Page 4 of The Lawyer’s Quandary

C hapter T hree

“Do you have a few minutes?” Greg asked Steven, who nodded. “Is there a place we can go to talk, maybe get something to drink?”

“Yeah. Come on,” Steven said, and led the way across campus.

Greg followed Mark and Steven, not wanting to get lost. Steven led them into the student union building and down to a restaurant off to the side that was nearly deserted.

“It’s a Saturday, so the campus hasn’t really woken up yet.

” He got a table, and Greg ordered sandwich and a Coke.

The others ordered, and then he got down to business.

“Okay. What happened after they had the beer?” Greg asked quietly.

“Connors opened up first. He said that he was having knee problems a few weeks ago and went to the coach to help him tape it. Apparently Coach Bates had wandering hands and kept brushing up against him. Connors said he kept expecting him to stop, but he just kept on, and by the time he was done with the taping, Connors didn’t know what to do, but he said that Bates had a tent in his pants.

He then downed the beer and set down the glass hard enough that it broke all over the table.

Then Wilson told him that he wasn’t alone and said that something similar had happened to him, but he didn’t go into the details. ”

“Okay. This is good. It gives us three players. That is pretty helpful.”

“I think there are more. Wilson said that we had to stick together and that we weren’t alone. So I’m assuming that he knows of more guys.”

“Do you think they’d talk to me?” Greg asked. Steven shrugged. “Okay. Tell them that you have someone who can help. Ask them if they would be willing to meet with me, say for dinner someplace.” Greg gulped from the drink once the server brought it because he was so danged thirsty.

“I can ask them if they’d be willing to come forward. I know what they told me, but that doesn’t mean that any of them would be willing to actually go public with this, and I don’t blame them. As soon as word gets out, then everyone on campus is going to take sides, and it will get ugly.”

Greg knew that was true. There were plenty of people who would be more than happy to blame the victims. “Then we keep it quiet and our powder dry. We don’t need the campus talking about it and everyone giving their opinion.

What we need are facts, and then we can give those facts to the board of trustees.

” He was also thinking that they should be given to the campus newspaper as well as Penn Live.

That way they could control the narrative rather than seeing what pieces of the story got picked up.

But that was getting ahead of themselves at the moment.

“Okay. I think that’s good. But I also think that we need more than that,” Steven added, and Greg wondered what he was getting at. Mark seemed curious as well and leaned forward.

“What are you thinking?” Mark asked.

Steven groaned. “Like, I ask coach to tape my foot again and go to his office off the locker room. Only we have some way to get video of what happens. That way, if he tries anything, we can get him on tape and then no one can dispute it. I could do it once he comes back. I found out that he’s improving much more quickly than they expected, so Coach told us today that he’d be back in two weeks. ”

Greg could feel the clock ticking loud and clear in his ear.

“It’s questionable whether that kind of tape will hold up in a court, but it’s pretty damning to the board and to the public,” Greg said.

“But I don’t recommend it. As much as I would love a smoking gun here, I don’t want you or anyone else put in that kind of position.

Besides, a locker room is technically a bathroom, so that gets into some pretty gray areas.

” The server brought their sandwiches, and the conversation halted until she left.

“And I don’t want anyone to put themselves into a position to be hurt. Stay away from him if at all possible.”

“But…,” Steven protested.

“That sort of person is a predator, and they are at their most dangerous when they’re threatened.

They will lash out and make up anything to protect themselves.

This kind of person doesn’t care who they hurt.

” He met Steven’s gaze with as stony an expression as he could muster.

“Stay off his radar as much as possible.”

“Okay. It was just an idea,” Steven said defensively.

“And we’re not saying it was a bad one, just something that we would rather you not do,” Mark said, backing him up.

“Please keep yourself safe and continue playing the way you are. By next year, you’ll be the captain of the team, and you know how much Bates spends with the captain.

No, we have two weeks to get this case together so we can give him one hell of a welcome-back present.

” Mark turned to him, and Greg nodded, getting the answer loud and clear.

If they were going to stop any one else from being mistreated, then they had to be ready before the predator returned to campus.

Steven’s hackles seemed to descend as his expression softened. “I get it.”

“Good. Our primary focus is on keeping you safe,” Mark said. “Have you spoken to your parents?”

Steven swallowed. “I talked to Mom, and she….” He sighed.

“She was so angry when I told her what happened. Mom said she didn’t care about the bisexual thing, and…

We actually had a really good talk, the best in a long time.

She said that my dad was being a jackass about it, but she knew how to handle him.

” Steven rolled his eyes. “All I know is that I do not want to be my dad right now. And she said that whatever costs there are, she and Dad would pay them.”

“I see,” Greg said. At least that was a relief. “It’s good that you have backup.”

“Mom wanted me to come home right now,” Steven told them. “You were right. I never thought of Mom as a tiger, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Good.” Greg was already thinking ahead.

“Make sure your mom knows when we’ll go to the board.

It could be very powerful if she’s there.

” An image of how this could work was forming in his head, but he had plenty of work ahead of him if they were going to make this a success.

He had so much research to do in order to make sure that anything that was said in the meeting didn’t undermine any case they might bring in the future.

“Talk to your teammates and get them to meet with me.” When the server brought the check, he paid it and thanked her with a nice tip.

“I’ll try.” Steven grabbed his bag and headed out. “I have practice in half an hour.”

Mark sighed as he looked around the room. “Shit,” he said under his breath.

“What?” Greg asked as a man walked toward them. He was in his late forties and looked like hell. He was wearing a face mask like during covid, and his eyes were puffy.

“Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you were out ill,” Mark said.

“I had to get some papers signed, and I wanted some things from my desk.” He sounded awful, and Greg realized that this had to be Coach Bates.

Why in the hell he was at a school with a ton of people around was surprising, but then, that went with what he knew of the man.

He didn’t care for anyone else other than himself, so spreading his germs all over campus was probably no big deal to him.

“Well, get yourself home so you can rest,” Mark said, and Greg was relieved when he moved away and left the building. “I bet you can guess who that was.”

“Jesus. You ask people to send you what you need,” Greg said as he shook his head. The level of inconsideration was off the charts. “Not… that.” He had no words and just watched the man go.

“Exactly. He’s been angling to replace Coach Littleton. Bates always thinks his crap doesn’t stink and that everyone should be there to do whatever he wants.”

“I know the type. I had a boyfriend like that. Dave was one of those guys who always thought he was really smart, but he made dumb decisions, and he expected me and everyone else in his life to bend over backward to get him out of whatever jam he’d gotten himself into.

And I suspect Bates is a lot like that.”

“I suspect so. Thankfully, I don’t interact with him a lot on a day-to-day basis.” They finished the last of their drinks and left the table, heading out into the spring sunshine. “Do you have time now or do you need to go back to the office?”

“I have the whole day free. Is there something you’d like to do?” Greg asked.

“Well, we could take a ride toward Carlisle through the country. This part of the state is orchard country, and the trees should be in bloom, which means that there will be entire fields and hillsides that will be covered in white and pink.”

“Then let’s go,” Greg said. “But there’s only one issue. Which car are we going to take and who is going to end up sort of stranded?”

“How about we take your car,” Mark offered. “I need to be in Carlisle tomorrow, so I can crash with a friend, and he can bring me home. Just let me get a few things from my car.” He jogged across the parking lot and returned ten minutes later with a different small bag.

“What did you do with your wet stuff?”

“I laid it out on top of the bag in the trunk. At least the air can get to it, and it won’t be enclosed.

I’ll get it tomorrow, so it’ll be fine.” He got into the passenger seat of Greg’s car and directed him out of New Berlin and then got him heading north.

Once they crossed the main road, Mark had him turn and then cut over to a more country road that continued northward but wound up and down hills and cut around huge fields that were covered with white blossoms, miles and miles of them.

“I’ve always taken the highway south, so I’ve never really seen this section before.”