"Looks like I'd better put on the kettle," Sally said.

Over a pot of tea, we began to piece together the story.

"You're going to have to help me on some of the details, Andy."

"If you'll tell me how you figured it out."

"It was the blackmail material that put me on the wrong track at first," I said. "It was such compelling stuff that it took my attention away from the drugs. That's what it was all about. Sanchez and his blackmail had nothing to do with it.

"The drugs were smuggled in on the last road trip from New York. Whoever did it had to know the equipment isn't checked crossing the border. He also had to know that Sultan rarely used his glove and wouldn't notice if it felt different than usual. So it was a safe hiding place."

"Then Sultan gave me his glove," said T.C., his eyes huge behind his glasses.

"But Moose didn't know it until Monday, when I mentioned it to him. He hadn't been able to find it on Saturday in the clubhouse, so he went to Sultan's apartment and broke in.

"I think Sultan came in while he was looking. He grabbed a bat and hit him, just trying to knock him out. When he realized he was dead, he searched the place and messed it up to look like a burglary. He also found the blackmail material.

"I even saw it Sunday night. He was trying to put it away when I brought him home. I didn't notice at the time."

"Why did he kill Thorson?" Sally asked.

"He was looking for the glove in the equipment room when Thorson came in for his fishing stuff. I think Moose just panicked. He needed money. When he lost the dope, he needed the money even more.

"He told me tonight that he tried to use the blackmail material to force Thorson to throw the games he was scheduled to pitch. Thorson refused, but realized that the only way Moose could know he'd thrown games in the past was if he had murdered Sanchez. Once he knew that, he had to die. How am I doing so far, Staff Sergeant?"

"Sounds good to me. Where did he get the dope?"

"That's what started me thinking. Two former players were arrested on drug and weapons charges in New York last night. They're friends of Moose's, but he said he hadn't seen them for years. Then Gloves Gardiner told me that they'd been at the stadium before a game last week. I wondered why Moose had lied.

"That's probably when they made the switch. Moose often used Sultan's glove to play catch. It would be the easiest thing in the world for his buddies, who had the drug connections, to replace Sultan's with the one full of drugs."

"What tipped you?"

"That was a fluke. When I was talking to a bookie in Las Vegas about the odds for the playoffs, he mentioned a guy had bet ten thousand dollars on the A's on Sunday night. That's not so big a bet, evidently, but the timing was odd. Thorson's body wasn't found until Monday morning. So I thought there might be a connection with someone here.

"Just before Moose arrived tonight, the guy from Vegas called me and told me the name of the better. He also told me that he had played professional baseball. So I looked him up in the Baseball Encyclopedia, found he came from the same little town as Moose, and everything fell into place. That's when I called you."

Elwy jumped up on my lap and butted his head against my chest.

"Right, Elwy, and then you saved my life."

Andy snorted. "An attack cat."

"Elwy is not your ordinary cat."

I shooed them all out and wrote my story. I finished by midnight, despite calls from several other reporters. I politely refused comment, telling them to buy the Planet the next morning. Then I took the phone off the hook and took a long, hot bath.

At one I was in my bathrobe on the living-room couch listening to music and sipping a Scotch. Elwy was on my feet. I was about to turn in when I heard footsteps on the stairs, followed by a soft knock. I went to the door.

"Who is it?"

"Special delivery for Detective Kate Henry."

Andy had champagne in one hand, flowers in the other, and a smile on his face.

"Feel like celebrating your first crime solved?"

Elwy rubbed against his ankles and purred.

About the Author.

Alison Gordon is a Canadian journalist and writer. As the first woman on the baseball beat in the Major Leagues, Gordon was a trailblazer in the field of sports journalism, covering the Toronto Blue Jays for the Toronto Star for five years. Gordon is also the author of the Kate Henry mystery series, pitting the sleuthing talents of a baseball journalist against dangerous felons. The series includes the titles The Dead Pull Hitter, Safe at Home, Night Game, Striking Out, and Prairie Hardball.

end.