Free QB1 by Pete Bowen Page B

in the
eye, “find out who killed Tony Reilly.”
     
    Chapter 14
     
    Head Coach Charlie Warren looked like shit.
Roger and I walked in and sat in front of his desk. He held his
head up with the elbow and the palm under the chin. His eyes
watched but his head didn’t move. “Coach Warren I’m investigating
the death of Tony Reilly for the Team.” I then smelled the booze
across the desk and concluded that Superbowl Champion Coach Charles
Francis Warren, Notre Dame, USMC…was shitfaced.
    “What can I do for ywou?” he said. That’s how
he said it, ‘ywou’. He was shitfaced.
    “Coach, I want to make sure the security of
the team is as good as it can be and I would appreciate access to
the team and your support.”
    He took his head off his palm, straightened
up and said, “You know who was the most exciting quarterback,
ever?” Didn’t wait for an answer, it was a rhetorical question.
“Fran Tarkington.” That’s all he said. He put his head back on his
elbow.
    Roger goes Wiki on Tarkington. “The Mad
Scrambler, Tarkington led the Minnesota Vikings to three Superbowl
appearances. He started out in Minnesota. He was traded to the New
York Giants and then went back to the Vikings. He’s 6th on the all
time passing list with 47,000 yards and 4th on the list with 342
career touchdowns. He was a good one.”
    Warren looked at Roger, “How do you know
about him?”
    “I’m a football fan,” said Roger.
    “Yea, I used to love to watch Scramblin
Fran,” said Warren.
    “What do you think Tony Reilly’s legacy will
be, Coach?” I asked.
    He thought about it for a minute. “Probably
the best single season a quarterback ever had.” He shook his head,
“What a tragedy. I can’t remember a sadder day. I loved that
kid.”
    I saw we weren’t going to get much out of
Charlie Warren today. We said our goodbyes and went looking for
Liz. She was already in the car waiting for us. Roger opened his
computer. Liz was on her cell. I gave our driver the address for
Jerry Cochran’s house and we took off. “What’s going on, Roge?”
    “Celebrities getting armed, buying guns,”
said Roger, “other than that, just a lot of speculation.”
    Liz closed her cell and sighed, “The coroner
doesn’t expect to release the body till Sunday. They’re talking
about holding the services at Grace Cathedral next week some time.
Rosenbloom’s office is going to handle the details. The Team is
involved too.
    I asked her, “What do you want to do, now?
We’re going over to see Jerry Cochran to see if he can fill us in
on what Tony might have been up to for the last month. You want to
stay with us?”
    “Jerry and Penny Cochran are my two favorite
people in the world. I’d love to see them,” she said. “I don’t
think Jerry knows much or Penny would have told me.”
    Jerry Cochran lived 10 minutes away in
Sunnyvale. We rang the doorbell and the whole family answered the
door. Jerry stood holding a baby and a two year old stood at his
mother’s knee. Penny Cochran immediately burst into tears hugging
Liz while Jerry welcomed Roger and me into the house. Cochran was
big. Six feet four, handsome, well spoken, he was a Media Studies
major out of USC. He was often on TV and radio as a Team spokesman.
You just knew he had a future in broadcasting. After Penny, it was
Jerry’s turn to hug Liz. “I loved him, Elizabeth,” he said. “I’ve
never been so torn up about losing anyone before,” he said and
started to cry, “sorry,” turning away and wiping away tears. “I’ve
been a mess all day.”
    “You guys were close, Jerry, it has to hurt,”
Liz said as he held him in her arms, the baby between them. “Oh my
God, this baby is cute,” she said taking the baby from Jerry’s
arms. Liz knelt down to the toddler and said, “your sister is very
beautiful, JJ.”
    “She has a vagina,” said JJ. We all laughed.
Leave it to a kid to sum things up.
    Cochran, Roger and I left the woman and
children in the kitchen and