business corporations and CEOs and that stuff, but certainly he was familiar with the vocabulary. He must have studied business cases that involved murder.
Maybe it was because he knew Ken…?
“It’s unofficial, but from what Seraphina says, I have to believe it is,” Henry replied. He takes a drink of his water, finally returning his eyes to the man he was conversing with.
“But, why?”
Her father asked the question that had been on the tip of Emma’s tongue since rumors swirled that Ken was, in fact, murdered. She almost asked it now, but managed to hold back at the last second, careful not to reveal her true intentions of standing idly by the two men. They probably thought she was thinking of some dance she should be memorizing the steps to or choreographing something for herself, which, under normal circumstances, she would be, but today was not a normal day. And now that Emma knew Ken wasn’t here, this day at the beach didn’t seem as bright as it had once been.
Emma had only met Ken a handful of times, but he always left a lasting impression on her. When he talked to her, she felt as though there was nothing on his mind. He didn’t take her less seriously due to her age, and when she gave him her opinion about something, Emma felt as though he were actually listening to her. Granted, he didn’t always agree with what she said, and had no problem telling her as much, but he never spoke down to her and treated her as though she were his equal, and no some girl who was only around because her dad loved hockey and had lots of money. Sure, he could be stubborn but she didn’t see how anybody would actually want to kill Ken. And if what his granddaughter, Seraphina, said was true, that he had bruises on his neck and a bump to the head - Why would anyone want to attack an old man?
Again, Henry could only shrug his shoulders. “I couldn’t tell you,” he said, shoving his free hand in his pocket while he shook his water bottle gently. It looked almost subconscious, like he didn’t realize what he was doing. “The police are investigating. They took all the necessary evidence, the books, photographs, you know, crime scene stuff. They should be finished with it soon.”
“What’s going to happen to the team?” her father asked. “I mean, without an owner, will it go on the market? Will there even be a season this year? I’m surprised that today was still scheduled, what with everything that’s happened.”
Emma knew that if her father didn’t love his job as much as he did, he would be the first person in line to buy the Gulls and manage the team, just as Ken had.
“Yeah, well, Katella and Seraphina talked and they both decided that today should still be celebrated,” Henry said before taking another sip of water. “They both believed their grandfather would want things to continue on as though nothing happened, and they’d be right. Ken was always a practical guy, you know.”
“And the team? I heard rumors that Ken thought about selling the team in order to retire.”
Emma could hear the slight hesitation in her father’s voice, almost as though he was afraid about the possibility of the Gulls not playing this season.
“Yeah, I heard that too.” Henry looked at the sky, and Emma suddenly realized that maybe the tough-as-nails coach was searching for his friend up in the sky, looking for concrete answers everyone down here could only speculate about. “The only thing I know about it is that whatever was going to happen, whatever decision Ken was going to make, only Ken knew about it. He never mentioned retiring to me, but who knows? I know that the only thing he loved more than this team is his family, so maybe he wanted to spend more time with them. But again, he never said anything like that to me.
“As for the team…” He let his voice trail off as his eyes trailed to the ocean once again. “I’m not one
Amanda Young, Raymond Young Jr.