From the startled look on their faces, he knew he hit the jackpot.
"Uh, yes….how did you know?" Ricky finally spoke.
"You seemed to be upset when it was time to go home…did one of the guys give you a bad time…" Rick began, then his namesake shook his head.
"No…that I can handle. It was when I went to the bathroom, I had to wait outside and…a couple of the guys were standing around goofing off, when someone in one of the stalls dropped something. Ben, you know, our point guard, made a joke that somebody had the dropsies like in the game. Whoever it was yelled back that he only dropped the ball when it meant he'd pick up some cash. Then another guy ragged back that the point spread was too small to rely on a dropped pass, and the other guys laughed." Ricky wiped his brow as Rick swallowed hard.
"I didn't know what to say, Uncle Rick. Just then Ceci came out of the girls bathroom, and Ben made a crack about her "spread". I swore at him, then pushed her out of the hall and told him never to joke about my sister like that. I got out of there before I hit someone." He added, grimacing as Ceci told them, "I heard that bit about the points through the wall, Uncle Rick. I thought I'd better back Ricky up if he went off."
"Well, you did a good thing, splitting when you did. Now you leave it up to your dad and me, we'll get to the bottom of this. And never…" he put an arm around Ricky and Ceci. "let me hear that you are afraid to tell me or your folks about something."
"Uncle Rick…you and Dad can't go telling anyone what I heard…at least not without proof. No one will believe me and it'll be terrible at school." Ricky protested.
"Ricky, use your head. We're not going to go rushing in and accusing anyone without something to back us up. But your dad and I are going to check what this Ben said. Now, do you know who any of the other voices were?"
Ceci spoke up. "The one who was talking about the point spread was Brian Turner; I saw him go in when I came down the hallway. The others….I don't know."
"Yeah, it was Brian all right, and Jimbo and Juan…they were in the washroom behind me." Ricky mused, then his face lit up.
"I know, Uncle Rick. You and Dad can help me figure out who the other guy was, and we can figure out how to prove they did something to, well, change the score."
"Yeah, Uncle Rick. Dad said when we were old enough you'd teach us some stuff, Ricky's 17 and I'm 15, that's old enough." His sister chimed in.
Rick was dismayed. This wasn't what he had in mind. Hedging, he replied, "Tell you what, let me talk this over with your dad. If it's okay with him, it's okay with me about teaching you how to gather evidence the right way."
"Cool…thanks!" Ricky hugged him then gave way for Ceci to drop a kiss on his cheek.
"You're the best, Uncle Rick. Come on, Ricky, let's get our notebooks."
Rick groaned as the two of them ran back into the house. "That wasn't what I had in mind, A.J. and Linda are going to kill me!"
"They want to what?"
Rick fought back another groan. Here he had almost made his escape after telling A.J. about the incident at Two's, only for Linda to walk in. "Ricky and Ceci want to learn how to be detectives, so they can prove someone on the Broncos messed with the point totals to make money."
A.J. shook his head. "No. N…O! We can handle this..at least it explains him being so moody. And Ceci…."
"A.J…..don't even think about it." Linda interrupted him, casting a concerned eye at Rick. "She can read Nancy Drew all she wants, but she is not turning into a detective."
"Honey, that's what I was going to say…it's going to distract her from her schoolwork for one thing, for another it's too dangerous." A.J. attempted to calm his wife.
"What do you mean, too dangerous. A.J., all they want to do is help prove a couple of these guys did something wrong." Now Rick was upset. "I'd never put either of them in danger, you know that!"
"We know that too, Uncle Rick."
Startled, Rick swung around to see Ricky and Ceci, a determined look on their faces.
"Guys, this is a private discussion, okay?" A.J. started, only for Ricky to shake his head determinedly.
"No, Dad, this is about us. I'm going to be 18 soon, and I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions, at least about what's right and wrong. And it would be wrong to just
ignore what …well, what I think might have happened."
Moisture filled A.J.'s eyes as he looked at Linda. In the silence that followed, Ceci spoke up.
"Mom, you never hid from danger, or from helping Uncle Rudy or Uncle Oscar. Please don't ask me not to want to help Ricky, not after what I heard. For all we know, these guys might try to do this again! All we want to do is learn how to stop them. We've got plenty of time to have Dad and Uncle Rick teach us how to be detectives."
At that Rick started to shake his head, only for A.J. to clear his throat. "They're right, Rick. We taught them right from wrong, now we have show them how to follow through." He put an arm around Linda, who wiped her eyes, then smiled at their children.
"We don't have to like the fact you're growing up too fast, but ..I'm so proud of how you two back each other up." At that Ricky and Ceci ran to their parents, hugging and kissing them. "Thank you, Dad…thanks, Mom." Ricky sniffed, then smiled as Rick cleared his throat. "Okay, you two. You win….but….."
"But…" A.J. held up his hand. "You write down everything you heard…..then we do a little checking up on these guys. If there's enough information to warrant going further, then we talk to your coach. We let him and the school take it from there. And…."
"No going after them on your own, no confronting or trying to trick them into saying something, deal?" Rick finished, a firm tone in his voice.
"Deal!" Ricky held out his hand. "Deal!" Ceci covered his with her hand.
"Deal….God help us!" Rick grinned, then A.J. and Linda did the same. "Deal!"