Page 47 of The Game Is Afoot

“I mean…I heard.” From my best friend, Google.

Corey raises his eyebrows, making his skepticism clear. “You seem to behearinga lot of things.”

“Sodium nitrate? Nah, that doesn’t sound right. It was something that started with a T. Tetri…?” Leon snaps his fingers, as if that’ll help it come to him. “Sorry, I’m just coming off a twelve-hour. I can’t remember the exact name, but I know it starts with aT.”

That must just be a mistake in his sleep-deprived brain, though, because I know it was sodium nitrate. Or at least sodium…something. The one used on plants! Maybe there’s an evenmoretechnical science term or whatever, that starts with aT? But I’ve gotten to, like, page ten on Google, where the deep cuts are, and I didn’t see anything like that.

“So, they found something that started with aT,” I say, trying to sound totally casual and like I have an average, normal level of interest. “But then how do they know Irene didn’t have something to do with it?”

I haven’t fully considered it before, but it makes total sense. An ex with a long-standing grudge over…whatever Cole was doing with his crusty toes—infidelity. Leon may think they were good, but who knows how accurate his read on that is. And this is who it always ends up being onDateline. Maybe this case is actually straightforward. Easy.

But Leon is vigorously shaking his head, and I can almost hear a phantom Keith Morrison slyly say with his drawn-out vowels, “Easy? Nothing is ever easy.”

“Nah, she’s good people. Her and Cole didn’t work, but she wanted the best for him. Like, she waited to finalize the divorce so he could stay on her insurance and get a surgery he needed done on his knee.”

“And she asked them to do a toxicology report,” Corey adds, eyes flaring in a subtle warning. I pretend I don’t see it. And honestly, he has a lot of nerve—I’m trying to helphimhere.

“On Saturday, she was at the Cabazon outlets. You know, way out by Palm Springs? She manages the Adidas store.”

“Okay, so she says, but—”

“It’s been verified.”

It’s clear from his clipped tone that he’s done with thisconversation, and I feel a flicker of embarrassment. I’m being insensitive. This was his friend, who died unexpectedly just days ago. It’s more than just a whodunit for him.

But I push that feeling down because I have to ask one more question. That can’t hurt any more. Ineedto know this.

“What do you know about Beth—”

The dismissal bell cuts me off, and almost instantly there is a mass of kids running toward us. Leon gives a quick wave before starting his search for Langston, probably glad to get away.

“Is that what I thought it was, Mavis?” Corey asks, leaning in close, and I want to swat him away. First, because he sounds so judgy, but also because he smells like the same warm and spicy cologne he’s worn since high school. “You were mad at your dad for—”

“How am I ever supposed to know what you’re thinking?” I shoot right back, injecting venom into my words, because how dare he? He’s keeping just as many secrets as me.

Pearl walks out then, and her eyes light up like we brought Shrek and a rainbow unicorn here to greet her. We both plaster on our happy-family faces and keep pretending that nothing is wrong.

Hello Aquamarine Alligators family,

I hope you’ll forgive how long it’s taken me to reach out. I know you and your littles have come to rely on me as a leader in our soccer community, and I’m just crushed that I couldn’t show up for you. As many of you know, our Axel is an empath and feels everything so strongly, so it’s been an overwhelming, life-encompassing task to help him weather this tremendous grief and loss. I’m sure you’ve been doing the same with your littles on some level.

We will unfortunately have to cancel Thursday night’s practice, but I didn’t want to do the same for our scheduled game on Saturday. It’s so important to keep up a routine and sense of normalcy to help our littles regulate their feelings and process this on their own unique, developmentally appropriate timelines. So I’ve reached out to the team mom of the Purple Platypuses, and we’ve organized a game for Saturday morning at 10:00am on Field B in Brady Park. This will be an “unofficial” game, as the league is currently on a hiatus and all coaches have technically been let go. But I hope we can all come together anyway to bring our littles this joy!

(And please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think our wonderful school psychologist, Mr. Cohen, will be present at this game, as he has been in the past. Maybe he can lead us all in a quick discussion in recovering from trauma?)

All my love,

Florence

Thirteen

“It’s such a shame thatJack couldn’t make it! Is he feeling ill?”

It’s Saturday morning, and Corey and I had the great fortune to be pulling into parking spots at the same time—right next to Florence and her family. So now we’re walking into the unofficial, just for our littles’ joy, game together.

“Yeah, no. He’s fine! He had some work to catch up on.”

More like he didn’t want to be volunteered to lead a counseling session for kids on his day off, so he opted to sit this one out. We have plans to see each other tonight instead.

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