Page 33 of Reckless Love

Chapter 12

Instead of a cheeseburger Leo treated Charley to a one-way trip to Bancroft Sports headquarters. I grabbed burgers on the way. Marie was called and the three of them were locked in her office when I arrived.

“Thanks for letting me in,” I told Hank, the eveningsecurity guard.

“No problem Dr. Brown. I hate to do this but I’m going to need you to sit tight in the conference room.”

“I understand. It’s a good thing I brought extra burgers and fries.”

His eyes lit up. “Well, I do have to sit with you until they open up that door. We might as well enjoy ourselves.”

I was grateful for Hank’s company. My head hadn’t stopped spinningin over an hour—ever since Charley Culpepper confessed that he’d intentionally jumped off the base so the runner would be able to score.

I didn’t know details (yet) but I didn’t need them. Charley had specific instructions to influence that game. Just like we’d already seen in football. Just like I’d orchestrated so many years ago.

What. The. Fuck?

If baseball was involvedwhat else didn’t we know about? Hockey? Rugby? Basketball? Dear god, I hoped not basketball. Those fans would lose their minds. What else did people bet on in sports? Racing? Yeah, I was pretty sure people bet on that too. I was Dr. Frankenstein and I’d lost total control of my monster.

“Did the Mantas lose tonight? Everyone looked pretty sad,” Hank said as he unwrapped his double cheeseburgertopped with an onion ring, aioli, and bacon. I picked up gourmet burgers from my favorite shop in downtown because they had these garlic parmesan fries that were to die for.

“They sure did. And poor Charley in there took it pretty badly. It was his first game in the majors.”

“Oh, that happens. Sometimes those kids get called up and sent back down several times before they stick.Lots of learning. But then again, baseball is one of those sports that where sometimes the player doesn’t put all the pieces together until they’ve lived a lot of life. Not everyone can be a Seth Butler.”

Thank goodness for that. I made a mental note to send Claudia an email and see how she was doing. “You’re a fan I take it?”

“Ever since I can remember.” He slid the container offries closer. “It was part of the reason I was happy with this assignment. I like sports as much as the next guy but baseball? Love it. Plus I get to tell my dad how I met Seth Butler and the rest of the World Series team. He’s so jealous.”

“That is pretty cool. Do you like wrestling?”

“You mean like the television kind of wrestling or the Olympic kind?”

“The television kind.”

He shrugged. “I keep up with it I guess. Not really a fan of all the acting or knowing that the end has already been written. Now in baseball anything can happen. A team can be up ten runs and still lose. You just never know how the odds will change.”

“Why is that?”

“The variables.” He balled up the silver wrapper from his demolished burger and sat back. “They play over a hundredgames a season which means that different players are rotating in. Pitchers can start off hot and start missing. When you bring in a new pitcher it can change the whole feel of the field. There’s a lot of superstition in the game because we all see how a single event can change everything.”

“That’s some fascinating insight, Hank.”

His gaze drifted over my shoulder. “Looks like ourtime is up. Thank you for the dinner, Doc. I sure do appreciate it.”

“Thanks for keeping me company.”

The room was quickly swarmed by Leo, Marie, and Charley, who went straight for the food, devouring it in massive bites that, quite frankly, worried me.

“Please don’t choke. I promise the food isn’t going anywhere,” Marie admonished.

“I’m just so hungry,” he moaned betweenbites the size of small animals. “Is this the best burger ever created? I think it might be.”

“I have a feeling it tastes so good because you’re starving.”

Leo grabbed another burger and sank his teeth into it, all while giving me some sort of secretly coded, wide-eyed stare. I was pretty sure it meantoh my god you’re never going to believe thisbut silent stares were easy to misinterpret.

“Sorry I stole Leo from you.” Marie picked up a fry and popped it in her mouth. “I’m going to take Charley to the hotel so you two can head home.”

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