Read Online Murder at the Foul Line by Otto Penzler - Free Book Online Page A

out of his pocket. Harvey played a
     portion of the tape. All their voices were clearly audible.
    “Oh, man,” Washington said. “I don’t understand. What’s this mean? What’s—”
    “It means you’re going to jail, big fella,” Harvey said.
    “No, I can’t—”
    “You lying son of a bitch!” Cabot snapped at Randall.
    The little man said evenly, “You say your job’s making money, Andy? Well, mine’s arresting people when they do it illegally.”
    A third man in a suit, a badge around his neck too, walked into the room. Balding and pudgy, he surveyed the men in the room.
     “Hey, Lieutenant Grimsby,” Harvey said. “We got the contract, the tape and the perps.” He laughed and looked at Washington.
     “The case’s a slam dunk.”
    The lieutenant followed Harvey’s eyes to the basketball player, who stood, with his hands cuffed in front of him, staring
     miserably at the floor. Then the lieutenant frowned. He said, “Wait a minute, that’s Danny Washington? I didn’t know
he
was the guy. The warrant only listed a John Doc.”
    Randall shrugged and said, “The warrant was issued last week—before Cabot decided on Washington.”
    Grimsby looked Washington up and down. He said to Harvey and his partner, “I’ll take over from here. You guys can go.”
    “But—”
    “It’s okay. I’ll call for transport. Officer Randall, you stay here.”
    “Sure thing, lieutenant.”
    When the two detectives were gone the lieutenant gestured Randall into the corner of the apartment and they spoke for aminute or two. Randall glanced at Washington a couple of times and nodded.
    “Officer,” Pettiway muttered, “I want a lawyer. I’m entitled to one!” The policemen ignored him. Cabot sat miserably on the
     couch.
    Randall and Grimsby finished their discussion and Grimsby walked up to Washington. He looked his unfortunate prisoner over
     once more, then said, “Let’s step into the hall for a minute, son.”

    You got yourself into a mess here, didn’t you?” the lieutenant asked, lighting a cigarette.
    “Yessir, I did.”
    Grimsby offered a Marlboro to Washington, who shook his head. “I read that story about you. In the
Times
. How you take care of your mother and grandmother. You go home regularly to see them. You stay off drugs and out of those
     gangsta clubs in Midtown. You lead a good life… Why’d you get mixed up with Cabot?”
    “My team was going to fire me and I—”
    The lieutenant gave a sour laugh. “You believed that? Cabot and Pettiway faked it all. That memo in there? Cabot probably
     wrote it himself.”
    “What?”
    “The team’d be crazy to drop you. They find another two-guard could shoot like you?”
    “Why’d Cabot do that?”
    “He had to make you mad at your team so you’d agree to throw the game. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have, right?”
    “Course not.”
    “They had their bets all lined up in Atlantic City and Vegas. Put a ton of money on the Lakers. They stood to win two million
     if your team lost.”
    Washington’s face twisted into an angry frown. “And they fooled me. Damn! That’s why they picked me, ’cause I’m stupid. Oh,
     man, now what’m I gonna do?”
    “You never been in any trouble with the law before?”
    “No, sir.”
    The lieutenant smiled sadly. “My son and I go to nearly every game. We love watching you make those shots.”
    “I love making ’em.”
    The cop’s eyes took in the cheap, stained wallpaper, focused on the corpse of a spider crushed against the wall a long time
     ago and never cleaned off. “Danny, your name’s not on the warrant. There’s a possibility I may be able to make this go away—if
     you promise you never get in any trouble with the law again.”
    “Lord, sir, you’ve got my word on that.”
    “But it’ll cost you.”
    “Cost me?”
    “I’ll have to take care of those other cops who were here, Harvey and his partner. Officer Randall too. Then I’d have to make
     sure the evidence gets