notice.
“ Au contraire , I caught a pig once,” Armando said. “Caught him with my boyfriend! They were both pigs, to be honest.”
Red was not at all comfortable with this line of conversation.
And then, without any warning at all, Armando switched gears and said, “In all seriousness, Red, I know that Billy Donald thinks very highly of you, and that’s why he wants you to play a special role in the most important day of his life. I’m certain you understand what an honor that is.”
Now they were both looking at him. Waiting for him to say something, but Red was at a loss. He wasn’t good at this stuff.
Armando ended the awkward moment by saying, “Well, I have no doubt you will do a fantastic job. If you have any questions, just ask me. Now about the tuxes. I’d say you’re about a 40 regular, am I right?”
CHAPTER 9
“I wish I knew,” Coach Milstead said. “This whole situation really blows my mind.”
Marlin had asked if the coach had any idea who might be firing shots at Sammy Beech during a high-speed chase. They were seated in a pair of matching upholstered chairs around a coffee table in Milstead’s living room. Milstead’s wife, a quiet woman named Jessica, was attending a function at church.
Marlin said, “Did Sammy have any kind of disagreement or argument with any of his teammates? Anyone he didn’t get along with? Even kids on other teams? Fans? Anybody?”
“Nothing that I know about. Sammy was really easygoing and friendly. Everybody liked him.”
“What about the Ecstasy in his system when he died? Any idea who he might’ve gotten that from?”
“No. I had no idea he was into that sort of stuff or I would’ve put a stop to it. I mean, I understand that most boys his age are going to sneak a few beers now and then, but drugs? I have a zero-tolerance policy about that, and so do college coaches. A positive test for drugs at the college level and his career would’ve been over.”
“Who were his best friends? Who did he hang out with?”
Milstead mentioned some names and Marlin wrote them all down. He noticed that many of the boys on the list were the same boys who had taken part in the youth hunt with Sammy a few years earlier at Phil Colby’s ranch.
Then Milstead said, “You want my advice, you need to look outside Blanco County on this.”
“Yeah? Do you have someone specific in mind?”
“No, but—do you know anything about how players like Sammy get recruited?”
“I don’t follow that part of it real close. I played some ball for Southwest Texas State, but I wasn’t quite to Sammy’s level. Didn’t get recruited.”
“You were a walk-on?”
“Yeah.”
“What position?”
“Linebacker.”
“Okay, well, Sammy—as you know, he was as blue chip as they come. He could’ve picked just about any Division One school he wanted. Last I heard, he’d had something like thirty offers.”
“Scholarship offers.”
“Right. Let me back up. Coaches start going after some of these kids young—sometimes as early as their sophomore year, if they show a ton of promise. What a coach wants is for that kid to make a verbal commitment. Of course, my opinion, it’s all sort of a waste of time, because the verbal commitment isn’t binding. The kid can change his mind, and so can the coach, without any kind of penalty.”
“How often does that happen?”
“Often enough. And even when a kid does verbally commit, it used to mean other coaches would respect that decision and back off, but even that has gone by the wayside in the past few years. There is a tremendous amount of competition between schools to get their claws into a kid like Sammy. I mean, you can build an entire offense around a player like him. I’m sure you’ve heard stories about boosters, or even coaches, slipping cash under the table to these kids. Buying them cars, paying their rent, things like that. All illegal.”
“Does that still go on?”
“Some. And lately there have been more
“ Au contraire , I caught a pig once,” Armando said. “Caught him with my boyfriend! They were both pigs, to be honest.”
Red was not at all comfortable with this line of conversation.
And then, without any warning at all, Armando switched gears and said, “In all seriousness, Red, I know that Billy Donald thinks very highly of you, and that’s why he wants you to play a special role in the most important day of his life. I’m certain you understand what an honor that is.”
Now they were both looking at him. Waiting for him to say something, but Red was at a loss. He wasn’t good at this stuff.
Armando ended the awkward moment by saying, “Well, I have no doubt you will do a fantastic job. If you have any questions, just ask me. Now about the tuxes. I’d say you’re about a 40 regular, am I right?”
CHAPTER 9
“I wish I knew,” Coach Milstead said. “This whole situation really blows my mind.”
Marlin had asked if the coach had any idea who might be firing shots at Sammy Beech during a high-speed chase. They were seated in a pair of matching upholstered chairs around a coffee table in Milstead’s living room. Milstead’s wife, a quiet woman named Jessica, was attending a function at church.
Marlin said, “Did Sammy have any kind of disagreement or argument with any of his teammates? Anyone he didn’t get along with? Even kids on other teams? Fans? Anybody?”
“Nothing that I know about. Sammy was really easygoing and friendly. Everybody liked him.”
“What about the Ecstasy in his system when he died? Any idea who he might’ve gotten that from?”
“No. I had no idea he was into that sort of stuff or I would’ve put a stop to it. I mean, I understand that most boys his age are going to sneak a few beers now and then, but drugs? I have a zero-tolerance policy about that, and so do college coaches. A positive test for drugs at the college level and his career would’ve been over.”
“Who were his best friends? Who did he hang out with?”
Milstead mentioned some names and Marlin wrote them all down. He noticed that many of the boys on the list were the same boys who had taken part in the youth hunt with Sammy a few years earlier at Phil Colby’s ranch.
Then Milstead said, “You want my advice, you need to look outside Blanco County on this.”
“Yeah? Do you have someone specific in mind?”
“No, but—do you know anything about how players like Sammy get recruited?”
“I don’t follow that part of it real close. I played some ball for Southwest Texas State, but I wasn’t quite to Sammy’s level. Didn’t get recruited.”
“You were a walk-on?”
“Yeah.”
“What position?”
“Linebacker.”
“Okay, well, Sammy—as you know, he was as blue chip as they come. He could’ve picked just about any Division One school he wanted. Last I heard, he’d had something like thirty offers.”
“Scholarship offers.”
“Right. Let me back up. Coaches start going after some of these kids young—sometimes as early as their sophomore year, if they show a ton of promise. What a coach wants is for that kid to make a verbal commitment. Of course, my opinion, it’s all sort of a waste of time, because the verbal commitment isn’t binding. The kid can change his mind, and so can the coach, without any kind of penalty.”
“How often does that happen?”
“Often enough. And even when a kid does verbally commit, it used to mean other coaches would respect that decision and back off, but even that has gone by the wayside in the past few years. There is a tremendous amount of competition between schools to get their claws into a kid like Sammy. I mean, you can build an entire offense around a player like him. I’m sure you’ve heard stories about boosters, or even coaches, slipping cash under the table to these kids. Buying them cars, paying their rent, things like that. All illegal.”
“Does that still go on?”
“Some. And lately there have been more
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