Page 8 of Breakaway

Turk: God damn it, Tatum. Tell me now!

Tatum: Damn, are you text screaming at me right now?

Turk: Tell me.

Tatum: I thought I heard him tell her she owes him her job.

My gut churns.

Call me. Now!

Tatum: Can’t I’m at work and its peak time for people needing their coffee fix. Baristas rarely get a break. See you at the game.

I text Clark.

I’ll meet you at your office. We need to talk before the game.

Clark: What’s up?

Turk: I’d rather talk in person.

Clark: Anything I should be looking for?

Turk: Yeah. Do you have the player contract copies? Start there.

Clark scowls up at me as I walk into his office later that day. “How the fuck did you know?”

“Know what?”

“These contracts are a mess. All over the damn place with no justification on how they got to the salaries for the players. And fucking Baylor is making almost as much as Coach. The total salary is in line with a team, but the individual contracts are not in line with standards. And not all payroll matches the contracts.

“What made you think of this?”

I sit across from him and adjust my pant leg, debating how much to say.

“I know that look, give it all to me.”

“Last night I was leaving via the tunnel, and I saw Baylor crowding Cat. She looked uncomfortable. I warned him off. Isaid something to Tatum today and she thinks that Cat is afraid of him. She thinks he had something to do with Cat’s contract. Tatum overheard him say to Cat that she owed him her job.”

I watch him shuffle the files on his desk and open one. I see the tic in his cheek before his stormy gaze meets mine. “She’s not even making the minimum requirement. They have her at twenty-five and the league minimum is thirty-five a year.

I fist my hands on the chair arms. “Well, that explains part of it.”

“Part of what?”

“I could tell she was a little upset, but she wouldn’t let me give her a ride home. She walked away in one direction, but then I saw her get on a bus going the opposite way. I followed the bus to an almost sketchy neighborhood where she got off.

“She’s living above a diner. I watched her go into what I’m guessing is her apartment and come out with an apron on and go to work in the dinner. She worked until midnight and then some guy made sure she got into the apartment before he left.

“The address is not the one you have on file for her. In fact, the whole file you have on her is sketchy.”

“She’s not a fake. She plays too damn well. What are you thinking?” He looks at me.

“I don’t know. I called Tatum again after she got off work. She says they’re friends, but Cat is pretty shut down when it comes to her past and her family. She just says she’s alone. She thinks Cat is struggling because she’s always broke, and her clothes are worn. The nicest thing she has are the team uniforms because those are supplied.

“She’s tried to get her to open up but hasn’t gotten far. The most she’s been able to accomplish is to get her to go for free coffee at the place where Tatum works. Just quiet one on ones. She’s not a ‘girls night out’ kind of girl.

“I’ll make sure I get her salary taken care of tomorrow and I’ll get my personnel department going through all the contracts to make sure there aren’t other issues. We absorbed this acquisition pretty quickly. We would have found most of this eventually, but this lets me know where I need to focus.

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