I gingerly stepped over discarded gloves, balls, bats, and what I could've sworn was a jockstrap (but I wasn't going to look at that closely. Ew!). Luckily for me, none of the lockers seem to be locked. I opened the first and found more of the random paraphernalia like on the floor. The next one had rolls of ace bandages and some white powdery stuff that looked a lot like the resin I'd seen gymnasts use on television.
I moved onto a large cabinet next to the lockers. It held helmets of all different shapes and sizes. I quickly picked one up and noticed a name written with a Sharpie on the inside. "Davis." Each player had his own! I dropped the helmet, quickly scanning through the others until I finally found one with the name "Ratski" on it.
I picked it up and turned it over in my hands. It was thick plastic on the outside and foam padding on the inside. I ran my fingers over the padding. I was starting to feel desperation bubble up to my chest as I glanced at the television monitor. Our guys were still on the field, but I noticed that the other team had two outs, and their current at-bat player was tipping foul balls. I didn't know a lot about baseball, but I'd learned enough in the last few days to know that my seconds were numbered before one of the Stars players came in here to start warming up.
I quickly moved my fingers over every slightly sweaty inch of the helmet…until they encountered a small bump just along the back rim.
I felt my heart rate pick up, my stomach fluttering with hope. I gingerly lifted the edge of the foam, peeling it back just enough to reveal a small, green, condom wrapper, just like the one Janel had tried to sell me.
I pulled it out with my nails, so as not to erase any fingerprints that might be lingering on the wrapper. I held the package up to the light. I'd bet my favorites Via Spigas this was exactly the same stuff that Janel had given us at the Glitter Galaxy.
I heard the crack of the bat above me as the Giants player finally connected with the ball.
The collective groan of the crowd was so loud that I almost didn't hear the person walking into the cages behind me.
Almost.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention, and I spun around, ready to hold my press pass in front of me to anyone who accused me of trespassing.
As it turned out my press pass was not going to save me.
"Maddie, you just have such a hard time staying where you're told to, don't you?" Beth Ratski said.
It might have been a flippant conversational question… had it not been for the gun in her hand, pointed straight at me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
"Beth?" I asked, hearing the note of surprise in my own voice. "What are you doing here?"
Beth took a step forward, the gun never wavering.
"It doesn't matter what I'm doing here, Maddie," Beth said, her eyes cutting to the green package in my hands. "It's all about what you're doing here."
"I don't understand," I stammered, taking a quick step away from her. Though, the truth was there wasn't anywhere for me to go in the small cage. It was a cinder block rectangle, hemmed in on all sides except for the exits that Beth and her shiny little gun were blocking.
But Beth shook her head. "Maddie, the time for playing dumb has passed."
I paused, and I realized she was right. Someone here had been playing dumb. Her. And I'd totally fallen for it.
"Okay, then, no more playing dumb." I held up the green package in my hands, still careful to not smudge any fingerprints. "This is your husband's."
Beth nodded. "It's not his fault. Everybody does this stuff."
"But not everybody kills somebody with it."
"And John didn't either," Beth said with conviction behind her voice.
As I looked down at the gun in her hands, puzzle pieces fell into place, and I believe she was being honest with me.
"Because you did," I said.
Beth didn't answer. She just stared at me. "Maddie, I think it's time for us to go now."
I took an involuntary step backwards, coming up against the dingy lockers. "Go where?" I asked. I heard the crowd groaning behind me again. Damn, would this inning never end? The Giants seemed to be getting men on base one after another. For how anxious I'd been when they'd gotten down to the last out, that last out was now taking forever.
At least it felt that way with a gun trained on me.
"I'm sorry, Maddie, really I am," Beth said. And again, I had the feeling she was being honest. "But I can't let you walk out of here with that. If the police start questioning my husband about his drug use—"
"—he'll realize how much of his drugs are missing," I finished for her. "Because you took them to kill Lacey."
This time Beth nodded. "She was going to ruin everything, Maddie. I couldn't have that. After all John and I have worked for, after everything he sacrificed, everything he's done to be a Stars player. And this little nobody from the wrong side of town came in and thought she deserved it all? She wanted a starring role on our show, she wanted John's money, she wanted everything. Well, she couldn't have it."
"Including John?" I said, seeing it all come together now. It hadn't been about the money, it had been about jealousy.
To my surprise Beth threw her head back and laughed. I took the opportunity to take a step closer to the lockers, putting my hand out behind me. I felt around for anything I could use as a weapon. Baseball glove, cream, resin. Then I finally felt a little lift of hope as my hand clutched onto the top of a wooden baseball bat.
Only I didn't have a chance to use it as Beth's eyes snapped back to me, the gun going straight-armed in front of her as a new look took over her features. It wasn't the scared, apologetic one I'd seen her wearing around the other Baseball Wives. It wasn't the concerned one she'd worn around her husband. It wasn't even the regret I'd seen a moment ago, when I honestly believed she hadn't wanted to harm me. This was a hard, flat look of a woman who wasn't going to let a little thing like emotion get in the way of her success.
"How stupid do you think I am, Maddie?" she asked. "You really think I didn't know that my husband is gay?"
Okay, yeah, that was exactly what I had thought. So sue me. Playing dumb had worked for her reality TV character, and I was a bit naive that I was just now realizing what a character she had been playing.
"Of course I knew," she spat back at me. "You, Kendra, Liz…you all think I'm some idiot. Oblivious to my husband's flirting. You couldn't be farther from the truth. I'm the one who tells him to flirt with women. I'm the one who told him to go out with Dana in the first place, hoping maybe it would throw you off the scent."
"Wait, you set that date up with your husband and Dana?"
She shrugged. "How was I to know that Dana's boyfriend would go off hotheaded and hit John in the face? Some people can't control their emotions."
"But you can," I said, keeping her talking as I kept one eye on the gun. Unfortunately, her grip wasn't loosening any. There was no way I'd be able to swing the baseball bat at her before her finger could move the half inch it took to pull that trigger. However, if I kept her talking, maybe I could distract her for just the second…
"Of course I can," Beth said. "It's what I do best. It's my full-time job, truth be told."
"A full-time beard."
A slow smile crept across her face. "What can I say? It pays well. John needed someone to divert suspicion from him, and who better than an unsuspecting wife? Of course, there are certain financial perks to being his wife."
"And then there was Baseball Wives."
She nodded. "Another financial perk."
"There seem to be an awful lot of perks with this job," I said.
"Until Lacey came along." Her face fell.
"Lacey wasn't stupid either," I pressed, tightening my grip on the baseball bat. "She figured out John's game."
That creepy smile came back to Beth's face, but her eyes were still as dead as ever. "I wouldn't exactly call that tramp smart. She thought I was her friend. She felt sorry for me, thinking I had no idea that my husband was in
to men."
"But then the blackmail started."
Beth frowned, shaking her head. "It wasn't about the money. The amount she wanted was nothing. The problem was she was getting on the show."
"And?" I asked, not exactly following
"And what do you think Baseball Wives is all about? Secrets. Telling each other's secrets. When the ratings got low, it was Kendra who let it be known that Liz was sleeping around on her husband. In return, Liz needed more screen time after she and Tony started going to therapy, so of course she let it be known that Kendra had been attending shopaholics anonymous meetings. I'm not stupid. The amount my husband was paying Lacey was nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that go along with being a celebrity reality TV star. As soon as Lacey realized she could grab the spotlight and the ratings if she let my husband's secret out, she'd sing like an opera star."
"And John wouldn't need you anymore," I finished for her.
I watched Beth's nostrils flare, realizing what her true motive was.
Schwimmer had been right. Ten years ago, professional sports would never have forgiven a gay player. But times were different. If it came out publicly that Ratski was gay, I'm sure he'd be on every tabloid news website and blowing up Twitter for days or weeks…but it would eventually blow over. And when it did, Ratski would have no need for a fake wife. There went Beth's moment in the sun, her position on Baseball Wives, and her cash cow of a husband.
"So Ratski knew nothing. He had no idea you killed Lacey?" Was I a terrible person that I was a little bit disappointed?
"Of course he didn't," Beth said. "You think John would hurt somebody?" She shook her head. "He is the kindest, sweetest, most generous man I've ever known."
And in that moment I realized not only would Beth be losing her cash cow, she would actually be losing the man she loved.
"That's why I had to protect him."
I could hear the crowd groaning again as the Giants took another base.
But I knew I was on borrowed time. Any minute now somebody was going to come in here. Beth knew it too. I couldn't string this conversation out much longer.
As if reading my thoughts, Beth took one large stride toward me, gun first. "We have to go now, Maddie. We're out of time. The inning will end any second, and Blanco will come in here to warm up. It's time to go."
Her voice was the same one I used with the twins when it was naptime. The I'm-in-charge-here voice.
However, just like my twins, I wasn't that compliant.
My hand clenched around the bat, and I swung with all I had toward the arm holding the gun. There was a crack of wood on metal, and then a much louder crack of a bullet flying from the gun and embedding itself in the wall.
However, if anyone above us heard, they must have thought it was just another batter warming up.
Beth screamed in pain, dropping the gun. I dove around her for the door, but I only got two steps before I felt my feet flying out from under me, Beth's hands going around my ankles as she dragged me down from behind.
My knees scraped on the plastic Astroturf as I fell, the drug-filled condom flying from my hands. I kicked backward with my slingbacks, connecting with something soft, and I heard Beth grunt in response.
She let go of my ankles, and I scrambled to my feet and spun around just in time to see her grab another unused bat and swing in my direction. I dropped to the floor again, ducking under the whoosh of the bat. I scrambled to the right and grabbed another discarded bat. I stood, holding it out in front of me like a sword.
Beth paused, then let out a warrior scream as she came toward me, bat held high above her head like a club. She swung downward. Instinctively I brought my bat up to shield her blow. The force of it vibrated through my arms.
She bounced off of me, and I swung blindly toward her, connecting with her bat as she blocked my attack.
We must've looked like two overgrown children playing with light sabers in the dugout if anyone had been watching. Unfortunately, as I heard the crowd yelling, I knew no one was watching our action. Everybody's eyes were glued to the field.
Beth swung again, and I blocked her just in time to keep her bat from smacking me in the head. Unfortunately it glanced off my shoulder, and pain jumped up my right side. I gritted my teeth, trying not to lose my grip, and swung toward Beth again, just barely missing her as she jumped out of the way.
Then came the most welcome thing I'd heard all day. The crowd cheering in delight, followed by the announcer signaling it was the end of the inning.
Beth must've heard it too, as she paused.
In that same moment, both of our eyes cut to the gun.
I thought about making a lunge for it, but there was no way I could get it without being hit in the back of the head by her bat first. She must have deduced the same thing, as we both stood there, poised in fighting position.
Until the door swung open.
"What the hell?" Blanco said, his eyes, cutting from Beth to me, and back again.
It was all the distraction Beth needed.
In one motion, she dropped the bat, grabbed the drugs from the floor where I'd dropped them, and took off like a shot through the field entrance.
On instinct I dropped my bat and ran after her. I'd gone this far; I wasn't going to let Lacey's killer get away now.
I raced through the entrance, which was an upward ramp going from our underground bunker to the level of the playing field. The players were still in the process of switching sides, the Giants' players tossing baseballs between each other, and the big-headed Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe shooting free T-shirts into the crowd with a giant cannon. Beth paid no attention to any of them, barreling onto the field, running blindly, with me a quick heel step behind her.
At first no one tried to stop us, two crazy women running onto the field, our heels sinking into the soft grass like clumsy cleats. However, it didn't take long before the players stopped throwing the ball and turned our way. I was vaguely aware of the announcer shouting something into the loudspeakers, security spilling onto the field from different directions. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Beth and me flashing up on the Jumbotron as the cameras turned our way. In fact, the only people in the stadium who seemed unaware of what was going on were Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe.
As I well knew, they had zero peripheral vision inside those huge heads. Which is probably why instead of getting out of Beth's way, Charlie Chaplin weeble-wobbled right into her path. She tired to veer off, but it was too late. She rammed into him, taking them both down, and knocking his head off…which rolled across the field like a victim of battle.
Beth scrambled to her feet, but Marilyn Monroe, now aware of the danger, turned around, aimed her shirt gun right at Beth, and shot at close range.
Beth flew backwards, taking an extra-large to the belly, and landed on her butt in the grass just as security arrived and grabbed her under both armpits.
"I'm Beth Ratski! I'm a Baseball Wife! I belong here!" she screamed as they dragged her off.
I heard the crowd cheering as if a home run had just sailed over the wall and turned around to see my disheveled appearance on the Jumbotron, ten times larger than life. My hair was flying in all directions, my adorable Capri pants marred with grass stains, and I think one of my shoes was missing a heel. I did a feeble smile to the crowd. Then turned to the Ratski's box where I could just make out the shape of a man standing at the window, pounding at it with both hands.
I waved in his direction. "Hi, honey."
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The game was delayed, which was just as well for the Stars, since we were behind six-to-two. It was late by the time I had finally given my statement to the Stars security, several uniformed police officers, and finally the stunned Laurel and Hardy, who had wisely declared that there would be no comments and no press conferences today. Ramirez stood by my side, silently smirking the entire time. Though I couldn't tell if he was impressed I'd thwarted the escape of a
murderer on my own or angry I'd gone after evidence on my own. In hindsight, I probably should have clued him in. A sentiment I shared with him as the officers finally cleared me to leave.
"I probably should have told you what I was up to, huh?"
"You probably should have," he agreed. He paused. "Though I probably should have known you were up to something."
I grinned. "Yeah, you probably should have."
* * *
"Ohmigod, Maddie, I can't believe you actually ran onto the field!" Marco said the next day at Fernando's salon. Turns out almost being killed by a psycho Baseball Wife is as hard on a manicure as getting hit by a foul ball. I was getting my nails repaired, and I was happy to report that three out of four of the chairs beside me were filled as well. News of Beth's arrest had been shot across the gossip universe at light speed, along side news that it was the stepdaughter of Fernando's salon owner who had caught the killer. While I wasn't sure I should take sole credit for bringing Beth to justice, Ramirez was just happy someone other than Laurel and Hardy was in the spotlight.
"The truth is, my fingernails fared better than my shoes," I told Marco. "I think I left a heel at second base."
Marco tsked, clicking his tongue. "Sacrificed in the name of justice." Then he bowed his head in a solemn moment of silence for my shoe.
"So what now?" he asked. "Is it true that Beth confessed everything?"
I nodded, repeating what Ramirez had told me that morning after coming back from the station. (After being reinstated, by the way. It turns out that all the charges Ratski was levying against my husband magically disappeared the moment his wife was arrested for murder.) "Beth's claiming temporary insanity, saying that living a lie all these years took a mental toll on her."
"So how did she do it?" Marco asked. "How did she actually administer the poison?"
It was a good question and one the police had asked Beth, too.
"Turns out that Beth had been planning this for some time and was just waiting for the right day. She found out Lacey's salon schedule right from the source. Then she picked a day when she knew Lacey would be here tanning and the Baseball Wives would be on set. Beth actually deliberately loosened wires around Kendra's car battery the night before, so that she'd be late to the set. Beth made a big deal of pointing out that she was missing. So, while everyone was looking for Kendra, Beth slipped away to Fernando's."
Homicide in High Heels Page 20