Trading Places

by Fern Michaels

  Lizzie stood on one foot, her right arm reaching down to remove first one stiletto heel, then the other. She brought both of them up at exactly the same moment. One gouged Dutch Davis directly below his nose, the other jabbed at Sonders’s right eye. Her elbows rammed sideways almost simultaneously. The wall parted as both detectives clutched their faces, cursing ripely.

  Lizzie moved forward, muttering something about clumsy men. She leaned over and hissed, “I know everything.” She almost fainted when she heard her name being called. Nathan.

  Roaring like a bull in pain, Dutch Davis was on his feet, charging at her. Zack appeared out of nowhere and stuck his leg out. Davis hit the floor. Hard. “Get the hell out of here, Aggie,” Zack hissed.

  On her way to the exit, Lizzie passed Chief Shay. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  Lizzie shrugged. “Some guys are so clumsy. Ask Zack, he was right there when Dutch went down. I’m heading home, Chief. Nice party. See you in the morning.”

  Outside, Lizzie took a deep breath. “We need to get out of here right now, Nathan. I did…I had this little altercation. Run, Nathan.”

  They ran.

  Inside the car with the doors locked, Lizzie gasped. “Did you get the books?”

  “Did I ever! Five cartons. I’m glad that guy lived on the first floor. It’s all in the trunk.”

  “I love you, Nathan Hawk,” Lizzie gasped as she buckled up. “Hey, I lost my shoes. I bet you five bucks they end up in the evidence room tomorrow.”

  Nathan laughed. He loved this girl. He really did.

  Chapter Twelve

  The minute Chief Shay left Zack Miller’s retirement party, Joe Sonders hopped onto the bar and let loose with a sharp whistle. The noisy smoky room grew silent. “You, you, you over there, and you, too,” Joe said, pointing to his fellow officers. “Let’s take this outside where we can talk.” To the others who were grumbling about being excluded, mainly the female officers, Joe pointed to the three bartenders by jerking his head in their direction. Party hearty, lads,” he said as he hopped down from the bar. The female officers grumbled louder, but no one paid attention to them.

  Sonders played the role of the Pied Piper as he led the way out of the bar to the crowded parking lot.

  Even though he wasn’t one of the officers Joe pointed to, Zack Miller followed the entourage to the parking lot, beer bottle in hand. He pretended to be tipsy for Joe’s benefit. The truth was, he’d been nursing the same bottle of beer almost all evening.

  God, how I hate these guys, he thought.

  “Whatcha doing here, Zack?”

  Zack swayed back and forth. “Just want to take some memories with me, Joe. After tonight, I’m probably never going to see you guys again. Makes me sad,” he pretended to choke up.

  Dutch Davis slid his good arm around Zack’s shoulder. “You’re going to see plenty of us. We got big plans for you in south Florida. We’re gonna make you so rich you’ll be able to hire someone to do your fishing. All you’ll have to do is watch.”

  Zack blinked. Was this guy always so stupid? The answer is yes. “Sounds good to me,” he said, purposely slurring his words.

  The group huddled. “She’s on to us,” Sonders said. “It’s just a matter of time before she spills her guts. We have to get to those cars. We waited too long as it is. We shoulda done it at the impound lot. Now it’s out there.”

  “She’s got no proof,” Davis blustered.

  “Don’t be stupid, Dutch. All she has to do is rip her car apart. Sooner or later she’s going to get wise to Tom’s car, too. Will’s brother has been talking to her. Do any of you know where Will stashed his stuff? I sure as hell never knew. The brother probably found it and turned it all over to Aggie. Will was a record keeper. That means he wrote everything down someplace even though we told him not to. That’s what Aggie has. I’d stake my life on it. We did a shakedown on that ratty apartment where he lived. There wasn’t even a phone bill to be found. Aside from the normal apartment stuff, the only other thing in it was all those damn butterfly books. That means he stashed his stuff someplace else or the brother took it all. I sent Karl Locke to Spokane this morning to pay a visit to the brother. He got back to me right before the party. The brother had already split. That’s more proof, Dutch.”

  Zack swayed to the right, then caught himself before he could topple over. “Whatcha gonna do, Joe? You kill her, the whole thing is gonna fall apart, and I won’t be here to help you.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Zack. You just worry about sobering up so you can get on that plane in the morning. I say we go after her brand-new boyfriend. She’ll play ball with us. She’ll clam up, I can almost guarantee it if she thinks he’s in our sights.”

  “Yeah, well, what if you’re wrong?” Zack persisted. “If you guys get hung up on this, they’re going to come after me and drag me away from my fishing pier. You need to be fool…fool…proof,” Zack said triumphantly. He slurped from his beer bottle. “You guys want me to stay on and help?” Please God, make him say no.

  “Nah. You gotta take care of Millie,” Joe said. “You should be heading out, Zack. The party’s over. We’ll be seeing you.”

  “You sure, Joe?”

  “I’m sure, Zack. You got your gold watch and the money?”

  Zack tapped his jacket pocket. “Right here.”

  They all clapped him on the back and shook hands. There was nothing for Zack to do but head for his car. He knew they were watching him as he got in, started up the engine, turned on the lights, and left the parking lot. He drove around the corner, parked, got out, and ran back as fast as he could to the parking lot. He wove his way among the cars until he was within listening distance of his coworkers.

  “I’m telling you, it’s safe. Half is in Tom’s car, the other half in Aggie’s. There’s no way we can get to her car at her house with that damn dog. We have to wait till she parks it at the station or in a supermarket lot. There’s a bunch of people staying at her house. That’s out for now. Madsen’s car, complete with all the bullet holes, is in his old man’s garage. Beats the hell out of me why they would want to keep that, but they did. It’s not going to be a problem to get to it. I say we do it before it gets light out.”

  “What’s that mean, Dutch? Man, you are one drunk dude,” Sanders snarled. I told you to go easy on the sauce tonight. Are you saying you want us to take it out of the cars before it gets light, or are you saying you want to leave it and get her busted for possession? Which is it? I thought that was supposed to be our big score. The score we were going to unload in Miami with Zack’s help. Then we were going to split for parts unknown.”

  Dutch leaned against the cab of his Dodge pickup. “Yeah, that was the plan. Now I want to fry her ass. There will be other scores. We need to get her out of the way. If she’s arrested, it solves our problem.”

  “You’re letting this get personal, Dutch. You aren’t the only one who has a say in this. We all do. I say we call a meeting first thing tomorrow morning when everyone is sober. Majority rules. Time now is our enemy. In case you were too drunk to observe the chief tonight, I wasn’t. He knows something is going on. He’s been talking to Aggie a lot lately. Now that she has that reporter on her string, things are going to move real fast. I say we take the stuff and hit the road. I’m okay with leaving a couple of kilos in Tom’s and Aggie’s cars, but that’s it. You can send in an anonymous tip when we’re safe and sound and away from here. Now, let’s go home and get some sleep. Spread the word, and we’ll meet up at six o’clock in the squad room.”

  “Who made you the boss of this outfit?” Dutch growled.

  “You did when you got too drunk to think,” Sonders said. “Talk to me about giving the job back to you when you sober up.” Without another word, he stalked off toward his car. One by one, his fellow officers followed suit until only Dutch Davis remained.

  Zack watched from his hiding place as Dutch lashed out with his foot to kick the tires of his pickup. He listened to t
he venom he spouted until he got sick to his stomach. I have to warn Aggie somehow. But how? The reporter? He can get a message to Aggie. I’ll have to use a pay phone, though. Maybe the one at the motel where I’m staying. Yeah, yeah, that’s what I’ll do. No, the guys know the name of the motel. Another pay phone, maybe one near where the reporter lives or by the paper he works for. Yeah, that sounds better.

  Zack waited until he felt safe enough to leave his hiding spot and head for his car.

  • • •

  Their arms loaded with boxes of books on butterflies, Aggie and Nathan made their way to the elevator in Nathan’s high-rise. “Did you look through the books?”

  “No. I was too antsy, I just wanted to get out of there. The place gave me the heebie-jeebies. You said you were going to tell me how you lost your shoes. This might be a good time, Lizzie.”

  Lizzie took a deep breath. “I got in a little over my head there at the bar. I saw the way the guys crowded in so the chief couldn’t see what was going on. They had something planned. I could see it in that disgusting Dutch’s face. I took off those spike heels I was wearing and jammed the heels into Dutch’s and Joe’s faces. Then I elbowed them both in the gut and got out of there. That’s when you showed up.

  “Do you know what I think, Nathan? I think the whole squad is a ticking bomb. They don’t know which way to go right now. They are going to do something, though. That’s a given. It would be nice if you made us some coffee while I get out of these clothes.”

  Nathan stared at her, worried, yet in awe of her bravery. “You need to stop being so fearless. There’s not a single one of those guys or women that I would trust. I wish you’d stop inciting those creeps, and stay out of harm’s way. Do you need any help?”

  Lizzie laughed. “You need to have a little more faith in me, Nathan. Not right now, but later I’m certain I’ll require your help. Two sugars and a dollop of cream.”

  “For you, anything. What’s a dollop?” he called over his shoulder.

  “A quick squirt. I like to taste the coffee.”

  Fifteen minutes later, they had Will Fargo’s butterfly books divided equally. They had coffee, their previous lists that had so far made no sense, pads, and pencils perched in their laps ready to start to work. “If my sister is wrong about this, I’m going to be really upset,” Lizzie muttered.

  “My reporter’s nose tells me she’s right. Okay, here’s the master list Aggie gave us of every cop in the precinct. Next to the name is the address, and we hope it’s current, along with social security number, badge number, birth date, and the usual physical characteristics. I had the paper run a check on their license plates, and by the way, that’s a no-no, and that’s all we have to go on or match up.”

  “If you stop and think about it, it’s a lot. The only reason Aggie had all this stuff on those discs you printed out is because she updated the files for the police commissioner. It was some kind of special project the chief assigned her to last winter. She wasn’t allowed to do it at home, so she did it over a two-day weekend in the office. A weekend, she said, with double time. She said she was supposed to return the discs, but she made a copy. Her reasoning was rather simple. She said you just never know when you’re going to need stuff like this. It’s a no-no, too. Good thing, huh?”

  “Damn good thing. Are we saying they weren’t doing a shakedown of store owners for protection?”

  “I don’t know. I tend to think not. Too many voices. Store owners tend to band together and talk. My gut says no. Aggie thought it might be a possibility. We won’t rule it out, though. For now, we’ll just ignore it. Let’s get started.”

  It was an hour later when Lizzie let out a whoop. “God, how I love that sister of mine! Look at this! I know who this guy is. He’s the warrant officer, and his name is Leonard Pipe. See this butterfly. Look what someone wrote on the page. Someone…Will, of course. Look at the numbers under the actual picture of the butterfly. It matches up with the last four numbers of Pipe’s social security number. The butterfly is called Pipevine Swallowtail. It’s iridescent blue or blue-green in color. According to our file here, Pipe has blue-green eyes. The Pipevine Swallowtails are common in Georgia in late summer. Pipe lives here in Atlanta, and was transferred to the precinct in August of ’98. He lives at 713 Linn Avenue. The Pipevine Swallowtail has a seven-to-thirteen-centimeter wingspan. The botanical name for the Pipevine Swallowtail, according to this page, is Battus philenor (Linnaeus). Put it all together and it spells Leonard Pipe to me. Talk about clever. I think we can assume the numbers in the margin on this page are the dates of Pipe’s payouts as well as Will’s own payments, and the numbers at the bottom of the page are the amounts of money Pipe received. My God, it must have taken him forever to do all this bookkeeping.” Lizzie whistled to show how impressed she was by Will Fargo’s records.

  Nathan’s eyes almost popped out of his head at what he was seeing. “No, not forever. If he knew everything there was to know about butterflies, it was easy. It was probably a simple matter to Fargo. Maybe a few hours to document each one of his fellow officers. It would be a simple matter, minutes really, to update the records. I have to admit, this is something I never would have stumbled on. Your sister is an absolute genius!” Zack said generously. Lizzie smiled. An intimate smile that brought a sparkle to Nathan’s eyes.

  “Let’s get back to work.”

  Forty-five minutes later, Lizzie let loose with another whoop of joy. “Wow! Look at this! There’s a vice cop on Aggie’s list named Cassius Bluewood. He was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. This butterfly is named, Cassius Blue. Or Lepotes cassius. It has a 3.5-centimeter wingspan. The Cassius Blue is a South Carolina butterfly. Says the caterpillar host is lima beans. They have plenty of lima beans in the South. They’re like a staple in the diet. Aggie told me that once, and she loves lima beans and corn bread. You can also find this butterfly in Texas and Florida. Bluewood lived in Texas for three years before he moved to Florida, where he worked for two years. He finally moved here to Atlanta five years ago. See, it all fits. It’s all here, Nathan.

  “Here’s one that literally jumped off the page. It’s a female cop, and Aggie partnered with her before she was transferred to a different unit due to a disability of some kind. Her name is Holly Azure, and she’s Spanish. Holly is a nickname. Her real name is Hollyfina. This butterfly is named, Atlantic Holly Azure. Holly has gray hair. This particular butterfly, according to what I’m reading, has wings of pale gray with dark gray markings. It’s official name is Celastrina idealla. Holly’s birthday is 3–9–45. This butterfly has a wingspan of 3.9 centimeters. The really large males can have a wingspan as large as four to five centimeters. Are we on a roll or what?” Lizzie’s voice was so excited, Nathan laughed out loud.

  Lizzie looked across the coffee table to make eye contact with her host. She smiled. “I think, Nathan, in your own way, you half figured it out yourself. That night at Daniel Fargo’s house when you pulled that gun on me, you said something about butterflies, and the one on my rump made you think I was in on it. By the way, it’s a pink-and-yellow Monarch.” Nathan shrugged, uncomfortable with the reminder that he’d pulled a gun on Lizzie. Or was it the butterfly on her rear end that was making him uncomfortable? He brightened almost immediately as he remembered the delicate pink-and-yellow butterfly on Lizzie’s rump.

  They went back to work.

  By midnight, they had what Lizzie said were four perfect matches and six pending.

  “It’s your proof, Lizzie.” Nathan was so exuberant, Lizzie burst out laughing.

  They looked at each other when Nathan’s phone rang. He reached behind him to grapple with the phone. He barked a greeting, hoping it wasn’t the paper sending him on a case somewhere.

  “Mr. Hawk, can I leave a message for you to give to Detective Jade?” the voice queried without offering a greeting of any kind or identifying himself.

  “Detective Jade is right here. You can give the message to her yourself. Just
a minute, I’ll get her.” Nathan shrugged as he held up a finger to mean she should wait to speak till he got to the kitchen, where he could pick up the extension and listen to the conversation. He dragged the extension cord to the doorway so Lizzie could see he had the phone in his hand that held down the button. He nodded.

  Lizzie picked up the phone. “This is Detective Jade.”

  “Aggie, it’s Zack Miller. I only have a few seconds so listen up. I want to give you a heads up. I want you to do something as soon as we hang up. I want you to get your car and take it someplace where no one can find it. Do it right now. As soon as you do that, go to Tom Madsen’s parents’ house and take his car and do the same thing. Are you listening to me, Aggie? Do you understand what I’m telling you?”