LAS VEGAS (Court TV) — Two days before her husband's remains had been discovered, Margaret Rudin marched into his office and announced that his dead body had been found, the murdered millionaire's bookkeeper testified.

"They've already found him. They're doing tests on him," Sharon Melton claimed the widow told her on Jan. 19, 1995.

But Ron Rudin's shot, burned and decapitated body wasn't discovered until two days after the alleged conversation on January 21, more than a month after he was last seen on Dec. 18, 1994.

Melton, a longtime employee for Rudin's real estate office, also testified Thursday that she heard gunshots fired from the direction of Rudin's house as she stood in the neighboring office parking lot the first day Rudin failed to arrive at work.

But during a heated cross-examination, defense lawyer Michael Amador put Melton's motives on trial — and revealed that the gun used to kill Ron Rudin had a silencer.

Margaret Rudin, who faces a possible life sentence if convicted of her husband's murder, was stonefaced during Melton's testimony. As on previous days of testimony, the 57-year-old defendant took many handwritten notes, passing some of them to Amador during his cross-examination.

The jury sat up attentively as Melton described being worried when she arrived at work on December 19 to find the office closed, a rarity for Rudin who punctually opened the office Monday morning.

"I was extremely concerned because this was not like Ron," she said. "Ron was the type of person who would call the office five times if he was out an hour."

As she and a co-worker waited anxiously in the parking lot, Melton testified, they heard rapid shots being fired.

"I heard sounds that sounded like gunshots," she said under direct examination by prosecutor Gary Guymon, who asked her to describe what she heard. "Bang, bang, bang, bang," she replied.

"Get in my car. She will shoot us," Melton yelled to a co-worker.

After trying unsuccessfully to get Ron Rudin on the phone, Melton spoke to Dan Danner, Rudin's friend who has since died. Melton said that the two decided to wait until the next morning to contact the police.

"If by chance he just was somewhere — although I didn't think so — he would have killed us," she said of Rudin.

When Rudin was still missing the next morning, Melton followed through on her plan to contact police, who wanted to know where Margaret Rudin was.

"I said, 'That's a good question. We'd like to know where she is,'" she said.

She then gave police a statement detailing "our concern for his safety and the lack of concern from his wife," according to Melton.

Soon after, Melton contacted Rudin's trust lawyer, who erroneously informed her that Melton was Rudin's co-trustee, although Melton later learned that Rudin's business associate — Sharron Cooper — was really the co-trustee along with Harold Boscutti.

Melton, Danner and Boscutti also took more than $12,000 out of Rudin's desk and turned it over to the lawyer, Patricia Brown.

Amador questioned Melton's motives, charging that she had taken an unusually proactive role in helping authorities prosecute Rudin.

"You've been waiting for this trial for a long time, haven't you?" asked Amador.

"I've been waiting for justice for a long time," she replied.

The lawyer also asked if she was lying about hearing gunshots, charging that Melton, initially believing she was a trustee, fabricated the story so that the trustees could take control of Rudin's money.

But Melton stuck to her story, saying she heard what sounded like gunshots, though she had no way of knowing what the sounds really were.

Amador asked why, if Melton was "so upset," she immediately went to a donut shop to meet a friend and didn't contact the police for two days. But Melton — the stepdaughter of a Chicago police officer — said she didn't believe it would make police act quicker.

"Are you serious?" Amador said, laughing, prompting a mild admonishment from Judge Joseph Bonaventure.

Amador also asked her about interviews she gave to the TV shows "America's Most Wanted," "Hard Copy," and "Inside Edition" during the two years Rudin was on the lam. Amador asked whether she was paid for providing those interviews, setting off one of several tense exchanges between the sharp-tongued witness and the persistent lawyer.

"I got paid by nobody," Melton said sternly, drawing closer to the microphone.

"You don't have to get mad at me," Amador said.

"I want to make the record clear," Melton said, cutting him off.

"We're going to make the record clear about a lot of things," Amador said.

"Good, we're on the same side," the witness shot back.

After several snippy exchanges, Amador told the witness that every time he posed a question, "I get an argument back."

Though Margaret Rudin and Melton — both antique dealers — initially hit it off, their relationship soured. Melton, who testified that Rudin lent her $15,000 to open her antique shop, said she was upset with her boss for allowing his wife space in his office building for her antique shop. Melton said that she refused to offer Margaret Rudin any help with her store's grand opening.

She also denied referring Margaret Rudin to Bruce Honabach, another antiques dealer who testified earlier this week that he sold Rudin a trunk prosecutors contend was used to dispose of Ron Rudin's dead body.

Honabach, who could produce no documentation of the alleged sale or even the trunk's existence, also testified that it was Melton who made the referral.

Although Melton seemed unflappable for much of her testimony, she told Amador, "You're confusing me," as he fired questions at her regarding minute details of Ron Rudin's financial records.

Melton, apologizing for being "vague," said that much of what Amador was asking regarded transactions that predated her nine-year stint as Rudin's bookkeeper.

"Are you being vague or are you hiding something?" Amador fired at her.

"I'm hiding nothing," she calmly retorted.

Court is not in session on Friday and will resume Monday morning.