Chapter 12 Into the Coach’s Office
It was Sunday night and Brooks sprawled out on his bed. He was disappointed in the past week. No link from the cigarettes and they didn't get a chance to see the guy with the long hair in the parking lot. The boys had decided that on Friday they would test out their theory again and try and get a more positive ID on the guy with the yellow hat and long hair that seems to enjoy talking to all of the coaches. Brooks also decided he needed to get to Coach Vitrano's office and figure out where that camera was. It would be tricky; he wanted to do it in a way that wouldn't tip him off. If Coach V found out about it, he might do something that would impact the ongoing investigation and Brooks would never be able to solve the case.
Brooks got off his bed and wrote on the blackboard: TO DO THIS WEEK. He underlined it and wrote those 2 items underneath it. He also wanted to find a way to talk to someone at State Smokes about their Turkish Supreme sales. That was way too far to bike though.
Brooks knew that he would be solo next weekend also, as Brad had to go away for the weekend. There was a football camp for the state's middle school kids at State College. Brad had gone last year and was headed back this year. It was a way for them to compete against other kids outside of their own school district and get some coaching from coaches at a higher level. It also gave the coaches a way to see the younger talent in the state so they would know whom to recruit when they got to the high school level.
This would be a big week for the investigation for Brooks. He hoped he'd have some better answers by the end of it, and hopefully be able to identify a link to Trojan Computers & Marc Ille's dad. He was sure they were involved somehow. The motivation of the scholarship was there, and they had the access to the school's computer equipment. It was all too perfect. But there was no hard evidence. And as Brooks knew from his Uncle Mike, while hunches were usually pretty good....facts were needed.
The next week at school flew by for Brooks. On Wednesday he headed towards the high school. He stopped by the practice field and saw Coach Vitrano. He was obviously crestfallen at how the season had been going so far. He was putting the team through some exhausting drills. Sprints and more sprints. "THIS RUNNING WILL CONTINUE UNTIL YOU WIN A GAME! UNTIL YOU WANT TO WIN A GAME! SO GET USED TO IT. IN FACT, WHY DON'T YOU ALL TRADE YOUR FOOTBALL CLEATS IN FOR RUNNING SHOES!" yelled the Coach.
Brooks sat in the first row of the bleachers. Coach turned away from his players and looked up from his clipboard. His hat was pulled down low over his eyes and a stopwatch swung around his neck. "Bob, take over for a few minutes," he said to his assistant coach. The assistant coach clapped his hands and yelled, "LET'S GET IT GOING, GET THOSE KNEES UP AND MAKE IT FASTER."
Coach Vitrano walked over to Brooks. Brooks could see the disgust in his face. "Hey buddy, how's it going?" the coach asked Brooks. That was one thing that Brooks liked about him was that he was able to get his emotions in check and make people realize that he wasn't mad at them despite the yelling.
"I'm good coach. Tough season, isn't it?" "Yeah, it really is. We should have been at a much better stage at this point, but its just not coming together. And to make matters worse, it looks like Kopish is going to lose his scholarship to the University." Brooks had obviously assumed it was in jeopardy, but hearing it from someone who had inside information was still stunning. Before this season it was almost a foregone conclusion that Jeff Kopish would end up there. Although the season had definitely not been showcasing his talents. "Would they really give it to Marc Ille?" asked Brooks. "Supposedly its going to happen within the next few weeks." responded the coach. "I know that Chance is the real deal though. I thought we'd been developing plays that would help show off his skills and ensure that scholarship for him. I guess I really let him down."
Brooks could tell the coach was really upset about how the season was turning out. An idea sparked in Brooks’ head - "Coach, I want to buy a football shirt so I can wear it to the next game. How can I get one? I need to support the team." Brooks knew that he kept them in his office. "Meet me in my office after the game, I can get you one," he answered. Brooks needed to get in there alone for a few minutes.
"I have to head home in about 10 minutes. Shoot, I really wanted one to wear to the game," he said. Coach Vitrano reached into his pocket and handed Brooks his office keys, "Here, let yourself in. They are in a box in the corner. And don't leave any money - right now we should be paying you to wear our shirts." "Thanks Coach, I'll be right back with the keys." said Brooks.
Inside he smiled at how perfectly the plan worked. He entered the school and went into the locker room. The smell of sweat and the wintergreen smell of Ben Gay were overwhelming. Brooks opened the door to the coach's office and flipped on the light. He walked behind the desk and tried to recall the video in his head so he could determine where the camera was. He remembered that it looked like it was coming from over the coach's right shoulder when he was watching it. The back of the coach's head and shoulder were both visible, so about 3 rows up.
He got a chair to stand on and looked at what was on the 3rd shelf. Books, game tapes, some trophies. Nothing looked out of place. Then he saw it. One of the books was entitled Vince Lombardi Coaching Methods. The “O” in Coaching was cut out and Brooks could see a small circle of glass where the “O” was through the book’s spine. This was it! He reached out for the book. It slid out from the case easily and then stopped, out of the back of it was a wire that went through the bookcase. A quarter-sized hole had been cut into the back of the bookcase to allow the wire to pass through it.
The book was a real book, but it had been altered to allow for the camera to be place inside of it. Brooks opened the book and removed a small camera. He jerked on the wire so he’d be able to see where it led after it went behind the bookcase. He saw a wire move along the wall.
Brooks got off the chair and followed the wire to the wall and saw that it went into a conduit along with some other electrical wires. He needed to know where that wiring went. He had to find someway to get behind that wall. The cinderblock wall was going to be a daunting opponent though.
Brooks put the camera back into the book and replaced it where he had found it. He had already been in the office for about 10 minutes so he knew he had to get the keys back to the coach. He grabbed a shirt, locked up and left the office. He headed back to the practice field, thanked the coach for the shirt and gave him back his keys.
"I guess I'll say hi to Ally while I'm here," thought Brooks. He knew she'd be in the auditorium practicing her part in the play. She usually didn't leave rehearsal until 6pm each night.
As he entered the auditorium he looked down at the stage and saw his sister sitting on the side of the stage going over her lines while a few of the other students read their lines standing on the stage. This year the play was the Wizard of Oz. His sister had landed a great role; she was going to be the Wicked Witch. She had her big, green fake nose on and a large pointed hat.
She looked up and saw Brooks walking down the aisle. "I'll get you my pretty!" she said loudly as he approached. "What's with the green beak?" he asked. "I want to wear it as much as possible during rehearsals so that I'm used to it when I'm on stage," she replied. Brooks sniffed, "What's that smell?" he asked. "I know, its gross!" said Ally. "It's the glue that's used to hold this fake nose to my face. It smells like a fake orange or something." "Your real nose was bad enough, wouldn't that just work?" teased Brooks. Ally hit him with the broom she had nearby.
A man with a ladder walked by the stage. He was too old to be a student. "Who's that?" asked Brooks. "He's one of the guys working on getting the video cameras and internet set up so people can watch our play live online. Grandma and Grandpa Berry is going to love it, they can watch it in Arizona," answered Ally. "Cool" said Brooks. "Is he with Trojan Computers?" he asked. "Huh? How the heck should I know? Ne
rd!" cracked Ally. "I have to practice - buh-bye"
Brooks walked up the ramped aisle through the seats and back to the doors in the back of the auditorium. He headed out to his bike and rode through the parking lot. A white SUV with a magnetic sign on the side that said STATE COLLEGE NETWORKING & INTERNET was parked by the exit. As he rode by the back of it he noticed an orange football sticker on the side. The sticker said State College Porcupine Football.
A man walked through the parking lot headed to where the van was. Brooks got off his bike and stopped by the van. The man approached the van and Brooks smiled at him. He was about 30 years old, 5’8" and very slightly built. He had brown thinning hair and looked the part of a computer guy.
Are you the guy hooking up the video streaming for the theater?" Brooks asked. "Yep, sure am," the man responded. "Cool," said Brooks, "I wish you'd stream the football games too, then I could watch from home." "The district was talking about possibly doing that next year. My brother is an assistant coach at State College, and we just started streaming their games this year." Brooks stifled a laugh in an effort to be polite. "Why would you want to stream their games?" Brooks asked jokingly. "Ha! I know what you mean, but just wait, next year they are going to be good," the man answered. "They have some tricks up their sleeves - just wait."
Brooks was thinking on his feet. "My dad was considering hooking up a security system for our house that he could monitor online. Is that something you guys do?" "Sure is, video surveillance is one of our specialties," said the man.
He reached in his truck and gave Brooks one of his cards. Have your dad call me if he wants me to set something up for him." Brooks decided to press more. "He said he wants to be able to monitor the housekeeper while he’s at work, he thinks that she might be stealing from us, so he has to have a really small camera." Brooks told a white lie to see if he could have the guy talk about small cameras like the one in the coach's office.
The man beckoned Brooks to the back of his truck, "Take a look at this one and pulled out a camera about the size of a Tic-Tac box. This is the whole camera, with the lens right here - this par," the man pointed to an opening that was the same size as the one in the book in Coach Vitrano's office. "Wow, that is small," said Brooks. "OK, I'll give your card to my dad. Thank you!" "No problem." said the man getting in the drivers seat.