QB1 by Pete Bowen

for me,” he said.
    I thought for a moment and said “I need to
run this by my partner.” I thought about it for a minute, my eyes
never leaving his, “Fax a contract to my office. I also need to run
this by an existing client of mine for any conflict of
interest.”
    “Who’s that?” said Tierney.
    “Elizabeth Reilly.”
     
    Chapter 11
     
    I got back to my house before noon. Saw a guy
sitting in a car across the street and he waved to me, obviously
working security. I walked up the stairs and saw Liz and Roger
sitting at the kitchen table playing backgammon through the window.
“Oh my God,” I said, walking through the door. “That isn’t
backgammon is it? What have I told you about backgammon in this
house, Roger?” I yelled. He quickly started picking up the
pieces.
    “It’s just a game,” he said.
    “It’s just a game you cheat at. How many
times do I have to tell you? This is an NBZ. Tell Liz what an NBZ
is.” Liz sat there with an amazed look on her face. Roger mumbled
something.
    “What?”
    “Tell her what an NBZ is!”
    “No Backgammon Zone.”
    “That’s right this is a No Backgammon Zone.
How many games did you play, Liz?”
    “Um, two?”
    “And you lost two, didn’t you?”
    “It’s just a game, Tom,” she said.
    “Oh no, it isn’t,” I said. “It’s much more
than that. It’s an opportunity to steal your money.”
    “How much did you lose?”
    “Well the first game was just learning, but I
wasn’t doing too well in this game.”
    “And this was for the money, right?”
    “It was for a dollar.”
    “And the next game would have been double or
nothing and so on till he owned you. He’s a devious little
shit.”
    “You’re mean, Mr. Mullins,” Roger said.
    “He’s been wonderful, Tom,” Liz said. “He
made coffee and toast and called up the police and got my things
delivered here.”
    “NBZ, Roger.” I shook my finger at him,
“Fucking kid. Go put on some nice clothes, we got work to do.”
Roger folded up the game and ran out the back door with the board
under his arm.
    “He cheats at backgammon?” asked Liz. I just
shook my head and sat down across from her.
    “How are you doing?” I said.
    “I don’t know. I’m trying not to think about
it.”
    “Did Roger tell you where I’ve been?”
    “He said you were talking with the team.”
    “I was with Oscar Tierney. He wants to hire
us to investigate the murder.”
    “Aren’t the police doing that?”
    “That’s not the problem. The problem is
between the SFPD, State Investigators, FBI and Homeland Security,
there could be a difficult investigation as a turf war will
inevitably break out. Feds are supposed to trump everyone else, but
I have very little confidence in them. Tierney wants someone on his
side, coordinating or at least representing him and the
League.”
    “He’s a smart guy. He’s always been nice to
me.”
    “What about you? Have you talked to an
attorney?”
    “I don’t know who to call. Tony and his agent
handled the legal stuff.”
    “Have you talked to anyone?”
    “I just woke up. All I’ve done is lose a game
of backgammon.”
    “We should go talk to Tony’s lawyer and his
agent. His agent is Rosenbloom isn’t it?”
    “Yes, I’ve met him a few times.”
    “Let’s call him and tell him we want to see
him. He should be able to get you headed in the right direction.
Who is Tony’s lawyer?”
    “I don’t know,” she said.
    “Tom, I’m sorry about not telling you about
Tony in Sonoma. It was a bad time for me. Tony had left the week
before and I was miserable.”
    “Well, I figured something was going on.
Nothing was said for a couple of minutes. “It was wonderful,” I
said. She leaned against me and started crying.
    “Oh my God, what a mess.”
    “What happened last night?”
    “I don’t know.” She looked at me and said, “I
really don’t know. I hadn’t heard from Tony for a month. Before he
left, he asked me to stay while he was figuring things