margolin's forehead. He doubted they were caused by how warm the room
was. He dropped his hand to his side and he and Evan followed Margolin.
As soon as they were in what turned out to be a small
conference room, Margolin closed the door and asked tightly, "What is this
about?"
"Your confidence that the governor is going to
win the primary. From all the polls I've seen, he's running well behind Mr
Marshall. However"—Vic paused dramatically—"I understand you have come
up with a way to change that."
"Good politicking and a good man will win out
every time," Margolin stated defensively.
"Neither of which you have going for you, so you
came up with another way to win. You're blackmailing Mr Marshall to force him
to withdraw from the race."
"You are out of your mind!"
"I don't think so." Vic smiled and lying
through his teeth said, "Mrs Peake and I had a long conversation about why
you had her try to get me off the case."
"What case?" Margolin glared at Vic.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yeah, you do. I was hired to find out who was
trying to blackmail Mr Marshall. I did, thanks to your lover's ineptitude at
hiring goons to do her dirty work." Vic turned to Evan. "I'm betting
he thinks he has evidence that Marshall
took a bribe to get a bill passed."
Evan shook his head. "I'm leaning more toward
his having a mistress, just the way Mr Margolin does."
"Naw. Marshall
is very happily married and has been for years, with"—Vic grinned a
bit—"two point five kids and a dog." He returned his attention to
Margolin. "Whatever you think you have on him, Marshall is not going to fold and pull out of
the race."
"This discussion is over! I will not listen to
any more of your insane accusations."
"So be it, but I will find out where you're keeping whatever it is you're using to
blackmail him, because I know it is
you. I just hope, for his sake, the governor isn't in on this with you."
"He has no…" Margolin clenched his teeth,
pushed past Vic, and stormed out of the room.
The moment the door slammed behind Margolin, Paddy
and Dom appeared.
"The governor's in the clear," Dom said.
"And we know where Margolin's keeping the
information he's planning on using against Marshall," Paddy added.
"Where?" Vic asked.
"In his safe at home."
"I don't suppose you picked up on where it is in
the house?"
"I got was a flash of a picture. One of his
family. I'm guessing the safe is behind it."
"That's a start," Vic said. "All we
have to do is get Mrs Margolin out of the house for a couple of hours."
"You're planning on breaking and entering?"
Evan asked. "You have to figure he's got hellish security on his
place."
"I think we can help out," Paddy told him.
"And we don't have to break in. The only problem might be getting into the
safe."
"So go pick his brain for the combination,"
Vic said.
Paddy glanced at Dom. "You're better at setting
a trigger to make that happen."
With a nod, Dom disappeared.
"A trigger?" Evan asked.
"Putting a thought in his head that will make
him think about what we need to know—in this case, the combination."
"Boy, between the two of you, you could rob this
city blind."
Paddy grinned. "We could, but we're angels, not
demons, so we wouldn't."
Dom reappeared four minutes later, smiling
triumphantly. "Got it."
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