Page 34 of Reckless Love

“It’s fine,” I waved it off. “Business is business and Charley had a big day.”

“He did,” Marie murmured almost under her breath.

Leo balled up his hamburger wrapper. “You ready, love?” There was urgency in his voice.

“Of course. Sleep well Charley. Goodbye Marie.”

Leo hurried me out to his car. We left mine in the garage. “Jesus, Esme. It’s the same.” He threw the car into gear and peeled out onto the street, headed toward the bunker. “It’s exactly the same.”

“He saida man approached him the second week of the season.”

“How? How did he approach him?” These kinds of details were important.

“After practice. In the locker room. Two other players were with him. They told Charley it was how things worked.”

“How what things worked?” Honestly it was like pulling information out of Leo with a string.

“Professional baseball.” He shook his head. “They got the youngest, most talented kid early. They essentially groomed him. They told him never to speak of it with me—that it would put me in a bind because I’d have to report it—but that everyone did this. The agents looked the other way, the coaches were in on it too, they even showed him a few games where they allege fixing took place.”

I thought back to Hank. “Isn’t it harder in baseball? All the variables and stuff?”

“It is. What Charley did might not have worked. In which case he would have done something else to help craft the score. He gets paid differently depending on how closely he delivers the intended result.”

“And how did tonight work?” My head began to spin as fast as my stomach. It was a terriblecombination and I was glad I mostly ate fries at the office.

“I’m going to tell you Charley’s version and then I’m going to tell you a suspicion I have, okay?”

“Okay...” I really didn’t like where this was going.

“Charley knew when he was called up that he’d receive a packet. That’s why he was instantly nervous when he got the news. Poor kid hated every second of this.He’s a straight arrow and all this lying and manipulating was tearing him apart. Anyway, the packet arrived as expected. The same man, by the way. Inside was a script, the goal, and a compensation package.”

Leo paused to take a deep breath, his hands clenched in fists. So far all of this sounded extremely familiar. I approached players I knew I could manipulate and buy off. I deliveredscripts tailored to my intended result. The only difference was that I paid out a flat fee upon delivery.

“He was to let the game proceed as normal until the seventh inning. If the score was within five he was instructed to wait for the grand slam home run, then miss a throw at first allowing the runner to get on base. The game needed to end with Atlanta winning by two or more runs.”

“Like betting on a point spread in football.”

Leo nodded. “In baseball it’s the runline.”

“How far does this go?”

He went over to the whiteboard and pulled out a dry erase marker. On one of the last clean sections he began listing names of baseball players. “They knew Kiki Montoya would hit a grand slam if the game was within five runs. He’s good but he’s not that good.Alonso Barnes was on the mound. I’m willing to bet he’s also on the payroll.”

Far. It went very, very far. Multiple players on every team, plus players down in double and triple A. “This is massive, Leo.”

“You still haven’t heard my theory.”

My heart sank. Whatever it was I knew I wasn’t going to like it. “What’s your theory?”

“That Brian was removed.”

Brian?“The first baseman Charley replaced?”

Leo nodded. “Maybe they couldn’t buy him off. Maybe they injured him to get him out of the way so Charley could replace him. And if that’s the case...there’s management involved.”

I swallowed hard. “We need to track the money. See if we can track who’s making money off these bets.”

“Come here first.” Leo sat in my lone chair and beckonedme into his arms.

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