“Miss Guerin, are you all right? She parked outside my house and then I saw her hammering down your door. I thought, this isn’t going to be good, and I certainly don’t want a murder happening on the street. It would hurt the property prices. So, I called the Gardaí.”
“That’s quite enough, miss,” the female officer said, casting her colleague a look that asked,Is this woman for real?She turned her attention to me. “Are you in any danger, ma’am?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Do you know the owner of this vehicle?” she motioned to the stolen car.
“Um, no but—”
“It doesn’t belong to Shannon. It’s her friend’s. The one I told you about,” Viola interjected.
“Might you have your friend come out here so that we can talk to her?” she asked and I nodded, turning to walk back to my kitchen where I found Isla with Margie in an arm lock.
“What’s going on?”
“She tried to flee out the back,” Isla said then focused her attention back on Margie. “Come on, the police want to talk to you.”
Unsure what to do, I watched as Isla frogmarched Margie outside where she was promptly put under arrest. One of the officers said something about there being evidence that she stole the vehicle, but I felt like I was underwater and didn’t hear all the details. Margie was being arrested right on my front doorstep. How was this even reality?
She wore an expressionless mask, and I wondered if she was internally panicking. The car had been reported stolen for weeks so the owners were probably still looking for it. What was the penalty for car theft? I wasn’t certain, though the fact that she’d still been driving around in it was cause for concern. Had she not been worried about being caught? Then again, with all that she just revealed it was clear that Margie wasn’t a stranger to breaking the law. She’d been a big part of the success of Dixon’s catfishing scam.
“Let’s go inside,” Isla said after they left. Viola had gone back into her house, satisfied that Margie had been arrested. I didn’t even have the energy to care that she’d be feasting on this drama for weeks, confirming all her notions about me being a terrible neighbour who associated with criminals.
Even though Margie was gone, adrenaline coursed through me. I looked down, and my hands were shaking. Thank goodness Zara was in school and hadn’t been home to witness all this.
“Hey,” Isla’s voice was gentle as she surveyed me. “You want to go lie down or something? Rest a little?”
Before I could answer, someone was slotting a key in the front door. Seconds later, Jace was there, pulling me into his arms. For the first time all morning, I felt safe, his reassuring heartbeat in my ear as I rested my head on his chest and closed my arms around his waist.
“Is it done? Did you get him?” Isla asked. I was vaguely aware of Jace shaking his head before Isla swore under her breath. I pulled away to look up at him.
“Dixon’s gone?”
“There wasn’t much in his apartment since it was only a temporary rental, but all his stuff was gone. I told him all about how I was convinced Margie was the catfish, so I don’t understand why he fled. It doesn’t make any sense. As far as he knew, no one was looking at him with suspicion.”
Isla and I shared a look before I brought my attention back to Jace. “So, things are a little more complicated than you realise. Margie and Dixon were working together.”
Jace’s exhausted expression told me he’d heard one too many revelations today. He ran a hand down his jaw and exhaled long and hard. “Okay, you’d better explain.”
21.
Shannon
“This is madness,” Jace said after I sat him down and told him everything Margie had confessed to. In return, Jace relayed all his dad had discovered about Robert Ansary, who’d been a victim of identity theft by Dixon for years.
“So, when you told Dixon your theory on Margie, he obviously realised his days were numbered. Once we pinned Margie, the likelihood of her blabbing was high,” Isla said. “The jig was up.”
“He’s probably already left the country,” Jace fumed, his fist clenching at his side.
“Hopefully, wherever he’s gone, they still have extradition laws. He’s committed numerous crimes,” I said, my hands trembling with the adrenaline that was still coursing through me. “Not just what he did to you, Jace. He deserves to face justice back in America for all the people he scammed there. I can only imagine how much money he’s stolen over the years.”
“It beggars belief,” Isla added. “Just goes to show you can never really know someone.”
A quiet fell, a chill settling over us. Finally, Isla left to go monitor the street just in case Dixon decided to return.
“I’m so sorry,” I said to Jace, going to sit by him and instinctively bringing my hand to his hair, pushing my fingers through it. He seemed to sink into my touch, like he needed the comfort. “I invited Margie into my life, let her be around Zara. I feel sick just thinking about it.”
“How could you have known? She never showed signs of being untrustworthy. There was no way for you to suspect her of being anything other than a nice woman who’d become yourfriend. Besides, Angelica hired Dixon without a full background check. If anyone’s to blame, it’s her.”
