Junior Year Box Set

I guess I wasn’t built to think in the terms Frank was laying out. I would never believe that Pam wouldn’t want me in our baby’s life. I also never imagined that she would accuse me of rape, though. I wondered if it was a Midwestern thing, where we thought the best of others. Pam was from California. I was afraid it was just that I was naïve, and this was the start of a painful life lesson.

Frank then reminded us of the Duke University lacrosse case. This one had racial undertones as the girl was black and the boys were privileged white jocks. The prosecutor had fed information to the press that caused a media storm. It turned out the girl had made false accusations. The case ended in the resignation and disbarment of the lead prosecutor.

The three players accused were suspended from the team. Shortly thereafter, their coach was forced to resign, and the athletic department canceled the rest of the season. Everything was made worse when many persons involved in or commenting on the case, including the District Attorney, suggested that the alleged rape was a hate crime.

Duke and the city of Durham eventually reached out-of-court settlements with the accused players. As an interesting side note, the girl who made the accusations stabbed and killed her boyfriend five years later.

We then created a game plan. Mom and Dad would find me a lawyer. Tom offered them office space if it turned out they needed it. I suggested they call Bev Mass, Cook County State’s Attorney, and Governor Higgins. Between the two of them, they’d know who to hire.

Frank and I would work on the media. Frank planned to call his contacts through IDC–Public Relations and I suggested we talk to Jeff Delahey, our local sports reporter. He had treated me fairly when the steroid scandal happened. I promised him I would be open if anything else ever happened.

Frank also called his office to start to investigate the different players in this little drama. I now saw why Frank had put the scandal clause in his contract. This was going to cost me a fortune.

◊◊◊

I called Coach Hope and told him what was going on. Something I learned from the stories Frank had told me was that the head coach might be fired in a situation like this. I didn’t want that to happen, and Frank agreed to help Coach Hope and the rest of the staff with the media. Coach gave me the day off to take care of what I needed to do. I promised to keep him in the loop.

This time we were in Jeff’s office for the interview. Someone in management for the newspaper joined him. As we sat down, my phone rang, and it was my mom.

“Sorry, I need to take this,” I said and got up.

“I’m about to do my interview with the paper,” I said.

“We hired a lawyer for you, a Ms. Dixon out of Chicago. Both the Governor and Bev had her on their short list.”

“Is she related to Senator Dixon?” I asked.

“She’s his daughter. She wants to talk to you and Frank before you do the interview.”

Mom gave me her number, and I went back into the meeting.

“I hate to do this, but my lawyer wants to talk to me before she lets you loose on me.”

“She must have read my hard-hitting articles about you. If you want, you can use the room to talk,” Jeff said, and he and his boss got up.

When we were alone, Frank asked for the number.

“I think I can put her mind at ease. She’s worried you’ll say something to implicate yourself,” Frank said and then smiled. “This isn’t my first rodeo.”

I listened as Frank gave her his credentials and then outlined what I would say in the interview. He took some notes and then handed to phone to me.

“Hi, this is David,” I said.

“Ms. Dixon. Just say what Frank has told you. Only answer what is asked, do not embellish. Treat this as if you have just come home drunk and your parents’ car is missing.”

That made me smile. I could play that role.

“No problem.”

“I’ve made arrangements to be in town tomorrow so we can talk and then meet with Detective Kitchens,” she said.

“Okay,” I said.

“One last thing: as of this moment, Frank and his firm work for me. We need to do it that way because it will render all communication between his firm and you as confidential or privileged under the umbrella of attorney-client privilege,” Ms. Dixon said.

“Does that mean you get to pay him?” I asked.

“Yes, but you’re not getting out of it. We’ll simply pass his bills through.”

I wondered why Tom or Kendal hadn’t thought of that. We wrapped up the call, and Jeff came back in alone and sat down.

“I’ll begin by reading a prepared statement,” I said.

“Just give it to me. That way I won’t misquote you,” Jeff said.

I looked over at Frank, and he just shrugged, so I handed it to Jeff. Jeff spotted my talking points and held his hand out.

“Let me see those, too.”

Frank just nodded his head and had me give them to Jeff. Jeff spent a few minutes reading both the statement and the talking points.

“So, you haven’t been charged with anything, you’ve only been questioned. What about the tip we received that you were being charged with rape today?” Jeff asked.