Die Like an Eagle Read Online Free Page B

cooked up the carpool scheme to justify it. But I didn’t give Michael the whole story because—well, I hate to speak ill of someone, and I thought I’d give him—and you—the chance to form your own opinions of Mr. Brown.”
    â€œI’m afraid my opinion is already a negative one,” I said. “And I’ve never even spoken to the man. Although I’ve been trying to, ever since Randall assigned me the job of making sure Brown Construction fulfilled the terms of its contract with the town of Caerphilly.”
    â€œGood luck with that,” the chief said. “Because you’re going to need it. See you this evening.”
    I hung up and was about to head back to the Twinmobile, as we called the van we’d acquired when the boys were born. But as I turned, I almost collided with a woman who had been hovering nearby.
    â€œSorry,” I said. And then I frowned slightly, because it occurred to me to wonder what she was doing here. She wasn’t an Eagle mother—I knew all of them. Which meant she had probably dropped off one of the Stoats.
    So what was she doing sneaking up behind me and eavesdropping on my conversation with the chief? Probably planning to tattle on us to Biff, I realized, as she backed away from me slightly, in the direction of the Stoats dugout.
    She was short and slender, and looked to be about my age, although her hair was graying and she was huddled into a thick brown sweater jacket as if braced against extreme cold, even though it was a warm April day. Was she ill? Her face was unlined, but pale and drawn. She was wearing her right arm in a sling, and in its folds I could see that her fingers emerged from a white cast or possibly a very bulky bandage.
    â€œCan I help you?” I asked.
    She shook her head, then turned and fled back to the parking lot. I saw her get into a battered, far-from-new compact car. But she didn’t drive away.
    Was she waiting till I left to tell Biff about our picnic plans? Maybe I’d absorbed a little too much of the Eagle fathers’ anxiety about Biff. She was probably just waiting out her kid’s practice. The ball field was only a couple of miles from our house, but someone who lived at the far side of the county might find it more convenient to stay.
    Just then, Michael and the boys came back, and I was plunged into the noisy chaos of making sure all three small Eagles were properly belted in and that their baseball bags were in the back and appeared to contain all the hats, gloves, batting gloves, balls, sunglasses, cleats, and other equipment they’d arrived with. Michael showed up with a small armload of similar items that had been left behind in our dugout.
    â€œWe should be able to get all this back to the owners at the picnic,” he said.
    I glanced back at the field. I didn’t see the woman who’d been eavesdropping. Biff’s players were lined up along the first baseline, and he was walking slowly along in front of them with his hands clasped behind his back and a scowl on his face.
    Michael followed my line of sight.
    â€œThe general inspecting his troops,” he said, sotto voce.
    â€œMore like the warden putting the fear of God into the new prisoners,” I said. “Josh and Jamie are never playing on any team he coaches.”
    â€œAgreed,” Michael said, as we climbed into the Twinmobile. “Party time, guys!”
    The small Eagles cheered excitedly as we lurched out of the ramshackle parking lot and headed for home.

 
    Chapter 3
    I wouldn’t have asked Mother to organize a party on such short notice if I hadn’t been pretty certain she could do it. But when I arrived home and saw the scale of what she’d pulled together, I was impressed. And more than a little suspicious that she’d been planning all along to surprise us with a party.
    Someone had strung up a large G O E AGLES! banner on the front porch, and an even larger E AGLES