“If you hear anything about a missing basketball player, shoot me a text, will you?” I say, ready to whisk Josie away before she decides she wants to be part of Rodney’s harem.
Rodney gives me a wave, and I help Josie back to the car, not uncovering her eyes until I unlock the door and shove her inside.
“I was just kidding about being tempted,” she says.
“That’s good because I like Rodney, and it would have been hard to snuff him out.”
“You wouldn’t.”
I stay quiet because hell if I know. I wouldn’t like to do it, but Josie’s mine now, and I’m not letting anyone take her from me.
I expect to be disappointed at the Crocker courts, but the face of the first guy we encounter lights up with recognition. Mark Thomas is not clearing more than five ten, which may be why he’s sitting on the bleachers dribbling a ball between his knees and not running up and down the blacktop. “Yeah, I know him. He used to come and play every Wednesday. He stopped coming maybe four or five weeks ago.”
“How come?” Josie has her pen and notebook out.
I tuck the phone in my back pocket and watch my girl work her magic.
“Rumor was that he got banned because he was playing too rough, but personally I think it was money.”
“What do you mean?” Josie always uses these open-ended questions to prod more intel from her marks. It’s a good strategy.
“I heard that he was throwing games because of some gambling problem, so I figured he got suspended or something.” The guy shrugs.
“Wouldn’t that mean that he would have more time to play pick-up games?” asks Josie.
Mark catches the ball between his hands and frowns. “I don’t know. He just stopped coming, and that’s when the rumors started. I think the whole team was in on the fix. Isn’t that why they pulled the fire alarm at your school? 'Cuz they needed to get into the principal’s office to get the evidence back that they were throwing games?”
People fill in all kinds of details to make events make sense in their heads.
“Where did you hear this?”
“It’s what everybody’s saying. You telling me it’s wrong?”
“We don’t know. That’s why we’re here.”
“What are you? Some school police?” Suddenly Mark looks wary.
“No way. I’m a writer. Or I want to be a writer. I’m working on a piece about missing teens, and I hope to sell it.”
Mark doesn’t know what to make of that, tossing the ball back and forth between his hands until he comes to some internal decision. “If your boy is missing, it’s probably because he owed his bookies too much and couldn’t pay up.” With that, he stands, signaling that the conversation is over.
“What do you think?” Josie asks me as Mark jogs to the sideline and hands over some cash so he can be subbed into the game.
“I think he’s told us all he’s heard but that he doesn’t have any firsthand knowledge.”
“That’s what I think, too. The only fact we have is that Cole used to come here but stopped weeks ago.”
“We also know that the rumor of his game fixing spread to a lot of other schools.”
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire? Let me ask these other kids if they’ve heard anything.”
I follow as she questions everyone, but we don’t hear anything different. Either the person doesn’t know or they repeat the same rumors that Mark shared.
When we reach the truck, I say, “Sounds like he was killed by a bookie.”
“That doesn’t make sense based on what you told me before. A dead client is bad for business.”
“The puzzle pieces we have fit together:. He was fixing games, owed money to bookies, found dead.”
