Page 44 of Out of the Shadows

“Ouch,” Margo said. “Bring him in here.”

“I do not take orders from you.”

She held up the file folder. “By the way, this is a copy.”

Roger slammed his finger on his office phone. “Donna, send Floyd in now.”

Without waiting for a response from his admin, he pointed the same finger to Margo. “This should have been over and done with! I don’t know how Mr. Barrett found out about the storage locker, but if he thinks he can blackmail me...”

“Is that what you think? That he bid on the unit to blackmail you? How would he have known that there was anything in that unit to blackmail you with?”

“I didn’t even know who he was until Friday when he won that damn auction!”

Margo believed him. Interesting, and it made her wonder how Charlie had learned about the unit. Maybe Jack was right and someone hired him, or...

“You golf at Saguaro Springs every Thursday, correct?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I’m curious.”

“Yes. Thursdays and most Saturdays as well. So?”

“Were you there last Thursday?”

“Of course.”

Hand shaking, he reached for a water glass on his desk and sipped. A short, nondescript man in his forties walked into the room. “Yes, Roger?”

“Tell this woman what happened when you bid on Unit 238.”

Floyd hesitated.

“She has the damn files, and she wants information.”

Margo said to Floyd, “Mr. Barrett bid on the storage unit along with yourself and one other person, correct?”

He nodded once.

“After you lost the bid, did you approach Mr. Barrett to buy the contents?”

“I did. I offered him five thousand dollars for the boxes, and he could keep the furniture. He declined.”

“Do you think he knew what was inside the boxes?”

Floyd shook his head. “No, he seemed rather... well, I wouldn’t saysimple, but maybe clueless.”

“Did you get the impression that he was going to use the contents to blackmail anyone?”

“I didn’t really know what to think. He was... giddy, as if he had won a lottery.”

“Did you or anyone on your orders approach him again?”

Floyd hesitated, glanced at Roger.

“Tell her,” Roger grumbled.

“I hired Bishop Securities, a firm we have used from time to time to discreetly handle certain situations.”