Read Brooks Berry In The Case Of The Stolen Season Page 10

  Chapter 10 Marquette

  The week flew by. On Tuesday Brooks went by the high school after his classes were over. The visit wasn't purely a social one. He went under the pretense of dropping off something for his sister, and stopped by Coach Vitrano's office. He needed to figure out where that camera was.

  The door was shut but Brooks could see through the window. Directly behind Coach's desk was a book cabinet made of a dark wood. The camera must be somewhere in that cabinet noted Brooks. He'd need to get in there to determine exactly where. He'd also have to make the decision of just how much if anything to tell the Coach. He wanted to be able to make some serious headway in this case before he alerted him. Any change in routine could throw off the whole investigation, and Brooks didn't want that to happen. He needed to find a way into the Coach's office when he was not there so he could snoop around that book cabinet and see what he could find.

  Soon enough the week was almost over. The boys needed to find a way to get to Marquette High School, as it was too far to ride their bikes. The boys decided to tell Brooks’ dad more about what was going on and see if he could give them a ride to the game. He agreed and said he’d feel better being there with them in case something happened.

  Actually, they really wanted to be there just before the game, then head back to Tosa East afterwards. They wanted to see if there would be any appearance by the longhaired man with the yellow hat.

  Shortly before game time, Brooks’ dad pulled up into the parking lot. "Dad, pull up close to that bus loading zone by the field." The bus pulled up and Marquette's opponents Brookfield East started piling out of the bus. "Shoot!" yelled Brooks, Marquette's the home team, what was I thinking, they'll be in their own locker room already!!"

  Brooks and Brad bolted out of the car. They ran towards the side of the school that housed the locker rooms. Brooks was familiar with the school’s layout; he'd played in a baseball tournament there a few months ago. The boys stood outside the doors waiting for the team to come out.

  Brad looked over at the field and noticed they were already on the field stretching, throwing the ball and running. "We're too late." said Brad.

  "How did I make that mistake?" sighed Brooks, kicking himself for not thinking. He looked towards the north side school parking lot.

  “Let's go over that way, maybe we can see something,” said Brad. The boys headed to the other parking lot opposite the one where Brooks' dad was parked. It was packed with kids and parents streaming into the game. There was no way to see anybody. The boys were dejected and headed back to the parking lot where their car was parked. "I can't believe it," said Brooks, still in shock. "Don't take it so hard, we all make mistakes, heck I messed up too, I knew they were the home team and wouldn't be coming by bus too." They opened the doors on the car.

  "How'd it go?" his dad asked. "Nothing," said Brooks. "Waste of a night."

  "Is this the guy you were talking about?" asked his dad showing Brooks his iPhone. "I thought this guy fit the description of who you were looking for so I took his picture when he walked to his truck." In the picture was a guy with a moustache and long hair standing in front of a white truck smoking a cigarette. The next picture showed him getting into the truck. On the back of it was what looked to be an orange bumper sticker in the shape of a football. His yellow baseball hat and long hair were unmistakable.

  "That's him!" shouted Brooks. Brad grabbed the phone, "No doubt." "Dad, where was his truck?" asked Brooks. "Over there, parked next to that black Ford." Brooks got out and walked over to the now empty parking spot. "What are you looking for?" asked Brad. "I don't know. Something that doesn't belong," said Brooks.

  He walked around the parking spot for a few seconds. Something strange caught his eye. He leaned down to look at a red & black striped cigarette butt that was still smoking. Brooks pulled out his own iPhone and took a picture of the discarded butt. "I found these same cigarette butts at the new scoreboard. I'd never seen them before. I did see an empty pack of them though - I think they are called Turkish Supremes,” said Brooks. "And you do know your cigarette butts!" joked Brad.

  "Actually I do" said Brooks recounting how he gained the knowledge picking up litter on the side of the road. Brad & Brooks headed back to the car. When they got inside, Brooks told his dad what he had found. "Another clue - good job guys. Any idea who could be doing this?"

  "Someone that wants Tosa East to lose and Tosa West to win some football games," said Brooks. “Well I guess you’d better add every student at Tosa West to your Suspect Board,” his dad Steve said with a smile.

  He knew his son had a better idea than that. He started up the car and they headed over to the Tosa East field.

  When they pulled up to the Tosa East parking lot half time had just ended. "See you later dad, thanks for the ride,” said Brooks.

  His dad headed home as the boys had decided they'd walk home after the game. "Bye guys. Be safe and bring home a victory for East tonight!" said his dad.

  The score was already 28-7 with Tosa East getting pounded by Kenosha. The second half of the game was very quiet, not much more scoring for either half and the game ended 31-10 with both teams kicking a field goal apiece.

  Brad commented, "It almost seems like Kenosha let up in the second half." As the teams headed off the field, Coach Russell ran by Coach Vitrano who stood on the field with his hand extended for a post game handshake. He ran directly over to Jeff Kopish and put his arm around the struggling quarterback. He said something briefly to him, smacked him on the shoulder pad and then headed out of the stadium to the locker room with the rest of his team. Coach Vitrano shook the hands of the Kenosha assistant coaches and ran back to their locker room with his team. Brooks found the snubbing of Coach Vitrano by Coach Russell strange. He thought his dad had mentioned that they were friends.

  The boys headed off into the night to their respective houses. When Brooks got to his room, he sat on the bed and went over the night in his head. He stared at the big blackboard wall and what he had already written on it. Brooks wrote on the board: ACTION ITEMS - a list of things that needed to be done. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT TURKISH SUPREME CIGARETTES. He also wrote WHITE VAN. Some how, he was getting the feeling that the guy with the long hair that keeps popping up at these games, smoking Turkish Supreme cigarettes and driving the white van was somehow related to Trojan Computers. But he couldn't be sure. He'd need to do some research to find out more and make that connection solid. He laid in bed and let his mind wander to the case, sort of free thinking - letting thoughts float in and out of his mind in no particular order.

  He popped up and flicked his light on he needed to make more progress before he slept. He grabbed the chalk and wrote on the board MOTIVE and then underneath it TOSA WEST VICTORIES and below that TOSA EAST LOSSES.

  He thought more about it. "Let's take MOTIVE one step further. I know the motivation, but there has to be more to it. A winning high school season is nice, but how many people will take risks to make it happen. Who benefits from Tosa West winning? First, the coach does." Brooks wrote the name COACH ROWELL under suspects.

  Doug Rowell had been the Tosa West football coach for the past 2 years. The previous coach who had been there for 10 very strong years had gone on to coach at the University. Coach Rowell had really been the Tosa West gym teacher who sort of inherited the job. Coaching wasn't really his passion, but more something he'd been roped into doing. He had however done a very good job over the past 2 years. And this season was - as painful as it was for Brooks to say it - amazing.

  He didn't really think Coach Rowell was behind this, but he put his name up there so he could have it on the list and leave no stone unturned. Better safe than sorry.

  He sat on the edge of his bed and laid back. "Who else?" Brooks asked himself "Who else benefits from this scenario? It's sad, because one big loser is Jeff Kopish - he had
a guaranteed scholarship to the University. Now he'd be lucky to get one at State College." Brooks was wide-awake now as the puzzle piece fell into place. "Who would benefit under that situation? Marc Ille would," thought Brooks. "And who was watching a game tape of Tosa East - Marc Ille." Brooks jumped up and added Marc’s name to the SUSPECT list on the wall.

  It was all falling into place for Brooks. Who would have access to Tosa East's building in order to plant a video camera in it to secretly tape the Coach's office and also have the motivation to do it? Trojan Computers, who was owned by Marc’s step dad, Gunther Arno!" Brooks chalked the name Gunther Arno up on the wall under Marc's name.

  The case unfolded and hit Brooks on the head as if the shelf above his bed had fallen off its support and the books had dumped on his head! "If Tosa West had a great season and Marc Ille played at this level, and if Jeff Kopish bombed this season, that would completely alter who gets that scholarship from the University for next year."

  Brooks had it now. The motivation. Who wins. Who loses. Now the final piece to put together was how it was happening and he had a very strong suspicion that Gunther Arno was getting information from the Tosa East coaching offices and practices and giving them to the Tosa West team. He had to get proof though. Hopefully he'd get proof before the entire season was lost and Jeff Kopish ended up at State College instead of the University.

  Something still nagged at him though – who was the man with the yellow hat and long hair?