The Payback Game by Nathan Gottlieb Page A

because of something going on in his personal or professional life. As you know well, an investigative reporter makes enemies.”
    Cassidy nodded. “I had more than my fair share of them.”
    “Let me ask you this,” Boff went on. “In the last few weeks before he was killed, did Nicky seem upset about something? Or act differently than he usually did?”
    The old reporter gave that some though t. “Well, there was one thing. About two and a half years ago, Nicky enlisted some philanthropists he knew to help raise the three million he needed to start a nonprofit charity. The charity’s mission is to create civic centers in the ghettos to help kids get off the streets. It also provides academic counseling for talented young basketball players to help them have a better chance of going to college.”
    “Why the focus on basketball?”
    “It had to do with Nicky’s childhood. Nicky grew up in Queens playing hoops on the playgrounds with a lot of troubled kids from broken homes. Some of those kids went on to make All-City and get college scholarships. Those were the lucky ones. Many of the others got mixed up in drugs, joined gangs, or ended up dead or in prison. Nicky wanted to give kids a chance to avoid that same fate.”
    “What was upsetting him?” Boff asked.
    “It had to do with a camp upstate that he was hoping to build for his ghetto kids. In order to raise money for the camp, he went to see an ex-Knick who’s a managing partner for an investment bank. He convinced the celebrity banker to help him organize a charity benefit for the rich and famous in Saratoga Springs. The shindig pulled in close to two million. Nicky wanted to have the camp ready for this summer. But it wasn’t.”
    “Did he say why it didn’t get built?”
    “No, and he didn’t want to talk about it, either. But it was obvious he was pretty upset.”
    Boff nodded. “That’s something else I’ll have to look into. Meanwhile, I want Hannah and me to check out all the stories Nicky had broken during the last few months or so.”
    “Why?” Cassidy asked.
    “To see if one of his columns could’ve pissed somebody off enough to make them a suspect. How do we get access to those old stories?”
    “Anybody can,” Hannah said.
    Boff looked surprised. “Really? How?”
    “I gather you don’t read newspapers online,” she said.
    “I don’t read newspapers. Period.”
    “Well, under every headline in the web version of the News is the byline in blue. If you click on the byline, you’re transferred to a page with other stories this writer has done, beginning with the most recent. There are about ten stories to a page, and you can click on many more pages.”
    “That’s good to know,” Boff said. “I’d like to start in on that tomorrow. Let’s meet here for lunch and bring our laptops. We’ll check out his stories for the last year. How’s that sound?”
    “Fine,” Hannah said. “Although I still think we shouldn’t stray too far from the Maloney murder.”
    “We won’t. But when I work a case, I try to explore all possible angles. If only to eliminate them. Nicky’s stories are something I’d like to eliminate.” He drained his mug. “I’ve got to shove off now. My wife waits up for me.”
    “Before you go,” the redhead said, “I’d like to know what it is with boxers? Both Cullen and that twerp with punk hair hit on me.”
    Boff spread his hands and smiled. “It’s like this. The boys train very hard and don’t have a lot of time or energy to go out at night looking for girls. So when a pretty one like you shows up at the gym? They try to make the most of the opportunity.”
    “Well, call off your horny doggies. I’m not about to date a boxer. I’m sure none of them has been to college. And they aren’t all that bright. I mean, look how often they get hit in the head. And, like, what do these guys know about anything except boxing?”
    Boff and Cassidy exchanged looks.
    “You want to tell her, Mike?