Double Play (34 page)

He pointed to the
hallway. “Let me walk you out. I’m going to go down to the casino
and verify this transaction but I think it’ll be enough for me to
get an arrest warrant on George Hudson tonight. Even sooner if I
can get Joel Faulk’s statement, too.”

“
Are
the players going to get in trouble?”

“
I
don’t think they’ll be playing professional baseball again, but if
they’re honest and cooperate, the DA might cut them a
deal.”

She nodded, fully
aware of the system. Privileged brats like Joel and Adam got plea
bargains and tell-all book contracts; greedy bastards like Hudson
got made into examples with harsh verdicts and a 20/20 interview.
The worst off were nobodies like Quinn, who were prosecuted and
forgotten. Quinn’s only hope was to beat them to the punch. She had
to find him before his only legacy was as a shady character in a
movie of the week.

They reached the
lobby and Detective Kahn held out his hand, giving her a hearty
shake. “I’ll be in touch.”

Cat
tried to dodge the expanding puddles of
water
in the reception hall, covering her ears to muffle the
piercing fire alarm. The guests had stampeded for the exits and
left her alone in the
shower-drenched
room. Where was Benji? Her wedding
gown
was plastered to her
body
and with each footstep it became heavier. She had to
find Benji. Next to the head table across the room was their
formerly three-tiered cake, now nothing more than a
soggy
mound. Its tiny bride and
groom were drowning in a
slurry
of watery frosting on the floor. She hurried
across the dance floor and caught her reflection in the hanging
disco ball
:
mascara
streaked
her cheeks and
her updo
had separated
into
dangling chunks. Above the tacky seventies tribute, the
ceiling continued to spurt. They say rain on your wedding day is
good luck, but what about an activated sprinkler system? She tried
to take another step but the
gown
’s train was snagged on a folding chair. She
had
uncovered her ears
so that she could yank it free, when the shrill fire alarm screamed
at her again.

Her eyes snapped
open and darkness
blotted
out
the horrific wedding reception.
A
s after every nuptial nightmare
,
she drew
a deep breath of relief.

Then the fire
alarm screeched again. Had its grating noise followed her from the
depths of her subconscious?

She blinked,
realizing it was only the ring of their home telephone and
reached over
Benji’s
heavy body to his side of the nightstand.

“
Cat,
just let
’
em leave a
voicemail.”

“
I
can’t. It might be Quinn.”

She squinted at
the caller ID on the cordless phone and sat up. “Crap! It’s Roger
Aiken.” She leaned a little
farther
so that she could just barely snag it off
the cradle.

“
Roger?”

“
Cat,
are you watching this?”

“
What
time is it?” She squinted at the alarm clock. “Three in the
morning? No, I’m sleeping.”

“
Well,
wake up and turn to Channel
Five
, then call me back.”

He hung up
without so much as a goodbye or even an apology for the early
morning call. She hobbled out of bed and shuffled into the living
room, her hand still clasped around the cordless phone. It rang
again before she could find the remote. She answered it
in the middle of
the first ring.
The last thing she needed was Mr. Finley complaining, not to
mention
that
Benji had
an early class in the morning.

“
Roger, I haven’t even turned the TV on yet. Give me a minute,
okay?”

“
Cat?”

“
Spencer?”

“
Trust
me, you’re gonna want to turn on your TV.”

“
I’m
trying, I’m trying.” She spotted the remote
perched
on the back of the couch and hit
the power button. “What is all this about?”

“
Do
you see it?”

“… 
outside George Hudson’s palatial estate on Mulholland Lane
where he was just arrested for criminal conspiracy.”

The camera
flipped from the overdone newswoman—Cat wondered if she slept in
that
brunette
bouffant—to a clip of George being escorted to a squad car. His
hair was disheveled and he wore a Soldiers
’
sweatshirt over a pair of jeans.
Detective Kahn guided George’s
gray
head into the back of the car before shutting
the door behind him.

“
Oh my
God.”

“
Are
you watching this?”

“
Shh!
I want to hear
what they’re
saying
.”

Cat turned the
volume up. The police car drove off and the camera switched back to
the newscaster, her brow furrowed
in studious intensity
as she spoke in front of
George Hudson’s mansion.

“
Details are still coming
in
but WBFL has learned that George Hudson allegedly
received over one million dollars in gambling profit directly
following his baseball team’s tragic loss to Chicago in last
night’s game five of the divisional series. The Buffalo Police
Department are investigating him for orchestrating what they are
calling
‘
match
fixing,
’
that
is
,
the act of losing,
or playing to a pre-determined result, in organized sports for a
financial or strategic gain.
The
Buffalo Police spokesperson is unwilling to
comment further
at this
time,
but WBFL has learned that detectives were
investigating the Snow Bird Casino earlier this afternoon, which
begs the question: did George Hudson bet on his own team to lose
and if so, did he orchestrate that loss? We’ll take you back to the
studio but stay tuned to WBFL for the latest
developments.”

Cat unconsciously
felt for the mute button.
S
he and Benji had
gone
to bed without
hearing
a peep
out of
Detective Kahn or the newswire,
so
she had figured they weren’t
ready to move. She had been bracing herself for a way to break the
news to Roger Aiken in the morning.
Now
WBFL had done that for her.

“
Cat?
Are you there?”

“
I’m
here.” She tried to feign surprise. “This is just
 
… crazy.”

“
I
know. I’m on my way into the office now
. T
hey might be stopping the presses and calling
back the delivery trucks on this one. Either way, this is a huge
byline for me. How about you? Are you on your way to the
stadium?”

Cat looked down
at her moose slippers and gave the antlers a shake. “Not quite. I’m
supposed to call Roger back
.
I’ll see what he wants me to do.
”

The call waiting
buzzed and she peeked at the ID.

“
Oh,
that’s him on the other line. I gotta go.”

“
Okay,
I’ll call you later.”

“
Good
luck!” Cat took a deep breath and answered the persistent beep. “Hi
Roger.”

“
I
take it you’re up to speed?” His voice wasn’t as frazzled this
time. She wondered if she was the first person he had called. They
were close, but not speed dial close. Did that mean Detective Kahn
had gotten a hold of Roger before she had a chance to explain? The
thought sent a sinking sensation through her body, all the way down
to her fuzzy antlers. She knew it would only be a matter of time
before Roger found out that she was the leak, but did
the moment of reckoning
have to
come at three in the morning?

“
Up to
speed?” She was well over the accepted speed limit. “Roger, there’s
something I should say.”

“
I
know. I’ve given it some thought and I think you’re
right.”

“
You
…
you do?”

“
Yes.
You should cover this.”

“
Huh?”

“
Well,
I went back and forth about it but if the outside media is going to
report it, and Lord knows they will—hell, they
are
, you saw
WBFL—I think it looks worse if we stay silent. Just explain the
charges
—
for God sake
don’t forget
to include
the word ‘alleged’ in there
—
and say there’s no comment from the team at this
time in the ongoing investigation.”

“
Okay
but
—
”

“
Oh!
Make sure and mention that the Soldiers are fully cooperating with
the Buffalo Police Department.”

Cat nibbled on
her bottom lip while she tried to summon the courage
a third time
to confess. Instead,
she squeaked out, “No problem.”

“
Thanks, Cat.” Roger’s deep exhale resonated through the phone.
“I’ve been on the phone with the
commissioner
for the past ten minutes and his office
is going to call the matter a club issue for now and start
its
own administrative
investigation this week.”

“
What
does that mean?”

“
For
starters, tomorrow morning at ten a.m., the team’s going to hold a
press conference, where I expect George to be in attendance. It’s
gonna be a circus.”

“
Um …
I just saw him being perp-walked into a squad car. Won’t he be in
jail?”

“
That’s eight hours away. He’ll be out on bail by
then.”

“
Oh,
duh. Of course.”

Her dad had once
been arrested for public intoxication the night before
Thanksgiving. Because of the holiday weekend, it was five days
before he could see a judge to have his bail set. Jail cells and
bail hearings
were
only
for regular criminals like Michael McDaniel
. T
he ones
who
wore
Armani
got
to take the
express lane in the justice system.

“
Okay,
I’m going to do a write-up here at home now but I’ll be
there.”

“
You
and every other scoop from here to Chūbu. This is bad, Cat. Real
bad and it could get worse depending on the outcome of the league’s
administrative investigation. If the commissioner decides to, he
can take over the team and appoint
a
representative to oversee all aspects of the
business and day-to-day operations
. That would
mean
the end
of all
our jobs
.”

“
You
think they’d fire us over this?”

“
If
they have any reason to suspect we were involved, you fucking bet
they would. Who knows what kind of evidence the cops have dug up or
how it could be misconstrued? I mean, I was his right-hand man.
How’s that going to look?”

“
I’m
sorry.”

“
What
are you sorry for? You’re not the idiot who bet against his own
team. I don’t know if what they’re saying about his coercing
players has any merit but damn, it doesn’t look good to profit
almost a million dollars from your team’s loss.”

No, but I’m
the idiot that exposed it without talking to you first
.
But what choice did
I have?

Roger was a good
man. He
’d
played ball
during
the height of the
steroid era and had always been forthright about his decision not
to use
. Unlike
many
players who
made
the
same
claim
, Roger was
actually believable. When his baseball career began to fade due to
nagging injuries and a lack of power, he started to focus on the
business side and worked his way up
from
special assistant to general manager of the
same team that had retired his jersey number a decade earlier. To
compound her guilt, Roger had given her a chance almost a year ago,
at a time when no other teams would even talk to her. Cat cursed
herself for not confiding in Roger before seeking out Detective
Kahn. He’d never given her a reason to doubt his integrity
or
assum
e
he would protect the team
first.

“
Roger, I—I …
T
here’s
no
way anyone would ever accuse of you of being
involved in this.”

She would tell
him the truth, but not
right
now
. He had enough to deal with at three a.m.

“
Thanks. I appreciate that. This is going to be enough of a
mess without
us being under
fire, too
. I’ll see you in the hornet’s nest,
okay?”

“ ’
Bye, Roger.”

Cat turned off
the television
.
WBFL had
switched over to weather for the time being but come morning, this
scandal would be all they’d talk about. Most of Buffalo was still
sound asleep, unaware of the chaos they’d be waking up to. Cat
peeked in the bedroom; the blissfully ignorant included Benji. She
watched him snuggle into the mound of blankets
; then she
shut the bedroom door and
trudg
ed
toward her desk.
At least she had her office back.