Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Pandamoon Publishing
Murder at
First Pitch
The Ballpark Mysteries
Book 1
By
Nicole Asselin
© 2019 by Nicole Asselin
This book is a work of creative fiction that uses actual publicly known events, situations, and locations as background for the storyline with fictional embellishments as creative license allows. Although the publisher has made every effort to ensure the grammatical integrity of this book was correct at press time, the publisher does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. At Pandamoon, we take great pride in producing quality works that accurately reflect the voice of the author. All the words are the author’s alone.
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Pandamoon Publishing. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
www.pandamoonpublishing.com
Jacket design and illustrations © Pandamoon Publishing
Art Direction by Don Kramer: Pandamoon Publishing
Editing by Zara Kramer, Rachel Schoenbauer, Jessica Reino, and Ashley Hammond, Pandamoon Publishing
Pandamoon Publishing and the portrayal of a panda and a moon are registered trademarks of Pandamoon Publishing.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Edition: 1, version 1.00
Dedication
For Grandma Asselin who loved a good mystery and Grandpa Asselin who loved the Red Sox.
Murder at First Pitch
Chapter One
Crack.
The fastball careened off the splintered wooden bat and traveled into centerfield for a line drive single. The Abington Armadillos’ first baseman rounded first and tried to stretch it into a double. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as young as he once was and had lost his speed sometime during the presidential election of 2008. The second baseman received the ball and tagged the man legging it out well before he hit the bag. A groan went up from the players standing at the top of the dugout. Even though it was just a split squad scrimmage before the season started, the players took it very seriously.
Madeline Boucher leaned over the outfield railing. She breathed in the scent of the freshly cut grass at the Abington Armadillos ballpark. As she looked across the field at the player milling about, she felt that familiar tug of the game and her family’s ballpark. It wasn’t the easiest journey back home, but she felt that she was finally where she needed to be.
She took a quick glance down at her watch and let out a gasp. The time had gotten away from her and she now had to rush. Grabbing her bag, she dashed back to the stairs for the main concourse. She had to get ready for the new concessions party that night at the ballpark. It was her first night back full time with the team and she wanted to make sure she made a good impression. She knew most of the staff from family events, but she wasn’t sure how they would react to her taking on a full-time position in the front office.
Madeline slammed into the front doors of the park and dashed towards the parking lot. She hopped into her car and quickly jammed the key into the ignition. As she pulled out of the parking lot, she thought back to a few weeks ago and how her life changed so quickly.
* * *
“Madeline, I’m sorry to tell you this, but we lost the contract.” Her now ex-boss heaved a sigh and leaned back in her small office chair. “You know how hard it is here in Boston for this type of work. It’s not like we have people beating down the door to hire writers for this type of technical writing. You’ll have until the end of the month before the contract is completed.”
Madeline weaved her way back to her desk through the cubicle farm of the small office. The rest of the cubes seemed quiet, and she had a feeling people were scrambling to apply for jobs as soon as they could. While she didn’t love her job, it was a steady paycheck and kept her at least a bit independent from her family. She loved them dearly, but she was apprehensive about joining the family business.
Now there was no excuse. She knew what she had to do.
Madeline picked up the phone and dialed the front desk of the baseball park. She knew the number by heart from her daily conversations with her mom. After three quick rings, a woman with a strong Boston accent answered the phone. “Abington Ahmadillos Front Office, this is Eliza, how can I help ya?”
Madeline smiled into the phone. “Eliza, it’s me, Maddie. Are my parents around?”
Eliza had been with the team for years and knew exactly what was going on at any moment through the ballpark. She even knew what the players were up to when they were out of the stadium. Her reach was everywhere. She was about Madeline’s age, mid-thirties, but married with three kids. She was the standard “South Shore” women that most people knew about in the area. That meant she was obsessed with three things, her Ugg boots, her iced coffee from Dunks no matter the season, and her tanning. Madeline could hear her tapping her long fingernails against the desk as she was on the phone.
“Of course! Hey, before I send you over there, are you coming to the concession stand party next month? It’s a big deal for the family and the park…. plus, you know what…” she paused dramatically. “Davis will be there.”
Madeline smiled and took a deep breath at the mention of Davis. He was her former high school crush and now worked as the current security leader for the stadium. Six feet tall, dark hair, green eyes, and the body of a former baseball player, he was good looking, and Madeline also knew that he was a genuinely nice guy too. She hadn’t heard any gossip about him recently, but they did see each other periodically at family game events. “Yeah, yeah, thanks Eliza for the heads up. I’ll be there of course, but NOT to see Davis.”
Eliza knew about Madeline’s unrequited crush on Davis and laughed as she transferred the call to her mom’s office phone. The phone rang once before Madeline’s mom picked up.
“Marie Boucher, how can I help you?”
Madeline sighed in relief at hearing her mom’s voice. “Bad news, Mom.”
“Oh, sweetie, what’s going on?”
“I lost my job. I have a month to find something new.” Madeline choked up saying the words out loud. She held back her tears, took a deep breath, swallowed her pride, and asked the question that she had been waiting to do. “Mom, do you think there is a place for me with the team after all this? I just don’t have the energy to do a long job search.”
“Of course, that’s great news! You know I’ve been trying to get you back here ever since you graduated college. Since it’s the beginning of the season, it shouldn’t be too hard to get you spun up on everything. Plus, you already have
the background, and now I don’t have to do any training with you. We need a new social media consultant, and I would love to fill it with my own beautiful daughter.” Madeline’s mother was the queen of the sale. She was the best advocate for the team, and she knew how to flatter and cajole her way into getting most things she wanted. As the saying goes, she could sell water to a fish.
* * *
Madeline stepped out of the shower as she thought about all the things that had changed in the last month. Her three cats wound their way around her legs and sat in the bathroom as she started to do her makeup and straightened her short brown bob.
While not the skinniest person out there, she wore her chubbiness as a point of pride. Once she turned thirty, it was so hard to keep the extra weight off, so she just decided to accept herself for who she was. And to be honest, she felt much better with a few more pounds on. She looked at herself in the mirror and fussed with the hem of her A-line bright emerald green dress. She had bought it in the team colors as a good introduction to the crew.
Her one-story cape style house was located in Abington, which was great for the new job. Even with a job in Boston at the time she bought the house, it was the cheapest option to live south of the city. So far it was just her and the three rescue cats, but it was home. It was nice to be so close to the family and the park, but still have her own place to get away from it all if needed.
Madeline pressed the automatic key to her Red Sox navy blue Honda Accord sitting in the driveway and hopped in. She took a deep breath and began the quick trip to the ballpark for the party. She pulled into the parking lot two minutes later and saw a crowd milling about the front entrance since the party hadn’t started yet. She parked and waited a few minutes before spotting Eliza heading towards the office side entrance. She quickly turned the car off and sprinted over to Eliza, pressing the lock button as she did.
Shortly after the two women entered the office, the front doors were opened and the small, but excited crowd hustled in to get a load of the new options. The brand-new concessions area at the home of the Armadillos was sparkling and crowded with all sorts of local baseball bigwigs. Or at least people who thought they were bigwigs.
She spotted the owner of the Armadillos’ fiercest rival, the Barnstable Barnstormers, hanging by the bar. It wasn’t surprising since he was widely known for his alcoholic outbursts at games. “Eliza, is that William Chase over there by the bar?” Madeline tried to discreetly point over her shoulder to the offender. “I really hope we don’t have to cut him off. My parents wouldn’t want to make a scene.”
Eliza rolled her eyes. “Billy is a lush. He just has to get his crap together and then he’ll be fine.” Madeline looked around to see if anyone was listening to their conversation.
“Shhhhh! I don’t want my parents to hear me talking crap about a competitor. I don’t know if I told you the good news. I’m coming back full time starting next week. The team needed someone to run their social media accounts, and I guess I’m cheap labor.”
Eliza clasped her hands together and pulled Madeline into a big hug. She squeezed her tightly and squealed into her ear. “I’m so excited! We’re going to have the best time working together. THE BEST!”
Madeline extracted herself from the hug and made a waving motion to the bar. Having been around the team since her grandfather had bought the team in the 80s, Madeline knew most of the people milling about the concessions stands. The family had decided to upgrade the concessions that year from the normal hot dog and burger stands to three more upscale options as well. They still had the burgers and dogs, but now there was a salad place, an ice cream joint, and a craft brewery area. While most people attended the Independent League for cheaper baseball, food was still important to keep them coming back for more.
The party was being held to let the season ticket holders and local dignitaries a chance to try the new options before opening to the general public. So far, it seemed to be a success. The line for the craft beer was stretched out into the party on the concourse itself. Madeline also spotted several old timers enjoying ice cream from a tiny replica baseball helmet. She smiled. Those were her favorites too. She used to attend Red Sox games with her grandfather and begged him to get the ice cream in the helmet every time they went. And every time he acquiesced.
As always, thinking of her Grandpa made her emotional. Even though the family had owned the team since before she was born, he was the one who instilled the love of the game and love of the Red Sox. He had passed away after she graduated college and she still missed him. It was hardest during the season, because she always wanted to discuss the latest team happenings. He was actually the one who got the family into the whole baseball racket in the first place. The team was having a downturn in the 1970s, brought on by bad professional baseball in the city. People just didn’t want to go to any games. Her Grandpa bought the team in his own hometown for a pretty reasonable price when the town was trying to rehab its image and draw tourists in. The Abington Armadillos was one part of that.
She knew that people thought the name was weird. Armadillos weren’t exactly native to New England. In fact, before the Red Sox won their first world series, the team was actually called the Huskies. Her Grandpa was such a fan of that 2004 team, he took the whole “Cowboy Up” theme coined by the players and thought about rebranding. At a Red Sox event that summer, one of the former players for that team, Kevin Millar, started expounding on the armadillos around his Texas homestead, and well, the name was changed. Alliteration is always a bonus when naming a sports team, and her Grandpa thought it had just enough tongue-in-cheek humor to make it work. And it did. The fans loved the change.
By the time Madeline was born in the 1980s, he had turned the team into a pretty lucrative business. While not affiliated with a specific pro team, the Armadillos even sent several players to the major leagues at some point. The lucky ones got sent to the minor leagues of the Red Sox in Maine and Rhode Island. Her Grandpa let her and her brother around the team as much as possible and they came to love them almost as much as the pros. Most of the kids in the area gravitated towards football and basketball, but not them. When her Grandpa passed away, Madeline’s father took the helm of the team with her brother Ben as his deputy. He continued the family traditions of the park and even provided upgrades like Wi-Fi and table ordering in the stands. Her mother came aboard to run the front office, and everyone knew you had to go through her in order to get things done.
Now it was Madeline’s turn to stake her claim with the team and her family. Madeline thought that losing her job had one silver lining, it might be fun working at the park again. She looked around the concourse again and noticed her brother deep in conversation with a man she’d never seen before. That was weird because she knew most of the people at the party, and this particular guy didn’t seem to fit in. He was dressed for a night out in Boston, not a casual baseball opening party. He had on a three-piece black suit, black hair slicked back with gel, and dress loafers. About the same height as her brother, he seemed to be yelling something into her brother’s face.
The man’s face had turned an unbecoming shade of red as he continued yelling and pointed at her brother’s chest. Ben held out his hands, as if he was trying to calm the man down. That just seemed to make the man angrier. Madeline noticed people around them started backing away and looking uncomfortable. She wondered if she should get security to head off any problems before it got too serious.
Ben looked over and caught her eye. She pointed at the guy talking to him and made a gesture asking who he was. He gave her a tiny shake of his head and turned back to the guy. The well-dressed man shoved a finger in her brother’s face and stormed off. Madeline made her way over and grabbed Ben’s arm, pulling him to a corner out of the way of the party.
“Who the heck was that? And why was he so angry?” She peppered him with questions as he rolled his eyes. He hated questions. They were relatively close as siblings, only separated by two years, but go
t on each other’s nerves very easily.
He had one more eye roll and waved a dismissive hand. “Maddie, don’t worry about it. It’s just some guy I had a disagreement with a few days ago. He was talking crap about our new catching prospect and I disagreed with his opinion. Nothing more. He’s just a guy with a vested interest in baseball.” He paused and looked around. “Shouldn’t you be mingling with your new co-workers instead of interrogating me?”
With that, he turned on his heel and headed back towards the craft beer stand. She stood there thinking about what he had said. She didn’t know if she believed him. What does a “vested interest” in baseball even mean? A fan? A player? An agent? That guy looked way too angry to be concerned about some catcher on an independent league baseball team. Why would Ben lie to her though? She hoped he wasn’t in trouble, but there was nothing she could do about it now. As she turned back to the crowd, she spotted Davis making his way towards her.
She glanced around anxiously looking for Eliza to be her wingwoman in this conversation, but she was nowhere to be found. She took a deep cleansing breath and turned back in his direction. No time for awkwardness. She straightened her shoulders and gave Davis a big smile as he arrived at her side.
Chapter Two
Madeline had to remind herself not to stare at him, but to use her words and converse with him. Mental pep-talks always helped her in situations like these. She was helplessly awkward sometimes around the guys she tended to crush on. He was just so dreamy. She remembered taking the time during college to follow along with his baseball career. He never made it very far but played for a lot of independent teams before blowing out his knee in a playoff game. Being a local, he knew about her family’s team and her family was only too happy to bring on a baseball player to the crew.
Murder at First Pitch Page 1