Page 15 of The Lawyer’s Quandary

C hapter S even

Greg worked through the day and well into the night after he got home before finally going to bed.

One of the things he did was watch the video multiple times.

He was able to bring the vital parts of it into better view and added those sections to a separate file.

He wanted to make sure that anyone who saw it was able to view the full video, and then he brought up closer the most egregious behavior.

Once he was finished, he debated how he should handle the situation.

He thought of sending the video and the statements he had directly to the college’s board of trustees. He also considered sending it to the college president. But in the end, he decided that it was best to keep their powder dry.

Mark called the following evening just after eight. “Are you still in the office?”

“Yes. I’m putting together contingencies of contingencies. Have you heard anything?” Greg asked.

“Not officially, but there are rumors around campus that Steven clocked Bates. There is a ton of speculation about it, but that’s all.

So I am going to guess that Bates made his complaint.

So far, the students don’t seem to have taken a side, other than they’re shocked that Steven would do that sort of thing, and they’re wondering why. ”

“So what you’re telling me is that time is of the essence or this could get really ugly, real fast.” It’s what he was afraid of.

“And I think we need to hit the college with both barrels all at once. With rumors flying, I bet tomorrow is when they are going to call him in. I’m going to call Steven now. ”

“Okay. I’ll wait to hear from you.” Mark hung up, and Greg called Steven.

“Greg?” Steven asked.

“Yes. It’s me. Where are you?” He could hear muffled voices behind him.

“I’m in my room. I locked the door. I don’t want to talk to anyone about what happened, and everyone is asking questions, so I decided to make myself scarce.”

“Anything from the college?” Greg asked.

“Yes. I just got a disciplinary notice. They want to speak to me at nine in the morning.” He sounded frightened out of his mind. Greg could understand.

“Don’t worry about anything. Send me directions so I can get to where you live, and I will be there at eight. We will go over everything. Also, see if any of the other players will go with you to the meeting.”

“They said I was to come alone,” Steven told him.

Greg snickered. “Not going to happen. They are going to play by our rules now. I’ll be with you, and so will anyone you wish to bring along.

I can guarantee there will be a ton of college people at the meeting, so we are going to have plenty of folks to support you as well. Is your mom going to be there?”

“I didn’t tell her… I….”

Damn it all.

“Call her. Get her there at eight if you possibly can. The more support, the better.” Steven was going to need everyone in his corner that he could get.

Even with the ammunition they had, this was not going to be an easy situation for anyone.

Greg figured that once Steven saw the video, it was going to bring everything back in a way that he wasn’t expecting.

Living through an incident was one thing, but seeing it again and again was quite another.

“I’ll call her as soon as we hang up,” he promised, and Greg sincerely hoped he followed through.

“Do that. And I’ll see you at eight.” He called Mark right away.

“They called Steven in at nine tomorrow and told him to come alone. Those bastards were planning to ambush him and ride him off campus on a rail.” His mind churned a mile a minute.

“I wonder if those jackasses know about Bates already? I wonder if there have been other complaints over the years, and they buried them, and the fact that Steven clocked Bates gives them a chance to try to cover this up.”

Mark cleared his throat. “I don’t know too much about that.

I never heard anything about Bares before Steven told me what happened.

Though I will confess, he was never one of my favorite people, and I tended to stay away from him.

I suspect that this is a more normal procedure.

They bring the student in to get their side of the story. ”

“Well, Steven is not going in alone. I’m meeting him at eight, and we’re going to go over everything.”

“Then why don’t you drive down tonight? Pack your clothes and come here. You can meet with Steven first thing.”

Just the idea made Greg smile. “Okay. I’ll get my clothes and papers, and I’ll be there in about an hour.

” He got his best suit. His laptop and copies of the statements were already in his bag, as well as a copy of the video on a secured flash drive.

He loaded everything into his car and headed south, making some additional phone calls using the Bluetooth connection in the car as he drove.

“You made pretty good time,” Mark said as Greg got out of the car. He led him inside, and they embraced as soon as the front door closed. “God, I hate all of this.”

“I know you do, and you’re going to really hate what I have to ask you next. I know you want to be there for Steven and the other players, but you can’t be.”

Mark stiffened.

“If you show up with them, then suspicion by the college is going to fall on you. They are going to quickly figure out that you were the one who planted the camera and that you knew about all of this and are working with the players. Regardless of how this works out, they will not take that kindly, and they’ll fire you.

And you know that the community around these colleges is small enough that you’d never be able to get another coaching job.

” Greg hated to say it, but it was true.

“I promised to do my best to try to keep you out of the line of fire.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll be there. I was asked to attend by the college. They, of course, have a tribunal at these things. It isn’t just the provost. They take these things seriously.”

”And yet they tell Steven to come alone.” What nerve. It truly sounded like everything was stacked in their favor.

“I’m only there as a witness to what is done and said. It’s for the benefit of the students as well as the college. So don’t worry about me. Just keep my name out of it, and it should be fine.”

Greg pulled away. “Okay. I just don’t want you caught in the crossfire.

” He wanted Mark to be happy and secure at work.

He shouldn’t have to pay for doing the right thing.

“But what I’m really hoping is that the statements we have and the video will do the talking for themselves.

” He was exhausted and had a huge day tomorrow.

“Are you hungry?” Mark asked, and didn’t wait for an answer.

Greg sat on the sofa, and Mark hurried the kitchen.

Greg leaned back and closed his eyes until Mark returned with a glass of ice water and a sandwich.

He ate without talking and drank the water.

Mark returned the dishes to the kitchen and took him by the hand, leading him upstairs, turning out the lights as they went.

“Are you sure everything is going to be all right?” Steven’s mother, Rachel, asked in a tone that almost made Greg flinch.

“I believe so, yes. But I am going warn you, some things discussed and showed today will be upsetting. But Steven did what he felt was right, and you should be proud of him for that. He made his own decisions, and it will benefit not only him, but others as well.”

“What will happen?” she asked, and Steven swallowed hard, clearly nervous.

“We’ll see what cards they hold and then beat them by a mile.

” He set his bag on top of the desk in the small room.

“We have two goals for today. First, to take Bates down, and we’ll do that.

But second, I want to try to find out what they know.

Have they been made aware of this sleaze?

Did they cover anything up? I want them to show their hand as much as possible, and the best way for that to happen is for them to do as much talking as possible.

Your job is to be a tiger in Steven’s corner. ”

“But keep quiet,” she added, clearly not happy. Greg got the idea that she liked to be the one to do the talking.

“As much as possible. Ask questions if you’d like, but keep them talking and watch for any telltale signs.

If they know of Bates’s past, then we can go after them for every record and email they have going back years.

We can scour their finances for payments…

you name it. If they knew, we will make them pay. But that’s down the road.”

Rachel nodded. “Okay. Today we take him down. I get that. But what do you have planned?” She really seemed to be getting into this, and it seemed to calm Steven, which was good.

“Let’s see how things play out.” He checked the time. They still had about fifteen minutes before they needed to walk over. “You know that Mark has been requested to be there by the college. He’s a witness only.”

Steven and his mother both nodded. “I’m not going to give him away, and neither is she. He believed me, and he helped us.”

They sat quietly for a while until it was time to go. Greg let Steven lead the way to where the note he’d received said he was supposed to be.

“Mr. Strickler,” a man Greg didn’t know said, meeting them outside the room. “I’m John Graves, the college provost.” He did not seem happy. “I believe you were instructed to come alone.”

“Say nothing.” Greg turned to the provost. “I’m Greg Lampeter, Mr. Strickler’s attorney, and he will attend nothing without me and his parent present.” He stared down the older man. “Now, shall we get started?” He held his expression as bland as possible.