Hotline to Murder

and bump it to the setter. The Bonita Beach setter moved like a ballet dancer. She handled good balls and bad balls alike, making perfect sets, low, high, and sometimes backwards over her head in response to secret signals that Tony didn’t understand.
    Unfortunately, the Bonita Beach hitters didn’t do as well. They scored some kills, but they also hit balls out of bounds or into the net. And too often two of the opposing players would leap at the same time as the hitter and block the ball back into the Bonita Beach court, often for a point or a side out.
    In the middle of the first game, Tony felt his cell phone vibrate. He got up from his seat and walked quickly through the door of the gym, extracting the phone from his shirt pocket as he went. Outside he pressed the Talk button and said, “This is Tony.”
    “Tony, Mona.”
    “Hi.” Several students were talking loudly nearby. He walked away from them, hoping their voices wouldn’t carry over the phone.
    “How is that presentation coming for the lunch tomorrow?”
    He was presenting the company program to a group of doctors. Mona, who didn’t usually accompany him for these presentations, was going with him. Everything had to be perfect.
    “It’s almost ready. I’ve got one more call to make, and then I’m coming back to the office to work on it. I should be there by six.” It was the correct thing to do. Mona was a workaholic, and he knew she’d still be there. He looked at his electronic organizer. “Oh, I forgot. I’m supposed to work at the Hotline tonight. Well, maybe I can skip that.”
    “Do you have any calls scheduled for tomorrow morning?”
    “Well, no.”
    “Can’t you finish the presentation then? I don’t want you to miss the Hotline. I’ve noticed a change in you since you started there. You’re more sensitive to people.”
    “Thanks. Yeah, I guess I can finish it in the morning.” That’s what he had been planning to do before Mona called. And now it was her idea, which was good. And his working on the Hotline had also been her idea. Whatever it took to keep her happy. Within limits.
    They said goodbye, and Tony walked back inside. As he took his seat, Martha spiked the ball into the net. She hit the ball hard, but not always where she wanted it to go. Occasionally she scored with a blistering shot, and the handful of spectators would yell their approval. When she learned to control her shots, she would be a standout. Tony guessed that would happen within two years. She did better on defense. Using her height and jumping ability to advantage, she blocked several shots.
    Tony hadn’t seen Joy play volleyball, but he suspected that she had looked a lot like Martha on the court—with better coordination. Shahla said she had been a league all-star. Bonita Beach could have used her today. The opponents lacked an outstanding player, but their teamwork eventually paid off in a close victory. Their players were ecstatic. They probably hadn’t beaten Bonita Beach for a long time.
    After the game, the Bonita Beach players congratulated the players of the other team, an act of good sportsmanship Tony appreciated. As the sweat-soaked players headed toward the locker room, he stepped in front of Martha and said, “Nice game, Martha.”
    She glanced at him with a who-is-this-guy look, made a rueful face and said, “Thanks.”
    “I’m Tony, from the Hotline,” he said, falling into step beside her. She was taller than he was.
    “Oh.” She stopped walking and faced him. “I’ve heard about you. What are you doing here?”
    Who had talked to her about him? “I’ve been reading good things about your team, and I wanted to see it in action.”
    “Yeah, right. It was good before Joy…” her voice broke, “when Joy was on the team.”
    “That’s what I want to talk to you about,” Tony said. “May I buy you a coke at the Beach House?” It was only a few blocks away.
    “I’ve got to shower. And I’ve got a lot of homework.”
    “I’ll wait here until you shower. And I’ll only take a few minutes of your time.” Tony gave her his best pickup smile, the one he had used so successfully in college.
    “Well, all right. I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes.”
    Tony congratulated himself on still having the old charm, but he suspected that the reason she had accepted had more to do with the fact that they both worked on the Hotline. That created a bond between people.
    ***
    “Joy was my best friend,” Martha