Private Dick Casefile 01 - Lily White Rose Red

Billy’s thigh, grinding his heel into the muscle to discourage him from taking a chance. Good move, I was going to have to remember that one. He bent and unbuckled the watch, tossing it over to me. Of course I caught it, snatching it out of the air one-handed. I could have been a ball player.
    I had to get out my jackknife, but I pried the back off, and Marguerite’s missing locket fell out onto my palm. I held it where Lily could see it, white enamel with a red rose in the center. “He had to have a trophy. How many, Billy? She wasn’t the first, was she?” Lily gasped and sent Billy a look of pure hatred. If looks could kill, Celestine would have been second on board the hate train, and George would have been punching the tickets.
    Lily took it from me and opened the locket, turning it to show first me, and then Mr. X, that her own photograph was inside. I was hoping it made her happy to see that Marguerite had indeed left the photo there, even though under the circumstances…. She fingered the lock of red-gold hair tenderly.
    Billy hung his head and mumbled, “I really loved her.”
    “You’re sick!” Lily hissed at him. “You killed her because you loved her?”
    Mr. X interrupted. “I don’t care why he did it. Take him out to the car.”
    “Wait!”
    We all turned to look at Lily. Except for George and Celestine—
    they kept Woods nailed in place with the daggers of hatred in their eyes.
    “Do you believe me now, Max?”
    “Yes, Lily.” Max held out his hand and gave a thumbs-down.
    “Stevens, Brownie?”
    Both men nodded.
    Lily turned to each of us one at a time, as if commanding a verdict.

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    CATT FORD

    “Grey?”
    “If we’re taking a vote, I say yes. He did it.”
    “And you, Phil?”
    “I have no doubt.” He nodded as he said it.
    George clenched his fists, and Celestine glared at Big Billy. That seemed good enough for Lily.
    Big Billy had one last gasp left in him. “She let a colored boy put his hands on her—I couldn’t—”
    “Take him away, boys.”
    Brownie and Stevens bent to lift Billy off the floor. He towered over them too, but he looked kind of pale. Maybe he didn’t like it so much when the tables were turned. The ugly thing was still peering out from behind his eyes, and I pitied Marguerite, trapped in that alley with him, but I admired her for fighting for her life like she had.
    “ My car,” Lily spat.
    I was interested to see they both just nodded at her order, like it was the same as coming from Mr. X.
    George opened the door. I was amazed that he’d been allowed inside the hotel at all, but maybe he slid by the rules because they knew that he was Lily’s driver. I was glad to see that he was going to be a witness of this as well. He held the door for the two goons to shuffle Big Billy out.
    Mr. X disappeared and became Max Hamilton again, going to Lily and putting his arms around her.
    “I was right,” she said.
    He chuckled, which sounds weird right then, but it wasn’t. I got the sense that these two had laughed a lot together, maybe between screaming fights, but they had something good. “You were right as usual, Lily. I should have listened to you.” When Lily whispered something and Max bent his head to hear her, caressing her back with his palm, I turned away, not wanting to intrude on such an intimate moment. Then they broke apart, simply Lily White, Rose Red: Grey Randall, Private Dick Casefile #1
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    holding hands.
    I went to open the door for them.
    Lily stopped and stroked my cheek with her hand. “Thank you, Grey. You were magnificent.”
    “You weren’t so bad yourself, Lily,” I said.
    “Was it true, what you said about the blood under the heel?”
    “There’s always a chance, but—” I shrugged. “Who knows what he did to all the evidence, if it’s still there or if he tampered with it. A good lawyer could raise a reasonable doubt.”
    “Not if he never gets the chance,” Mr. Hamilton said softly.
    “Let’s go.”
    Mr. Hamilton looked at Phil Martin and jerked his head slightly.
    Mr. Martin nodded and slipped away, returning to the nightclub with one last glance at me. I knew I’d never see him again. He couldn’t take the chance after what happened between us, now that I’d gotten to Mr.
    X. It was just too damn risky for him. I’m a private dick, I know these things.
    “You’re not coming, Grey,” Lily said. She held my face between both hands, kissing first my right cheek, then my left, and finally