Eighty

BEN CANTOR AND I were having burgers at Causwells, on Chestnut Street, the first time we’d been together since I’d returned from Los Angeles. He said he couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than with the best burger in town and a pitcher of beer.

“I’m a man of simple tastes,” he said.

“Sure. Go with that.”

“You still haven’t fully explained to me why those owners ended up doing a one-eighty,” Cantor said.

“It was obviously my heartfelt appeal to their better angels.”

“Sure,” he said, smiling at me with those eyes. “Go with that.”

He drank some of his beer and smacked his lips contentedly after he did.

“You really don’t know why they flipped, or you’re not telling me?”

“Hey, you’re the detective.”

We were waiting for our cheeseburgers. He’d picked the place, but once he did, I told him Causwells had always been, and would always be, my go-to when I was in need of a burger fix. Like the Urgent Care of burger joints, at least for me. The front room was crowded for a Thursday night, televisions tuned to the Thursday night game between the Panthers and Falcons. I had come here straight from practice at Hunters Point. We had the biggest game of the year coming up on Saturday afternoon, at home, against St. Joseph’s.

And the day after that the Wolves had a home game against my new buddy Rex Cardwell’s Texans. A win would put us in a division-leading tie with the Rams.

“I went to see your mother,” Cantor said.

“Without being coerced?”

He told me all about it.

I asked why he’d waited to tell me.

He said he figured I had enough on my plate, but he also wanted to give me this piece in person.

When he finished his replay of their conversation, I said, “So the Queen Mum lied to you.”

“Another one of omission. Can’t keep track of the liars in your family without a scorecard.”

“I know how Jack tried to explain away Thomas’s visit to him that night. What about my mother?”

Cantor drank more beer.

“It’s almost as if she and Jack got their stories lined up,” Cantor said. “She said Thomas came to the house to plead with her, as the head of the family, to broker a peace with Danny and Jack. Bring all the sibs together for practically a kumbaya moment.”

The waiter brought our burgers. We paused until he was gone.

“Well, that certainly doesn’t line up with what Thomas told me on the phone,” I said. “He said he needed to talk to somebody who could tell him why they were so desperate to get rid of us. Meaning Thomas and me.”

“I remember.”

“So they’re both lying their asses off.”

“Seems so.”

“And to you, an officer of the law,” I said.

“What’s the world coming to?”

He reached over and took one of my fries.

I pointed out that he had some of his own.

He said he couldn’t explain it, but they simply tasted better off my plate.

I said, “No other stops after he left the house and got back to the stadium?”

Cantor shook his head.

We ate in silence for a few minutes after that. I was just about to finish my burger when my phone rang from inside my purse.

I took it out and checked the screen.

Ryan.

“My coach. Gotta take it.”

“Go ahead,” Cantor said, winking at me. “I can take it.”

“Hey, Coach.”

“We can’t find Billy McGee,” he said.