by Pete Bowen
“Good morning,” he said.
“I’m Tom Mullins. We’re friends of Matt Benson. I’m a private investigator looking into the death of Tony Reilly. The guy behind the computer got up and brought us over to a table under an umbrella while the other guy was helping a customer.
“Yea, he left a message you would be in. He said you were looking for Jose Padilla. Unfortunately, he’s not around. I can find someone else if you want to take the boat out?”
“I wanted to speak to him. Do you know where I can find him?”
“He left yesterday crewing on a boat heading for Catalina. I don’t think he has a cell phone. Maybe, the owner has a cell phone number for the party that had the boat. I’ll give him a call.
“I’d appreciate that, I said. “Did you see Tony Reilly when he came and took Benson’s boat?”
“No, none of us knew anything about Tony Reilly being here. We saw Padilla getting the boat ready. It was gone a month and was back the other night.”
“You have security at night?”
“A service monitors the cameras and alarms and patrol comes by a few times a night.”
“Did you talk to Padilla since he got back?”
“I saw him and said hello but it was busy and I didn’t get a chance to talk to him. He was off on another charter yesterday. He works pretty steady during the season. He’s in and out. He doesn’t work for us. He’s a freelancer. Hires on as needed. We’ve never had a problem or a complaint about him from a customer. ”
“You think I’m going to be able to find Padilla on Catalina?”
“Yea, they’re probably heading for Avalon. Check with the Harbor Master and see if the Greta Jean is anchored there. Meanwhile I’ll try and come up with a cell phone or a number for the boat. Padilla also works with a service that places crew. You can try them also.”
“How can I get to Avalon today?”
“Well, there are high speed ferries or regular flights. You could hire a charter. You can hire a chopper if you’re looking for a boat around Catalina, but I would try Avalon first. Who knows, you may get lucky. I’ve got a list of numbers you can call to arrange something.”
We were in the air an hour later.
Chapter 19
Padilla wasn’t hard to find. The boat was in Avalon harbor and we got a water taxi to go out to it after we landed. There was a couple on board that told us Padilla was with them but he was onshore. “Try the bars, he likes to drink,” they told us. We found him sitting at a bar in about 15 minutes, the crackerjack detectives that we are. There aren’t that many bars in town. I bought Jose a drink, got one ourselves and asked him to sit down and talk with us.
“Tony Reilly, he a good man, my friend,” said Padilla in heavily accented English. “He play American football. He very good.”
“Not any more Jose,” I said. “Someone shot and killed him two days ago.”
“Oh my God!” Padilla leans over with a string of Spanish, blessing himself a number of times. He started crying. I reach over putting my hand on his arm. People in the bar were looking at us.
When he begins to collect himself, I point at Liz and say, “This is his wife, and we are trying to find who did it.” He comes around the table and gives Liz a hug and says how sorry he is.
“I spend a month with him. Oh my God, I don’t believe it.” He said, he got to know him very well and he became his friend. Liz speaks to him in Spanish which surprised me. The conversation goes to Spanish and Liz introduces Roger who also begins talking to him in Spanish. I’m lost with nothing more than my basic high school “kitchen” Spanish. I let Liz and Roger get the story from Padilla. I nod at Roger and point at Padilla indicating I want him to get the story. I walk outside onto a deck overlooking the magnificent Avalon harbor. It’s a gorgeous day. I was surprised to see I have good cell reception and call Tonelli at the SFPD.
“Tommy, how’s it hanging,” Tonelli greets me
“I don’t know, brother, I haven’t had a chance to look.”
“Maybe you should start prioritizing.”
“I should go back with the SFPD so I can relax.”
“Ouch, that’s harsh, man.”
“Have you got anything new? I know you’ve been emailing Roger, I really appreciate your help.”
“No problemo, man, you’re on the team for this one. To address your question, we haven’t been able to prove you or Elizabeth Reilly did it…yet.”
“We covered our tracks.”
“The FBI isn’t talking to us, but I’d be surprised if they had anything. We understand he may have left the country but there is no record of it. I’d say we had very little at this point in the investigation. The terrorist angle is the most we have right now. We’re chasing some leads, but I’m not confident it’s the right direction.”
“Okay, let me fill you in on what we’re doing.” I told Tonelli where we were and what we had learned. Told him we were now in the process of speaking to Padilla and I would update him in a couple of hours.
“Wow,” said Tonelli. “You’ve been busy. That’s interesting. Why didn’t Benson tell us about the boat?”
“You didn’t ask him? Look Eddie, I got something else but it’s a motherfucker.”
“I’m listening.”
“You have to promise me you’ll play this close to the vest.”
“Tom, what do you have?”
“The name Lydia Isackson has come up as a possible suspect.”
“Get the fuck out!”
“I suggest you take a look at her. She was possibly, that’s possibly, having an affair with Reilly. Get her cell phone records. Poke around a little. I don’t know how, but you can’t let this get out. It’s probably nothing, but take a look. I’m not going to mention this to the team. In fact I’m not going to mention this to anyone. Eddie, we could do this ourselves but you have more juice and I trust your discretion. Plus, you owe me one.”
“Why do you think that she’s involved?”
“Elizabeth thinks she’s involved and she was very reluctant to tell us. It’s just a hunch. She knows her well and she just thinks she’s capable of anything. There may be nothing there but you should take a look at her.”
“Why didn’t she tell us when we questioned her?”
“I don’t think it occurred to her, initially. It looked like a terrorist thing, remember? She didn’t have anything specific. She thought Reilly might have been having an affair and she thought it might be Lydia Isackson.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Tonelli says. “If she’s involved then maybe her husband is in it too. Fuck me, this could get messy.”
“Exactly!”
“Hey, I want to talk to this Padilla.”
“He’s elusive. He’s out crewing on boats and doesn’t carry a cell phone but I’ll make sure we can find him again. I’ll have Roger write up the interview and email it to you in a few hours. Eddie, please, discretion on Lydia Isackson?”
I checked in with Velma at the office. Listened for a few minutes as she read me the riot act. Cut her off and tried to listen to a few voice mails. Deleting most of them after I heard who they were from.
I walked back in and sat down. The conversation continued in Spanish among the three of them. Finally, all of them looked at me. “Well, we know where Tony Reilly has been for the last month,” said Roger.
Chapter 20
Tony Reilly showed up at the dock in San Diego late in the evening a month ago. He found the Benson’s boat and Jose while drinking a beer, watching a soccer game on a flat panel TV screen in the wheelhouse. Jose had finished provisioning the boat for a week’s cruise. Tony got a tour of the boat. A 49-foot Hunter complete with Corian countertops and a large galley complete with stove and microwave. The boat’s interior was outfitted with light colored teak woodwork, lots of upholstery, and plenty of headroom. A navigation table and captain’s chart with GPS and radar. Flat panel screen in the saloon bulkhead and a smaller one between the two helm stations. They all
tied into the entertainment center. Tony took the spacious owner’s cabin. That left Jose with three others to choose from. The boat’s exterior and deck were all white. It was a long distance cruiser and a magnificent boat.
The men talked of where they might go and do. Tony told Jose that he would like to learn how to sail the boat; he had some skills with smaller boats but didn’t have a clue about something this big. He said he didn’t want to go to tourists spots. He told him he was an American football player like Matt Benson and was lying low during contract negotiations. Jose knew little about American football and had never heard of Tony. Jose asked him if he knew how to surf. Tony said he’d been surfing a few times and enjoyed it but wasn’t very good at it.
“I have two boards on board. I can teach you to sail and surf,” Jose said. “I know some of the best places in the world to go.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Tony. They decided to head down the Baja coast and hit smaller villages and the prime surfing spots, bypassing bigger ports like Roserita Beach and Ensenda. They could always go anchor somewhere and stay at a hotel if that’s the way he wanted to roll.
“Up to you,” Jose told Tony.
The next morning they motored out of San Diego and headed south. After they cleared land, Jose started working with Tony. The two men were quickly working as a team. Favorable winds and calm sea made for ideal sailing conditions. Tony was exhilarated. “I’m getting me one of these, Jose.”
“You like, Tony?”
“I love, Jose.”
They went over all the safety rules of boating. Jose put the boat on auto-pilot and went through every detail of the boat. Showed Tony how to raise and lower sails and where problems were likely to occur. Jose was a pro when it came to teaching boating. Tony was a good student. Jose made some fish tacos for lunch while Tony took the wheel and then Jose gave the boat to Tony while he took a siesta. They arrived in Puerto Balandra later in the afternoon. This was an isolated, unpopulated coastal area with beaches, an interior salt lagoon and a rock formation called “El Hongo”, the mushroom. They took the dingy into shore. Tony went for a five mile run and swim along the eight beaches. Jose found a little shack and settled in for a few beers.
The pattern was established. A day cruising at sea followed by Tony running on shore and long swims. The two men worked their way down the coast. Jose started calling Tony “Captain” after three days. Jose would pick a spot on the map and tell Tony, “Get us there,” and Tony would do it using the sophisticated navigation systems.
They hit Isla Natividad, a small, desolate island, on a perfect day for surfing one of the best beach break barrels in the world. Tony wasn’t a match for Jose, but he got better throughout the day. It was so good, they decided to do it again the next day and then a third day. At the end of the third day, with Tony’s athleticism, he was earning his chops as a surfer with Jose’s encouragement. This island was only accessible by airplane or boat, making it usually uncrowded. There was nothing to do on Isla Natividad, but Tony said he could have stayed a month. It was unusual to hit surf that good so early in the season. Jose convinced him to move on. He needed a little night life.
Punta Abreojos was a legendary right reef break surfing spot. Offshore winds hold up the waves and the water is warm. Local fisherman supplied the fresh fish and lobsters. They would surf the day, cook dinner on the boat and drink beer on the beach at a little bar on the beach at night. They were few people that early in the season and no one recognized Tony. There were a number of senoritas around that Jose fell in love with and he would take for the night. Tony would paddle back to the boat alone. He would be back on the beach in the morning for his usual long run and meet up with Jose for surfing in the afternoon. One morning, Jose was waiting on the beach for Tony. “No run today, we go.”
“What’s going on, Jose?”
“Her Papa want I marry Maria.”
“Yea,” said Tony, “we go.”
They headed off to the very secluded, Isla Magdalena. Mag Bay is the place to go if you want perfect waves and absolutely no crowds. You can only access Magdalena Bay by boat or by plane, no stores on Mag Bay. They found challenging surf, but with the exception of a few shacks, not much else. The next day, they were off to Costa Azul, the bay that holds the best and most famous surf spots in all of Baja Sur: Playa Acapulquito, The Rock and Zippers. The Rock is the outside break between Playa Acapulquito and Zippers. The Rock is a crowded right reef break. The water can get shallow and there are very sharp coral. The Rock was Jose’s surfing home. His surfing buddies were there. Locals have been known to group up on tourists, but not on Tony with Jose along. If you’re good enough, The Rock is the surfing spot on Baja. After two weeks, Tony was good enough and he got better in the challenging waves with pointers from the locals. He also earned their devotion buying cases of beer and Tequila every night. No one recognized him. They thought he was a just another rich American with a boat. The night life was at a locals bar or around a bonfire with Tony often helping a drunk Jose back to the boat. He was out on the beach every morning for long runs followed by a day of surfing.
It wasn’t till almost three weeks since leaving home that a tourist walked up one night at the bar and asked Tony for his autograph. All his new buddies were sitting around. Tony just smiled and signed. The whole group was dumbfounded. Tony and Jose had never mentioned football. The two Aussies still didn’t know who he was, but the half dozen Americans did now. He asked them not to say anything. He was down here on the QT. The next day, someone found a football and Tony was chucking passes on the beach to wide receiver wannabes for hours.
Chapter 21
Following the Baltimore game, the Team had a bye. They had two weeks to prepare for their next opponent, Houston. The team needed to sign a couple of quarterbacks, but with Reilly’s performance, they weren’t looking for a starter. They thought they had their man. Tony’s performance was the talk of football. Is this guy for real? Usually a team is given at least a few days off with an upcoming bye week but with the quarterback changes, that was cut short. Tony was in on Monday morning working with the offensive coordinator. The film from the game showcased his skills. They reworked the offense to take advantage of the skills he had shown during the game. The coaching staff quickly recognized that they may have found that elusive diamond in the rough.
Playing it by the book, when you have a new quarterback on the field, you blitz him. You never let him get comfortable. You show him every kind of defensive trick you have and keep unrelenting pressure on him and that’s what Baltimore had done. But, when you blitz, you take defensive players out of their regular positions and charge the quarterback, leaving players in single coverage often mismatched. Reilly had been running the taxi squad against one of the best defenses in football for the last two seasons. He knew what Baltimore was going to throw at him. Now, he had the first team offense to react against it. He was uniquely prepared to step in and run one of the best offenses in football. By the time the first practice rolled around on Thursday, the team was ready to change its offense, making it more flexible and taking advantage of Reilly’s decision making skills.
Before that first practice, Tony asked for a team meeting without coaches present. With just the players gathered around and Tony began, “I asked for this meeting this morning because I have something to say. Sunday was the most fun I’ve ever had playing football. I didn’t have a great game. You had a great game and I want to thank you for letting me be a part of it. When I walked off that field, I thought of something that I needed to share. Like most of you, I’ve been blessed with some talent that has allowed me to play the game at this level. In Pop Warner, in High School and in College, I was the best player on the team, but I wasn’t always on the best team, go Bruins.” Everyone laughed.
“For the first time in my life, I’m on the best team. Tony paused for a few whoops. “Let me say that again, this is the best team in football. He paused again and this time no one said anything. The best t
eam in football is now 2 and 2. This was a team that was going to be 1 and 3 through the first half of that game, Sunday. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got the best defense in football and we’re going to work our asses off to be the best offense in football. We are not going to lose another football game. We’ll take one game at a time, but we are not going to lose another football game. We’re not going to do that by not losing football games. We’re going to win football games. We’re going to win games because we’re a better team and we will execute. We execute by being better prepared than the other team. Pushing the guy next to you to be the best player he can be. Dedicating yourself and everyone around you to be the best. Gentleman, you play for the best team in football. Let’s prove it next week. And then we’ll prove it the next week. And then we’ll continue to prove it every week.”
He continues, “We lost two games already this year and I think I know why. We were not prepared. Let me say that again, we were not prepared to win those games. Part of that reason is coaching. We were not prepared to win those games. We were out-coached. It’s easy to assign blame here but, it can’t be put entirely on the backs of the coaching staff. We have players on this team who are showing up to practice, going through the motions but really, they don’t give a shit. We’ve got players that are phoning it in. When was the last time you looked at film of what other teams are doing? When was the last time you suggested a different way of doing things because of what you saw on film from a team we’re not playing next week? Who is taking the extra effort it takes to win? Who is spending extra time in the film room? Who is doing more than required in the weight room? Who is here just collecting a pay check? You can point to the coaching staff and say it’s their responsibility to prepare us, but that isn’t going to help us win ball games. Ultimately, it’s our own individual responsibility to prepare this team to win. We do that by doubling our own prep time to take on next week’s opponent. Make our coaching staff better by being prepared yourself. You have families and girlfriends and drinking buddies and other shit that you’re doing that’s taking away from your prep time. That has to change. I want each and every one of you to make the commitment to do everything that’s necessary to be the best team in football every game. It means getting here early and staying late. It means focusing, prioritizing everything in your life to be part of the best team in football.”