"Dad, this is silly." Ceci groaned as she closed her eyes, sitting stiffly in her father's office.
"No it's not, it's a great way of concentrating on what you remember, not just on what you think you remember." A.J. explained, readying a tape recorder.
"Now, think back to last Friday night. When you came down the hallway at Two's, what did you hear?"
Listening to his oldest daughter clearly recounting what she heard in the women's restroom, then what happened in the corridor of the restaurant, A.J. had to stop from swearing at the insults she endured. Ceci saw his face, and after she finished, gave him a hug.
"It's okay, Dad. I know I look just fine, besides, Ricky let them know they're in for it if they keep it up."
"I know, honey. Dad's don't like hearing their little girl's being insulted." A.J. told her, then tousled his oldest son's hair as he came in. "Well, son, you both were consistent with what you heard. Rick, what did you find out?" he continued as his brother came in the room.
"Well, to be precise, it's what we found out." He smirked, as Laurie followed him into the room. At once Ceci got up and embraced her aunt. "Thank you for helping Uncle Rick, Auntie."
"No, thank you, sweetie. Besides, I'm just glad you and your brother are going to learn from the best!" she replied, returning the hug, then sitting next to Rick.
"Okay, sis, what did both of you learn?" A.J. asked, grateful for the additional help.
"Well, it does help to have a son in law enforcement, I must say." Laurie smiled, then turned serious. "Brian Turner has a clean record, but a nasty little gambling habit that got him kicked out of the Window Rock Card Club," Laurie explained. "Of course they didn't stop him from playing blackjack until he had a winning streak, then he was kicked out for "underage gambling". According to Robbie, his father has had to payoff a couple of Card Clubs to keep them from blowing the whistle on him.
Jimbo Lopez has no run-ins with the law, at least on record, but he's been transferred from two other schools in the area in 3 years. As for Juan Martin, he's got a good record, all A's, scholarship to a major college…" Laurie broke off as Ricky shook his head dazedly.
"There's no way…he's nearly been benched 3 times this season for failing classes. I know Coach reinstated him 2 weeks ago after he passed a test….but A's?"
"Wait a minute, Ricky…. He was in study hall with Russ Johnson last week, I saw them trading papers…is there a chance someone else is taking his tests for him?" Ceci broke in.
"Nice going, honey!" Rick praised his niece, then put an arm around his wife. "You too, darlin. Ricky, could Russ Johnson have been the guy you didn't see?"
"No, he's not on the team this year, he was going to graduate in January so he dropped basketball. But….he was there with his girlfriend at Two's…." the younger Simon said.
"Then that meshes with what Ron found out. There was talk of a large bet being placed after last week's game, and some bookie collected big time." Rick added, pleased with the new information. A.J. let out a breath and leaned back in his office chair. "But what about this Ben? Granted he was with you, son…..but do you think he could have had anything to do with the point fixing?"
"No, Dad. He's too into setting school records…I don't think he fits the profile, besides." Ricky explained, getting a raised eyebrow from his sister.
"Well, it sounds like we have enough to go to the coach and principal. The only thing is, we're going to have to be very careful until all these guys are spoken to, okay?" Rick gave Ricky and Ceci the fish eye until they answered "Okay!"
"How about we treat you all to dinner, for all your hard work." Laurie suggested, with Rick adding, "Your Aunt Robin would love to see you all, she's at the Heritage this week."
"All right, that would be fun!" Ceci exclaimed, and A.J. and Linda laughed.
"Okay, I think we can handle a nice dinner out." A.J. smiled.
Rick was glad for his wife's suggestion as it set his brother's family at ease for what they faced the next day. Making an appointment with the principal and coach was difficult until A.J. mentioned a possible criminal investigation might be necessary. Immediately Coach Kerita and Principal Jones made time in their schedules.
When Rick and A.J. arrived at the high school, they sent Ricky and Ceci to wait in the secretary's office while they went in. Finding both younger men nervously pacing, Rick decided to set them at ease.
"Coach, Mr. Jones, the information we have will not go farther then this office if there is any kind of reasonable explanation for what my nephew and niece have overheard. But somehow, I don't think there will be."
"I understand, Mr. Simon. You must understand this is the first time I've ever heard of anything like this going on at a high school." The principal spoke up, then Coach Kerita continued.
"While it does happen in isolated incidents in college, I find it hard to believe any of our students would have the knowledge to pull something like this off." He said in a quiet voice. A.J. nodded.
"Normally I would agree with you, but with all the temptations out there today….anyway I think you should hear first hand what may be going on with your basketball team."
Calling in Ricky and Ceci, the two teachers looked more and more uncomfortable as first Ricky then his sister reported what they had overheard.
"So you don't' know who the person was in the bathroom." Coach Kerita said at last, disappointment on his face. The younger Simons shook their heads.
"Well, I'm afraid I have some confirmation of what these two …make that three were up to. I got a call from one of our parents that Jimbo Lopez may have to transfer "for family reasons"…" the coach said at last, pulling out a piece of paper and quickly scanning it.
Just then the phone rang, and the principal picked it up, frowning at the interruption. Suddenly his face became stern, and he barked angrily, "Bring it to my office right now!"
Hanging up, he looked at the startled faces. "I'm sorry, but that was the vice principal, Mr. Hoff. One of your teammates," he nodded at Ricky, "sent a note accusing you of stealing money from his locker."
Before anyone else could react, Ceci blurted out, "That's crazy….Ricky would never steal from his friends. Someone must have figured out he was going to blow the whistle on them!"
Surprisingly, it was the coach who nodded agreement. "I can believe that….When did this note show up?"
"Supposedly Mr. Hoff saw you come in here and just "remembered" it was received this morning. I'm afraid I'm going to have to check it out" Mr. Jones replied regretfully. "I'll have to ask all of you to please wait here."