Sugar and Spite (29 page)

“So what’s going on here?” he said. “What are we…?”

“Sh-h-h-h,” Ryan told him. “Just listen.”

“To what? Sounds like a bunch of seagulls to me. I—”

“Hush up,” Savannah said, gouging him in the ribs. “Ryan’s got a high-powered, directional mic. As soon as Cooper joins up with Rafferty and they start talking, he’ll be able to tune in on what they’re saying.”

“Really?”

“Well, in theory,” Ryan replied, scowling as he continued to adjust. “The beach makes it a bit challenging. There’s not usually this much background noise.”

The first human sounds began to filter through the speaker. A female’s voice saying, “Of course I’m sure. I’m never this late. It’s been two weeks since I was supposed to start.”

And a male’s reply, “Well, I think we should wait until we know for sure. I mean, marriage is a big deal and—”

“I’m sure. I peed on the strip and it was pink. That means positive.”

“Maybe blue means positive.”

“No, pink means pregnant… and it’s a girl. I read it on the instructions.”

“Well, if you’re sure…”

Dirk snorted. “Sucker.”

Ryan laughed. “Sorry, folks, wrong conversation.”

A moment later they heard a fisherman mumbling about his lousy luck in colorful sailor’s terminology.

Then, just as Cooper and Rafferty met on the pier, the exchange they were looking for came through—not exactly loud and clear—but audible.

“I told you this wouldn’t work, using street scum to do important work,” one of them said. They realized it was Rafferty by his gesticulating.

Cooper responded, “There wasn’t a lot of choice at the time. You can’t exactly find a professional in the Yellow Pages to take care of this sort of thing for you. Besides, we don’t know for sure there’s a problem.”

“Come on,” Rafferty said. “We both get approached within twenty-four hours by women blackmailing us. They’ve got to be cops or something. I’m telling you, Donaldson confessed. He ratted us out.”

“No way. Jeffries told him that if he even so much as mentioned our names, he’d be hanging from a sheet noose in his jail cell.”

It was all the Moonlight Magnolia gang in the van could do to contain their excitement. “That’s it,” Savannah whispered. “Say it all. Tell us all-l-l-l-l about it.”

The two men continued to walk out toward the end of the pier, and Ryan had to adjust for the distance, to keep their voices clear.

“Jeffries.” Rafferty gave a disdainful snort. “What a loser. We shouldn’t have let him in on the deal either. I don’t even know if I want him for a neighbor up there.”

“We needed him, too,” Cooper reminded him. “In case you’ve forgotten, he’s the one with the list of thugs willing to do what we need done. He’s a bargain. Besides, he won’t be such a bad neighbor. By the time the houses are built, the guy’s gonna be chief of police. And Hillquist will be mayor. We’ll be nicely situated for a lot of land deals in the future.”

“Hillquist is another problem,” Rafferty said. “Jeffries told me he’s figured out what we’re doing. We may have to cut him in, too. Where’s this going to end?”

Savannah nearly danced a jig, right there in her van seat. Hillquist, too? That would be much too sweet. Far too good to be possible.

“Hillquist won’t say anything,” Cooper said. “He’s already endorsed Jeffries, said publicly that he’s been grooming him for his spot.”

The twosome had reached the end of the pier and were turning around to walk back. With a pair of binoculars, Savannah could see their faces. They looked oh so worried… just the way they wanted them. It was somebody else’s turn to have sleepless nights, sweating the fact that they might spend the rest of their lives in jail. She and Dirk had had enough. It was the bad guys’ turn.

“I wish I’d never let you get me involved in this mess,” Rafferty was complaining. “All I wanted was a good deal on some view property. I’m not making the big bucks on this like you and Jeffries are.”

“Look, all you did was a free boob job to keep some stupid woman happy and quiet. Jeffries is the one supplying the muscle to take care of problems and—”

“And look what happened! He gave the job to an idiot who hit her in a cop’s house! He went in there with a stupid sword to do it. How ignorant is that? It took McMurtry and that detective agency ten minutes to find him. And then, when he’s got to be taken care of, Jeffries sends another moron with a bow and arrow to do it! Don’t tell me what a great organizer Jeffries is. He’s screwed the whole thing up, and now we’re in trouble.

Cooper stopped abruptly on the pier and turned to face Rafferty. Savannah could see his face, and, if she had been the surgeon, her blood temperature would have plunged about sixty degrees. “Look, Doc, if you don’t like the way we do business, if you’re going to freak on us, get out. We’ll let you out. No-o-o-o problem.”

Rafferty was silent for a long, heavy moment. “I know how you ‘let people out.’ No, thanks. I’m in.”

“Good. Just keep your cool and everything will be fine. I’ll get in touch with Jeffries, tell him everything that’s going on, and he’ll have somebody take care of those two women, whoever the hell they are.”

Rafferty shook his head. “This is getting too big, man. In the beginning it was just going to be one house burned down. That was all. And now three people are dead, and it’s still growing. Is it worth it?”

Cooper laughed, a mirthless, cold, empty sound. “It sure is. This fall, Jeffries will be police chief, Hillquist will be sitting in the mayor’s chair, and we’ll have that whole hill to ourselves, and maybe those marshlands down by the beach that I’ve been after for the past twenty years. We’re gonna fuckin’ own this county. Oh, yeah… it’s worth it. You just keep your mouth shut and let us work out these final details.”

Savannah reached over and gave Tammy a high five. Ryan turned to Dirk and Jake, and said, “What do you say, boys? Got what you need?”

Jake still look a bit dazed.

Dirk, on the other hand, was beaming.

“Oh, yes! Yes, yes, yes. Way more than I could have hoped for.” He turned to Jake. “Are you going to call for backup before you make this bust, buddy, or would you like this gang to accompany you up onto the pier?”

Jake took a few more seconds to assimilate the information in his stunned brain. Then the realization hit him: A bust like this was a major coup for any detective, let alone a rookie. Considering the players, it would be a major news event. His career had just been made.

He grinned from his left ear to his right. “Let’s go get ‘em.

The Moonlight Magnolia gang piled out of the van and strolled casually toward the pier. What was the hurry? Like… where were Cooper and Rafferty going to go?

“You know we
had
to be here for this,” Dirk told Jake as they and Savannah headed down the hall of police headquarters toward Jeffries’s office. “I mean, we just couldn’t miss this for anything.”

“No sweat,” Jake said, a new look of confidence and determination on his face that hadn’t been there two hours before. Funny, how a little thing like arresting a successful surgeon and one of the county’s most powerful developers could do for a guy’s ego. “You guys wrapped it up,” he said. “You deserve to be along for the kill.”

Savannah smiled, half-suspecting that Jake—even with his new infusion of bravado—was thankful not to have to arrest his superior alone.

And she had to admit that walking down these halls… the halls she had been unjustly banished from several years ago… on this sort of a mission was delicious. With every step, she could feel the old wounds healing. There was nothing quite like the feeling of taking back some of the power you had lost. Most satisfying, indeed.

When they entered the reception area where Dirk had so recently been arrested, Savannah glanced over at him and knew he was recalling that humiliating moment, too. She wasn’t the only one taking back the power. This was deeply satisfying all the way around.

She shot him a bright smile, which he returned. Then and there, she decided that the evening would end in an orgy of pizza, beer, and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream sundaes. If she and Dirk knew anything, it was how to celebrate!

“You can’t… you can’t see the lieutenant right now,” the receptionist sputtered as they sailed past her desk. “He’s got the chief in there and—”

Savannah laughed out loud. “All the better,” she said. “Two pigeons with one great big rock! Yeah!”

They barged into the office and found Jeffries and Hillquist sitting by the desk, deep in some sort of conversation. Neither man was stupid, and it took only a couple of seconds for their faces to reflect their realization of what was up.

Jake seemed to freeze momentarily. Dirk stepped forward and leaned over Jeffries. “Tell me something,” he said. “Did you get the feeling when you woke up this morning that this was going to be a ba-a-ad day?”

Jeffries didn’t say a word, just glared up at him.

“Yeah,” Savannah added. “You know… one of those mornings when you’re on your knees, scooping the cat poop out of the litter box, you throw it into the toilet, and the water splashes up and gets you right in the eye. One of those kinds of mornings?”

Hillquist stood and turned to Jake. “McMurtry, what the hell is going on here?”

“I’m here to arrest the lieutenant,” Jake said. Savannah could hear the waver in his voice, and so could Hillquist.

“Don’t blow it, Jake,” Hillquist said quietly, with deadly deliberation. “This is your career, right here, right now. Don’t throw it away on a really bad mistake.”

“There’s no mistake, sir. I arrested Ethan Cooper and Dr. Julian Rafferty a couple of hours ago. I have the evidence I need.”

“And is that evidence solid, Detective?”

“Yes, sir.”

Jeffries suddenly snapped out of his state of shock and jumped up from his chair. “What have you got? What?”

Savannah looked over at Dirk. “Do you notice how nobody has asked what he’s being arrested for?” she said, smiling. “You bust a street punk, and the first five things out of his mouth are, ‘What did I do? What did I do?’“

Dirk nodded solemnly. “I did notice that, Van. I suspect they know exactly what he’s done. All they’re worried about now is the evidence. Why don’t you show ‘em the evidence, Van? Go ahead.”

“Sure. Good idea.”

Savannah pulled a small tape recorder from her purse and switched it on. A second later, Rafferty’s and Cooper’s voices filled the room.

“This is getting too big, man. In the beginning it was just going to be one house burned down. That was all. And now three people are dead, and it’s still growing. Is it worth it?”

“It sure is. This fall, Jeffries will be police chief, Hillquist will be sitting in the mayor’s chair, and we’ll have that whole hill to ourselves, and maybe those marshlands down by the beach that I’ve been after for the past twenty years. We’re gonna fuckin’ own this county.”

Savannah switched it off. “It’s a nice, long tape,” she said, “with lots of nice, juicy details. But that gives you some idea of the content.”

“Let me see that thing.” Norman Hillquist reached over and grabbed the recorder out of her hand.

Savannah snatched it back and held it tightly against her chest. “No way, Chief. You took a major piece of evidence from me several years ago, and I couldn’t do a thing about it because you were my boss. But I’m a civilian now. And I own this tape. My detective agency recorded it, and my guys are delivering the original to the DA right now. Oh, yes… and my assistant is giving a copy to a friend of mine, a reporter at the
Star
. She asked for an exclusive, and she’s got it.”

“You don’t have anything on me,” Hillquist said. “I’m not involved in any way.”

“Maybe you weren’t directly involved in the murders, but you knew what was going on.”

“I did not. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Cooper says you know… right here on the tape,” Savannah said, holding it, tantalizingly under his chin.

“Big deal. A crook says something about me. That’s not evidence.”

“No, but it’s gonna play well on the evening news. It may not put you in jail, but it’ll sure as hell keep you out of the mayor’s office.”

She took a step toward him and shoved her face close to his until they were almost nose to nose. “And because I know how very, very desperately you want to be mayor of our fair town… that, dear Chief, is enough for me. I’m not a cop anymore because of you. And you’re never going to be mayor because of me and my agency. I gotcha back, you dirty rotten bastard, and it feels nice, like sugar and spite.”

Sticking her tape recorder back into her purse, she headed for the office door. “I’m off to buy a bottle of Dom Perignon. Have fun arresting the lieutenant, Jake.”

She paused, her hand on the doorway. “Oh, yeah… He looks like a pretty desperate criminal. Be sure to frisk him good before you cuff him.”

* * *

“Here’s to freedom,” Ryan said as he lifted his champagne flute to Dirk. “And to your continued career in law enforcement.”

John joined the toast. “May criminals everywhere quake in their boots. Once again, Detective Coulter patrols the streets.”