Chapter 9

When they were finished with Rory, Kevin punched The Coach’s address into the GPS.

About 15 minutes later they pulled up in front of a well-kept three bedroom bungalow. Everything about it showed care and attention. The lawn and hedges looked freshly cut and it appeared to have a fresh coat of paint.

When a middle aged man with a husky build and a short brush cut answered the door bell, the detectives knew they were looking at The Coach.

“Police.” May said as she and Kevin flashed their badges.

“Are you Eugene Bottateli?”

“Yup, what is this all about?” he asked.

“We’re here to talk to you about the party last weekend,” Kevin answered as he spotted a woman behind Bottateli.

“What’s going on Eugene?’ she asked.

“Oh, it’s the police but nothing serious. They just have a few questions about something I saw a few days ago,” he hurriedly replied as he stepped outside and closed the door behind him.

“Now we can talk. It’s just that I didn’t want the wife to know about all the things that went on at that party. It was mainly for the players. They wanted to celebrate, let off a bit of steam, you know, ‘cause of the big win so I went along for the fun but I didn’t expect anything like that. All the booze and women, you know ... things ... began getting really crazy.”

“So you took one of those girls into a bedroom, right?” May cut right to the chase.

“Well yeah. I ... erh, don’t usually do things like that but she was young, kind of pretty and seemed eager, and I had a few drinks ... more than I needed actually ... so yeah.” Bottateli admitted.

“Then what happened?” Kevin asked even though he knew the answer. He just wanted to hear The Coach’s version of it to confirm Denise’s story.

Bottateli shrugged and said. “I’m not too sure. One minute I was sitting on the bed with my pants off and this girl hands me a drink. Next thing I know I’m being shaken awake by a couple of angry guys that acted like goons. They kept asking me where the girl was. When I told them I didn’t know ‘cause I passed out on the bed it was like ... they went berserk. They began searching all over the house for her and at the same time other guys were breaking up the party. They were like ... rushing people out to the bus. Lots of excitement, I could hear loud voices and curses even while they pushed us out the door.”

May nodded at Kevin. So Denise’s story was true. It was just like she said. Those thugs who guarded the women must have had a conniption as they tore the house apart trying to find her. And all the time she was hiding right under their noses in a room they refused to enter because it belonged to a very important old man. They both knew things were about to get very interesting.