Chapter Seven

Max, Stan, and Suze were all gathered at the home rented for the Rothberg's, in makeup and ready to play their parts. Somewhat under protest Stan was wearing a radio, and when the money was handed off to Roger Hunter he was to say "That's just fine" which would be Detective Mike Trujillo's cue to come in and arrest Hunter and whoever else he had with him.

Stan felt good about the upcoming performance and his part in it. He considered himself the star of the show and that made him feel happy. Suze was nervous, but she was beginning to get used to pretending to be Sarah Rothberg, and she was finding it easier and easier to get in touch with her center and calm down. Maybe Stan was right, maybe she was a natural actress. Max was an adrenalin junkie, he always got a rush off of the job, he was ready to go. Max was carrying the briefcase full of cash, one and a half million dollars. If it phased him to carry that much cash around he didn't show it.

"So, kids, are we ready to sell it to 'em?" Asked Stan. Everyone answered in the affirmative.

Right on cue, the doorbell rang, and Suze went to answer it. Roger Hunter and Professor Green were at the door. She let the two men in and showed them back to her "father's" office. Roger Hunter was carrying a large blue valise, presumably full of money.

"We've brought our share of the money," said Roger Hunter, getting right down to business, "and if you've brought yours we can combine them and the the Professor and I will take them to the bank, bringing you copies of the paperwork, of course."

"Supposing I wanted to go along to the bank?" Asked Suze.

"That would be all right" Hunter said immediately, with a hint of a predatory smile.

I'm not sure you plan on me coming back from any such ride thought Suze, suddenly alert to the threat of violence from these two men.

Max, without thinking about it, moved closer to Suze, protectively. If Hunter or Green noticed they didn't react.

"OK, Delbert," said Stan, "let's get this show on the road."

Max, made up as Delbert Long, came forward with the briefcase and opened it on Rothberg's desk.

"One and a half million dollars, gentlemen, as agreed."

"Here's our half" said Hunter, opening the blue valise to reveal a pile of cash, "do you want to count it?"

"That won't be necessary," said Stan before Suze could speak up, "why go to all this trouble then bring less than the agreed upon amount?"

"Why, indeed," smiled Hunter, "Professor, if you'd be so good as to take the valise, I'll give you a receipt for the briefcase and we can conclude our business here"

Hunter pulled out a preprinted booklet of receipts, and deftly filled one out for the briefcase full of cash, handing it to Stan, than snapping the case closed and picking it up.

"Well, Gentlemen, and lady," Hunter said, nodding to Suze, "I believe we're done here"

"Yes, that's just fine" said Stan.

Roger Hunter and Professor Green rose to leave when there came the sound of the front door crashing open and footsteps pounding down the hallway. Detective mike Trujillo entered the room and the big man wasted no time in establishing his authority.

"Everybody, freeze!," He said, "my name is Detective Mike Trujillo, and you, Roger Hunter and Jonathon Green, are under arrest!"

Roger Hunter dropped the briefcase he was holding and reached inside his suit, Mike Trujillo went for his gun. Before either man could complete their motion Suze stepped forward and did something fast and complicated to Hunter, ending up with his gun in one hand and Hunter in a wrist lock in the other hand. Trujillo centered his gun on Hunter.

"All right, miss, you can let him go. And hand me the gun, thanks."

Suze released Hunter and handed his gun to Trujillo, who stuffed it into his waistband. Suze gave him an odd look, but said nothing. Trujillo patted down the two men, and found no more weapons.

"I'll be taking these two into custody, and I'll also be taking the money as evidence. Let me give you a police custody form, which you can take to Elliot."

Trujillo filled out a form, and Handed it to Max.

"OK," said Stan, "he's claimed the money, come on in."

Again there was the sound of the front door opening, and footsteps down the hallway, this time a tall, heavy black woman with a bulldog face appeared at the door, with two uniformed police officers.

"Everyone," Stan said, "I'd like to introduce the real police. This is Detective Mayweather of the vice squad, and two of the city's finest to back her up."

The room went dead silent for a moment, everyone looking at everyone else. Mayweather and the two patrolmen already had their guns out and had Trujillo covered.

"Drop it, Trujillo!" Said Mayweather in an unexpectedly melodic voice. Trujillo slowly put his gun down on the desk.

Mayweather turned to one of the two patrolmen "Search them all, get any weapons." She ordered, curtly. The patrolman approached Trujillo first, and took the automatic out of his waistband. Checking to make sure it wasn't cocked, and didn't have a round in the chamber, he placed it next to the other gun on the desk. His quick frisk of the three men yielded no surprises.

"They're clean" he said, simply.

"Michael Trujillo," Detective Mayweather began, "you are under arrest for impersonating a police officer and conspiracy to commit fraud. Roger Hunter, Jonathan Green, you are both under arrest for conspiracy to commit fraud."

"What the Hell is goin' on?" Asked Max Mendoza, "Trujillo isn't really a cop?"

Stan stood in the center of the room and beamed a big "master of ceremonies" smile. "It will all be explained soon" he grinned.

###

"Actually, Suze," Elliot said, sipping on a glass of iced herbal tea, "it was you who first tipped me off that Isabelle Wheeling wasn't on the up and up."

"Me? How did I do that?" Suze asked.

"The night we met you mentioned how 'great' it was of us to offer to help Isabelle, and it made me realize, we never did offer to help her, she asked and than thanked us for offering, a favorite trick of hustlers to make you feel like you're invested in the game. It was a little thing but it made me suspicious of Isabelle Wheeling, so I researched her and discovered the real Isabelle Wheeling was a completely different person, but her uncle really had been swindled out of a million and a half dollars. You can imagine her surprise when I called up the real Isabelle and offered to work with the police to help get it back."

"So from the top down, this was really a con against you? The whole set up was fake?" Max Mendoza asked, holding a beer in his hand.

"That's right, big man. Sorry I couldn't tell you, but out of all of you only Stan had enough acting experience to know they knew it was a put up job and still pull it off. I hope you can forgive me?" Elliot asked.

"Sure, sure, it got the old man his money back, and that was the whole intent and purpose of the thing. And I'm glad to see Trujillo go to jail."

Suze took a long slow pull of her second beer and looked thoughtful. "I'm glad I didn't know," she said, "I couldn't have handled pretending to pretend to be Sarah Rothberg."

"But what about the fake Isabelle Wheeling and her boyfriend, Tony?" Asked Stan, grabbing a slice of pizza.

"The police followed 'Isabelle' when she left here last time, they picked her up this afternoon, she was probably made up to be the hot blond they paraded in front of Norman Wheeling. As for Tony, they'll turn on each other, one of them will rat Tony out" Elliot announced.

Suze smiled. "I feel pretty good about how all this turned out" she said.

"Working with Elliot tends to do that" said Max, taking a slice of pizza.