Love and Gravity Read Free Page A

neck when he tried to kiss her and they’d left a small spot wet spot
on her.
    “Alright, then. Have a good one
Margey. Come on let’s go you jerk.” Puddy pushed Eddie out the door into the
warm summer air. As soon as they were out the door Margot rubbed her neck
furiously where Eddie had touched it. She felt disgusted.
    Puddy and Eddie were the last of
the customers in the bar, and once they were gone Margot took a moment to
collect herself and recall what she needed to do to close. She had done most of
the closing duties during her shift and just needed to restock the empties
before she could put this whole night behind her. She looked behind the bar and
realized that, thankfully, she only needed a few bottles from the back.
    Margot went through the wood
paneled door behind the bar, down the short lime-green tiled hallway that led
to Pop's office and the back storage room. As she passed Pop's office she was
surprised to hear voices coming from within it. He was still doing business. It
was unusual for him to be there so late.
    Margot kept walking, turning left
to go into the back room. She thought about what Malone had said, about the
faces of those girls, about the quietness that lay on them. She grabbed a
scotch, a whiskey, and vodka out of their boxes. She started back towards the
bar.
    As she came out of the storage
room into the hallway she heard shouting from Pop's office. She thought about
it for a moment, hesitating, deciding whether to stay or go. She'd walked by
his office a thousand times, and she'd always known better than to listen in.
But this time she found that she couldn't keep walking. The look on those
girl’s faces stopped her. She cautiously leaned closer to the door. She could
hear Pop yelling angrily.
    "I don't care about the
detective! We are going to finish this. That girl has got information she’s
going to use against me and she can't be allowed to get away with it. Can you
imagine, a bunch of little whores blackmailing me in my own goddamned city? If
anyone finds out the Lacey fight was rigged I’ll have every dirt bag in
Grandino’s gang after me. You need to take care of this one like you did the
other three. Get it right this time. If that goddamned detective gets in the
way again, then you take care of him. Do your job!"
    "Alright boss, you got
it."
    Margot recognized the second voice
as belonging to a guy named Lenny. He was like Pop's shadow, always around.
Margot couldn't believe it, Malone was right. Pop was having these girls
killed.
    Just then the bottle of Vodka
slipped from beneath Margot's arm and hit the floor with a sharp, echoey crash.
Margot started, and looked at the shattered bottle. Fear set in on her almost
before comprehension did. It had fallen so loudly. She knew it was too late.
    Margot rushed down the hall to the
bar and put the other bottles down on it. She grabbed her purse and ran out the
door as quickly as she could. Lenny ran out of the office seconds behind her
and slipped on the spilled vodka.
    “Shit!” he yelled, getting up as
quickly as he could and running out to the front of the bar. He could just make
her out as she ran across the street. Lenny sighed before going back to the
office.
    "It was Margot, Pop. She must
have heard the whole thing," Lenny reported tiredly.
    "Dammit to hell!" Pop
was sitting there, a short, fat man in a grandiose brown leather chair. He
flicked his cigar ashes into the ashtray irritatedly. He rather liked Margot
and hated to break something so pretty. He was reluctant to say it, but was
pressed for options. He couldn't be linked to these murders. It was too much
heat at once; it would draw too much attention. National attention.
    He leaned forward in his chair.
"Fix it Lenny."
     
    Chapter 3 -
     
    Margot was absorbed in panic as
she ran down the street. The heels she was wearing made it difficult to go very
far very fast and she knew she needed to get out of sight as quickly as she
could. Her mind raced as she tried to