Murder at First Pitch

by Nicole Asselin

  Madeline tried to peek through the space in the bathroom door to see who the voices belonged to. Unfortunately, both women were just out of sight. She tried jamming her face closer to the door in hopes she could catch a glimpse, but instead her phone fell out of her hand and clattered to the floor. She heard both women suck in a breath and quickly scramble out the door. Madeline tried to follow, but the stall door lock got stuck. Swearing, she scrambled to unlock the door, but she knew she wouldn’t see the two ladies who were there.

  Madeline ran out the bathroom door and looked around. The bar was so crowded; there was no way she could pick out the two women. She should’ve looked closer at their shoes. Then maybe she could identify them. Man, it would’ve been nice if she could’ve caught the gossipers.

  Madeline sighed and headed back to the table with the security group. Davis motioned her over to where he and Esther were deep in conversation. As she approached the table, she heard her name over the cacophony of the crowded room. Madeline turned in a circle and could just barely make out Tom’s head above the crowd making his way over. She waved him over to join the group. Davis’ lips tightened as Tom approached. She introduced the two men and there was an awkward handshake. Both men stood up tall, as if taking measure of each other. The tension was definitely palpable.

  Esther must have felt it too, because she quickly diverted attention to the fact that the Red Sox were up 2–0 in the bottom of the second inning. “Hey! Look at that, the ace is dealing tonight!”

  “Hey, Tom,” Madeline said. “What are you doing out here tonight? Got any big scouting plans?”

  He laughed and looked around the bar. “Not exactly. I was supposed to meet a former college player here for a drink and talk about some future options, but he never showed up.” He shrugged. “Then I saw you and thought I’d come over and say hi now that things look to be calming down a bit.”

  Madeline laughed, her go-to move to avoid awkwardness. She looked over at Davis who had a frown on his face as he studied his beer. Turning her attention back to Tom, she wanted to let him know that she appreciated his help in the past few days. “Tom, I wanted to thank you for helping me out this week. Finding out more about the victim and William Chase really helped us put things in perspective. I don’t know if anyone is closer to finding out who the murderer actually is, but that’s not my job anyway, right?”

  “No problem. Anything to help you and your family. You guys have always been good to me the past few years, so it’s the least I could do to pay you guys back. Speaking of your family”—he leaned forward—“I heard through the grapevine that your brother is going to work for the big guys. The Sox.”

  She must have looked shocked, because he quickly continued. “I mean, that’s just the rumor going around. I don’t even know if it’s true.”

  Madeline schooled her face to make a neutral expression. “Well, I guess the cat is out of the bag. Sort of anyway. He did have an interview, but he’s still waiting for them to make a decision before he makes a decision. If that makes sense.” She waved a hand in the air. “The family understands completely though. I mean, it’s the Red Sox! It’s the dream! So, no worries at this point.” She tried to smile, but still had some doubts about what Ben’s leaving might mean to the family and the team.

  A raucous cheer went up from the bar; the Red Sox designated hitter hammered a homerun to drive in two more runs. Even though it was only June, any time the team started to go on a streak, the fan base tended to get wicked excited. Luckily, her grandpa was still around when the Red Sox won their championship in 2004. That was a memory that she’d never forget. The 86-year curse was broken, and her grandpa couldn’t have been happier. They watched the final game as a family, and when Keith Foulke tossed the ball to first base for the last out, they all stood and cheered. There were tears and screaming. Since then, the team had won a bunch more championships, each one sweeter than the last. But nothing would ever replicate that first one, though.

  She shook herself out of her baseball memories and took another look around the bar to see if anyone else looked familiar. In the far corner of the bar, she caught a glimpse of long blonde hair that seemed familiar. Turning around in her seat to get a better look, she could’ve sworn it was Jennifer Roberts, the reporter. She guessed it wasn’t completely out of the ordinary to see her in the bar, but she still got an uneasy feeling. She didn’t think that Jennifer noticed her watching her; she kept looking at her watch and then at the front door of the restaurant. Madeline felt a tap on her shoulder and saw Davis standing over her following the direction of her eyes towards Jennifer.

  “Hey, did you see Jennifer over there?” Davis pointed into the darkness of the bar.

  “Yeah, I guess I was just wondering what she was doing here again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her at this bar before she confronted us, and then she didn’t even stay that long. I guess she could just be here getting a drink, but it looks like she’s waiting for someone.” She looked back at Davis. “Oh! I did overhear two women in the bathroom talking about drugs and the rumors. I couldn’t see who was talking, but I wonder if she is involved. I mean, she does have some sort of vendetta towards the family, at least that’s how it seems the past few weeks. It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that she was involved.”

  “You can’t go around half-cocked just accusing people of things though. We don’t know if Richard Murphy was her only lead regarding the rumors or if she’s involved any more than that. I say we just sit and wait a bit. She seems to be waiting for someone, let’s see who shows up.” Davis put a hand on her shoulder.

  Madeline felt a quick zip of electricity where he touched her. Not the static electricity kind, but the kind a person gets from someone they have chemistry with. She tried to look at him out of the corner of her eye to see if he had the same reaction she did, and she saw him look down at his hand and quickly pull it off her shoulder. They both looked away from each other and looked anywhere but at each other. Madeline cleared her throat and stepped away.

  Tom pretended not to notice the awkwardness between Madeline and Davis. This was a nightmare for her. The guy she was kind of dating and the other guy she had a crush on for most of her adult life. Tom put his head closer to hers to be heard over the crowd.

  “Hey, is everything okay? I heard you telling Davis about Jennifer Roberts. You guys went to high school together, right? She’s trying to break into national news I think. She tried to badger me for comments on the murder last week, but I gave her the brush off.”

  She was only half listening to him at that point, because Jennifer hopped off the stool she was on at the bar and made her way towards the bathroom. Madeline saw her glance over at Ashley and give an almost imperceptible nod to the door. Jennifer went into the ladies’ room. Ashley stood for a few seconds, looking around, and then followed her in.

  “Davis! Did you see that?” He looked at her then looked around the room.

  “No, what are you talking about?”

  Tom was looking around also trying to determine what she was so animated about.

  “Jennifer Roberts, the reporter, and Ashley, Dailey’s girlfriend, just met in the bathroom. Why do they know each other? That’s suspicious, right? And how are they both connected to William? That night at the bar both women seemed to be talking to him.”

  Both guys looked at her as if she was crazy. Maybe she was. Maybe she was just seeing suspicious things everywhere. It just felt odd that for those two different people to be suddenly meeting each other in such a public place associated with the Abington team. There was also the nod that she saw Jennifer give to Ashley before they headed to the bathroom. That sure looked like a secret communication to her.

  “Esther, can you casually go into the bathroom and see what those two ladies are talking about? Or if they’re talking at all? Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but I don’t buy it. I can’t be the one to go over there; they both know me already. Jennifer is already annoyed at me because
I won’t give her a salacious story for her news reports.”

  Esther rolled her eyes and put her beer down. “Okay, but you owe me. This is kind of weird.” She took off towards the ladies’ room shaking her head.

  Another cheer went up from the bar crowd as the Red Sox scored again. While she was excited the team was winning, she was distracted by staring at the bathroom door waiting for information. Esther came back out less than a minute later shaking her head. Not two seconds after Esther, Jennifer came out, looked around, and made her way to the exit, grabbing her keys from her purse as she walked.

  Ashley was last to leave the bathroom, and seemed a little bit distracted. When she saw Madeline looking at her, her face looked shocked. Eyes wide, mouth open, and Madeline could clearly hear her swear and turn towards the exit. She scampered out the door behind Jennifer before Madeline could even move. Esther arrived back at the group after pushing her way through the happy baseball fans.

  “Maddie that was a waste of time. As soon as I opened the door both women stopped talking, made like they were washing their hands, so I left. As you saw, they left right after me. I didn’t even hear them talking to each other. While I was in there, they didn’t even acknowledge each other.” Esther took a swig of her beer. “I think you’re just being a bit paranoid, Maddie. Those two aren’t smart enough to be colluding on anything. What could they have to talk about anyway? And on that secret spy note, I have to get home. I want to be there before the kids go to bed.”

  Esther gave me a quick hug and before letting go, leaned into Madeline’s ear. “Girl, you got two guys here. I think both of them are digging on you. Don’t drag it out too long.” Squeezing her arm one last time, Esther grabbed her bag off the table and left the restaurant.

  Madeline looked over at the two guys standing awkwardly at the bar table together. Both were looking serious and watching the TV. Looking at the two guys standing together, Madeline realized how similar they actually were. Both were decent guys with decent jobs and seemed to like her.

  Davis was her schoolgirl crush. She wondered if that’s where her feelings were coming in. On the other hand, Tom was someone completely new. He seemed nice and already had her mom’s stamp of approval. Of course, Davis did too. Madeline had to say, both men were great but at that moment, she had way too much going on to worry about her love life. Any big decisions would have to wait until Chris Dailey’s murderer was caught and the rumors swirling around the team died down.

  After an uncomfortable silence watching the game, Tom looked over at Madeline. “Well, I guess I’d better head out. Got a long day at the club tomorrow to get ready for. Are you free next week for another coffee date?”

  Glancing over at Davis, she saw he was playing with the label of his beer. Turning back to Tom, she said, “Sure, just shoot me a text or call when you’re free. We have a few day camps coming this week, but I can work around some of that.” He leaned in awkwardly and gave her a quick hug. Nodding, he turned and left her and Davis alone in the restaurant.

  “So…” She trailed off and tried to think of something else to say.

  “Well,” Davis said at the same time. They smiled at each other.

  Madeline took a quick look at her watch and realized how late it was getting. She was not the type to stay out late drinking, especially on a school night. She knew it was time to pack it in. All the excitement of seeing Jennifer and Ashley together wore off, and now she was just as confused as ever. It seemed there were a few puzzle pieces that didn’t fit with each other. She knew it wasn’t her place to put the puzzle together, but she needed to see it through. She couldn’t leave all the loose ends around that could potentially ensnare her family in the future.

  “Davis, I’m going to head out,” she said, placing her hand on his arm.

  “Okay, I’m going to stay and watch some more of the game. Text me to let me know you made it safely.” Davis gave her a smile. “And try not to think too much about what you saw tonight. It could all be completely innocent.”

  As she left the bar, she kept thinking about the two women’s voices she heard in the bathroom. Could one of the voices have been Jennifer? She had had it out for her family since the story broke. She also wondered why she couldn’t quite remember her from high school. She went to a big school, but faces were usually easy to remember. Madeline made a resolution to find her high school yearbook when she arrived home that night to do some research. At least that was some useful piece of research that would at least answer one or two questions.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Madeline woke up the next morning with a twinge of a headache. It wasn’t that she drank too much the night before, but it was probably just an amalgamation of the stress of the past few weeks combined with wine. Hangovers were not something that usually happened to her, she was lucky that way. Not that she was a big drinker to begin with. She stretched in bed, kicking one of the cats off the bed by accident. Even though they couldn’t talk back, she spent the next few minutes apologizing profusely. Having mad cats was not something she needed to add to her plate.

  Thankfully it was Monday. There was nothing pressing to deal with at the park since the next games weren’t scheduled until the following weekend. She decided to take the morning to get some things done at home that she had been neglecting the past few weeks. Before she could do that, she really wanted to satisfy the curiosity she had about Jennifer Roberts. She still didn’t remember her from any classes in high school, but it was a long time ago. Lord knows she had changed, maybe Jennifer did too.

  After a quick breakfast of cinnamon toast and iced tea, she put on the boy bands radio station and headed into the basement to find her old yearbooks. She was sort of a pack rat, so all four years of high school yearbooks were kept in a plastic tub. Also in the tubs were here mementos of her younger life. Like the time she went to Europe with a choral group to sing across the continent, or pieces of jewelry from homecoming dances. She had been lucky enough not to have a bad experience in high school. She straddled the line between loser and cool kids. The choir nerds and the cool kids who played sports both accepted her. She lucked out.

  Pulling the gray tub from behind a wall of boxes, she lugged it upstairs and put it down on the living room floor, sending a cloud of dust into her face. She coughed and opened the tub to see what goodies she could find. The three cats joined her as they explored the new object in their midst. Right on top was a set of four hardbound yearbooks. She probably didn’t need to buy one for each year, but the yearbook team had a way of convincing gullible students that they needed a yearbook each year to round out their high school experience.

  Madeline pulled out her senior yearbook and flipped to the senior pictures. She hated hers. She had bangs and some god-awful gold sweater on. She didn’t know what she was thinking. She guessed she could chalk it up to late 90s fashion, but it was almost the year 2000 when her picture was taken; she should’ve known better. Whatever.

  She flipped several pages to the “R” section. Running her finger along the pictures and the names, she didn’t see anyone listed with the name Roberts, let alone Jennifer. She wondered if that was her married name. Maybe that’s why she couldn’t find her. Madeline flipped back to the front of the senior section and went page by page.

  Still nothing.

  Closing the yearbook, she texted Esther to see if she had any ideas about Jennifer at all. While Madeline waited for a response, she wondered if something deeper was going on. Did Jennifer actually attend her high school or was she just trying to ingratiate herself with her to get a juicy story? But why lie about something that could be easily verified? Of course, Madeline had taken two weeks to check on an obviously sketchy story to begin with, so maybe it wasn’t that crazy of an idea.

  Madeline’s phone pinged and she saw Esther had responded. She couldn’t remember anyone with that name from high school either, and when they were at the bar the night before she didn’t recognize her. Esther knew everyone in school.
She was one of the popular crowd and made it her mission to know everyone. If she didn’t remember Jennifer, then there were definitely some shenanigans going on.

  Putting the yearbooks back into their gray container, she turned up her wireless speakers and began to clean the house. It was rare she had a morning off to herself, so getting the housework done was necessary. The cats chased her around as she ran the vacuum cleaner, and attacked her feet as she cleaned the litterboxes. They also had their habits when she did her chores. She was jamming out to an old *NSYNC song, waving around her feather duster, when she heard a ping from her phone.

  Madeline ran over to her phone and saw a text message from a number she didn’t know. She opened it warily, hoping that it didn’t have some virus or something attached to it. It was a brief message:

  Maddie, we need to talk. Meet me at the Barnstable Barnstormers stadium today at 5pm. ALONE! — William

  She couldn’t believe first that William finagled her phone number somehow, let alone that he would text her to talk. She remembered when he accosted her at Opening Day, but she thought he got the answers he was looking for already because she hadn’t heard from him. Why her? If he was looking for some back-channel communication for information regarding the team, he really picked the wrong person. Madeline only knew the basics and was still learning; she hadn’t even made any front office decisions without checking with multiple people.

  She mulled over the situation. She really wanted to find out what he wanted to talk to her about. Maddie decided that it couldn’t hurt to make a trip out in the afternoon to see what he wanted. Even though she had a momentary feeling of unease, seeing that he was still a possible suspect on her list of Dailey’s murderers, her overwhelming need to find out what was up overrode that.