by Pete Bowen
1. Tony Reilly- The new cool rookie. Does he really belong on a list with the above? The way he carries himself, motivates the players around him and his workmanlike concentration during a game have him two games away from the Super Bowl and unbeaten as a starting QB. We’re about to find out how cool “Ice” really is. I wouldn’t bet against him. He’s way too cool.”
Chapter 38
“You spoke to Tierney after you spoke to Tony Reilly?” I could see Lydia was reluctant to talk about this.
“I’m fucked. This is going to be bad.” She started crying. “I knew Tony was coming back and that it was over for Paul and me here. I called to say goodbye to Oscar. He’s been very good to me.”
“Were you that close to Tierney?”
She paused and wiped away tears, “We were close.”
“Close like you and Tony were close?” She turned to me and nodded her head.
Roger was the one who asked it. “Is he in love with you?”
She looked away from us, out the window. “Yes, he didn’t want me to go.”
“How long had this been going on?” I asked.
“For a year and a half,” she said.
Wow! A lot of implications in that statement, I thought. Lydia Isackson got around. That was three guys she was doing at the same time.
“Do you think Oscar Tierney killed Tony Reilly?” Roger asked her.
She looked back at both of us, “I hope not.”
Chapter 39
Dallas beat the Detroit in the wild card game. For the first time in 20 years, San Francisco and Dallas faced off in a playoff game. San Francisco had two weeks to prepare for the game and rather than a letdown, came in to it with all cylinders firing. On the first possession, San Francisco marched down the field with precision passing and run plays, operating in the hurry up, spread formation. The Dallas defense didn’t have any answers to formations and plays they hadn’t seen before. They couldn’t get the right personnel on the field in the hurry-up. At the 10, Reilly faked a pass left and took off right, untouched into the end zone. He had completed 7 in a row before Best dropped an easy flair pass to the flat.
San Francisco Defense was on a mission, popping players all over the field. Dallas managed only to get to midfield once in the first quarter. On the offensive side of the ball, San Francisco scored 5 times in the first half for a 23-3 lead. The much-hyped rematch of two storied teams from the past never materialized. San Francisco was on a roll and the game was never in doubt. With a 35-10 lead in the fourth, Reilly came out of the game to a tumultuous standing ovation. He had completed 31 of 35 passes for 365 yards, 2 touchdown passes and scored. He had been flawless. When he ran off the field, he uncharacteristically jumped in the air and held up his index finger signifying #1 and then put it to his lips as if to say, “don’t tell anyone.”
Minnesota came to San Francisco for the NFC Championship game. They had easily beaten Atlanta to get there and were confident despite their loss to San Francisco six weeks ago. The game developed slowly with both defenses holding as both teams went three and out. Late in the first quarter, a pass interference call got Minnesota a 30-yard field goal. When San Francisco got the ball back, they put together a drive but it stalled and they kicked a field goal. A spectacular 45-yard run by the Minnesota star runningback got them in the red zone. Under pressure, the veteran quarterback threw a pass the defensive back tipped in the air and was grabbed by the Safety who ran it back for a 103-yard touchdown, in the play of the game. With the half running out and Minnesota in the hurry-up, San Francisco again tipped the ball, this time by a lineman, for an interception at the 40. Three plays later, Reilly found Oliva in the end zone for six. 14 points in less than two minutes at the half.
Color man: You know, I got to agree with Tony Reilly and it’s no secret, when this team is clicking, like San Francisco is right now, they are number one.
Announcer: You got a defense that’s running back 103 yard interceptions and there are just too many weapons that Tony Reilly can use and for the Minnesota Defense to cover. That’s how you got single coverage on one of the best receivers in football.
In the locker room just before they went out on the field for the second half, Reilly gathered the team around him. “We’ve got 30 minutes of football left. If you think they’re tucking their tail between their legs and letting us have it, think again. There is no quit in that team. We’ve got to go out and take it from them. Thirty minutes to the dance, boys. He said slowly and deliberately, Focus, Focus, Focus. They’re going to come out throwing the ball and try and loosen up Lewis. D-line, you got to keep pressure on the QB.” He looked slowly around at everyone on the team, “Let’s go kick their ass.”
Minnesota took their first possession for a field goal, but that was as close as they were going to get for the rest of the day. The San Francisco defense took over the game. Dropped four times and hurried countless others, the Minnesota QB was limping at the end of the game. He’d been beaten up and bloodied. San Francisco put up 10 more points and then slowed the game, burning the clock with the run. When Minnesota moved up to play run, Reilly would stretch them again down field. San Francisco was in the Championship.
Chapter 40
Sitting in the Porsche with Roger, all I could think of was how tired I felt. This mess really sucked before, but now it sucked more. “We have to go see Tierney,” Roger said.
“Are you running the show now?”
“I think we should bring the Calvary.”
“Not a good idea.”
“You’re worried about your client relationship?”
“Yea.”
“You’re an idiot. He shot his own player. Not only is it murder, but it’s morally reprehensible,” Roger said.
“You coming?” I asked.
“Duhhhhh,” he said. I hate when he does that.
“You know the odds are 93% on him,” Roger said. “Lydia didn’t do it. Call the Cops.”
“I don’t know.”
“He’s an asshole.”
“Don’t use that language.” We looked at each other and laughed.
I sighed, “Let’s go.”
Chapter 41
Tierney met us at the door. I didn’t see anyone else around his opulent, isolated mansion on the side of a hill in Atherton. He greeted us warmly and showed us through a spacious, beautifully decorated house, into an office with a breathtaking view. The place had to be $15 million. I said, “It’s a beautiful house, sir.” We sat down and Roger got out his netbook and started typing.
“So, what’s new and exciting boys? Figure this out yet?”
“After talking to Lydia Isackson, again, we’ve got a problem we need to discuss with you,” I said.
He cocked his head and with a puzzled look he said, “Yes?”
“Mrs. Isackson has admitted to an affair between herself and Tony Reilly.”
“Ummm, that is awkward,” said Tierney. I hope we can keep that under wraps. I would hate to besmirch Tony Reilly’s legacy or Lydia’s reputation for that matter.”
“That’s not the problem I’m worried about,” I said. “The problem is that she was also having an affair with you. That would seem to implicate you in Tony Reilly’s death. There would be motive and since you knew Tony was returning the other night, it would also give you opportunity.” Tierney didn’t change his expression and just stared at us.”
Roger looked up from his computer and said, “Mr. Tierney. Why did you do it? You murdered the best quarterback in professional football, your own player,” he hesitated, “…for pussy?”
Tierney considered the question and shifted in his seat. “Smart boy, too smart, the kid’s a pain in the ass,” he said to me.
“Tell me about it,” I said and rolled my eyes. I hadn’t been expecting fucking Roger to jump in here.
“Well that didn’t take you guys long to figure out.” He said it casually. “I didn’t think it would.” This guy was admitting to us he had killed Tony Reilly. “Yeah,
Lydia is one of those once in a lifetime women. I couldn’t just let her go.”
“What the fuck, Tierney,” Roger said, “Why hire us to investigate? Did you want to get caught?”
“I had to know where I stood in any investigation. If Mullins could find out, then eventually others could.” He paused, “I didn’t think I’d get away with it. It was crazy. Lydia was the problem.”
“Did you ever think you were going to get away with it?” Roger said disdainfully.
“You know what Roger, for about an hour, I thought I might.” He then picked up the silenced pistol out of his top drawer.
“I told you,” said Roger to me.
“Don’t give me that “I told you”, you little shit,” I said to him.
I said, “Mr. Tierney, please, I came to you to help you out of this. Don’t continue with this foolishness. How long are they going take to figure that out? We might even be able to make this all go away. You have to trust me, Mr. Tierney.”
“Make this go away? What do you have a time machine, Mullins?”
“I thought you did it. That’s why I called Tonelli and told him what I expected was going to happen. I said you’d be coming to turn yourself in…” I was grasping at straws here, “for accident of passion.”
“An accident of passion? I shot him in the back of the head.”
Roger’s shot hit him in the side of the head. The bullet threw him sideways. Tierney’s gun fired and the bullet went into the wall above my head. Roger and I just stood there as the sound of the gun rang in my ears. “Where’d you get that? Is that Velma’s?” We were looking at the lifeless body of Tierney, blank eyes open with a bullet wound in the temple.
“Well it belonged to Irv. It’s technically Velma’s.” I just stood there with my mind racing, speechless. Roger said, “You’re not going to take the fall on this, I shot him. I know you want to protect me, but forget about it. We’ll tell them exactly the way it happened. There is only one way to do this. Forensics will show I did it. He was a murderer about to shoot you. I had no choice. He even took a shot at you.”
He was a step ahead of me, as usual. I should have said, I’m taking it. I looked at him and saw the determination on his face. This was not going to be a fight I could win. “Put the gun on the floor.” He had been still holding it. “Okay,” and I sat back down on the couch. “Call the cops.” Fucking, Roger. “I had it under control. He was probably going to turn the gun on himself.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Roger said. He was going to kill both of us. He was nuts.”
I sat back down. Put my hands in back of my head. Closed my eyes and tried to think about good wine, a hot tub, the sun setting across a vineyard and a beautiful woman.
Fuck me.
Chapter 42
The Championship featured New England and San Francisco. Both teams had handily beaten their playoff rivals and were clearly the best teams in football. East Coast versus West Coast and all the clichés that are brought to mind were dragged out by the press. New England featured a veteran quarterback and a defense that had got them there. San Francisco had the quarterback with the hot hand and a defense that had just gotten better throughout the season. Vegas had SF a three-point favorite.
SF fumbled the opening kickoff and 3 plays later and only 2 minutes into the game, New England had a 7 point lead. SF marched the ball across midfield after the kick, but the drive stalled and they punted. New England then drove back down the field in a ten-play drive and punched the ball in to go up 14. New England had been flawless and SF was showing playoff jitters. Reilly was getting pressured on every play and was missing his targets. On third and eight from his own 36, he brought the pass down, ducked under the pressure and took off for 18 yards. Two plays later, he faked it to Best and bootlegged the ball for another 12 yards, a planned play. He threw out to Best in the flat for 8 yards. As New England moved in to cover the underneath stuff and the run, he found Terrence Brown in a crossing pattern to the seven. Robinson wasted no time punching the ball in with 3 players hanging on him, 14-7. The teams traded the ball back and forth on the next possessions. New England had a big interference call, but the drive stalled and they kicked a field goal. With time running out in the half, Reilly again scrambled for big yardage with his receivers covered. Getting hit hard running out of bounds, and the refs tacked on another 15 for unnecessary roughness. With 8 seconds to go at the 12, Reilly hit Oliva who couldn’t quite get the ball over the goal line before he ran out of bounds, stopping the clock. With 2 seconds left in the half at the one, instead of taking the easy 3 points, Reilly turned to the coach and put his hand up like a traffic cop stopping the kicking team from coming on to the field. Reilly faked the handoff to Robinson and ran the ball in through an open hole on the other side of the line for 17-14 at the half.
The analysis at half time talked about Reilly having the green light to run for the first time all year and what that meant in the second half. The San Francisco locker room was calm and confident. They had made some mistakes but knew they could win this one. The coach’s final words before coming out from the long half time, “Thirty minutes of football left, boys. Hold onto the football and this game is ours.”
New England took over at the 34-yard line and methodically marched down the field and scored with a one yard plunge by their running back, pushing the lead back to 10 again. On play action with 5 receivers in the pattern, Reilly hit Oliva on a comeback route. On the next play, he again hit Oliva. Two passes in a row, and San Francisco was in the red zone. Best took a flat pass for 12 more. Reilly faked a run up the middle turned and again took off with the ball, broke a tackle and put the ball over the line with an outstretched hand before being pushed out of bounds at the flag. On review the replay clearly showed the ball going over the line and the call on the field was reversed for a touchdown.
New England drove the ball steadily downfield but stalled at midfield and punted. San Francisco started inside their 10. They drove with a ball control offense. Stretching the field with long pass attempts followed by short passes and runs. A 22-yard run by Best got them to their own 45. Reggie Robinson came in to spell Best and added 17 more on the next play. Reilly had been operating in the shotgun with a hurry-up, no huddle offense that had been so successful all year. This was tiring out the New England defense. Reilly caught them offside with a quick snap when New England tried to change personnel. With the defense out of position, Reilly found his Tight End all alone in a defensive mix-up for another 25 yards. The drive stalled and San Francisco took the field goal at the end of the third quarter with the score tied. You could see Reilly uncharacteristically rallying his offense on the sidelines.
New England took the kick and marched 70 yards, but had to settle for a field goal. The teams traded the ball back and forth. New England again started a time consuming drive, but at the 12 yard line, Matt Benson made the defensive play of the game, stripping the ball from the runner with SF recovering with under 4 minutes to go, New England up three. On 3rd and eight, Reilly found his tight end for 18. Best found daylight through the line twice for runs of 9 and 11 to put San Francisco at midfield at the two minute warning.
A pass interference call got San Francisco a first down at the 33. With an empty backfield and five receivers in the pattern, New England playing nickel defense, Reilly brought the pass down and took off again for 10 yards. Playing hurry-up, San Francisco quickly got to the line and hit Oliva for seven more. He then hit his tight end for eight. They were now on the 15 yard line, first down, one minute on the clock. Reilly called time and slowly strolled over to his coach. He smiled at his coach and took a drink from the water bottle. The TV camera stayed on him in close up before going to the booth.
Announcer: Ice is on his game.
Color man: He certainly is. They got to be talking about the clock here. Do you take a shot now if it’s there or use up more time and not give New England another chance? I think you take it here and play defense with a touchdown needed to beat yo
u.
Reilly said to his coach, “Too much time. Let’s give it to Reggie.” They gave it to Robinson and he took it to the eight and New England has to call their last time out. 2nd and two, Robinson got the first down at the four. Reilly got his team quickly to the line, handed it off to Robinson for a gain of one and San Francisco called its last time out with 20 seconds left. Reilly studied the scoreboard as he walked to the sideline. He got the passing play from the offensive coordinator in the booth.
“Ground the ball if it’s not there,” was all the coach said to him on the field. It wasn’t. Reilly threw to Robinson, but a linebacker got a hand on the ball. Clock stopped with five seconds to go. Kick the field goal and send it in to overtime or win the game right here? There was never any question. Reilly again spread the offense, faked it to Robinson, spun and sprinted for the sideline. Reilly dove into the end zone as a linebacker made contact. Stretching the ball over the line as he went in for his third touchdown.
Game.
Epilogue
I am sitting in a lounge chair with Liz, back at Scottie’s place five days later, drinking a glass of Zin and trying to put all the bullshit from the last few days behind me. The sad funeral service for Tony Reilly had been televised. There was a big crowd outside of Grace Cathedral as a Who’s Who of celebrity and sports figures came to pay their last respects. Roger and I sat that one out but Liz and I have been together the rest of the time. I kissed her neck and she snuggled closer to me.
