James Sheehan - The Law of Second Chances

Hitchens started on a congratulatory note. “Nick, you and Tony did a real good job on this Benny Avrile case.”

But . . Nick was thinking.

“But,” Hitchens continued, “we want you to shut it down. In fact, I’m taking you off the case. It’s got nothing to do with the work you did-the detective work was great. I just want to shut it down.”

“Can I at least ask why?”

Spencer Taylor cut in at that point. “You see, Nick-and don’t take this as a criticism because it’s not-you think like a cop. You want to run every thread down until every aspect of the case makes sense. Me, I think like a lawyer. I’ve got a suspect and I’ve got two eyewitnesses that put him at the scene at the time of the murder. And I’ve got a motive-robbery. It doesn’t get any better than that. If you keep snooping around you may dig up enough dirt to give a good attorney a defense that at present doesn’t exist.”

“I don’t understand,” Nick said.

“Let’s take this Lois woman, for instance,” Taylor continued. Nick could tell from that remark alone that Taylor had studied his investigative file in great detail. “Right now there is just a vague reference to her as being a friend of Angie’s. There’s no concrete tie between her and Benny. There’s no evidence that they even knew each other. She wasn’t at the scene, as far as we know, and we don’t even know what she looks like, other than she has long black hair like a million other people.”

“And your point is, Counselor?” Nick knew where Taylor was going; he just wanted to hear him say it.

“My point is, I can live with that evidence. You start filling in some of those blanks, however, and my case starts getting weaker. You see what I mean?”

“Yeah, I see what you mean. Benny might have had a female accomplice, but you don’t want me to continue to look for her because it might weaken your case, is that right?”

“Exactly,” Taylor responded.

“So we just let a murder suspect go because we caught somebody else?”

Nick could instantly tell he’d struck a nerve. Taylor’s warm smile turned to a sneer.

“Look, Walsh, I’ve tried to be nice about this. I heard about your interrogation of Avrile the other day. You treated him with kid gloves. Worse, you raised the issue of the woman and you didn’t follow up. It’s that kind of police work that fucks up a prosecution’s case, so don’t start talking to me about letting a suspect go. If I leave it up to you, both of them will walk.”

Nick made a move toward Taylor who took a step back. “I ought to smack you in the fuckin’ head, asshole,” Nick said. “I was solving murder cases when you were still sucking on your mother’s tit.”

Hitchens butted in at that point and stood between the two men. “All right, that’s it-end of discussion. Nick, the investigation is officially over at this point. We may reopen it down the road when Benny is convicted. For now it’s over-got it?”

“Sure thing, Chief. You’re the boss,” Nick replied, still looking directly at Taylor who wasn’t saying a word.

Nick was still seething as he walked out of the building. It never ceased to amaze him: somebody with money and a little fame gets killed and shitheads like Taylor start coming out of the woodwork and throwing their weight around. He was also sure that Tony Severino had broken the sacred code between partners and talked to the state attorney’s office behind his back. He didn’t have any hard evidence to support that suspicion but somebody had filled Taylor in on the particulars of Benny’s interview and Nick remembered the guilt in Severino’s voice earlier in the day.

What else did he tell them and why? Nick asked himself.

Maybe it is time to retire .

Rico called Johnny at home on Sunday, the day after the Vikings game .

“What happened?” Johnny asked .

“Piece of cake,” Rico told him. “Floyd clammed up and I started ranting and raving about the ambulance drivers - how it took them forever to show up. Well, city cops don’t wanna hear that, so after about an hour they let us go. It ain’t over yet, but they ain’t got shit on us.”

“Rico, I don’t think that’s going to work. You get the wrong people mad at you and it usually backfires. Listen. Let me come down with you the next time they call you. I’ve got an uncle who’s a cop. Maybe he’ll help us.”

“Don’t worry about it, Johnny. Floyd and I can handle it. I appreciate the offer, though. I really do.”

The team didn’t find out until the following Tuesday that because of the common opponents they had beaten and the margins of victory, they had won a tiebreaker with the Vikings. They were going to the championship game after all. Joe Sheffield called every player personally to let him know. Practice was as usual on Thursday night, and there would be a full practice on Saturday. The championship would be the following Saturday .

On Thursday night, the coach opened auditions for a long snapper and a holder. It was a little late in the season, but Joe figured he had nothing to lose. Rico grabbed Johnny .

“C’mon, we’re gonna volunteer.”

“I don’t know anything about that stuff!”

“There’s nothing to know. You’ve got good hands. I’ll be the long snapper and I’ll teach you what to do.”

Nobody else volunteered, so Joe Sheffield let Rico and Johnny go off with Jimmy Walsh and practice kicking. He figured they knew their regular jobs pretty well .

For the next hour and a half they practiced extra points .

“It’s all about timing,” Rico told them. “Jimmy, when the ball hits Johnny’s hands, you gotta start moving toward it. You gotta trust that Johnny is gonna get it down in time. Mayor, you just concentrate on catching the ball and getting it set. You don’t even look at Jimmy.” Johnny wondered how Rico knew so much .

Rico had taken three balls from the equipment bag, so they got plenty of repetitions in. It wasn’t working too well at the start. Gradually, however, Jimmy Walsh got Johnny’s rhythm down and adjusted his approach to the ball. Rico was remarkably good at the long snap. By the end of the hour and a half, Jimmy was kicking four out of five balls through the uprights. He was stoked .

“I knew I was a good kicker,” he told them. “We just had no timing.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t get timing in one practice,” Rico said. “Timing comes from repetition. The timing you have now will be gone by next week.”

“So what are we gonna do?” Jimmy Walsh asked .

“Can you get to the park at four o’clock every day next week?” Rico asked him .

“Yeah,” Jimmy replied .

“How about you, Johnny?”

“I think I can, yeah.”

“All right, it’s settled. We’ll meet at the Hamilton statue every day next week at four o’clock and then go to the big field and practice extra points.”

They shook hands on it .

By the last practice on the Thursday before the championship game, the new kicking team was very consistent. Jimmy Walsh was getting almost every ball through the uprights. Joe Sheffield was impressed. He announced to the rest of the team at the end of practice that Rico, Johnny, and Jimmy were the official new extra-point team. He had another announcement for them as well .

“We’re going to meet at 8:30 in the morning on Saturday in front of the Carlow East. The regulars at the Carlow chipped in and rented a bus so we can travel together to the game.”