Dead Drop by Jack Patterson (reading cloud ebooks txt) 📕

that came across in the piece Cal wrote. Cal smiled as he remembered how Westin had locked his keys in his car that day and caused him to be late for practice by fifteen minutes.Westin just shrugged it off. “See, Cal, I’m a normal guy,” he said while they waited on his nanny to bring him his extra set of keys.

But based on law enforcement’s initial reading of the situation around Westin’s heroic attempt, he wasn’t so normal. Cal knew the normal guys who were in the bank were still alive today.

Cal continued to swipe up on his phone and review the comments until he saw one that gave him reason to pause and re-read it: “He had it coming to him.”

Who would say such a thing about a guy who was beloved by all? Cal realized apparently not everyone was fond of Westin as he—and most of Seattle—was. If Cal was going to write an authentic memorial piece on Westin, he had to mention his detractors. And Westin had his fair share of people who disliked him. Some fans didn’t like the fact that Seattle FC was getting English leftovers, and a player who’d been plagued with injuries on top of that. There were also others who hadn’t forgiven him for missing a penalty kick against the L.A. Galaxy that would’ve sent Seattle FC through to the MLS Cup final two years ago. But this nasty response to Westin seemed rude and insensitive and likely nothing more.

But that jogged Cal’s memory about his most recent conversation with Westin. He’d been at the Seattle FC training facility a few days earlier and saw Westin walking toward his car.

“Did you remember your keys this time?” Cal asked.

Westin chuckled and unlocked the car. “I keep an extra set in my locker just in case I don’t. There might be some time when my nanny isn’t available to help me.”

“Always be prepared, right?” Cal said with a smile.

“Except when a reporter is following you around for a day to document your life.”

“So, how are you?”

“I’m doing okay, but things have been strange lately.”

Cal cocked his head. “Strange? How?”

“I don’t know. I can’t shake this feeling that I’m being watched, like somebody is after me.”

“Is there a reason someone would be after you?”

“None that I know of. I try not to make enemies, though sometimes you just can’t help it.”

“Have you received any threats or strange communications?”

Westin shook his head. “I can’t recall any, though I’ve had about a half-dozen calls in the past week where no one answers once I pick up. It’s kind of unsettling.”

“A stalker perhaps?”

“I guess anything is possible. It’s just got me a little edgy.”

Cal didn’t think much of the conversation at the time, but now it seemed pertinent given the circumstances. Maybe the shooting was premeditated.

Five minutes later, he was in his boss’s office, sharing his hunch with him.

“Cal, I know you don’t want to get burned again because of what happened on that Enrique Gonzalez story—I get that. But concocting something that isn’t there isn’t how to go about atoning for that. Just go write a good story and properly honor Westin.”

“I have no plans to concoct anything. I just want to ask a few questions, see if anything seems off.”

Buckman drummed his fingers on his desk and looked down pensively before looking up at Cal. “Look, you know what happens in cases like these. You start inquiring about something that makes his teammates or other people in the front office nervous or worse—they start seeing something that was never really there. Or you just might happen to talk to the one guy on the team that wouldn’t mind seeing Westin’s reputation tarnished. Then what? It’s just not the way you should approach this story; I don’t care how many awards you’ve won.”

Cal nodded but he wasn’t in agreement.

***

CAL WATCHED INTENTLY AS Fred Jameson placed both hands on the podium and looked down at his notes for a few moments. The Seattle FC president and CEO slid some papers around and then took a deep breath before finally looking up at the media members packed tightly in the press conference room. Usually, he spoke to no more than a handful of writers and television and radio reporters. But today, every media outlet seemed to send multiple people.

“We all know why we’re here today,” Jameson began. “Our entire organization wishes it was under different circumstances. Losing one of our own isn’t just an event in the news cycle. For us, it’s deeply personal. On some level or another, we all spent time with Sid Westin. Like any workplace, there were those of us who knew him better than others. But we’re all really hurting right now. While I intend to share more stories at the funeral about the great man Sid was, I can tell you now that he touched all of our lives in various ways. He was a star not just on the field but off the field as well, especially in the way he treated others.”

Jameson expounded on Sid’s greatness for a few more minutes before yielding the podium to Paul Holloway, the media relations director for Seattle FC.

“Thank you for your patience during this time,” Holloway said. “It’s been difficult for us all. Now, I know that many of you have questions, some of which we can’t answer and others of which should be answered by our local law enforcement. But at this time, we want you to respect the people within this organization and the players. We’re all grieving. Therefore, we won’t be making any players available over the next week. We also want to announce that we’ve canceled Saturday’s game against Dallas and will reschedule it for later in the season.”

Jameson continued, but Cal wasn’t interested in sticking around to hear any more of it. He slipped out the back and eyed a couple of players kicking the ball around on a practice field.

One of the players, Javier Martinez, jogged over