Double Play (36 page)

Cat
traded knowing looks with
Spencer.

“
That
being said, I can’t ignore everything that is going on around me.
My first priority is not myself, but my family, friends and the
Soldiers
’
fans, who
believe in me and know that I would never do anything to hinder
this great team. My supporters have asked for ways to show their
support and
that
offer
alone means more than they’ll ever know. There are those
who
doubt my innocence,
but I beg of them to please remember that our justice system was
founded on a presumption of innocence.”

George’s voice
began to crack. He pulled a handkerchief out of his suit pocket and
dabbed at his teary eyes.

“
I
care more about the Soldiers than anything in this world. So much
so, I was able to beat my once-debilitating addiction. Yes, I was a
compulsive gambler for twelve years, that much is true, I’m ashamed
to admit. However, I take no shame in saying that I am recovered
and have been for six years. I successfully completed a treatment
program with one of the country’s foremost experts in addictions
and haven’t so much as scratched a lottery ticket since. I did all
this because when my father stepped down from his position with the
Soldiers, he offered me his most prized possession and I chose in
favor of my true love—the game of baseball. I gave my all to the
Soldiers and I took this club from a pretender to a contender. I
would never bet on the Soldiers to lose and I would certainly never
arrange a loss. While I would like you all to believe me, my only
request is that you don’t let this ugly accusation tarnish the hard
work
of
th
is season’s
team. However, I’m not
a
fool and I know that
my presence at this time would only cause further damage to the
team’s reputation.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“
Therefore
, I’m stepping
down from any
further
involvement with the team. I’ve relinquished sole ownership to my
brother, James.”

A few gasps
sounded from the back of the room. The camera
s started
flash
ing again
as George dabbed at his eyes. James Hudson
placed
a
hand on his
brother’s shoulder.

Spencer leaned
over and whispered in Cat’s ear, “I think the real story here is
how he gets all balled up about himself, but he was cool as a
cucumber when he said his vows to Ms. Kiki the Freaky over
there.”

“
You’re terrible.” Cat grinned. “Accurate, but
terrible.”

The Hudson
wedding had been another media frenzy, because George had insisted
on having it at the stadium during the All-Star Break, much to the
dismay
of the grounds
crew. Between the three hundred folding chairs and Kiki’s four inch
white stilettos, the field was mangled, but George owned the dirt
and destroying it was his prerogative. At least, he
had
own
ed
the dirt. Now he’d handed both it and
his bride
over
to
James
. O
f course she
doubted he knew about
the
transfer of ownership on the latter.

Cat’s eyes
flashed to Kiki. Three inches of cleavage spilled over the top of
her camisole and peeked out from the top of the jacket. She dabbed
at nonexistent tears under the thick layer of black eyeliner. For a
woman whose husband was facing prison time, she
was awfully dry-eyed
. George entwined his
thick
fingers with her
delicate ones
. The gold
signet ring sparkled at another flash of a camera.

“
That’s weird,” she whispered.
She fished her cellphone out of her purse and used its
camera to zoom in on their hands. She snapped a quick picture and
studied George's ring on the screen. It looked very much like the
one Quinn
had
left with
his
note.
The enlarged
image was too blurry to tell for sure, but the ring appeared to be
imprinted with the same coat of arms.
She had been surprised
that her
greedy
brother
hadn’t taken
the 14K gold
ring
with him
;
he
could’ve easily fetched a wad of cash at a pawn shop.
Why had he left it behind? If
he
’d
expected her to do
his dirty work once again and return
it
to its owner
,
he could at least have let her know who that owner was
.
Thinking it must belong to
someone on the team, s
he had planned on “finding it”
at
the stadium at a
later date, but had
not had a
chance
to execute her plan.
Since that ring was still in her possession, there had to
be two rings.

“
What?”

She shook her
head. “I’ll tell you later.”

“
As
many of you know, I took much pride in my position as chairman of
the Soldiers
;
however,
given the severity of these accusations, it is no longer in the
team’s best interest to have me serve. As such, with the league’s
approval, I will appoint my wife Kiki to replace me as head
chairman to facilitate the team’s operations.”

Kiki beamed at
this announcement. There were a few curious looks amongst the
media, but most of the reporters weren’t surprised. Kiki already
served on the board of directors and the head chairman position was
mostly a figurehead anyway, whose only task was to announce charity
events and hand out awards throughout the season. Even Kiki could
handle that.

Behind him,
James Hudson
responded with
another
solemn nod.

“
Thank
you for coming here today and
hearing me out
. I am confident justice will prevail
in this matter.”

Normally, this is
when the room would blow up with questions, however, the press had
already been informed that their questions would
go un
answered. She’d wanted to scoff,
“Freedom of the Press, eh?” but
whereas
the first amendment
might
afford protections with regard to her
opinions, it did bupkis for job security. If the reporters wanted
to get their questions answered in the future,
they had
to play by the house
rules.

George rose to
his feet and pulled out Kiki’s chair, escorting
the buxom blonde
out the side door. The
lawyers followed, but James didn’t
;
instead
he
took his brother’s seat
in front of the
table with the
microphone
s
.
He
didn’t look out of place. With the same fancy suit, full mound of
chestnut hair and cadet blue eyes, James was a younger, slimmer
version of his big brother. New and improved.

“
I’m
available to answer a few questions, providing they
concern
me and not my brother’s
legal
issues
.” He
smiled, his bright white
smile
stretching from ear to ear. The media pounced,
but
Spencer
spoke
the loudest.

“
Mr. Hudson, are you planning any immediate changes with
the team?”

James pursed his
lips
, his smile growing
somber.

“
My
brother did an excellent job putting together a winning team. It’s
no coincidence that
they
got to the playoffs
. I only
have
a few tweaks in mind to make sure
they
get there again next year.”

He crossed his
hands in front of him, giving Cat a chance to study each
finger.

Each
bare
finger.

Most of the
reporters had left, but Cat was milling around the back of the
conference room, trying to stay out of the way as it was staged for
a television interview. The ESPN reporter sat in the other chair,
reading through her notes while being fitted with a microphone.
James strutted inside, wearing a different suit than he had just an
hour earlier. Cat walked up behind the cameraman and cleared her
throat. “Mr. Hudson, can the Soldiers get a word before your
television debut?”

“
I
don’t have time for that right now.”

The reporter
looked
up from her
papers. “Yes
,
you do,
we’re not on for another ten.”

James placed his
hand on Cat’s shoulder and led her off to the side. “With all due
respect, I think this interview is a little more important
tha
n
the team
website.”

“
This
is off the record.”

“
Can
it wait? I have a little time free this afternoon if you
—
”

“
Where’s your ring?”

“
Excuse me?”

She held up her
right hand and pointed at her ring finger. “Your ring. Gold. Showy.
It’s got a family crest, which if I understand correctly, is
something you rich people like to
display whenever possible
. Your brother wears one,
so I’m guessing all the Hudsons do.”

“
Yes,
I know the one. It was a gift from my father.”

“
Where’s yours?”

“
I
don’t wear jewelry.”

Cat
was
prepared for that. She reached
into
her back pocket and
pulled out a cellphone. “Remember this summer? We were all at your
brother’s wedding
;
you
were the best man. The team photographers didn’t miss a beat.
Here’s when you handed him Kiki’s ring.” She showed him the photo
screen. “What’s that gold thing on your finger?”

He squinted at
the screen. “Okay,
so
I
wear it for family gatherings and such.” He
jerked
his head back
toward
the interview set. “Is that all? I’d
like to look over a few notes before I go on national
television.”

“
I’ve
got your ring.”

“
Excuse me?”

“
I
found a ring like that in my apartment after the poker game. I
can’t help but wonder how your family heirloom would wind up in my
house.”

“
Shouldn’t I be asking that?” He surveyed her empty hands.
“Well? Can I have it back?”

“
I’ll
have to get it
for
you
;
it’s still at my
apartment.”

“
I
guess I owe you one
.
I
thought I’d lost it.”

“
You
know, Detective Kahn seems to think there were more people present
at that poker game.”

The fake smile
melted off his face. “What’s your point?”

“
In
some people, drinking alcohol causes fluid retention and their
fingers get swollen. If that happened to a person, he would take
off his ring, which he might forget if he had to leave in a
hurry.”

His eyes
narrowed. “I’m your boss’s new boss, little girl, and I really
don’t appreciate what you’re insinuating.”

“
Your
ring was at my house the day after that poker game
.
I don’t think I’m
insinuating
anything.”

“
All
right, fine.” He gnawed on his bottom lip. “I guess it doesn’t even
matter anymore. That ring you have is George’s.
”

“
George is wearing his. I saw it this morning during the press
conference.”

“
No,
George is wearing mine.”

“
He
stole your ring?”

“
I
lent it to him. He came to me yesterday and told me he needed to
borrow mine. He didn’t say why and I didn’t ask. I could tell he
really needed it. I found out this morning that your brother was
trying to put the squeeze on him, to get even more money out of
him. George knew the ring implicated him and he thought that if he
had my ring, then your brother would drop it. Of course, none of
that matters now.”

“
You’re like forty pounds skinnier than your
brother.”

“
So?”

“
So
I’m surprised you wear the same ring size
.
”

She studied the
ring on her left hand. A month after Benji proposed with a size
four solitaire, she gained five pounds and had to have it resized
to a five. Then spring training came and with all the hectic work,
she’d lost the five—both in pounds and ring size. When the season
had started, all the eating out and traveling had packed on an
extra ten and the ring had to take another trip back to the
jeweler’s. Then swimsuit season came and she’d gotten back to her
optimum
weight
. Then she’d had
the ring resized to a four again.

“
Well,
maybe he had to jam it on there with butter. All I know
is
,
he’s my brother so I
broke the rules for him. I think you can relate.”

“
Unfortunately.”

“
Don’t
you have enough to do? Why are you stuck on this
anyway?”

“
That
poker game is when this all started. If people thought you were
there or had anything to do with this
—
”