Double Play (41 page)

“
Don’t
worry about me.” She shoved the helmet into his hands.

“
Kind
of hard not to. For someone who lectures me about
going
legit, your world doesn’t
seem a whole lot safer.”

She shrugged.
“Maybe the McDaniels are destined for trouble.”

“
Do me
a favor then,” he said, throwing his long leg over the bike.
“Benji’s a nice guy but he wields a baseball bat like a total
pussy. Take him to the batting cages so that if someone really does
break into your house, he can use it?”

He switched on
the ignition and the gruff howl of the V-twin
would have
smothered any response, so she
merely stuck out her tongue like the bratty kid sister he would
forever see her a
s and handed
him his jacket
.

He
secured his
helmet
, reluctantly accepted the jacket,
and pinched her cheek. “Take care of yourself. Oh shit, I almost
forgot.” He reached into his leather saddlebag and pulled out a
key. “I left a wedding present in the cold air return vent of your
office.”

Cat gave him a
curious expression
,
but
before she could ask, he winked and took off in the opposite
direction of the incoming squad cars, leaving her in a cloud of
dust.
She tucked the key in her
bra.

Cat walked down
the riverfront,
shivering
convulsively in her scanty
nautical uniform. She raised her
palms in the air when the officers noticed her. “I’m looking for
Detective Kahn.”

“
Over
here. Send her over here.” Detective Kahn waved at her from an
ambulance and immediately started walking toward a makeshift
workstation on the hood of an unmarked Lincoln.

She moved as fast
as the chunky shoes would
allow. Her
feet were really beginning to feel the
consequences of a parking lot hike in platforms.

Paramedics loaded
a blanket-wrapped James Hudson on an ambulance gurney. She charged
over to Detective Kahn. “Why isn’t he in handcuffs? Didn’t Webbs
tell you? It was James, not George, who placed those
bets.”

“
Hold
up, kiddo, you’re going too fast for me.”

Cat took a deep
breath. “James and Kiki are having an affair. They placed the bet
under George’s name to set him up so that they could get the team.
They bribed those players with contracts, trade deals, money … and
Kiki, in the case of Damien. She was also having an affair with
him.”

“
How
do you know all this?”

She
indicated her
ridiculous
outfit
, and his eyes widened,
as though he were noticing her attire for the first time
. “I
went undercover.”

Detective Kahn’s
eyes widened and he opened the back door of his car, pulling out a
police blanket. “Let’s just take care of that. I don’t need you
getting my rookies distracted.”

Cat looked around
and noticed several uniformed officers watching them. She
gratefully took the blanket and wrapped it around
herself.

“
Where’s your brother?” he asked.

She shrugged and
averted
her
eyes from
his intense stare.

“
I’m
asking as part of an official investigation, Cat. He rammed my
suspect with a Fat Bob. James Hudson probably has a shattered
leg.”

“
He
allegedly rammed him with a Fat Bob, Detective. Then he left town,
for good this time.” Cat tried to sell that with every molecule of
acting ability she
possessed
. Quinn probably hadn’t even made it to the
city limits yet. “Does it matter? You got your guy. James’ wrists
aren’t shattered
.
Throw
a set
of
handcuffs around
them.”

“
I got
Joel Faulk’s statement earlier. I know that Quinn was working as
his muscle.”

“
Not really
.” She
sighed, knowing she was fighting a losing battle. “So what happens
now?”

“
Well,
I could charge you with obstruction of justice because I think you
knew Quinn’s involvement when we spoke earlier.” He narrowed his
eyes. “I also think you know where he’s going now.”

“
I
really don’t. Quinn and I
have
never been
close.”

“
I
think James Hudson’s leg would beg to differ.” He leaned against
the squad car. “Anyway, I’m not going to charge you with anything.
I’ve got a jackass brother
,
too
,
and under the same circumstances, I’d protect him.”

If she hadn’t
been wearing the spandex romper, she would’ve thr
own
her arms around him to show her
appreciation. Instead, she took the modest approach and smiled to
show her gratitude. “Thank you.”

“
That
doesn’t mean Quinn’s off the hook. In fact, if you speak to him,
please tell him to turn himself in. We can make him a pretty good
deal if he’ll testify against Hudson.”

“
I
don’t think I’ll be speaking to him for a while.” At least that was
the truth. Cat figured, given Buffalo’s proximity to Canada, James
was probably on his way to Chicoutimi. Sure, he could be
extradited, but they’d have to find him first.

Cat looked around
the scene. “Where’s Spencer?”

“
Who?”

“
Spencer Kekuia, the reporter for the
News
Herald
.”

Detective Kahn
shook his head slowly, completely oblivious not only
to the fact of
her former best
friend’s involvement in the crime, but
to
his existence in general.

“
I
guess Joel didn’t tell you everything, after all. Funny how he was
all loose lipped about my good-for-nothing brother, but Spencer and
James
’s involvement
somehow
slip
ped
his mind.”

“
Okay,
okay now, just calm down and tell me who this cat is.”

“
Spencer is—make that
was
—a friend of mine, but he was
in on this
,
too. Quinn
told me that James was paying him to keep me occupied and to
release a scoop about George’s gambling addiction.”

Detective Kahn
grabbed his notepad. “Spencer Kekuia, you said?”

“
He
was here, in the club with Kiki and James, and led me outside for
their ambush.” She paused,
feeling
a twinge of guilt as she remembered his help
on the dock. “He
did
pull me out of the way of the motorcycle. I might’ve fallen into
the water
,
too.”

“
Cat!”

They both whipped
around as Benji charged the scene, but
then
was stopped by a couple of officers. He frowned
at them and pointed at her. “That’s my fiancée.”

Detective Kahn
nodded at the officers and Benji rushed in, throwing his arms
around her. “I was in a night class when everyone’s phones started
blowing up with James Hudson and the Snow Bird Casino. I had this
sinking feeling you were involved so I kept calling your phone, but
you never answered.”

Detective Kahn
grabbed her purse off the hood of his car. “She
was
involved
. This was
evidence, but I suppose you can have it back.”

She sheepishly
took it out of his hands and nibbled on her lip
.
Benji’s
anger had turned into
irritat
ion
. “I swear, I just came by to talk to
Webbs and one thing led to another
 
…
.
”
S
he opened up the
blanket and showed
him
the outfit. “It’s a long story.”

His eyes grew as
big as the lifesaver drink tray
s
. “
I
would
say
so
. Can
we go home?”

Detective Kahn
wagged his
fore
finger at
both of them. “I’m gonna want an official statement, again,
tomorrow.”

She
nodded.

“
Go
on, get out of here.” He snapped his fingers at the two officers
and they lifted up the police tape.

Benji drove them
home, hanging on her every word as she
recounted
the evening’s events. She pulled Quinn’s
key out of
her bra
and
fiddled with it.

“
What’s that?”

“
Oh
uh, well … Quinn told me he left a wedding present for the two of
us in our cold air return vent.”

“
Inside the cold air return vent? Is that some sort of family
tradition? Or a Scottish thing? Like for good luck?”

She giggled. “Not
that I know of, but when we were kids, he used to hide his
Halloween candy in there to keep it away from me.”

Benji pulled into
the parking lot. “What’s the key for? It’s kind of unusual
looking.”

She held
it
up for inspection. It
was tiny and gold
,
with
an ornate head. “Only one way to find out.”

They
headed
straight for the office, not
even stopping to slip off their shoes on the floor mat. Cat wheeled
over the desk chair and hopped on the seat. “Hand me that
screwdriver.”

Benji grabbed the
screwdriver off the desk and steadied the wobbling chair underneath
her. She dropped the screws in his open palm and pried off the vent
cover, pulling out a large wooden box.

Benji took it
from her. “It’s a box.”

She hopped off
the chair and smiled. “That’s not just any box.” She pointed at
wooden carvings in the sides. “It’s a puzzle box. We each had one
of these when we were little.”

“
Do
you know how to open it?”

“
Not
exactly.” She felt the sides and moved to the front, trying to find
the latch. “That’s part of the security feature.”

“
That’s annoying.”

“
Legend has it that if you can figure it out, a good luck charm
lies inside.” She turned the decorative carving on the side and
pulled down the piece of wood behind it. It presented a keyhole.
Aha!” She smiled triumphantly and held out her hand.
“Key?”

She turned the
key and the lid sprang open, revealing bundles of cash nestled in
its green velvet lining.

Cat gasped and
plopped down on the desk chair.

“
This
is one hell of a good luck charm,” Benji said.

“
Forty
thousand,
fifty thousand
…
.”

Cat
set
the fifth stack on the kitchen
counter triumphantly. Each wrapped set of bills had a $10,000
wrapper around it. She was taking its word for it because she’d
never seen so many hundred dollar bills in one setting.

“
I
know the perfect investment banker.”

She widened her
eyes at him, not sure if he was joking. “We can’t keep
this.”

“
Why
not?”

“
Benji!” She turned away from the stack of temptation and
gazed into
his innocent
blue eyes. “For starters, if we suddenly deposit fifty thousand
dollars into our checking account and Detective Kahn finds out,
we’ll be spending our honeymoon in Sing Sing.”

“
So we
keep it in the freezer. Or inside my Goonies lunchbox. Or we can
buy one of those fake cans of Aqua Net.
Heck, we can put it back in the puzzle box and
leave it in the cold air return vent.
Cat, I can literally
think of a hundred different places where we can hide this
money.”

“
This
money is a result of everything that happened
 …
the games, Damien, Ryan. It’s blood
money and … bone money.”

“
They
weren’t exactly innocent victims.”

“
Still.”

“
It’s
no different than if we charged Quinn rent for the past
week.”

“
I
love our apartment, but I don’t really know that our futon is worth
fifty grand a week.”

“
It’s
a wedding present.” He picked up one of the stacks and waved it in
her face.

She frowned.
“It’s wrong. This money came from them violating everything I
believe in.”

“
Come
on. I’ve got an uncle who’s a kosher butcher, but I’m a vegetarian.
Does that mean I shouldn’t have accepted the five hundred dollars
he gave me for graduation?”

“
Nice
try, but it’s nowhere near the same thing and you know
it
.”

“
I
do.” He sighed. “But what are we supposed to do? Give it back to
the casino? Quinn put you and your career through hell
;
this is the least he can
do.”

Cat didn’t blink
under his pleading stare.

“
How
about this? It’s a wedding gift
,
so why don’t we spend it on our
wedding?”

“
Really? Benji Kardashian needs a six-figure
wedding?”