Double Play (14 page)

“
Hear?”

What
now?

Cat felt a knot
in the pit of her stomach as she wondered what they were saying
about her now. With all the skeletons in her closet, just one
reporter could nose around and end up with a week’s worth of
nightly news segments. None of it had seemed newsworthy before, but
now that she was
Buffalo’s
public enemy number one, sneaking expired
coupons past the grocery cashier could provide an opening exposé
for the six o’clock news.

Anne Marie
pointed out the hallway. “Melissa Staats is in Roger’s office.
Damien didn’t come home last night and he hasn’t showed up to
practice.”

“
What?
That’s what you’ve all been hush-hush about?”

Anne Marie
nodded. Cat looked around at the rest of the office staff, who all
nodded in agreement. Gina and Sandy accompanied their nods of
confirmation with scowls of disdain.

“
Oh.”
Though recovering from the shock, she felt her initial umbrage
rearing up. “No one thought to tell me, the team reporter, about
this piece of news?”

Their eyes
dropped to the floor again.

Cat sighed.
“Fine, keep looking at your shoes. I’ll just get the information
myself.”

She pushed past
them and made her way toward Roger Aiken’s office. It had been
eleven months since she’d interviewed there and she still got
nervous each time the double doors came into sight. She didn’t have
a chance to pass through them before a voice stopped
her.

“
Ms. McDaniel? A word?”

The voice had a
familiar ring but she
couldn’t
place it until she saw Detective Kahn
standing by a field-view
window
.

She threw her
head back and let out a small groan. She was almost afraid to ask
how much worse this day could get.

“
How
do you do that?” She pretended to survey the walls. “Do you live in
the ceiling? Is there some sort of trap door in this waiting
room?”

He smiled
appreciatively and pointed at the vinyl chair in the small waiting
area in front of Roger’s office. “I was sitting right there. You
probably didn’t see me because you’re in such a big
hurry.”

“
Busy
day at work.” She sighed. “You know, if you like hanging out here
so much, I could see if there’s an opening in security.”

Cat couldn’t help
her attitude. Cops had always rubbed her the wrong way and it
didn’t take years of therapy to pinpoint the reason. The officer
who’d came to school for the D.A.R.E. program in her sixth grade
class had given her the hairy eyeball, as though he knew it’d only
be a matter of time before she’d follow in her father’s footsteps.
When all the other little girls had gotten D.A.R.E. teddy bears,
he’d given her a blood alcohol content calculator. Her thirteenth
birthday party was interrupted when they’d dropped by to arrest her
dad for the same crime which kept him incarcerated to this day. Not
long after that, cops would bring Quinn home on late summer nights
and chastise her sweet grandmother over her inability to control
the wild seventeen-year-old. Even Otis Snow, though his stadium
security badge was plastic and embossed with a casino showgirl, had
strengthened her distrust of law enforcement by proving to be the
muscle in the Las Vegas Chips’ conspiracy.

“
I’m
here on a different case. Seems yet another guest at your ill-fated
party went missing.”

“
What
department do you work for?” His business card had only said
Detective Kevin Kahn, Buffalo Police Department, but now she was
curious.

“
I
generally work assaults. I just happen to be taking a special
interest in this missing persons case.”

“
Missing persons? He’s been gone twelve hours. I thought it had
to be like, forty-eight hours before the police did
anything.”

“
Someone needs to borrow my box set of
Without a Trace
.”
He smiled. “No, that’s a myth. No set amount of time must elapse
before a person can be reported missing. In fact, we encourage
immediate action if you feel that person is in danger.”

“
Danger?” Cat shrugged. “Damien has been known to party hard
after victories. It seems a little early to call in the
cavalry.”

“
I’m
aware of Mr. Staats’ postgame proclivities. I’ve done my
research on several members of the Soldiers. Even you.” His eyes
probed hers as though determined to extract the truth.

“
Me?”

“
Well,
not just you.” He pulled his notepad out of his pocket. “Michael
McDaniel of Joliet, Illinois. Born October Second, 1960. Currently
serving in his hometown for vehicular theft, repeat offender.” He
smiled and waved the notepad at her, showcasing a blank page.
“Notepad’s just a prop. That was a pretty easy one to
remember.”

Cat started to
open her mouth but he continued.

“
Now
Quinn McDaniel, on the other hand, is a little harder to get a read
on, outside of a few misdemeanors. Seems he’s quite the world
traveler. He’s being sought as a person of interest in a robbery in
Chicago, an extortion scandal in Denver, an identity theft in
Seattle, forgery back in Chicago again, phishing in Baltimore and
assault in Key West.”

“
I’m
sure you know that a person of interest is not a suspect. Or do you
need to borrow my box set of
Cagney and Lacey
?”

He ignored her.
“Lest I not forget, there’s you. This first case in Chicago, the
robbery. Seems the vic was your virtual paramour of sorts. His
place gets robbed while he’s at work and he never hears from you
again.”

“
I was
at class. The police verified it.”

“
I
read the report. Where was big bro?”

“
Don’t
know.”

He scrutinized
her for several seconds and nodded. “After reading about your
family, I thought, maybe the apple doesn’t fall too far from the
tree. Then it occurred to me, maybe the apple didn’t fall off the
tree. Maybe it slid off because it’s even slicker.”

Cat fought to
keep a lid on her irritation. She knew he wanted her to lose it;
that was a sleazy journalism trick. Get your subject angry and on
the defensive and they’ll say what you want and more. The only
recourse was to turn the tables. “Look, Detective, I’ve tried to
cooperate but I know my civil rights, specifically those protecting
me against police harassment. You should watch it.”

He blinked at
that but otherwise did not react. Reaching into his shoulder bag,
he said, “Actually, I was hoping you’d watch yourself.”

He held a tablet
PC directly in front of her face. “This is the security footage
from the Soldiers’ parking lot last night. Looks like you and my
missing person were having quite the heated
conversation.”

A long, bony
finger reached around the tablet and pressed play. There was no
audio, but her interaction with Damien from the night before
unfolded on screen. Cat swallowed hard. The clip continued to play
through as she realized what was happening. Detective Kahn was at
her workplace, questioning her about a missing person, but he’d
just happened to bring along evidence that showed her with the
person shortly before he’d gone missing. He wasn’t harassing her
after all; she was a suspect.

She flinched as
the on-camera Damien slapped her hand away from his
face.

Detective Kahn
took note of her reaction and leaned in. “That’s my favorite part,
too.”

“
We
were just,” her voice dropped to a whisper as she continued
watching the on-screen Damien walk away, “talking.”

“
Hmm.
What about?”

About how
Quinn, you and he are making my life a living hell
.

“
The
game. Work stuff.”

“
Kinda
late, isn’t it?”

“
Yeah
but that’s the nature of our business.”

“
Where
are all the other reporters, then?”

“
They
talked to him after the game.”

“
In
the clubhouse, where you usually conduct interviews,
correct?”

“
Yes
but ….” Cat was trying to think two steps ahead, but knew she was
going to trip.

“
Go
on.”

“
If
you must know, he was standoffish during my clubhouse interview. I
wanted to find out why.”

“
In
the parking lot?”

“
Well,
we were walking out at the same time.”

“
That’s unusual, is it not? The security logs show you
generally leave two to three hours after game time. In fact, the
logs for last night show you going back inside the stadium and
coming out again fifteen minutes later.”

He’
d
checked the time logs.
He’
d
actually asked
ballpark security for documentation of what time Catriona McDaniel
le
ft
Soldiers Stadium.
Her blood no longer boiled; in
fact, it ran cold.

“
I ….
I forgot something and I had to go back up to get it.”

“
What’d you forget?”

Cat didn’t blink
as she searched her mind for an answer to throw him off.

“
Tampons.”

He smiled, as
though appreciative of her tactics. “Even so, you left a lot later
than the norm.”

“
I
didn’t realize I had a norm, considering I’ve never covered the
playoffs before.”

“
You
gonna leave early tonight?”

“
I
don’t know. Depends how the game goes, I guess. What is your
point?”

“
No
point. My job is simply to notice irregularities. I’m noticing a
lot of irregularities when it comes to you.”

Cat
’s eyes flashed to his feet.
This from the guy
wearing brown shoelaces in his shiny black Oxfords
?

It was becoming
clear that he was using Damien’s extended hangover as an excuse to
hassle her. She stole a look at Roger’s closed door.

“
Are
you accusing me of something specific or is this a random time
clock check?”

“
I
think you know more about that night than you’re letting
on.”

“
Last
night? Or the poker night?”

“
I’m
open to hearing the full story of either one.”

“
Then
why don’t you get your recorder out and replay my interview because
I’ve already told you everything I know. Twice,
actually.”

He
nodded.

She told herself
to emulate his reticence but his icy stare had a way of pulling
words out of her mouth. “Why don’t you talk to my brother if you
think there’s something else to know?”

“
I’ve
tried. He doesn’t return phone calls or answer your door. You’re a
lot easier to get a hold of. Come game day, I know exactly where
you’ll be.”

“
Great.” She frowned. She didn’t mean for that to slip out, but
maybe Detective Kahn would realize she had a lot more on her plate
than his hang-up over a stupid card game. “I don’t know what else I
can tell you.”

“
Why
don’t we go through the poker night again?”

“
There’s nothing to go through.
Again
, I was sleeping.”

“
We’ll
see.”

“
See
what? Trust me, Detective, I’m a sportswriter. I’d love nothing
better than to have a juicy story I could report, but there just
isn’t one.”

She met his
intense brown
eyes. His
stare was becoming less intimidating with each passing minute.
“Wait a minute. You said you usually work assaults … is that what
this is about? You think Ryan was a victim? Didn’t you speak with
him?”

He crossed his
arms over his chest. “Ryan Brokaw’s not saying much, either.
Usually when a guy has an injury, it’s all he can talk about, but
Brokaw’s lips are zipped tighter than a duck’s ass.”

She had to smile
at that. “Well, I can tell you that Ryan’s not much of a talker.
You should try getting interviews with him after his
starts.”

“
I’d
like to get interviews with him right now but he left town and
isn’t returning my calls.”

She shrugged.
“I’m not his keeper.” She took another glance toward Roger’s
office, thankful that this police exchange had gone under his radar
so far. “Is that all? I really need to get back to
work.”

Detective Kahn
held up his forefinger. “Just one more thing. Your neighbor, this
uh,” he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, “Richard
Finley. Now he is, to use your words, a
talker
.”

Oh Lord, if
Old Man Finley is the star witness, I’m gonna be executed by
noon
.

Detective Kahn
read her mind, a knowing smile stretching across his
face.

“
Our
neighbor is an old grouch. He doesn’t like anybody and my late
hours don’t help.”

“
Well,
he claims he heard shouts shortly before the accident.”

“
There
were all sorts of shouts. It was a poker game.”