Meet Rosalind Savage: Basketball Champs! 4. Knocked Out

“I wonder what he was doing there,” Alicia bit her lip.

“Come on,” Natalie frowned. “He’s the one with that expensive brand new car.”

We were sitting at one of the table on the pool side, sipping our Cokes. I had told my friends about the sedan thing and by hearing it, they both were puzzled.

“But can a guy like Billy drive so fast, like a psycho?” I said, frowning.

“You are right,” Natalie nodded. “He doesn’t seem like driving a vehicle that fast, I mean, we all know him since we were in kindergarten.”

“True said,” I said, “But anything is possible.”

“Hmm,” Alicia looked at Ronald who was sitting three tables ahead of us with Jason and those three guys whom I had seen while taking the car key from Jason. “That guy is pretty cool.”

“Talking about Santiago?” I asked.

“Yep,” she grinned. “He knows that I had beat Gretchen of NY. He has got knowledge of other sports and not only basketball.”

“I see,” I said.

“Hey, guys, look,” Natalie, who was eying everyone near the pool and food court, sat straight now. “Bill is coming.”

We all turned at the direction of him. There he was, carrying a brown packet in his left hand and a key in his other.

“I guess he had gone to bring that package from the car,” I muttered.

“Let’s see where he heads to,” Natalie said, still staring at him.

Bill moved towards a crowd of juniors who were standing near the Chicken Pie’s table and chatting and laughing. He went and stood near another guy who was wearing a black suit. The guy in black suit was facing towards the table so we couldn’t see his face. Bill handed the package and as well as the key to him and then went in the gym.

“Seems like the car is not his,” Alicia said turning at me.

“But who is that guy in black suit?” I asked. “I can’t see his face.”

“Let’s find out,” Natalie smiled.

“Okay, Natalie, you are in,” I said playfully.

“Anytime,” she laughed and stood up.

Natalie went near the Chicken Pie table and took a plate from a side and pretended to take a pie on her plate. Then she turned to face the crowd and stared at the guy’s direction for a minute and hurried towards us.

“What did you see?” Alicia asked excitedly.

“Norman Santiago,” she sighed as she sat on her chair and placed the plate on the table.

“You mean Ronald’s brother?” I asked, cutting a piece of pie and putting it in my mouth.

“Yeah,” she answered. “He has still got the packet with him.”

“No wonder it’s his brother’s car,” Alicia shrugged. “Ronald is pretty rich because of his basketball career.”

“And pretty famous, too,” Natalie said.

I turned once to look at Norman. He was now standing facing us, his eyes searching for something. Or someone?

I scanned the lawn for any expression on others faces and finally found it. Ronald Santiago was nodding at his brother while Jason and the others were talking among themselves. That means they were up to something.

As Ronald nodded for the fourth time, Norman started moving towards the office building. I couldn’t see him in the dark.

“Girls,” I called, “I think I should go on work, now.”

“What kind of work?” Natalie was perplexed.

“Following him,” I stood up at once.

“Oh boy,” Alicia looked worried. “What on earth made you think to follow him?”

“Something about Bill and these two brothers is making me sick,” I frowned. “I wanna know what they are up to.”

“Go on,” Natalie said.

I left my friends at the table and hurried towards the office building which was almost dark except a dim light which was still on in our college secretary, Andy Carter’s cabin.

What was she doing at this time in her cabin? I wondered why she had to come at the time of prom to work in here. Or was it Norman whom we just saw going towards office? I moved slowly, without making a noise and reached at the secretary’s cabin door.

I pushed the door and it just opened. Someone was inside. But who? I wanted to check that out. I peeped inside and found something moving near the Xerox machine in the corner. From the dim light I could make out that it was none other than Norman Santiago.

“Norman!” I yelled.

He jumped out of fear and turned to me.

“What are you doing here at this time?” I said curtly.

His face whitened with fear and he was hiding something behind his back.

“I was just…” he coughed. “I was just keeping these papers for Andy.”

 “What kind of paper?” I inquired.

“Just these,” he took his hands out of his back and placed two/three pages in front of me.

“Since when is Andy interested in keeping blank pages in her office?” I eyed those blank sheets and asked him.

“Hmm,” he said nervously, “she wanted them for some other work of hers.”

I scanned the room and found the main light switch till then. As soon as I turned the tube light on, the room went bright.

“Are you sure you were here just for placing some blank sheets?”

“Absolutely,” he gave me a nod.

“If you say so,” I started to move forward. “Hand me those you are hiding in that Xerox machine.”

He looked upset and really nervous now and started to take out all the pages he had xeroxed and kept in that machine.

I looked at all those pages. They were the game plans of the NCs. Some one stole all those and now this Norman guy was xeroxing them to help his big brother, Ronald.

“So,” I stared at him curtly. “This is what you and your brother are up to, huh?”

“I’m so sorry, Rosalind,” he cried. “I didn’t realize that you will catch me so soon.”

“But I did catch you,” I said, putting all those pages in my handbag. “Now, I want you to sit here and talk with me about this.”

He obeyed like a child and sat on the chair next to the working table. I took my seat in another chair, beside him.

“Why were you doing this thing?” I asked.

“It’s because the NCs are more powerful and intelligent than the NLs.” He put his arms across his chest.

“But your brother is a good player, isn’t he?” I asked. “Then why did he tell you to steal these?”

“Honestly, I didn’t steal these,” he said dolefully. “I never knew that these were the game plans unless Ronald told me what it is. I didn’t steal these, Rosalind.”

“Then who did?”

“Michael Fox,” he answered. “That guy is real tough. He’s a team mate of Ronald, a pretty close friend of his. It was his plan. He stole all their game plans and handed it to me and warned me not to show it to anyone.”

“Not even your brother?”

“He knew already,” his face fell. “I never expected him to cheat or something.”

“How did this Michael guy steal these papers from the NCs?” I asked.

“I told you before that he’s a tough guy. He has a good friend called Richard Bentinck in NC. NC captain had appointed Richard to keep all the important papers with him which he used to keep in the locker of every stadium their team went to. Michael knew that Richard will be in NL Stadium for late night practice the day he stole the plan. He bribed the janitor of the stadium for bringing them to him. The janitor had permission to enter the player’s locker room for cleaning. He also had extra keys to all the lockers as he is an inside man. So, he unlocked his locker and brought them to Michael.”

“Who told you to Xerox these papers?”

“Ronald,” he said angrily. “He told me one fine day that he needs them to be xeroxed as these are the original copies. He and Michael were scared because the NCs might find out of their missing plans.” 

“But Richard never found that out,” I sighed. “It was in his locker, but.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “He was too busy with the game that he forgot thinking about these sheets.”

“But why didn’t you go to some local Xerox store rather than xeroxing from college secretary’s office?”

“I had been to one store,” he looked at the floor. “The shopkeeper caught what it was as he was a NC supporter. I somehow escaped by paying him some really good money and telling him to keep his mouth shut.”

“Wow!” I exclaimed. “So you have also started to give bribes, huh?”

“I didn’t have another option,” he gave me a dark look. “When I told Ronald about it, he scolded me for my stupidity and told me to get his work done from college office and I could only do it without anyone’s presence. So, I had to choose the prom night.”

“Oh, I see,” I frowned. “A pretty cool plan.”

“Can I leave now?” he begged.

“Not so fast, Norman,” I stood up.

“What now?” he looked irritated.

“Is that new black sedan yours?”

“It’s Ronald’s.” he calmed down a bit. “But we drive it alternate days.”

“Who was driving it on Tuesday?”

“It would be me,” he snorted. “But what’s it to you?”

“I guess you were in a hurry to get away from that store near Pretzel’s. You almost crashed Natalie,” I snapped.

“Oh sorry,” he stood up now. “Yes, you are right. I was hurrying home from that store. I was scared after what I have done. Now, let me go.”

“Sure, sure,” I grinned and made way for him to move out of the cabin. But for a second I thought that the NL police department must know about this and so I should call the police and hand these papers as well as these guys.

“Norman?” I called him again, dialing Dad’s friend, Chief Ben Farrow’s number.

“What?” he turned back.

“I have no other option except calling the cops to handle this thing,” I said broodingly.

“No, please, don’t,” he looked horrified.

“Look,” I said. “I can’t help it. Stealing game plans from the opponent team and using the same to beat them in the finals in a crime.”

“Why don’t you understand?” he yelled in anger. “I didn’t steal them. But Michael did.”

“But why don’t you understand that you were also involved in this,” I said curtly and hit the ‘call’ button. “You can’t escape.”

He sat on the steps of main office building and put his hands on his face.

“Hello? Chief Farrow speaking.” A hoarse voice said.

“Chief, this is Rosalind Savage, here.”

“Oh, Rosalind, how is you Dad?” he asked cheerfully.

“He’s fine.” I said politely. “Chief, I need your help right now.”

“What’s wrong?” he sounded worried.

“Please come at NL College as fast as you can.” I said. “I have caught a thief who was trying to Xerox the stolen game plan of the Nashville Champs. He just revealed the whole incident to me. We have more people who are involved in this.”

“Oh my god!” he said worriedly. “Don’t worry, Rosalind. I will be there in a few minutes.” We hung up.

I sat next to Norman on the step.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said.

“I know,” he muttered. “I’m feeling sorry about it now.”

“The cops will take care of this in a few minutes,” I said, looking at the lights coming from the gym and the pool side.

I saw two figures heading towards us from the pool side. From the twenty feet distance between us, I could make out that they were none other than Natalie and Alicia.

“What happened?” Natalie asked, as they came near us and saw me sitting with Norman who was still putting his hands on his face.

“We were worried about you, Rose,” Alicia said, staring at me. “You didn’t show up even in ten minutes. So, we had to come looking for you.”

I told them what was the matter and as soon as I finished saying the incident, we saw four people coming towards us.

“Hello, everyone,” Officer Farrow smiled at us. Three constables were with him.

“Officer Farrow,” I stood up from the steps. “This is Norman Santiago, younger brother of Ronald Santiago, the basketball captain of North Land team.” I pointed to Norman who was now sitting up straight. “He was xeroxing the game plan of Nashville Champs from our college secretary’s office.” I took out those sheets from my handbag and handed it to him.

He looked at it once and gave it to one of his constable. I then told him the incident in short.

 “Young man, please follow us into the police van. We need to ask you some questions in the department.”  He said to Norman.

Norman stood up at once and then Officer Ben turned to me.

“Rosalind,” he said, “Will you please show us where we can get his brother?”

“Sure,” I smiled and we all headed towards the pool.

“You, young man,” he said to Norman, “I want you to come with us. Once we arrest your big bro, we will take both of you in police station.”

One we were at the pool side, the crowds saw us entering with cops and they all looked perplexed. I pointed at Ronald, who was now standing near the pool and sipping his drink. Jason was standing near the food court with some guys. Ronald didn’t see us as he was standing facing his back at us.

“Hello, Captain,” Chief Ben tapped at his shoulder.

Ronald turned back at once and he was puzzled to see Chief Ben and those three constables. His eyes flickered from Chief Ben to us and they got stuck at his brother, who looked pale and fearful.

His face whitened to see his brother in that condition.

“What’s wrong?” he asked pretending as if nothing happened.

“You are going to find that out once you are in police station,” Officer Ben grinned.

“Oh no!” he looked at his brother and gripped his shoulder. “You got caught. Oh no!”

“Yes,” he whispered.

I looked around us and saw a huge crowd was gathering around us to see what was going on. Jason was right next to me in a minute.

“What happened?” he asked.

I hushed him. “You will see,” I replied.

People were whispering things around us.

“What did you do, Santiago?” someone yelled from the crowd.

“Quiet, everyone.” Officer Ben raised both his hands. “I will tell you what’s wrong. This guy stole the Nashville Champ’s game plan and insisted his little brother to Xerox them which he obeyed and got caught in your college secretary’s office by Miss Rosalind Savage.”

As soon as my name was said, everyone turned to me. Ronald glowered at me.

“Oh my god!” I heard Linda, shrieking from the crowd.

“I didn’t steal,” Ronald cried. “It’s Michael Fox, our teammate.”

“Loser!” someone screamed in anger from the crowd and then one by one, everyone started yelling things at Ronald.

“We were huge fans of you,” Peter cried. “But you showed us your other side. Hate you, Santiago.”

“Hate you, Santiago, hate you,” Jason gave him a dark look.

“What’s going on here?” our principal, Mr. Mark, pushed some students and came in the middle of the crowd. “What are you here for, Chief Farrow?” he turned at Chief.

“See for yourself,” he smiled and gestured at a constable. The constable at once caught Ronald’s collar and pulled him at Norman’s side.

“I still don’t understand what’s wrong,” Mr. Mark bit his lip. “Please explain, Chief.”

Chief Farrow told him the whole incident in short.

“Oh Jesus!” Mr. Mark turned wide-eyed. “I never thought that these two will be up for something illegal.”

“We are taking them to the police station,” Chief Farrow said.

“Sure, sure,” he nodded. “You should. No objection at all and thank you.”

“If you wanna thank, then don’t thank me. Thank her,” he looked at me. “Without her, we couldn’t even catch them. She was the one to find out that these guys were up to stealing.”

“Oh,” Mr. Mark stared at me and grinned. “Thank you so much, Rosalind.”

“You are welcome, sir,” I smiled.

After a few more fiery comments from the gathered crowd, Chief Farrow took them along with him in the police van.

After they went, Mr. Mark settled everyone back to the prom. People came and congratulated me for my work.

“That was very brave of you,” Bill said. “I never knew that it was those papers in the packet.”

"I know that, Bill", I smiled, "I'm happy to help".

"I'll have something to eat", he said, "I'll see you soon".

He scurried off through the crowd of students. Once he was gone, Natalie and Alicia came running to me. 

"That was really shocking", said Natalie, "I mean who knew Santiago would be up to something like that".

"I know", I answered, "Both the brothers had planned it well".

"Girls", Alicia said, "I'm starving. Please can we-"

Before she could finish her sentence, someone grabbed me and pushed me at a side. I fell and hit my head hard against a table.

"Oh my gosh!" Natalie cried.

I heard screams and whispers around me. Everyone seemed to be shocked and scared.

I sat up slowly and felt throbbing pain in my skull. Alicia and Natalie were gathered at my side as well the other students.

"What just hap happened?" I asked, placing a lock of hair behind my ear.

"If I didn't push you out, this would have broke your head", Jason said sternly.

I spun around to find Jason standing with a brick in his hand. 

"What is that?" I asked, staring at a piece of white paper which was tied with the brick.

"See for yourself", he handed it to me.

It was a small, square-shaped paper. On it, in small but bold letters something was printed. 

Better stay away. Or else, you are gonna be out of this planet.

I read it out loud to my friends. 

"This is really dangerous, Rosalind", Natalie said in a tensed voice.

"I think you should not think about this", Jason insisted.

"Once I'm in the game, I play to win, Jason", I smirked.