Lizzie waved to Nathan when he poked his head in the doorway. She mimed Daniel’s name and pointed to the phone. She was literally speechless when she hung up the phone. “That was Daniel Fargo. He said he needed to talk to me about something urgent and would call me tonight at eight o’clock my time. I guess my instincts were right. I think he saw all that money, panicked, and ran. I wish he had left a phone number, but he didn’t. What do you think, Nathan?” She felt good just looking at him lounging in the doorway. With clothes on, he looked terrific; without clothes on, he looked even better.
“I think you’re right. I also think you should call your sister. We can do it in the car on the way to the restaurant. She is, after all, the cop. Maybe we need to go with her instincts. Not that yours and mine aren’t good,” he added hastily, “but she is a cop.”
Lizzie nodded as she stepped into Nathan’s car. “I think that’s a good idea.”
Nathan settled himself behind the wheel and turned on the ignition. “You agreed with me?” he asked in stunned surprise. “Does that mean you’re over your mad spell?”
Without a doubt, Nathan Hawk was one of the nicest men she’d ever met. She’d been known for shooting herself in the foot, as Aggie put it, when it came to men. It was probably true. As soon as a guy started getting too serious, she broke off the relationship. In her own way, Aggie did the same thing. Lizzie knew she needed to fall back and regroup.
“I wasn’t really mad. I felt like I blew it, like I let Aggie down. On top of that, you and I had that wild make-out session, which, while it was nice, certainly didn’t help my frame of mind.”
“Nice. You thought it was nice? I thought it was an electrifying experience. I could feel those little hairs in my ears burning.”
Electrifying. He was a reporter, and reporters loved adjectives. She laughed. “Okay, electrifying is good.” She picked up the cell phone from the console and dialed Aggie’s number. Aggie picked up on the fourth ring.
“Aggie, it’s me. I have some things to tell you. Sit down and listen, and don’t start to scream and yell until I’m finished. If you don’t promise, I’m going to hang up. Okay, this is what’s been happening…”
Fifteen minutes later, just as Nathan swerved into the parking lot of O’Lacy’s Pub, Lizzie told her sister, “Now you can scream and yell. Tell me what you want me to do. How are the organic carrots doing? Really, every single seed sprouted? Aggie, that’s wonderful. Hey, I forgot to tell you something. I had to tell Nathan the truth. What do you mean, why? Because he figured it out and pulled my gun on me, that’s why. What gave it away? The butterfly on my butt. We were having sex, Aggie. He gave me his word he wouldn’t blow my cover. I know you can’t trust reporters. He says he’s different, and we can trust him. If he utters one word, I’ll kill him and drag his dead body to the quarry. So, what do you want me to do?”
Lizzie leaned back and sighed. “I like it better when you scream and yell, Aggie. I hate it when you get pissy like this. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was on top of it all the way. Do I go to Chief Shay? What should I say to Daniel Fargo? Do I tell him to bring the money back? Aggie, for all you know, Will Fargo may have gone to Vegas and won a fortune. Maybe he was a secret gambler. None of us can prove it’s drug money at this point. Hell, we don’t even know for sure if there was money in the boxes. Maybe he’s calling for some other reason. We didn’t see the urn with his brother’s ashes anywhere. I don’t know if that means anything or not. More likely not. Maybe he’s calling to ask me to…to pick them up and mail them…it, whatever, to him. For God’s sake, Aggie, I don’t know. I’ll call you after I hear from him. I’m glad the carrots are coming up, sis.”
Lizzie broke the connection and closed the flap of the cell phone. She slipped it back into the console. “You are not on my sister’s favorite person list today, Nathan. She said we can’t admit we were at Daniel Fargo’s house. She said to play dumb and use common sense when he calls. She recommends we dummy up a notebook that looks like the one Tom had and show it to either Dutch Davis or Joe Sonders. And, she says we, that’s as in you and I, since I involved you, should let them know we know what was in Will’s boxes. It will be okay, she said, to pretend there were records and lists and stuff like that. Incriminating things. Do you think we can do that, Nathan?”
“I don’t see why not. We can work out a plan while we eat. I am so starved I could eat grass. If you can sit still long enough for me to walk around, I’ll open the door for you.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Lizzie asked.
“Because I’m a guy, and you’re a girl, and my mother taught me how to treat a lady. Believe it or not, I’m an old-fashioned kind of guy.”
“Okay. I’ll sit here and wait for you to open the door.” In spite of herself, Lizzie felt pleased. She’d never met an old-fashioned guy before or at least one who admitted to being old-fashioned. She’d thought they were an extinct species.
“This place has some really good food. Best ribs in all Atlanta. Their steaks are butter soft. Their baked potatoes are better than Wendy’s. They also have this great loaf of garlic bread that comes with a red-hot dipping sauce. There is nothing Irish about this place at all. On St. Patrick’s Day they serve green beer, but that’s it. For dessert they have this cake called Chocolate Thunder. With a scoop of ice cream. The after-dinner coffee is so good you have to have three cups.”
Lizzie laughed. “You like food, don’t you?”
Nathan held the door open for Lizzie to enter the restaurant. “I love good food. If we get married, will you cook?”
If we get married. She decided to ignore Nathan’s comment. “This might come as a shock, Nathan, but I do know how to cook. I just don’t have the time. It’s easier to eat out. Saves lugging all those groceries home and putting them away. I live in a high-rise on the twenty-fourth floor. Carrying groceries got real old, real quick. I also like to order in.”
“Table for two,” Nathan said to the hostess. “How about a table in the Rooster Room?” He turned to Lizzie and grinned. “I really love food. Good food. I’m relieved that you know how to cook.” He winked at her.
“The Rooster Room is our most popular room, and I do have a table. Follow me,” the perky hostess said as she picked up two menus.
Lizzie’s heart fluttered at the roguish wink. She looked around the moment they were seated. “It’s nice in here.”
“It’s my favorite room in the restaurant. I guess the owner likes roosters. He has a duck room, a horse room, and a pigeon room. This one is away from the kitchen and all the noise. Most people want to be closer to the front so they can keep tabs on what’s going on. This is a very popular eatery. We’re early. That’s the only reason we got a table. Usually you have to make a reservation weeks in advance.”
When the waitress appeared for their drink order, Aggie ordered white wine and Nathan ordered Coors in a bottle.
“Look at all those roosters,” Lizzie said, pointing to the wall.
“They’re all the same rooster. His name was O’Lacy. When he passed on, the owner had him stuffed. He’s in the lobby.”
Lizzie grimaced. “That was probably more than I wanted to know, Nathan.”
“They say he died of natural causes. He lived to a ripe old age. Everyone who comes in here gets to hear the story. There’s a story for every room.
“So, Lizzie, tell me about your colorful past.” His voice was nonchalant, but the expression in his eyes was intense.
“I really don’t think my past is any of your business, Nathan. You don’t see me asking about yours, do you?” She was hedging, and they both knew it.
“It’s boring as hell, and I’ll tell you if you want to know. When someone says they have a colorful past, my imagination runs wild.”
Two elderly ladies with blue-white hair walked past their table to take one in the back of the room. They immediately fired up cigarettes and ordered two double Manhattans.
“Go with your imagination, Nathan.
I’m sure whatever you conjure up will be more colorful than my real past.”
Nathan leaned across the table. “Are you ashamed of your past, is that why you don’t want to talk about it?”
“No and no. I simply don’t think it’s any of your business. I graduated from college and have a degree in marine biology. Then I went on to get my master’s. Aggie got her degree in criminal justice. Ah, here’s that bread you were talking about.” Lizzie stuck her finger in the bowl of hot sauce and licked it. “This is hot!” she said, reaching for her water glass.
“I told you it was hot. You have to get used to it. The next time you come here you’ll ask them for a container to go. I don’t understand why you don’t want to talk about your past. If we develop a relationship, we shouldn’t have any secrets from one another. Your version of colorful might be different from mine.”
“We don’t have a relationship, Nathan. We’re working together, and we had sex in some strange guy’s house. Read my lips. That does not make for a relationship.”
“I’d like to develop a relationship, Lizzie. I really would.”
Lizzie’s heart started fluttering again. “That’s going to be kind of hard, Nathan. I’ll be going back to Las Vegas when this is all over. It’s where I live and where I work.” Suddenly, she wished she lived in Atlanta. Now where did that thought come from.
The reporter looked stunned. “You mean you’re really going to go back there! Why? I know you said you lived and worked there, but you also said you were going to get closer to Aggie. I took that to mean you were considering moving here. Obviously, that was a mistake on my part.”
“Why don’t we talk about all that some other time, Nathan? Right now my head isn’t exactly clear. You have issues, I have issues, and there’s a crime waiting to be solved, but I don’t even want to think about it until after I eat.”
Nathan suddenly looked subdued. Lizzie wished she could wipe the troubled look from his face. She’d grown used to his exuberant nature. There was a tinge of desperation in her voice when she said, “I really like Atlanta. I might fly back and forth on the weekends. You know, to stay in touch with Aggie. And you can fly out to Vegas.” She snapped her fingers under Nathan’s nose when she realized he hadn’t heard a word she said.
Lizzie drained the wine in her glass before she sat back in her chair and folded her hands. She watched Nathan rip off a chunk of the delectable garlic bread and dip it in the hot sauce. His eyes started to water from the hot chilies. For some reason, she felt like crying. What was happening to her? She finished her wine and held up her glass for a refill. The waitress nodded, looked at Nathan to see if he wanted a second Coors. His head bobbed up and down.
“If we wait to discuss the case, and my past is off-limits, what would you like to talk about, Nathan?”
Nathan stared across the room at a huge picture of O’Lacy the rooster, wearing a cowboy hat and six-gun. His voice was low, soft-pitched when he said, “I woke up once last night and watched you sleeping. I thought to myself I could fall in love with you very easily. Then I realized I was comparing you to Aggie, and I got all confused. I know Aggie. We crossed paths lots of times. I was making love to Aggie, and yet I knew you weren’t Aggie. That’s the reason I wanted to know about your past. Whatever it was, it doesn’t matter.
“And you’re right, it’s none of my business. We can talk about the weather if you like. I think the sun might come out tomorrow. When we have a spell of bad weather like we’ve been having, even with that nice afternoon yesterday, the paper always runs stuff from the Farmer’s Almanac.”
Lizzie looked across the table at her dinner companion. More than ever, she felt like crying. She cleared her throat before she took a healthy gulp of wine. “How do you think I felt knowing you thought you were making love to Aggie? It didn’t sit very well with me. Then you ragged on me. I think I had a right to be defensive. You want to know about my past, so I’m going to tell you. Past, present, and future so hold on to your seat, Mr. Reporter.
“I was born. I managed to get through grade school, grammar school, high school, and college. It was rough because Aggie and I had to put ourselves through school by working. Our parents died within a year of each other. There was barely enough money to bury them. We had each other for support and comfort.
“I wanted adventure and excitement, Aggie wanted home and hearth. We split up after graduation. I ended up in Vegas. I fell in love with the glitz and glamour, the bells and whistles. I did it all. I worked in a strip club. Yep, I took it all off. I was making five hundred bucks a night. I pumped gas, I drove a truck, I was a disco dancer, runway model, divorce detective, and I’m a cardsharp. I went back to school to get my master’s. I was getting by on two to three hours sleep a night. I did it, though, with no help from anyone. I didn’t prostitute myself either. Then I met Mr. Papadopolus at a poker game. I won that night. Cleaned them all out. I’m a lucky person. Before I knew it, he hired me. What that means, Nathan, is, I’m a professional gambler. I’m what they call a high roller. Mr. P. pays me a commission. I live in a fabulous penthouse, drive a Mercedes convertible that is candy apple red. I get to shop in the best boutiques, eat in the finest restaurants, and it’s all free. Mr. P. comps everything. I’ve been able to bank all my money. I’m pretty rich. I know I’m only as good as my skill and luck. It could all end, and I’d be out in the street in a heartbeat. I wanted to make sure my future was secure. I’m pretty good with the stock market, too. Like I said, I’m a lucky person.
“Gambling is legal in Vegas. I’m not doing anything wrong, so don’t go thinking I am. Do you have any questions?” Lizzie finished the wine in her glass. Her face felt warm, her neck red-hot. She was almost afraid to look across at Nathan, but she did. His eyes looked dark, but there was a smile in them.
“That’s a relief. I thought you were going to say you’d been in jail or were an ax murderer or something. I do have a question, though. If your future is secure, why do you keep doing it? Do you love it that much?”
Lizzie thought about the question. “I thought I did. The excitement, the big win, it’s heady stuff. It gets in your blood. Could I walk away from it? Of course I could.”
“What would you do?” Nathan asked curiously.
“My degree is in marine biology. I love all that stuff, but the pay isn’t that great. I love being around water. Vegas is desert. Every chance I get, I head for the ocean.
“One of these days I’m going to buy a dive shop somewhere far away. That’s when I’m ready to retire. I might take fishing trips. I like to snorkel, go deep-sea diving. I like to fish. I’m pretty good on water skis. I own a boat I keep docked in California. I won it in a high-stakes poker game. It’s not exactly a boat. As long as I’m telling you the truth, you might as well know, it’s a yacht. A big one.”
Nathan’s eyes popped wide. “You own a yacht?”
“A big one. Staterooms, the whole ball of wax. I also won a ski chalet in Colorado, and a cigarette boat. I think I might have something like twenty-seven Rolex watches. A cigarette boat is one of those fast jobs that skim the water at a hundred miles an hour. I have six cars. Maybe seven. Of course I have to pay storage on all that stuff. When I move on, I’ll have to sell it all.”
“Wow!”
Lizzie finished her third glass of wine. “Just tell that waitress to bring the bottle. It’s annoying to have to keep ordering by the glass. We need to eat pretty soon. I’m getting light-headed. How about you?”
Nathan held up his third beer bottle. It was almost empty. “I think my eyes are crossing.” He held up his hand to signal the waitress. “We’re ready to order. Lizzie, what will you have?”
“The filet mignon, the spare ribs, coleslaw, carrots, the baked potato, and a bottle of Luna de Luna. Are the carrots organic?” The waitress shook her head.
“I’ll have the same thing, but bring me two beers instead of wine.”
Lizzie tore off a chunk of bread and dipped it in the hot sauce that
was now cold. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she kept eating and dipping.
“I’m okay with your past. Did I say that already?”
“Yep. How about my wealth?”
“Yeah, I’m okay with that. I just have my 401k and a lot of insurance. I own my own condo, and my car’s paid for. It’s mine. I don’t have a boat of any kind.”
“That’s okay, I’ll share mine. It costs a fortune just to lift the anchor. I like the cigarette boat best. You can go fast in it, but you can go slow, too.”
“I think we might be a little drunk. We’ve been drinking on empty stomachs. How do you feel about me maybe falling in love with you?” He squinted at her to see her reaction. “Are you maybe falling in love with me, too?”
Lizzie poured more wine into her glass. “You are so sweet, Nathan. What was the question again?”
“I don’t remember. We’re a pair, aren’t we?”
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