“And he was inclined to believe you,” Sam said.

“So what’s this all about?”

“We’d like to know why the general manager of a Major League Baseball team is all but broke.” She dropped the financial report on the table in front of him.

“How do you know about that?”

“We like to be thorough. Between this financial report and the damage Agent Hill witnessed at your home, we’re wondering what you really had riding on that game.”

He squirmed ever so slightly, but Sam saw it.

“Did you wager on the game, Mr. Collins?”

“You know I can’t do that. MLB players and employees are prohibited from betting on games.”

“And yet that rule hasn’t stopped it from happening in the past, has it?”

“No.”

Sam let the silence fill the room, sending the message that she was waiting on him.

“You don’t understand,” he finally said.

“What is it I don’t understand?”

“We were supposed to win that game. We should’ve won that game. All he had to do was catch the ball. Just catch the ball. Do you know what a difference that would’ve made for all of us?”

“What kind of difference would it have made for you?”

“The team I fielded would be going to the World Series.”

“Beyond that?”

“There is nothing beyond that! I needed that to happen on every possible level.”

“Why?”

“Because it was my chance to turn things around! You have to understand... I needed to win that game.”

“So you’ve said. What you haven’t said is why.”

He took a drink from the glass of water on the table and wiped away a bead of sweat on his forehead. “I went through a really ugly divorce a couple of years ago. It wiped me out. I’ve been struggling to get back on my feet ever since.”

“You make a lot of money, Mr. Collins. How do you find yourself unable to pay your cable bill?”

He dropped his head into his hands, his shoulders heaving as he broke down.

Sam glanced at Freddie, rolling her eyes. He didn’t engage, which was unusual, but then again, he was beyond exhausted.

“Do you have a gambling problem, Mr. Collins?”

“Yes,” he said, his words muffled by his hands.

“And did you wager on the outcome of the National League Championship Series?”

His face still in his hands, he nodded.

“How much?”

“More than I could afford to lose, and now...”

“Now what?”

“I’m in really big trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Every kind. I have to come up with a lot of money that I have no way of getting, or...”

“Or what?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out.”

“Who are these people you’re indebted to?”

“If I tell you that, I’m a dead man.”