extract from Side Out for Murder

Professional volleyball is not exactly the game you play at the church picnic. All sorts of rules cover the handling of the ball. The players are supposed to call their own fouls, but there's always room for argument. Was it a clean pass or wasn't it? Did the player touch the net or didn't she? Apparently, Erica Mueller didn't think the other team were calling their own fouls. And she knew the ref wasn't. The more points Erica and her partner lost, the more she screamed at her opponents. Once I thought she was going to physically attack Barbara Dahl for whom she seemed to have a special hatred.

Of course, this didn't set well with the crowd at all. Princess Di cheat? No way. The referee must have thought so too, for she just kept smiling in the face of Erica's insults while Dahl and deCastro piled up the score.

Another commercial break. Barbara Dahl tossed back half a flask of imported bottled water, the product of one of her many sponsors, while Erica strode up and down her end of the court like some avenging fury. It was still a close game, 11-8, when the difference between champion quality and spectacular effort was made plain. deCastro delivered another of her crazy up-in-the air serves and Erica missed it completely. She started to argue, but this time even Sara her partner told her to shut up. With Sara and Erica quarreling, the score quickly went from 11-8 to 14-8 in Dahl and deCastro's favor. One more point and the match would be over.

As the scorer flipped the card with the 14 on its front, Erica had sense enough to take another little stroll around her back court. Long enough to regain some of her class, but not enough to get her second wind, alas. The last point, a long, long rally ended with Erica face down in the sand pounding her fists like a child, while the crowd swooped down to congratulate her grinning opponents.

From where I sat, you could see deCastro was beaming from ear to ear. Barbara kept leaping into the air as if replaying her last wonderful game-winning spike over and over. The camera crew got through to them finally--the crowd just wouldn't give way--and Barbara took a final sip from the bottled water before turning to the interviewer. Then, in full sight of the crowd, the hundreds on the beach, and the tens of thousands that would be watching when the action was replayed on T.V., Barbara clutched at her stomach, doubled over, and collapsed dead on the sand.