Trading Places

by Fern Michaels

  Tears rolled down Lizzie’s cheeks as she watched him walk away. “Bye, Nathan,” she whispered. “Have a good life.”

  Lizzie sat down at the table, one eye on the clock, as she penned off two more notes. One for the box in the living room, a box she didn’t even want to see. And another note to the girls, explaining what they should do. She propped them on the counter next to the coffeepot. She jammed her copy of the file into her backpack.

  “Okay, Alice, time to go.” She choked on a sob as she fastened the leash onto the shepherd’s collar. She reached for the key to the backyard gate before she closed the door behind her. She quietly opened the gate, then closed it just as quietly. She led the dog through the neighbors’ yards until she reached the corner. She walked two more blocks until she saw the car waiting for her. She opened the door and climbed in. She started to cry, gutwrenching sobs.

  The driver spoke over his shoulder. “Don’t cry, Lizzie, Mr. P. will make it all come out right. That was a nice thing you did for the boss, giving him a heads up like that. Too bad all those people out there don’t know what a kind, generous man he is. He builds hospitals, schools, funds medical research all over the world. He builds parks for kids, makes sure kids with disabilities get what they need. He feeds the homeless and is one of the biggest contributors to battered women’s causes. He’s big on animal rights and sends money to churches and poor countries. No one knows about all that. They just want to haul his ass to jail because he’s a lucky man. He does have legitimate businesses, as you know.”

  Lizzie continued to sob. “Why do you think I gave him the heads up? He can’t make this right for me, Manny. Will the Gulfstream be able to take off in this fog?”

  “The fog is starting to lift. The answer is yes. Mr. P. said to tell you your sister will be three hours behind you. He had to get the other Gulfstream to Pittsburgh, and you said she had a two-hour drive to the airport. It’s all taken care of, Lizzie.”

  Lizzie cried harder, Alice curled against her.

  Her eyes red-rimmed, her voice hoarse from crying, Lizzie stepped out of the Lincoln Town Car when they reached Hartsdale International Airport. Her backpack was secure, her hold on Alice’s leash fierce. Her throat started to burn all over again when Manny, Mr. P.’s personal bodyguard, gave her a bone-crushing hug. “You take care of yourself, Lizzie. You ever need anything, anything at all, you call. You know how to do that. Mr. P. said to give you this. It’s a coded mobile phone. No one can ever trace this. He got it from some guy at Interpol. Your chariot awaits, my lady.”

  Lizzie looked across the airstrip at the sleek Gulfstream in the yellow light. The steps were down, the captain and crew waiting for her. A sob hooked itself in her throat as she led Alice across the tarmac.

  Plan B was in effect.

  Lizzie turned once and waved. Manny waved back. She knew he had his orders. Stay with her till she was safely airborne.

  “Have a good life, Lizzie Jade!” Manny called.

  Lizzie was crying so hard, the captain had to lead her up the steps. He helped her buckle in, made sure the seat belt next to her harnessed the dog. The pilot snapped off a salute, wondering who his important passenger was. Papadopolus said he would be informed of his final destination once he was airborne. For now, his flight plan said he was flying to Boston.

  Gerald Sweeney taxied out to the runway, where he waited for clearance. Special clearance, to take off at this early hour. The Gulfstream was first in line for takeoff and was airborne in less than five minutes.

  The stewardess informed him the dog was sleeping, and his important passenger was still crying.

  Aggie Jade flipped on the windshield wipers, wondering why they weren’t working. She needed them on her eyes, not the windshield. She swiped at her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

  Plan B.

  She cried harder. Gus stretched his long body across the console to put his head in her lap. “It’s just you and me, big guy,” she hiccupped.

  Two hours and ten minutes later, Aggie drove as close to the tarmac as she could. She had her instructions. Get out of her car, keep the dog at her side, and she would be taken aboard an aircraft. She did as she was told. A man who could have passed for a Wall Street banker approached her. “Miss Jade?”

  “Yes.”

  “Follow me, please.”

  “Okay, but wait a moment. Can you take this car back to the farm for my friend?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Do you need instructions?”

  “No. We have it covered. Hurry.”

  Aggie swiped at her tear-stained face again. “I guess I should thank you.”

  “Not a problem, Miss Jade. Your sister will be waiting for you when you arrive. Don’t worry about anything.”

  “Wait a minute. Just one second.” Aggie fumbled in the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a wilted mass. “I want to give you this,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. “It’s an organic carrot. Well, it would have been an organic carrot if it had been allowed to grow. Please don’t throw it away.”

  “No, ma’am. I’ll put it in a glass of water. They’re waiting, Miss Jade.” Aggie ran up the steps to the Gulfstream, Gus at her side. She didn’t look back.

  “I’m sorry, Alex. I hope you have a good life,” she whispered into the fur of Gus’s neck. She cried so hard she fell asleep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Noreen Farrell woke with a start. She sat up, then flopped back down. She must have had a bad dream. She could see that it was almost light out. She might as well get up and make some coffee.

  Tying the sash of her robe as she went downstairs, she realized how quiet the house was. Exceptionally quiet for some reason. A chill washed over her. She wondered if she should wake the girls. Maybe after she had her first cup of coffee and the first cigarette of the day. It was time to go home, it really was. She sighed.

  Noreen saw the box on the coffee table. It hadn’t been there last night. She walked over to it, saw the note, and read it. She blinked, once, twice, as she absorbed the contents. Then she raced back upstairs, her voice shrill and incoherent.

  The girls bounded out of bed. “Is the house on fire?” Candy asked hysterically.

  “Worse. Quick, come downstairs. We have things to do. I’ll make the coffee.”

  In the kitchen, Noreen picked up the two notes from the counter, looked at the key next to the coffeepot. She started to cry as she handed the notes to the girls, then filled the coffeepot. The women remained silent until Noreen poured the coffee.

  “We have a busy day. First we pack. Then we go to the police station to drop off the box. We have to return Lizzie’s rental car, close up this house. That means we turn off the water, the circuit breakers, clean out the fridge, take out the trash, close all the blinds, and walk away. We rent a car for ourselves and we drive to Vegas as soon we’re done with everything. On the way out of town we stop at one of those storage places and take the stuff out of there and put it in the trunk. Lizzie said it’s for us, whatever it is. That’s the reason we have to drive back to Vegas. I guess she wants us to have some kind of memento of this trip. We don’t know anything if anyone asks us questions. We were just guests. The card game is canceled, and we each get to keep the thousand bucks.” Her voice was breathless with her monologue.

  “Where do you think she went, Noreen?” Honey asked tearfully.

  “I don’t know, but wherever it is, I hope it’s far away and safe.”

  “Do you think Nathan knows, or maybe he went with her,” Honey said.

  “No. Lizzie travels light. Remember, if anyone questions us, she’s Aggie. We don’t know a Lizzie Jade. Let’s get all our crying done now before we put on our makeup.” Noreen handed out paper napkins. They blew gustily, then wiped at their eyes. “Okay, that’s out of the way. Now, we take care of business.”

  It was eight o’clock, the girls showered and dressed. Their bags were packed and sitting by the front door, the box going to the police station p
iled on top. It took them another twenty minutes to turn off the breakers, the water, and empty the refrigerator. Candy took the trash out to the can and dragged it to the street.

  Noreen pocketed the key to the self storage unit. “We aren’t coming back here, so let’s do a final check. Candy, you take the upstairs. Honey, do the front room.”

  They were just about to close the trunk of the rental car when Nathan Hawk pulled into the driveway. The fog was almost gone, giving all of them a clear view of the parked car two doors down.”

  “Where are you ladies going?” Nathan demanded.

  “Home. Back to Vegas. We’re driving.” Noreen lowered her voice. “Lizzie isn’t here, Nathan. We just closed up the house on her orders. If you want to check, here’s the key.” She handed over the brass key that opened all the locks on the doors.

  “Where did she go? What do you mean you closed up the house on her orders?”

  “We don’t know where she went. When we woke up, she was gone. She left a note telling us what to do, and we’re doing it. She isn’t coming back, Nathan.”

  The reporter looked so devastated, the girls circled him with their arms. They could feel the shudders that racked his body. Noreen broke away first. “It was nice to meet you, Nathan. We enjoyed spending time with your friends. If you ever come to Vegas, give us a call, and we’ll return the hospitality.”

  Nathan stepped aside, a blank look on his face.

  He was still standing there staring at Aggie’s house when the two officers in the unmarked car approached him. “What’s up, Hawk?” an officer named Stevens asked. “Man, you look like you’ve been to hell and back. You okay?”

  To hell and back summed it up pretty well. It had taken him three hours to move both cars to an old quarry on the Georgia border. He’d gambled that Madsen’s car would make the trip riding on the rims, and it had. Before he’d pushed it over the edge into sixty feet of water, he’d removed his ten-speed bike, ridden it back to Bennigan’s house, and done the same thing with Aggie’s car. When he finally returned to his condo, it was all he could do to take a shower and drink a cup of coffee. Yep, to hell and back summed it up just perfectly. And now this.

  Nathan cleared his throat. He sounded like a frog in distress when he said, “I’m fine. Why are you staking out Aggie’s house? Don’t tell me you aren’t either. I’m a reporter, and I have a nose for stuff like this. She’s gone. See for yourself,” he said, tossing the cop the key Noreen had handed him.

  “Where’d she go, Hawk?”

  Nathan shook his head. “I don’t know. I wish I did.”

  The second cop from the unmarked car appeared. “Don’t I know you?”

  Nathan looked at the young cop. He knew him from somewhere. He was just too damn tired to try to figure out where. “I don’t know. Do you?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know you. Your name is…damn, just give me a minute. Yeah, yeah, that restaurant, what’s it called? Bennigan’s. Your name is the same as the restaurant. I remember thinking that at the time. You’re that guy who was making all the noise the other night. The one with the Beemer you said was always in the shop.”

  Nathan’s insides started to roil. He wished he wasn’t so tired. “I think you must have me mixed up with someone else. On what the paper pays me, there’s no way I can afford a BMW. Your partner went into the house. Would you please tell him to hurry up, I need the key back. I have to get to work.”

  John Stevens loped down the front steps. “She’s gone. Everything is locked up tight. The chief isn’t going to like this. Not one little bit. Where you going, Hawk?”

  “To work. I’d like the key back.”

  “It doesn’t work that way. It’s evidence now. I wouldn’t leave town if I were you, Mr. Hawk.”

  “Kiss my ass, Stevens,” Nathan said, walking away. Another time when he wasn’t so physically and mentally beat, he would have stood his ground with the cop.

  In his Intrepid, Nathan turned on the radio the moment the engine turned over. He tried to look into his future, but all he could see were lonely days, and there was no bright, vivacious, smart-alecky Lizzie in any of those days. The lump in his throat was so big he could barely swallow. Lizzie Jade, the love of his life, was lost to him.

  Noreen parked the car in visitor parking at the precinct. She climbed out and reached into the backseat for the box Lizzie had left for Chief Shay. She carried it inside, where she walked up to the desk sergeant and waited to be recognized. “Officer, Detective Jade asked me to deliver this package to Chief Shay personally. She said there’s a letter inside that will explain the contents to the chief. Will you see that he gets it?”

  “I’ll do that. And your name?”

  “Courtney Love, Officer.” Noreen watched as the sergeant wrote the name down without batting an eye. “Have a nice day, Officer.”

  Back in the car, Noreen said, “Okay, we’re outta here. The car rental agency is four blocks east. I think it’s called Enterprise Rentals. We pay for it in cash, and we rent another car.”

  An hour later they climbed out of their newly rented Lincoln Town Car to fit the key into storage bin number 11. Candy popped the trunk.

  “I hope whatever we’re supposed to take isn’t too big. Our bags are taking up all the space as it is,” Honey said, her voice worried.

  “Get in here and close the door,” Noreen hissed. “Take a look at what’s in these bags. Look in both of them. Then do what I’m doing, sit down, put your head between your knees. We’re all hyperventilating. I’ve never seen so much money, not even in Vegas,” Noreen whispered. Her eyes were wide with shock. “Lizzie said we were supposed to take it and have a good life. That’s why she wanted us to drive back to Vegas. I’m going to cry. With everything going on in her life, with her sister, with Mr. P., with those shitty cops threatening her, she thought about us. She wants us to put it in the Caymans, and she’ll manage it from wherever she is. I guess she knows how to do stuff like that. Lizzie said people died for this money, and she wants to know that it’s going to good people who had nothing to do with what went on. She said if it was turned in, some crooked person would find a way to steal it. She said we shouldn’t give it a second thought. There is one thing we have to do. Lizzie said we were to take a hundred thousand dollars and send a cashier’s check to the Madsens. She wrote down the address.” Her extended monologue finished, Noreen felt the air rush out of her lungs. She struggled to take a long, deep breath.

  “That’s good enough for me. If Lizzie said that’s what we should do, then that’s what we’re going to do,” Candy said smartly. “I say we just substitute our bags for these and get the hell out of here.”

  “I agree,” Noreen and Honey said in unison.

  The transfer of bags took less than ten minutes. They made one last stop before they headed for the interstate. They stopped at the office of the security unit and paid for the locker for three full years. They paid in cash. Noreen stuck the receipt in her wallet.

  “All right, girls, we’re going home!”

  Chief Erwin Shay leaned back in his swivel chair. It was not going to be a good day. He could feel it in his bones. He buzzed Sadie and told her to get the commissioner and the mayor on the phone.

  “I’ll do that, but I think you should come out here right now, Erwin. Captain Ramos from the Salvation Army is here to see you. You better put rubber bands on your socks, Chief, because he’s going to blow them off.”

  “Send him in, Sadie. Now! Cut the chitchat and get the commissioner and mayor on the phone. While you’re at it, get that reporter, Nathan Hawk here, too.”

  The two men shook hands. The chief’s eyes were full of questions. “I’m not here for a donation. Actually, Chief, I have something for you.” Shay watched as the man opened a small grocery bag and took out a plastic bag filled with what looked like white powder. “There were 194 of these in one of our containers this morning. They weren’t there yesterday, so someone put them in there during the night. One of my people h
as it all boxed up in our van. Who is going to take possession of it? I also want a receipt. And, I’d like the papers to know that we did bring it here. It will be good for our image and yours as well. I’d like it if you would say something, Chief Shay. Your silence is making me nervous.”

  “Where is your van now, Captain Ramos?” His voice sounded desperate. The chief took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

  “Right in front, in reserved parking. Three of my best people are guarding it. I want witnesses when we turn it over,” Captain Ramos said.

  “I understand.” Shay wondered when his head was going to pop off his neck. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. He swallowed four with a gulp of cold coffee.