"Well, Diamond, dispatch told me they were sending me on a weird case. I guess I should have expected you and... Ms. Fuell to be here."

Both Motli and I ignored Detective Bristol "Bris" Combs as he stepped into the back of the plane. We didn't have anything against him, really, but for the past ten minutes, since we'd been sent back to wait at the scene, we'd been engaged in a heated stare-down with a sloth, and I for one was damned if I was gonna let any three-toed, teddy bear-shaped valium beat me. Even if my eyes were about to start bleeding.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, Diamond!" Bris screamed.

The sloth, startled, blinked. "Yes!" I cried. "Beat you, ya little mutant fur ball! HA!" I turned to Combs. "Sorry, Bris, but nobody out-sloths me. How you doing? I hear you made first grade. Congrats."

"Whatever, Ace. What are you doing here? And what is Ms. Fuell doing here with you? And... why are you dressed like that?"

I didn't like the way he said 'Ms. Fuell.' It sounded more familiar than if he'd just called her Motli.

"Like what?" Motli asked, completely oblivious to the impression her skin-tight purple-and-green riding leathers gave off. "And it's nice to see you, too, Bristol." She always called him Bristol. He hated the name -- from anyone but her.

"I'm here because I was tracking down the woman they just carted off in the ambulance," I told him. "She's the girlfriend of the dead guy wearing the crusty red smiley face and a big gash in his neck in the cage over there. Her name's Rachel Matthews. His name is... Safari Don."

"Safari Don what?"

"Safari Don... dead guy. I don't know. But I liked him for the kidnapper, until he managed to get himself all deceased, inside the same cage as his woman was being moved out of the country in."

Combs started over to the body. "That doesn't make any sense. I hate cases that don't make sense. How come none of your cases ever make sense, Ace? What IS it about you?"

"Just lucky, I guess. Hey, watch out for the lemur in the next cage. He's got a bad attitude."

Combs snickered, poking his head down near the lemur's cage. "This little guy? He's cute." The lemur leaped over and tousled Comb's hair, just as cute as you please. "Must be your aftershave, Ace. Okay, get lost, but come down to the station later to make a full report. Motli... why don't you come, too?"

"I'd love to, Bristol" she said, making goo-goo eyes at him.

"Oh, stop that, Mot, or I'm gonna hack up a hair ball." I told Combs we'd be down at the station by nightfall, and Motli and I hopped on the bike. It started beeping, really loudly. "What? What did I do? What's that noise?"

"Relax, Acey, that's my Quote-A-Magic." She pulled a grey box the size of large cell phone out of her saddle bag. It had a two-inch display at the top and a standard keypad below that. "I've been tracking a stock I want to buy, and I had the QM set to alert me when it got to $45. Hang on." She checked the box again, then pulled out her phone and dialed her broker. I couldn't hear much, but I did hear her say 'market order.' Then, "Forty five and a quarter? Okay, good. Bye now."

"Didn't you just say it was at $45 even?" I asked. She nodded. "So how come it just cost you $45 and change?"

Why did Motli's order get filled at a higher price than her quote screen showed after putting in a market order?

1) The broker added in his commission
2) The Market Maker jacked up the price
3) When the order filled, stock had moved since he last looked
4) The Specialist gave the price he felt was appropriate

Income Statement information provided by Joe Louderback.

The answer is 3) When the order filled, stock had moved since he last looked.

While we stay with Ace and his determination to crack this case, we segue seamlessly from the income statement into some of the different types of orders you may place with a broker.

Market orders are immediate-fill orders. They are expected to fill immediately upon receipt by the specialist or market maker. And they do. However, the price could very well have moved between the time the customer calls, and the time the specialist gets the order. That may well be the biggest drawback to a market order: there's no way to guarantee a price. You can guarantee execution, just not exactly when, or for how much. A market order is appropriate when you know you want the stock, regardless of small fluctuations in price.

We got back to the office nearly as fast as we'd gotten to the airport, and I kept my eyes shut the whole time again. I determined I didn't actually need to SEE Motli's skills to appreciate them.

"Now what, boss?" she asked.

"I guess I better call Miss Emmons and let her know he friend's okay, but after that we're not gonna have a client."

Motli snickered. "But that's not gonna stop us from investigating Safari Don's murder, is it?"

I shook my head. "No. I don't suppose it is. Won't be the first time we worked for free. Then, I guess, we go down the station, and then to the hospital to see if Rachel is ready to start talking."

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