Double Play

51.

It was a night game with the Braves. Burke was where he always sat near the dugout. Barber and Desmond were in the broadcast booth. The Dodger Sym-Phony was marching back and forth. Hilda Chester was ringing her cowbell. Eddie Bettan was blowing his whistle. Everything’s in place, Burke thought, all the way it should be.

The Braves went down in order in the top of the first. Stanky led off for the Dodgers in the bottom of the first and singled to left against Johnny Sain. Robinson was up next. Cash slipped into the seat next to Burke.

“Where’s the girl?” Cash said.

“My place,” Burke said.

“She all right?”

Burke nodded.

“She gonna stay with you?” Cash said.

Burke nodded again. Cash was silent.

“I’m leaving town,” Cash said.

“Where you going?” Burke said.

“L.A.,” Cash said. “Lotta work out there.”

“Your kind of work,” Burke said.

“Yeah.”

They both watched Robinson foul off a curve ball.

“You turned out to be a pretty good guy,” Burke said.

“Funny how that happens,” Cash said.

Robinson took ball one.

“Good luck in L.A.,” Burke said.

Cash nodded.

Robinson swung and missed for strike two.

“Good luck with the girl,” Cash said.

Burke nodded.

Sain came inside to Robinson with a curveball that didn’t break the way it was supposed to. It hit Robinson in the rib cage. Burke knew it wasn’t intentional. You didn’t hit somebody with a pitch when you had them down in the count 1–2. Without glancing at Sain he trotted down to first. He showed no sign that it hurt.

“I left you a little going-away present,” Cash said.

He handed Burke the next day’s early edition of The Daily News. Burke looked at him silently for a moment.

“Page three,” Cash said.

“I’ll take a look,” Burke said.

Reese came to the plate with two on and no outs. The excitement at Ebbets Field was palpable. Cash stood.

“See you around,” Cash said.

“Yeah,” Burke said. “You ever need anything...”

“Sure,” Cash said.

He paused for a moment, then nodded his head at Burke and turned and walked up the steps and into the runway. On the first pitch from Sain, Reese hit into a double play. Carl Furillo fouled out to Bama Rowell in left.

Burke opened the tabloid to page 3. The headline read MURDER ON THE WEST SIDE. There was a picture of a man lying facedown on a flat surface. The lead paragraph began, “Alleged West Side mobster Gennaro Paglia was found shot to death last night, in the men’s room of a midtown restaurant.” Burke glanced back at the runway. But Cash was gone. Burke looked at the empty runway for a long minute, then folded the paper without reading further. Bob Elliott led off the top of the second.