QB1 (5 page)

“Well, that sounds like a pretty exciting
day. Better than hanging around the house playing Xbox I
guess.”

“Oh I like doing that too.” The crowd
laughs.

I’m shaking my head. I can’t believe what
I’ve just seen. I looked around and see Liz sitting up in bed with
the sheet drawn up to her shoulders and she’s starring at me with
her mouth open. I shirk my shoulders and shake my head. I got
nothing.

She said, “I meet the most amazing men.”

Chapter 7

The cat was out of the bag with her. The next
day I called everyone including Roger. He thought I’d be mad but
what could I say? I had taken off and told other people to deal
with it. If there were repercussions it was my own fault. There
were multiple offers for me to do interviews. I didn’t want to.
Financially, it didn’t make sense to turn it down, but I did. There
was talk of movie and book rights. There were other opportunities
that didn’t involve TV interviews and the cover of the Rolling
Stone. Fame just didn’t have much of a draw for me. Looking at the
down side of a boatload of money was that I didn’t want to be
famous for killing someone. My Dad left me in great shape with Real
Estate investments. The agency was doing well. I didn’t feel I
needed the money and the whole being famous thing didn’t really
interest me.

Roger was another story. This was not my
decision. I talked to his parents and suggested that opportunities
be carefully considered. I would hate to see him on Maury but his
parents weren’t rich. He could bank big money for school on this
thing and who knows how long this opportunity would last. The other
part of this was, Roger liked it. All my people were telling me
Roger might just be a star. By the end of that week there were two
million hits on Youtube of him on Leno.

Liz and I sat around all day Saturday talking
about all this. That was in between eating, drinking, soaking
and…making love. She was completely on my side on this. I talked to
everyone involved and by late Saturday afternoon, I told the PR
company to turn down everything for me. I wasn’t interested in
anything. I wanted privacy. Having one superstar in the family was
going to be enough.

Liz said she had to get back Sunday noon. We
stayed in bed all morning leisurely making love. She called me
killer one time in the throes of passion but apologized for it when
I winced. Later, she was sitting having coffee when she got very
serious and said those dreaded words, “We need to talk.” She hadn’t
said much to me of a personal nature in the last couple of days. A
married sister in Dallas and working on a music project with a guy
in Southern California. Living in a house with a roommate in
Redwood City. But, I thought we had gotten very close. I was in
love but that isn’t always a good sign.

She looked me in the eye and said, “I want
you to promise me something.”

“Okay,” having no idea where this was
going.

“I want you to promise me you won’t come
looking for me.” In a week full of surprises this might have been
the biggest. It didn’t take long for me to connect the dots and the
conclusion was….married. “I’m going through a personal mess at the
moment and I’ve got no place for you in it.”

“I see.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. Things may change and
I know how to get in touch with you if you’re still interested but
not right now.”

“Well Baby, we’ll always have Sonoma,” I said
and smiled. A tear fell down her cheek and she kissed me.

“You’re going to be okay, Tommy. I never met
anyone who has it more together than you, hero.” I carried her bag
to the car and noticed that it had dealer plates, no license, no
tracing the car. We kissed again and I watched her drive off. This
hurt. But, I kept my promise. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t go
looking for her.

Chapter 8 Six weeks later

The phone rang at 4:06 AM. “Wake up, it’s
Tonneli.”

“Yea. What do you want?”

“Wake up.”

“Why?”

“Bad news.”

“What?” Like I was expecting good news.

“Tony Reilly has been shot and killed.” This
got me out of bed.

“The Quarterback Tony Reilly?”

“Yea, it looks like a terrorist hit.”

“What the fuck?”

“He was shot twice in the back of the head
getting out of his car tonight at his house. The words “Praise
Allah” were written on his car.”

“Anyone see this?”

“We don’t think so. His wife was asleep in
the house. Looks like it was at least an hour before a private
security cop saw the garage door open and went to take a look. He
called it in. We woke up the wife, she doesn’t know anything.”

“Wow, this sucks,” I said, trying to take
this in. Tony Reilly had been The Football hero last season. He was
a Bay Area guy. Went to Cal. Lived in San Francisco, for Christ
sakes. This was horrible. It then occurred to me…”Why are you
calling me?”

“His wife wants you to pick her up. She’s
here at Central. We’re done with questions. Her house is an
investigation scene and closed up.”

“His wife?”

“Elizabeth Reilly, she requested you pick her
up. She knows you. Hey Tommy, this is a big fucking deal. Press is
swarming. Drive in to underground parking and we’ll get you out of
here.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in a half an hour.”

Elizabeth Reilly? Why would she want me? I
took the Porche downtown. I turned on the radio and got about the
same information I had just gotten from Tonnelli. Live reporter on
the scene outside the house. It was all over every radio station.
There was speculation that this was an attack on high profile
Americans. The FBI and Homeland security were expecting to make a
statement and was advising caution for sports figures and
celebrities. With light traffic I made it to SFPD Central in 20
minutes. A cop was waiting for me and had me in restricted parking
by the elevator. We took the ride up to the 16th floor and
immediately shuffled into Captain Edward Conners’ office where the
Captain along with Tonnelli and two Lieutenants sat. I shook hands
all around. I knew them all. I’d known Conners as a good friend of
my Dad’s, since childhood. “I said this is a horrible thing, Reilly
was beloved here after last year.”

Conners said, “We’ve just been saying the
same thing, Tommy. Look, we’ve questioned Mrs. Reilly and
apparently she knows nothing about this. It turns out the couple
had been separated for the last 3 months. Reilly just showed up
tonight. She wasn’t expecting him. She says they hadn’t even talked
since last month and she didn’t know where he was since then. She
doesn’t seem to know anything about this. We gave her a residue
test, nothing. She has been fully cooperative and she doesn’t have
a lawyer and doesn’t want one. We’re going to turn her loose.”

The next of kin would have been the first
person to pop up on the investigative radar. “So she didn’t know he
was showing up tonight after a month?”

“That’s what she says. But, from what we’ve
been able to find out so far, no one else did either. We’ve talked
to his agent and Reilly told him he was coming back tonight, but he
didn’t have any details. There was an imminent contract deal and
his agent suggested he return ASAP with an email. He wrote back he
was on his way back and would contact him tomorrow. He’s been in
this contract dispute and wasn’t reporting to camp. Apparently,
there had been some movement in negotiations and he decided to
return from wherever he was. The agent says communication had been
rare during the last month and he didn’t even know where he
was.”

“Someone knew he was coming home,” I said.
“Mrs. Reilly didn’t hear any of this go down?”

“She was asleep in her room when SWAT went
in. We scared the shit out of her. She says she knows nothing about
this and that looks like the case. And if that’s how it went down,
yea, you have to think someone had to be waiting there. Anyway, we
got some work to do but we’re done with Mrs. Reilly, for the
moment. How do you know her by the way?” Conners asked.

“I don’t,” I said. “Or I don’t remember
meeting her.” The Chief looked puzzled. “So, you think this is a
terrorist hit?" I asked around the room.

“Possibly or made to look like one,” said
Conners. “The word Alhamdulillah was written in marker on the top
of the car. It means “Praise Allah”. It could be a signed terrorist
hit. It makes sense, it’s a hell of a lot easier to gun down an
American celebrity and get world wide notice than to take down a
building. All you need is one guy looking to poke 77 virgins and a
gun. Or, that could all be just bullshit. Anyway, that’s enough to
get the Feds involved and you know what that means…a clusterfuck
with the press all over everything. This will be about as big as it
gets when it comes to an investigation.”

“Look,” Conners looked me in the eye, “you’re
going to have to find a place for Mrs. Reilly for at least a few
days. She has no family in the area. We’ve got the house sealed.
Please stay in touch with Tonnelli. If Mrs. Reilly needs to get
some personal things out of the house or any help, let him know.
We’ll try and get you out of here tonight without the press. You
know what a pain and the ass they can be,” and winked at me.”

“Okay, thanks Captain,” I said as I stood up
and shook hands.

“Tommy,” the Chief looked me in the eye, "we
all appreciate your help with the Butcher case. If Mrs. Reilly
remembers anything that you think might help us out, you know how
to find me.”

“You got it, Chief.” Tonnelli took me down a
floor and into an office that had a cop standing outside. I
followed him in and saw her sitting on a couch. With a tear stained
face and red eyes, sat Liz McNulty. I was too stunned to say a
word.

She immediately stood up and walked by me and
said, “Let’s go.”

Chapter 9

We drove out of the underground parking
without being noticed. I looked over at her as she stared straight
ahead. After a minute I broke the silence. “I’m sorry.”

She drew her hands up to her face and
screamed, “OH MY GOD!” Screaming, crying women are not my strong
suit. I put my hand on her shoulder as I continued to drive. She
was sobbing and loudly cried, “OH MY GOD," again. “And they think
it was me!”

“I was talking to the police and they don’t
think you did it. It’s just policy to question the family
first.”

“Oh my God,” she cried again and bent over in
her seat. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said feeling completely
useless. “Do you have a friend or family you might want to
call?”

“Oh no,” was all she said. I don’t think she
heard me. I continued to drive toward my house. I thought about
going to a hotel, but decided that wasn’t a good idea. Sit down and
figure out where I should bring her, was the thought. She leaned
her head against the passenger window. She said nothing more. She
just sat there and wept.

I said, “this is my house,” as we drove into
the garage. We sat there in the dark garage for a minute and said,
“Let’s go in and figure out what we’re going to do.” We got out of
the car and went in. She sat down on a couch and I thought, as bad
as this girl looks with tear stained cheeks, she is stunningly
beautiful. I sat down next to her and put my arm around her.

She leaned into me and said quietly, “Oh
no”.

At 7:15 AM I heard a knock at the door. Liz
was lying on the couch asleep with a blanket over her. I’d been
sitting there watching her for the last hour drinking coffee. I
quickly got to the door. I didn’t want whoever was knocking to wake
her up. I saw it was a large black guy, dressed in a suit, through
the side window. Checked my weapon in the back of my waist band,
opened the door and quietly said, “What do you want?”

“Tom Mullins?”

“Who’s asking?” He handed me his card.

“I’m Shawn Samuelson. I’m head of security
for the San Francisco football team.” I didn’t say anything and
just waited for him to continue. I closed the door behind me and
stepped out on the porch. “Mr. Mullins, I understand you picked up
Mrs. Reilly from the police department last night.” I still didn’t
know where this was going. "Mr. Mullins, the team and the President
Oscar Tierney would like to extend its sympathies to Mrs. Reilly
and offer anything she may need during this time." I nodded. “Also,
Mr. Mullins, Mr. Tierney would very much like to speak to you
regarding the events of last night. He told me, he would be honored
if you could meet with him this morning to discuss the
investigation of Tony Reilly’s death.”

“I’m tied up at the moment, Shawn.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Mullins, could you please speak
to Mr. Tierney? He held up his cell phone. He was very insistent
that he would like a moment of your time.”

I considered it for a second and said okay.
He punched in a number on the cell. “Mr. Tierney, I have Mr.
Mullins here,” and handed me his cell.

“Hello Mr. Tierney,” I said.

“Hello Tom, how are you this morning?”

“Tired and feeling pretty bad about Tony
Reilly,” I said.

“You have no idea how I feel, Tom. It’s why I
wanted to set up a meeting with you. I would like to discuss you
working with the team in the investigation of his death. We are
prepared to offer you a significant retainer to represent us and
the league during this investigation. Can you meet with me in my
office to discuss this? I would like to move on this immediately.”
I thought about this for a moment.

“Possibly, can you put security outside my
home?”

“I believe Mr. Samuelson can arrange that
quickly. Is Mrs. Reilly there, Tom?”

“Yes, she’s asleep. I don’t want her
disturbed.”

“We’ll take care of that.”

“Okay, Mr. Tierney, where would you like to
meet?”