Page 31 of Final Inning

Knight snorted at that. He had met her father a few times. Retired General Gerald Talley wasn’t just formidable, he terrified most mortal men. Hell, even Knight found himself a bit intimidated when he’d met him a time or two. “At times?”

“Just a little. After that, I switched to a different team. It was a two-hour drive, but my grandmother and grandfather made it happen, for two years.”

“Kevin never yelled, especially in front of or at the girls. He never even cursed in front of Ramey or Julian, or the kids at all. In fact, the girls would tease that they could barely hear him at times. He was a disciplined taskmaster, no denying that. And he had everything organized—he knew what he wanted to teach the girls and he taught it. He was a baseball player in college, I believe. Worked his way up after a really shitty childhood. He gave them someone to look up to. And he was very involved with his children’s activities. He was a rare breed—a good man and one hell of a coach. And father.”

“How close were you? Did you know him well?” Knight asked. “How did you end up the assistant coach?”

“That hair pulling incident—well, one of those women was the assistant coach. She had twins on the team, who just weren’t that good yet. They still needed some outside development, but she refused to see it. Kevin felt it was important at 14U for the girls to have a woman coach, as well. Thirteen and fourteen—well, that’s a very emotional time for young girls. After the former coach was asked to vacate the hotel before the front desk pressed charges, he asked me to step up. And I did. I had coached my daughter when she was younger—rec league, mostly. And basketball and soccer. I had experience. And I was there. I had stepped back—I felt at thirteen it would be better for her to have a chance to grow without me hovering. But…after making sure it was okay with my daughter, I started coaching. After…Kevin…Steve took over. I wasn’t in a good place to take over the team fully then. My husband and I had just filed for divorce, and I was struggling. And Kevin was…a good friend. When I needed one most. Getting myself and my daughter through what had happened was the majority of my focus then.”

Knight had to wonder…good friend. An attractive woman going through a divorce. “Were you…involved…at the time? Romantically? With Kevin?”

Blue eyes widened. Heat hit her cheeks. Then she nodded. “I…we hadn’t exactly dated. But we were attracted, and we…had fooled around a few times. The kids never knew, though. We made sure of it. I won’t deny that. But I wasn’t divorced fully yet. And my kids were struggling, so we agreed to wait until things…finalized. And then go from there. Give my kids time to heal. My kids were my focus, Dr. Knight. I wasn’t going to do anything to hurt them more than I already was.”

They asked her a few more questions. Then Miranda did the whole “chit-chat” wrap that she was so good at. He thought of it as her ‘innkeeper’s daughter’ role. Knight just amused himself wandering around the perimeter of the four-thousand-square-foot facility. There were photos and posters neatly arranged in perfectly spaced rows, all framed in black. None had fingerprints in sight. This woman was almost rigid in her attention to detail. Her issue was probably control. Amanda liked having it—more, she most likely needed it. But she seemed like she would be well-liked. At least on the surface.

Knight never judged anyone by first impressions.

He had learned better long ago.

This woman was young, strong, physically fit, and Kevin Adams had most likely only outweighed her by forty to sixty pounds at the time. He had been bludgeoned to death. They knew that much from the original reports. And if the attacker had struck when Kevin wasn’t looking, incapacitated him quickly—a woman could have done it.

A woman he was romantically involved with would top the list of potential suspects.

He rejoined Miranda and Amanda Riccards. He gave the woman his card. “If you can think of anything that might help us…or if you hear anything. About Harper Wycoff or…remember anything…please let me know.”

“I’ll do that. Harper was always a real sweetheart. What happened to her—well, it shouldn’t have. Mary Beth and Terry—they are in my prayers. Hopefully, you can get them the answers they deserve.”

“One more thing—where were you when you heard about Kevin? We’re trying to track down everyone who would have had a player on his team. We still don’t know if there was a clear connection to softball, but with him being discovered on a field—we are looking at every angle,” Miranda said, so casually. Like it wasn’t what they were really there after.

“I was in court-ordered mediation with the sperm donor until five or so that night. Then…with my parents and kids. We took them to the pizza place and arcade in Wichita Falls that night. It was my youngest’s second birthday. And…well, their father had just declared that he wasn’t going to parent them nor pay support. He was claiming my youngest wasn’t even his kid. I never cheated. But that didn’t stop him. Still, I got off lucky. He’s in prison now—ten years. For beating his second wife. Bastard never put a hand on me—he knew I would have broken every bone in his body. I am in a different place in life now. I’m doing what I can to give back to the kids in this county somehow. Even if it is just through sports. Sports can make a difference, you know.”

And now…they had a previous domestic partner of a woman Kevin might have been involved with. With a violent history. Men were territorial, and if he’d thought Amanda was cheating with Kevin, an altercation could have escalated into violence. Far too easily.

It was another viable direction to go in.

“One more thing—if you could write down all the people who would have been on Kevin’s team that year? We can’t seem to find a roster. Can you do that?”

“I’ll do my best. I may have team photos, as well. I can send them to you tonight. Would that work? Do you have email?”

“Of course.”

Chapter 22

“Okay, talk to me about the drama in the travel sports world.” Knight said, as he drove. It was always interesting to watch him drive—he was almost magically commanding the truck to do what he wanted it to do. He did everything that way. So in control, this alpha man next to her. “Is it as bad as she said?”

Boy, was it. Travel or club sports—well, it was more about making money off the families than helping the kids learn a sport or how to be a part of a team. Miranda had so many stories…and she’d only played for three full years.

Miranda looked at her partner—and current chauffeur. They were on their way to Wichita Falls now. They had some people to track down who knew both Harper and Kevin. It was a forty-five-minute drive, so…time to pick that Knightly brain of his. Figure out where his thoughts were leading him. Probably in a straight line. Knight was just hardwired that way.

Coach Amanda hadn’t really given them anything new, but her information about the team might. They had Dani tracking down anything to do with Anthony Gors, Junior, Amanda’s previous husband. “Where do you want to start? The affairs, the catfights, the weird belief some parents have that each team is its own little gang—and it was war? They can be very petty, no denying that. I once saw a dad filling a girl’s brand-new mitt, we’re talking hundreds of dollars for that particular model, with superglue—right before a state tournament. He was angry that she’d switched teams mid-season. It wasn’t that she left for any dramatic reason. Her mother’s job required them relocating, and it put them too far from practice. So he did that out of spite. I told my dad, and that guy was arrested for petty vandalism. Fortunately, she hadn’t put her hand in the glove yet. The glue could have hurt her hand. That glove cost over six hundred dollars. Fifteen years ago.”

“For a damned baseball glove?”

“Softball. Totally different sports, Knight. Don’t mix them up; players get cranky when you do.” She shot him a grin. Just because. He looked so cute being bewildered like that. It wasn’t an expression he had often. “I did not have a five-hundred-dollar glove. My father had opinions, very vocal ones, after all.”

“I’m sure he did.” Knight just looked at her, actual surprise in his beautiful stormy gray eyes. “Was that common? That kind of petty behavior?”

“Probably more than it should have been, honestly. But not every team. I still believe what my grandmother always told me. Ninety-nine-point-five percent of people are good people. It’s the half percent that aren’t who ruin everything for everyone—the same is true for travel sports. It just seems that softball draws the worst of the worst, at times. But…and I am not going to lie…the drama that I saw when I was a teenager is the main reason I quit. I had more fun playing for the local rec league in Masterson without the constant need to watch what other parents or players might do. People put a lot of work into the rec league in Masterson, still. Including my stepmama—and stepbrothers. I do so love those Masterson boys of mine. I am thinking of taking Bentley back there and signing him up for the local league when his longer break rolls around. Letting him stay with my parents again. And me…take some comp time to be with him. I have about six weeks saved up. I can make it work. I want him to get to enjoy life in Masterson, too. And know my family.”