Green Monster by Rick Shefchik Read Free Book Online

Boston’s long-awaited championship. But in light of the extortion note from Babe Ruth, they had to be considered prime suspects.
    â€œBut why would they have done that?” Heather said. “What did they have to gain?”
    â€œSame reason the Black Sox threw the 1919 World Series to the Reds,” Kenwood said. “Gamblers paid them to lose.”
    â€œWasn’t it obvious?” Heather said.
    â€œI know you probably think I was there to see it, but I wasn’t,” Kenwood said, smiling slightly. “I do know that observers at the time were divided. Some didn’t see anything suspicious. The White Sox manager, on the other hand, was sure something was wrong.”
    Sam had read about it, too. Eventually some of the players admitted to throwing games, and eight were thrown out of baseball for life. “No Gambling” has been baseball’s Number One rule ever since.
    Still, this case didn’t add up. Those eight White Sox players were bribed with $10,000 apiece, which was more than their yearly salaries. But that was almost a century ago. Miranda and Hurtado were both making somewhere around $15,000,000 per year. They’d clear $50,000,000 in just over three seasons. On the free agent market, their next contracts could easily be worth over $100,000,000. Why would they get involved in something like this?
    â€œCould be blackmail,” Sam said. “If a player was using steroids, and somebody could prove it…”
    â€œHe might do something stupid to avoid being exposed,” Kenwood said.
    â€œWhat are the chances Hurtado’s using?”
    â€œI’ve never heard anything about it,” Kenwood said. “Maybe he is, but he looks normal enough.”
    The first thing Sam had to do was get in touch with gamblers and bookies to find out if anything unusual had happened to the betting lines during the Red Sox-Cardinals World Series. He wouldn’t have to tell them too much.
    â€œI can start looking into this tonight,” Sam said. “Maybe there’s nothing to it.”
    â€œBe very careful what you say, and to whom,” Kenwood said. “If this leaks out, I’ll hold you responsible.”
    He stared steadily at Sam the way he must have stared down hundreds of business competitors over mahogany desktops. Sam had been pleased to discover that he was now considered a go-to guy in the high-finance sporting world. Earning that status had almost cost him his life, and could be lost quickly if he bungled this case.
    â€œWe understand each other,” Sam said.
    â€œGood,” Kenwood replied. “Now, I want you to be my guest for tomorrow night’s game. Sit in my suite with me and Katherine. I’d like you to get a feel for this franchise.”
    â€œI’ve been to Fenway many times, Lou.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œI went to college up in Hanover.”
    â€œDartmouth man,” Kenwood nodded. “And you became a cop?”
    â€œLike my dad.”
    â€œHe must have set a powerful example.”
    â€œHe did.”
    â€œPaul will pick you up at five sharp, in front of your hotel.”
    Sam put his drink on the table and stood to go, but Kenwood and Heather remained seated.
    â€œThere’s one other thing,” Kenwood said. “I want Heather to go everywhere you go, and be kept informed of everything you learn. If you have to leave town, she goes with you. She has my full confidence.”
    Sam looked at Heather, who clearly recognized that Sam wouldn’t like the arrangement.
    â€œWait a minute, Lou,” Sam said. “I don’t work that way. When I was a cop, I knew my partners had the same training I had. I could count on them to have my back, and not make dumb mistakes that put us both in danger.”
    â€œHeather’s an extremely competent young woman, Sam.”
    â€œI’m sure she is—no offense intended, Ms. Canby—but this work can be dangerous. Has she