She reached over to her phone and typed in his extension. “Ben? Can you come to my office for a minute? Davis and I want to ask you something.”
She hung up the phone and sat back behind her desk. A few seconds later Ben strolled into her office with his hands in his pockets. Taking a seat next to Davis, he looked at both of them expectantly. “Is this about the break-in last night?”
Madeline looked sharply at her brother. “We already talked about it, Ben. You had talked to Davis and I just reiterated that there wasn’t anything to worry about. I scared the person away and couldn’t chase them through the parking lot. Nothing was taken, so again, no big deal.”
Davis looked at her, shaking his head. “I still think you need to be more careful, Maddie. With a potential murderer running around who apparently knows their way around the ballpark, you should be more careful when you’re alone. And you definitely shouldn’t be confronting any burglars.”
She waved a hand, “Fine, I know. I’ll be more careful next time. Now, can we get back to the list?”
Davis rolled his eyes at her again and handed the list over to Ben. “Ben, do you have any information about Richard Murphy and his son that might help in the investigation? Maddie found this paper and she thinks it might be some sort of suspect list about the murder.”
Ben thought for a second and then spoke. “Rich is a great guy. I’ve known him for a while, ever since David came to the team years ago. He’s super supportive of his son, and he’s supportive of the team. I’ve never heard a bad word about him. I find it hard to believe that he’d have anything to do with Chris’ murder.”
Madeline couldn’t decide if she should tell the guys about the fight she witnessed between Tom and Rich. Fight was probably a strong word, she guessed argument was a better term for it. Before she could tell them the story, Davis jumped in and quizzed Ben some more.
“How long has David been with the team?”
Ben put a finger to his chin and thought for a minute. “I think it’s been about three full years now. He was one of the first people my Dad signed out of the Cape League. He’s a decent player, got an injury during his final games with the league that hindered his pro chances. When we offered him a spot on the team, he and his dad jumped on the opportunity. I guess we were the only team of any caliber interested in him at that point. His father was heavily involved in the negotiation and signing process, but I never felt that he was too pushy.”
Madeline pulled up David Murphy’s bio on the team website and followed along with Ben’s story as he explained it to Davis.
Ben continued, “In fact, I think his mother passed away when he was young, so his father really had to raise him on his own. I know when the pro career didn’t work out, his father pushed him into joining the independent league here. Most kids would’ve given up, but David had a good support system. His dad has been nothing but supportive. I’ve never heard him say a bad word about his son or the team. Rich wasn’t one of those crazy parents who seemed to live life vicariously through his kid. He seemed genuinely happy for his son to have the opportunity to keep playing.”
Davis looked at Madeline, urging her with a hand to ask any questions she had. “Other than this list, do you know if either David or his father ever met Chris Dailey or had dealings with him in the scouting world? I find it hard to believe he would have any steroid connections; David seems like such a straight shooter.” She looked at her brother.
“That would be something you’d have to talk with the manager about. We don’t really get involved in any discipline stuff unless we really have to. First line of defense in making sure our guys are clean is the manager and his staff. If there is an issue, then it comes up our way for further investigation. As of right now, I haven’t heard of any of our guys in trouble. Granted, the season has just started, but I think Billy has a good grip on his guys.” Ben made to get up and headed towards the door. “Tell you what. I’ll head down to the practice field later today to get a sense from Billy if there are any issues that we should be looking out for. Does that work for your guys?”
Ben looked at both Davis and Madeline. She got a sense that he was trusting her on this investigation, even if Davis was bothering her about it. She knew her brother was more worried than he let on about the investigation focusing on him, even if they had moved on.
Before Madeline could respond, Ben looked at Davis and spoke. “So, Davis, any thoughts on the break-in last night? Could it be related to the murder?”
Davis looked at Ben warily and then pierced Madeline with a hard stare. Madeline tried not to meet his eye and cleared her throat. Looking back up at him, she could feel her face turning red in embarrassment. “Look, nothing happened. Just some person rummaging around in Ben’s desk.” She pointed at the side door. “They ran out that door and took off. I didn’t see a car or anything. Maybe it was just a curious partygoer.”
Davis shook his head. “C’mon, Maddie. You don’t believe that, do you? I wish you wouldn’t have tried to investigate in the first place. You should’ve just called the police as soon as you heard someone in the offices.”
“I didn’t want to call the police right away if it was just Ben looking for a pen or something in his office. I talked with him about it last night and I realized I was probably overreacting. It was late and I don’t think anything really happened, but I’ll call Detective Stephenson and let him know about the break-in. Ben, just double check to see if anything is missing in the light of day.” Madeline raised her hands in surrender.
After parting ways with the two guys, she settled back in behind her desk to get her actual job done. She was working on a social media day at the ballpark. Discounted tickets, swag bags, and a chance for a meet and greet with a current player. The season would be in full swing by the time the event rolled around, but she wanted to make sure everything was in order well in advance. She spent the rest of the day working on the logistics and before she knew it, it was quitting time.
Eliza poked her head into the doorway. “Hey girl, you leaving? It’s getting late!”
Madeline checked her watch. It was already five-thirty. With no game for the night, she knew she should take this free time while she could. She shut down her computer and lifted a finger up to indicate that Eliza should wait. She wanted to check in with her, see if there was any gossip floating around about the murder.
Okay, now she was feeling weird. Thinking of it as “their” suspect list. She was sure the police were on top of things even if they hadn’t made an arrest yet. It had been two weeks. She would’ve thought something big would’ve happened by now. Maybe her perspective was skewed from crime shows and detective novels. The suspect was usually caught pretty quickly. Heck, on Law and Order, it was always done in the first few days.
The team was lucky there was not a whole lot of media coverage on the murder. All it would take is one person asking questions to bring the attention back to the ballpark and the family. She didn’t want that to happen. She would prefer this whole thing be wrapped up quickly.
Madeline followed Eliza out the door. “So, heard any good gossip lately?”
Eliza saw right through her fishing attempt at information. “Girl, are you still trying to solve the murder all on your own? You know that’s not your job, right? He was a bad dude. Who knows what kind of people he knew from his days in the joint. Not exactly Club Med there, friend.” Eliza shook her head at Madeline as they approached their cars. “But, since you asked so nicely, I did hear a rumor that he was seen around the ballpark more frequently. Plus, my friend Jacinda at the Barnstable stadium said he was hanging around there a lot lately, too. She didn’t know why, but he was thrown out by security twice.” Eliza winked at her and got into the car.
“Eliza, you’re seriously the best.” Madeline waved as Eliza pulled her small Mazda out of the parking lot. She lived in Plymouth, which was just over twenty minutes (without traffic) from the stadium. She had grown up out there and loved it. She was
married with two young children, but she never let that get in the way of having fun. Her kids were staples at the ballpark during the summer, and her parents loved having them around. Since Madeline and her brother weren’t close to providing grandchildren to them in the near future, they liked the excuse to spoil the kids when they could.
It was funny how priorities changed with a new job. With the change in commute and work life, Madeline had much more time to reflect on her life and future. She loved being able to work with her family at a place she loved, but also loved the new amount of free time she had to herself as well. Before coming home, she was constantly on emails, texts, and phone calls.
Of course, she realized the past week was an anomaly. Her time was taken up with the Chris Dailey murder. She knew she should focus on the team and ballpark, but his death haunted her. It might have been because she found the body, or because Ben was a suspect, but she wanted closure on the incident. Shaking herself out of the gloomy thoughts, she pulled into the driveway of her home.
Chapter Eleven
Madeline’s home was a typical New England Cape style house. One floor, a few bedrooms, a large bay window for the cats to sit in, small colorful plants framing the walkway, and a set of black shutters framing the windows. She had owned it for about five years, and even though it was small, it was still her space. While only two bedrooms, one room was converted to an office that she used as her space to work from home in. Now, she would probably only use it during the winter off-season or when the team wasn’t at the park.
Being social media consultant meant most of her job was spent on the computer and not necessarily in meetings. Only when planning events did she need to meet with other people in the office. She just loved going to the park any chance she got. It felt like a second home. She especially loved being in the office on game days. That’s when the excitement really ramped up (especially if the team was on a winning streak). The family usually used game days to come together to do a quick family check. She loved being able to see her mom every day now. When she worked in the city, meetings with the family were pretty sporadic. A dinner here and there and a game when she could duck out. Now they actually had time together.
Grabbing her mail, she let herself in the front door, and greeted her three cats that came running to the door. She knew she fit the stereotype of a crazy cat lady by living alone, not having a boyfriend, and spending weekends with her cats, but she loved them just the same. They were all rescues and living a great life with her. She always made sure to spend time with each cat, ten minutes of cuddling time apiece, making sure they got lots of individual attention. As she snuggled with her eldest cat, she noticed a thin white envelope mixed in with her bills and magazines. It had no return address and only had her name in black Sharpie written across the cover.
She put her other mail down on the side table and cracked open the back seal of the envelope. Inside was a small piece of paper, no bigger than a gum wrapper, with one sentence written on it.
KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT OF OUR BUSINESS — A FRIEND
Well, it if was meant as a threat to her, it worked. Not only was the statement vaguely threatening, the fact that it was left in her mailbox without a stamp or address on it was equally as horrifying. She quickly put on her house alarm, even though it was still early in the evening. She wasn’t going to take any chances.
She whipped out her cellphone and quickly typed a text to Davis letting him know what she found. He texted within five seconds a terse “I’ll be right there” reply. She carefully picked up the piece of paper by the corners, hoping she wouldn’t smudge any fingerprints, if there were any, and grabbed a sandwich bag to put it in. In a separate bag, she placed the envelope. Then, she sat down to wait.
Tapping her leg uncontrollably, she looked towards the clock on her phone and tried to relax. She jumped out of her skin when she heard the knock at the door before realizing it was Davis. He had taken about ten minutes to get there, and she noticed his SUV parked in her driveway as she let him in the house. She saw that she had picked up a baseball bat at the door just in case and placed it back down by the front door for safety purposes. As someone living alone, she tried to take precautions. She turned off the house alarm and opened the door.
“Davis, I’m so glad you’re here. The note was a little weird to say the least, and I wasn’t sure if it was a police matter, so I called you first.” Madeline ushered him through the front hallway.
Looking at the two baggies she had laid out on the kitchen table, Davis looked grim. “I already called Detective Stephenson on the way over. He’s going to swing by in an hour to takes these down to the station. Threats should be taken seriously, especially since you were the one who found Chris’ body. Although the threat doesn’t spell it out exactly, I would bet money it has something to do with all the investigating you’ve been doing lately.”
When she first saw the note, she was freaked out, sure, but not super scared. Cautious, but not terrified. But now that Davis was there, she realized the worst-case scenario of the threat. What if the killer thought she knew more than she did? She didn’t even think she knew anything of importance anyway. Other than the list Chris’ girlfriend dropped the other night, she didn’t even know who the other suspects could be. Her breath caught in her throat as she became a trifle panicked. She was just the social media person, not a detective.
Davis said he would hang around until the detective came. Madeline was not a cook, so she thought ordering a pizza would be the prudent thing to do while they waited. She knew her local pizza joint phone number by heart and that they would get it quickly. When she got nervous, she ate. After ordering her usual cheese pizza, she grabbed two Diet Coke’s from the fridge and brought them out to where Davis was sitting in her living room.
“Do you think this threat is serious, Davis? Should I worry about it?” Madeline looked at him.
Davis thought for a minute as he took a sip of the drink. “Honestly, I don’t know, Maddie. I would be more careful about who you talk to about this stuff though. The police are investigating, and now it seems like something bigger might be involved. I just want you to be safe.” He turned his attention back to the can of soda. He looked as if he might say something else, but apparently changed his mind. ‘I just don’t know, Maddie. I wonder why they think you’re so close to figuring things out. I mean, you haven’t done anything I haven’t known about, right?”
She shook her head, hoping that she wasn’t lying to him. She thought she had told him everything, but the night was so crazy she was worried she was missing something.
“I mean, why would you risk your safety for something out of your control?” He pulled at the tab on the soda can which felt like a nervous habit as he looked at her closely from across the couch.
She wanted him to understand why she couldn’t stay out of it. “Davis, it’s my family. It’s my ballpark. It’s my brother, for Pete’s sake. The guy was found at my second home; I feel like I need to see it through. Do you get that? I don’t mean to put myself in harm’s way, but I want to make sure none of this sticks to my family and the team. The baseball team is our life, and I don’t want this murder to overshadow the things our family does for the community.” At that point, she had jumped up and began pacing the living room. Shaking her head, she still couldn’t get past the fact that first there was a murder at the ballpark, second that she was involved, and third that Davis was sitting in her house because a threatening note was sent. This sort of stuff only happened in books and movies.
At the sound of another car pulling into the driveway, she stopped pacing and looked out the front window. Davis also looked up from his can of soda at the sound. Peering from behind the blinds, she saw that Detective Stephenson had hopped out of his car, looked around, and sauntered up her driveway. There was no other way to put it. He sauntered. Not moseying, but sauntering. Like he knew something she didn’t and couldn’t wait to tell her. He probably did since he was with the police and all. She
hoped they knew more than her. They were the ones actually getting paid to get to the bottom of things.
The knock startled her out of her thoughts, even though she knew who it was. She went to the door, and gestured the detective in. “Thanks for coming, Detective. I wasn’t sure if this warranted your time, but I’m glad Davis called you. He’s already here and I have the note in a baggie just in case you could get fingerprints or evidence or whatever off of it.” She ushered him into the living room where Davis had laid out the baggies on the coffee table.
Shaking his head at the offer of a drink, he plunked down in the chair that Madeline had vacated when she answered the door.
“Madeline, have you been looking into this case behind my back?” He had a hint of a smile on his face, but she could hear the rebuke in his tone. “You know you need to leave this to the professionals, right?”
As she turned to find another chair to sit in, she rolled her eyes. “Detective, trust me, I’m not going out of my way to find out what happened. The other night I just happened to run into Chris’ girlfriend and she was upset. I couldn’t leave her crying at the bar. I don’t want her to think ill of my family! For gosh sakes, her boyfriend was just murdered in the family ballpark. If she’s that unhappy, who knows what kind of stink she could cause in the press if she felt the family was ignoring her. Then, that piece of paper fell out of her purse. I don’t know what it meant so I asked some questions. Before I could get in contact with you again, that note was slipped into my mail.”
He sighed at her and sat back in the chair. Looking at Davis for help, the detective turned his focus back to Madeline. “Okay, okay. I get it. You’re not actively going out of your way to court trouble. But I definitely need to know if you find out anything else on your own. We do have a list of suspects that closely mirrors that paper you found in Ashley’s purse. I’m glad Davis passed it along today because we started clearing some names off of it.”
Murder at First Pitch Page 8