Scrimmage Gone South (Crimson Romance) (25 page)

Sydney Malone was a pleasant middle aged man who usually looked happy. He was not smiling today. He stood when she entered the office and held out his hand.

“Thank you for seeing me, Sydney.”

“I suppose it would be too much to hope for that you are here to discuss Kirby’s schedule for next semester,” he said as they took their seats.

“Nathan didn’t do this thing, Sydney.” Whatever it was. She still didn’t know the specifics.

“We are committed to finding the truth,” he said. “It is, of course, our first priority to protect the children put in our care, though we will not condemn a valuable member of our faculty out of hand. We will trust those in authority to give us the answers we need. At that time, and only then, will we take permanent action.”

“Sydney,” Tolly said with a sigh. “Let’s start again. I am not the media and I am not here to raise hell at you. Nathan didn’t do this thing. You know it.”

He sighed and ran his hand over his face. “I do know it, Tolly. But putting him on leave was standard procedure.
You
know that.”

“I do.”

“Then what do you want from me? Are you representing him?”

“No. Harris is. I want to make it go away before there is any representing that has to be done.”

“That would be too good to be true.”

“Then call that girl down here and let me talk to her.”

Before she finished her sentence, Sydney was shaking his head. “I can’t do that, Tolly.”

“Is she here? Or has she gone home?”

He hesitated. “She’s here. Her parents were going to take her home, but she said she had done nothing wrong, that she had no reason to go home.”

“Seems to me a girl who had been violated would be so shaken up, she’d need to go home. I guess she wants to enjoy the drama she has created.”

“I didn’t say that.” But she could tell from his expression that he agreed.

“I am not unsympathetic to Jamie, Sydney. I think she is a very confused girl. It would be better for her if she recants before it goes any further. It would be better for the school. And I can reason with her. I know I can.”

“But most of all it would be best for Nathan and that is your true concern. I understand that. But I cannot condone you talking to that girl without her parents’ permission.”

“Then call them. Get them down here. I’ll talk to her with them present.”

“Oh, come on, Tolly! They aren’t going to allow that.”

“What do they think?”

“What would
you
think if Kirby came home and said a female teacher had been inappropriate with him?”

“If Kirby said that,” she said slowly, “it would be true.”

“I know that. I’ve known Kirby all his life.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “And I’ve known Jamie ever since she moved here three years ago.”

“Then take a chance, Sydney. Help me talk to her. Let me save everyone.”

“No. I can’t.”

“Even though you know I might be right.”

“Even at that. You are not thinking. If I bring Jamie into this office and let you ambush her, it will come back on Nathan. You would know that, if you would pause to think for ten seconds.”

They sat and looked at each other for a long minute. She wondered if she looked as defeated as he did.

When he turned and began typing at his computer, she thought she had been dismissed until he spoke again.

“I realize that Kirby has been through a lot lately,” he said slowly and pointedly. “I can understand why you would want to check on him in view of what has happened with his coach.”

What? She
should
have thought of that, maybe. But she was more than sure that Kirby was handling this just fine. And if he wasn’t, she would reassure him all in good time. This was not in good time. This was action time. Panic time.

She opened her mouth to speak but the principal waved her silent. He reached into his desk drawer and handed her a tag on a lanyard.

“I am going to give you this visitor’s pass and I have opened the class schedule database. All you have to do is type in Kirby’s name to locate him. I would do it for you, but I’ve got to go deal with Daryl Grayson. I plan to take him to the lunchroom since there’s no one there this time of morning. I suggest you stay in here for a few minutes so you don’t have to see him. I wish I didn’t have to.” He rose. “Make yourself comfortable in my chair, so you can find out where Kirby is right now. You know your way around the school, don’t you?”

“I do.” She nodded. “I understand.”

After Sydney left she lost no time, but it wasn’t Kirby’s name she typed. Right now, Jamie was in third period French. She could wait outside the door. Oh, but wait! She was a library assistant during fourth period, which started in twenty minutes. Perfect — not that anything was perfect. Or even good.

“Are you sure you want to go home?” Harris asked Nathan as they pulled away from the Merritt City Jail.

“As opposed to jail? Or back to school? I think I’ll pick home, be it ever so humble.”

“It might be ever so swarming with the media before long.”

“Oh, come on, Harris. I’m not that interesting.”

“The world is always interested in child molesters and you’ll always be the Angel.”

“I am not a child molester and don’t call me Angel.”

“Get used to it, buddy.”

They rounded the corner in time to see a news crew disembark from a van.

“Guess it’s out,” Harris muttered. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t have many choices, unless you’re willing to drive me to Mexico.”

“You have all kinds of choices. You can go home with me. We have plenty of room. It might be a little crowded, but you can go to Tolly’s.”

So she hadn’t told him they were no more. “This is where I live. I can be here,” he said stubbornly. Within twenty-four hours he’d lost his girl, his job, and his team. He wasn’t giving up his bed — especially since Townshend’s wasn’t an option. “You can drop me at the curb.”

Harris frowned and shook his head as he pulled into the driveway. The cameraman and a reporter stood, poised to descend. “Not a word,” Harris said. “I mean it, Nathan. Go in the house. I will make a non-statement and be right behind you.”

Funny walking into a place a few hours after everything had changed. When he’d left this morning, he was upset but determined to win Townshend back. She was wrong. Nothing mattered except that they loved each other. He had not established a game plan yet, but he was working the angles.

But now he had nothing. And Townshend had been right about Jamie. This led him to wonder what else she’d been right about, but he didn’t have the wherewithal to give it any energy. He straightened up the mess around his recliner and carried a dirty coffee mug and a handful of candy wrappers to the kitchen. He had no idea how to straighten out his life, but this he could do.

The door opened and Harris came in talking on the phone. “Yeah. We’re here. Come on. There’s press. Not a lot. A station out of Birmingham and a couple of newspapers.” He paused and looked at Nathan. “Yeah. Seems okay, considering. Right. Sure. Bye.”

“Who was that?” Nathan asked, but he knew.

“Tolly. She’ll be right over.”

“Townshend is coming here?” What did that mean?

“It took everything I had to keep her away from the jail.” He sat down and opened his messenger bag. “Okay, take a seat and tell me what happened.”

“You said you had the police report. Tell me what Jamie said.”

“No. You tell me what happened. Then we will get to that.”

“Nothing happened. Don’t you believe me?”

“Of course I believe you. But I’ve got to hear about what was going on with you when it was supposed to have happened. Then we’ll look at what she said and let you respond to it.”

Nathan sat on the sofa facing Harris. “Shouldn’t we wait on Townshend? Won’t I just have to tell it all again?”

“I want you to tell it again. And again. And again. But right now, I want you to tell it the first time to me.”

“You’ve got to give me something — a place, a time. Because I don’t know when you are talking about. Because
nothing
happened.”

Harris nodded and riffled through some papers. “Okay. What happened during your lunch period yesterday? Monday.”

So long ago. On Monday, he was fresh off a victory on the field and things were great with Townshend. And no crazy teenager had accused him of anything.

He took a deep breath. “Okay. Lunch. Fourth period. It’s an hour and a half long, to allow for classes and lunch. I don’t have a class then. It’s my planning period. I hardly ever go to the lunchroom. I usually go to my office in the field house. I have a little refrigerator and a microwave and I keep some food there. But I didn’t go there yesterday. I stayed in my classroom. After Homecoming week, I was real behind on my paper grading and lesson plans so I stayed there to work.”

“Do you do that a lot?”

“Almost never. I usually get that kind of work done at home, but last week was busy.”

“Why didn’t you go to your office yesterday? Couldn’t you have graded papers and worked on lesson plans there?”

“Theoretically. But I wouldn’t have. I would have watched film and worked on plays for this week’s game. Which is what I wanted to do. But my English classes are advanced and I have to stay ahead.”

“Were you in your classroom the whole time?”

“Mostly.” He nodded. “About ten minutes before the period ended I went to my office and made a sandwich. Then fifth period I teach strength training to the freshman and JV teams.” Not many head coaches had much to do with the younger teams, but he felt it important to establish a relationship early on. They were the future varsity. For the first time, it sunk in that he might never coach those younger boys. He might not have a future as a coach in Merritt or anywhere. He met Harris’s eyes. “I don’t understand why Jamie would say such a thing.”

“You don’t have to. We just have to make it go away. So after you ate, after you taught strength training, did you go back to your classroom?”

“No. The varsity comes in sixth period. They cleaned the stadium. We watched film. Then we went out without pads and did a few drills. I let them go at 4:30. I left right after that.”

“So did you see Jamie at all yesterday?”

“Sure. She was in English class. First period.”

“Did you talk to her?”

Had he? “No. Not that I recall. I don’t even remember her raising her hand to answer a question. That’s unusual.” She was smart and a showoff, something he would have broken her of if she’d been on his football field — but he didn’t know how to do that in the classroom, especially with a female student. He would work on that, if he was ever allowed in another classroom.

“So you didn’t see her at all after first period?”

“No. Oh, wait. Yes, I did. After school. I went by Lanie’s shop to get Townshend a cup of coffee. Jamie was in there with a group of girls. I didn’t notice she was there, until she got mad and stormed out.”

“Why was she mad?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Beats me. I guess maybe she had words with some of the girls, but I wasn’t paying any attention to them.”

“You didn’t see her during fourth period at all? She didn’t come by your classroom when you were grading papers?”

“No.”

“Did anyone?”

“A couple of my boys stuck their heads in. Marcus and Shaun. I told them to scram, that I had work to do and I’d see them at practice.”

“Would Jamie have known you were in your classroom? Did you mention it in class?”

“No. But it wasn’t a secret. The door was open and I was sitting at my desk in plain view. The hall is full of people all period going to and from lunch.”

“You didn’t notice Jamie in the hall, looking in?”

“I have learned to tune out what’s going on in the hall. If I didn’t, I’d never get anything done. And I probably would have pretended not to see her, even if I had. I try to treat all the kids the same, but frankly, she’s a little needy, a little annoying.”

“I’d call that an understatement,” Harris said.

• • •

The library was full of students and there was nothing quiet about it. The librarian was busy with a group, helping them with research. Jamie wasn’t in sight, so Tolly quietly made her way down the outside wall until she was deep in the stacks. It was quieter back here. Most of the activity seemed to be in the technology area.

She found Jamie in the literature section, leaning on a cart full of books — books she was probably supposed to be shelving. Tolly had pondered how to begin the conversation, but had come up with nothing. Just as well. Jamie spoke first.

“If you’re looking for Coach Scott, you might want to check the jail.”

“Really? I don’t think so. I would imagine my cousin has taken him home by now.”

Jamie’s eyes widened. “Home? They let him out?”

“This isn’t television, Jamie. People don’t get arrested and go straight to prison. Especially when there is no reason for it.”

Jamie lifted her chin. “There is a reason. He did a bad thing to me. I have nothing to be ashamed of. It wasn’t my fault. He’s an adult and I am a minor.” She parroted it all as if she had read it somewhere — which she probably had.

“And just what do you claim he did to you, Jamie?”

“You know what he did,” she said. “I told the police. I went by his classroom at lunch yesterday because I thought I left my history book in there. He told me he had my book, but I’d have to give him a kiss for it. When I said no, he pushed me up against the wall and kissed me anyway. He also put his hands on me in an inappropriate manner. Under my sweater.”

Some degree of relief joined the disgust in Tolly’s gut. At least Jamie wasn’t claiming rape. She wanted to interrogate the girl like she was on the witness stand, but now was not the time nor was that the correct approach.

“Jamie,” she said gently. “You know Coach Scott did not do those things to you.”

“Yes, he did. I know you don’t want to believe it because you think he wants you, but he’s been after me all along. I think you are just a cover for what he really wants. When I wouldn’t go along with it, he tried to force himself on me. And that’s just gross. He’s so old!”