“Thank you.”
“I believe in you, Bob. If anyone can lead the team through this transition, it’s you.”
Bob nodded.
“Big game this week.”
Bob nodded again.
“I do worry that this turmoil with Rick will be a distraction for the team. There’s not much we can do about that. That’s baked into the cake. I do think you can limit other distractions, like the so-called quarterback controversy.”
“You don’t have to worry about—”
“Who do you plan to start at quarterback?”
“Shane.”
CHAPTER 61
Gwen’s a Mandatory Reporter
Gwen slumped into her chair, exhausted from putting on a happy face all morning for her students, even though she still reeled from Rick’s confession. It was her lunch period, but she wasn’t hungry. She thought about going to Principal Pruitt. By law, she was a mandatory reporter of child abuse.
Maybe Rick’s innocent. Maybe it happened exactly like he said it did. It’s obvious from Ashlee’s personal narrative that she has some serious daddy issues. Rick’s a good-looking guy. It’s not shocking that Ashlee might find him attractive. But what are the chances that she’d break into his house, and he’d just happen to be in the shower, and someone just happened to be outside his house in the middle of the night, waiting to get a picture?
Maybe someone hired a private investigator, and they were waiting to get the shot. But why? Maybe Rick’s done it before. Maybe someone wants to expose him. A former student who he abused? Or a parent? Or maybe it is Janet because Rick benched Shane? Does it matter why he’s being targeted? It matters whether or not he did it. He’s so gentle, and he seems to care about his students. But that’s not uncommon. These predators know how to present themselves. I have to tell Pruitt.
Gwen stood from her desk and left her classroom, headed for the office. The hallway was empty, students now at lunch or in class. Rachel Kreider exited the faculty bathroom, straightening her sweater.
“Oh, hi,” Rachel said as Gwen approached. “Just the person I needed to talk to.”
Gwen stopped in front of Rachel, in the middle of the hallway. “Hi, Rachel. Can it wait?”
Rachel ignored Gwen’s question. “I wanted to tell you that I’m really sorry about what happened to your boyfriend. You must be devastated.”
Gwen furrowed her brows. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“I heard you were dating Rick Barnett.”
“We’re not dating.”
Rachel pursed her lips. “Well, I never know what people call it these days. I’ve been married forever, thank God. I can’t imagine being single.”
“I have to go—”
“I just wanted you to know that nobody thinks you did anything wrong.”
“What are you talking about?”
“This mess with Rick having an affair with a student. He was suspended today. I heard they even have a picture. I used to think he was a nice man, but he’s disgusting. I heard he’s done it before too. My heart just breaks for these girls. Anyway, everyone knows you two are together, but nobody blames you. Well, some people think that you knew, but I don’t think that’s true—”
“I have to go.” Gwen turned on her heels, leaving Rachel in midsentence.
Gwen hurried back to her classroom, locking her door and sitting at her desk. How does Rachel know all this stuff? Do people think I knew? I guess technically I did. Too late to say something now. She had an urge to call her lawyer. The one who had helped her in Philly. But she couldn’t afford him. She also had an urge to call Rick and to scream at him for getting her wrapped up in this mess.
She turned on her cell phone. She had a new text. It was from a number she didn’t recognize.
717-555-2863: I thought you might want to know who you’re getting involved with.
A picture was attached. It was the picture Rick had described to her. Rick was at the front door, bare-chested, wearing a towel like a kilt, clearly kissing Ashlee on the lips. Gwen studied the image. It looked like they were embracing, but Rick didn’t have both his hands on her. One of his hands was on the doorknob and the other looked to be just under her chest. Maybe he used that hand to push her away. Maybe he pushed her away because he saw the person taking their picture.
Gwen studied Rick’s face, trying to find the truth in his expression. It was hard to tell, the picture was taken from an angle, so she didn’t see Ashlee’s or Rick’s faces straight-on. One thing Gwen did notice was that his hair looked darker than usual and was matted to his head. It looked wet.
If they were having an affair, why would he get out of the shower without drying his hair? He has short hair, it would probably dry really quick with a towel. It looks like he got out of the shower without drying off at all, which is consistent with his story. And why would someone send me this picture? Maybe Janet is trying to ruin him. She does have access to my cell phone number. But so does everyone else at school. My number’s on the phone tree for snow days.
Gwen tossed her phone on her desktop. Maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see. He is kissing her. She is at his house. He is half-naked, with a student in the middle of the night. We only went out on a few dates. I don’t really know him.
CHAPTER 62
Caleb and Stupid White Trash
Caleb lay on his bed, scrolling through his Instagram feed. A bunch of people were talking about Coach Barnett. He was suspended for having an affair with a student. That’s gotta be bullshit. There was a link. Caleb clicked the link, taking him to the Facebook page entitled the West Lake Watchdog. He remembered his sister, Ashlee, talking about this page a few weeks ago. The page that bashed Coach Barnett. He read the most recent post, which was from last Tuesday. The comments were posted sometime between last Tuesday and today.
West Lake Watchdog
September 27 at 11:14 AM
I heard from people at the high school that Coach Barnett is having sex with a student. What a piece of shit! He was seen at his house butt naked kissing a female student. Rick is a perv. He should be in prison. #FireBarnett 22 Likes 9 Shares
Will Gilroy I’m not surprised. Bad coach. Worse person. #FireBarnett 8 Likes
Breanna Franks It’s like Jerry Sandusky all over again. 7 Likes
Roger Elkins Damn right, Will and Breanna. He needs to go. NOW. #FireBarnett 4 Likes
Trina Grisham I’m so sick of this school district. These people are disgusting. 2 Likes
Caleb clicked on the About tab. It read, I’m a concerned parent and a West Lake resident on a mission to drain the swamp. I’m tired of all the crap. It has to end! Caleb clicked back to the Home page. There was a new post.
West Lake Watchdog
October 3 at 8:37 PM
Coach Barnett now banned from school and football team for having sex with a student. I knew he is creepy perv. Coach Sneider is new coach. Everyone needs to support him. Coach Sneider is a good man. #FireBarnett
Caleb checked the clock on his phone: 8:39 p.m., Monday, October 3, 2016. Someone just posted. Caleb set his phone on the bedside table and went to the bathroom. He peed, washed his hands, and looked for his cup. His mouth was so cottony dry. The cup was gone. He went to the kitchen for a cup of water. His mother sat at the kitchen table on her laptop. She was typing. She never typed unless it was a text. She mostly clicked around on her computer. Caleb grabbed a plastic cup and filled it with water from the sink. He took a drink and looked at his mother. A connection clicked in his mind. He thought about the conversation he’d had with Ashlee about the West Lake Watchdog. Heather was interested in our conversation. She was happy that the page was bashing Coach Barnett, but that doesn’t make sense. She always liked Coach Barnett. Last year she helped with team meals and fund-raisers, but now she hates him? Caleb inched closer to his mother, trying to get a look at her screen.
She shut her laptop. “What do you want?”
Caleb narrowed
his eyes. “How come you don’t help with team meals anymore?”
She frowned. “Because you ain’t on the team. I did that for you, not me.”
“But you quit helping before I quit the team, and you never helped with the freshmen last year. You helped with the varsity, and I wasn’t even on varsity.”
“I was tryin’ to get in good with the coach for when you went on varsity. I wish I woulda known you were a quitter. Big waste of my time.”
“And why do you hate Coach Barnett? You used to like him. Did something happen between you two?”
She looked away for a moment, her face flashing scarlet. “I don’t like him because he’s a piece of shit. You know that he’s suspended for havin’ sex with a student?”
“Are you the West Lake Watchdog?”
She was speechless for a beat. “No, … but it’s good what they’re doin’.”
“You are the West Lake Watchdog, aren’t you?”
“What I do is none of your business.”
“You just posted about Coach Schneider being the new coach, didn’t you?”
“I’m not talkin’ to you.”
“You know, you could get sued. You can’t post gossip like that. There are laws.”
“It ain’t against the law if it’s true, but it don’t matter to me. I ain’t the one.”
“Whatever, Heather.”
“Don’t you call me that.” She glowered at Caleb.
“Whoever’s writing those posts sounds stupid.”
“Shut up.” Heather stood from the kitchen table and pointed toward the hall. “Go to your room.”
“You can tell that they’re stupid white trash.”
Heather marched within striking distance and slapped Caleb across the face. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
Caleb touched his cheek and looked at his mother with one side of his mouth raised in disdain. “If you’re not the West Lake Watchdog, then why are you so mad?”
CHAPTER 63
Rick and Any Body Fitness
After his ejection from campus, Rick wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t bother looking for a lawyer. His divorce and his mother’s medical bills had wiped out his savings. He had spent the rest of Monday and much of Tuesday holed up in his house, surfing the internet, trying to glean free lawyer advice. By Tuesday evening, he had an idea. It was a Hail Mary, but what did he have to lose?
Rick drove his truck to Heather Miles’s double-wide trailer. Ashlee Miles’s white Jeep was parked along the curb, but the carport was empty, Heather’s Pontiac Grand Am conspicuously absent. Rick didn’t linger, driving past the Miles household, exiting their neighborhood. He drove across town to Any Body Fitness, scouring the parking lot, and finding Heather’s red Grand Am. The parking lot was packed, but Rick found a space a few rows back from her car. He backed his truck into the space, so he had a good view of her car.
He didn’t have a membership to Any Body Fitness. He didn’t like their lackadaisical attitude toward working out. He’d heard from Heather about the pizza Fridays, their lack of free weights, and the meathead alarm, which was a strobe light that they flashed anytime someone acted like a meathead, which they defined as someone who grunted, clanged weights, and carried a gallon jug of water.
By their standards, Rick was a meathead. He suspected the alarm and the lack of free weights was an ingenious way to rid their gym of the bodybuilder types who spent three hours a day at the gym, hogging the machines and the floor space. That place preferred the overweight accountant with a New Year’s Resolution that he’d likely break by March, never to come back again. But he’d keep the membership because it was only twenty dollars a month, and he was sure that he’d go back, and to cancel the membership would be proof of his failure.
Rick much preferred to work out at school.
Rick suspected Heather went to Any Body Fitness because it was the most popular gym in town. For her, it was the place to show off her stuff and to collect young strapping boyfriends. Speak of the devil. Heather and one of her young strapping boyfriends exited the gym, all smiles. It was cool, in the low-fifties, but Heather wore yoga pants and a tiny tank top, showing off her veiny arms and shapely calves. Her beau looked like he’d stepped out of an Under Armour commercial. They stopped in front of a black SUV. He leaned toward her and kissed her under the glow of the streetlight. It wasn’t a peck. It was a full-on openmouthed tongue twister, with his hands on her ass. It looks like she’s moved on. Then why try to ruin me?
Under Armour guy gave her a smile and a smack on the ass as she turned on her sneakers and headed for her Pontiac Grand Am. Rick exited his truck, now on a collision course with Heather. Under Armour guy gunned his engine, exiting the parking lot. Heather pushed the button on her key fob, the Pontiac flashing lights in return. She opened the driver’s side door.
“Heather,” Rick said, standing ten feet away.
She turned around, eyes narrowed. “Are you followin’ me?”
“I need to talk to you for a minute. Please.”
“Now you wanna talk to me?” Her hands were on her hips. “I thought you never wanted to talk to me again.”
“I didn’t think you’d try to ruin my life.”
“I didn’t think you liked to have sex with little girls.”
A woman walking past with a gym bag cast a sideways scowl at Rick.
He moved closer, within striking distance. “You know that’s not true.”
“I thought I knew you, but obviously I don’t.”
“I swear to God I’ve never had a sexual relationship with a student. Never.”
Heather cackled. “That’s what they all say. You wouldn’t be suspended if you ain’t done nothin’.”
“I’m not asking you to believe me. But can you please remove all that crap until after the investigation? You’re convicting me without a trial or even an investigation.”
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. I ain’t got nothin’ to do with that Facebook page.”
“Come on, Heather, I know it’s you and Janet Wilcox.”
“Janet Wilcox? The principal?”
“Don’t play dumb.”
“I don’t know that bitch.”
Rick ran his hand over his face. “Please, Heather. I’m begging you to cut me a break.”
A smirk formed on her thin lips.
Rick thought, She’s enjoying this.
“You deserve everything that’s comin’ to you.” Heather climbed into her car and drove away, nearly hitting Rick with her sideview mirror.
Rick watched her taillights dwindle in the distance, along with his hope of redemption. I’m fucked. Totally fucked.
CHAPTER 64
Janet and #FirePruitt
Janet sat behind her desk, smiling to herself, reading the latest installment of the West Lake Watchdog.
West Lake Watchdog
October 4 at 11:14 PM
I heard Principal Pruitt wants to let Rick Barnett resign. He is a child molestor! He should already be fired. Pruitt is part of good ole boys. I heard he tried to cover it up. Pruitt and Barnett need to go! #FireBarnett #FirePruitt 32 Likes 14 Shares
Sadie Ollinger I agree. Principal Pruitt don’t do nothing. My grandson said he reads magazines and looks on the internet all day. 17 Likes
Ellen Schneider When will this district start thinking about the kids first? #FireBarnett 24 Likes
Will Gilroy Probably never, Ellen Schneider, but calling these creeps out is a step in the right direction. They think there untouchable, but there not. Tell your husband good luck this Friday. Were pulling for him. #FireBarnett #FirePruitt 11 Likes
Caleb Miles This page is full of the biggest bunch of white-trash losers ever assembled on the internet.
Roger Elkins This is grown up business, Caleb. I’d stay out of it if I were you. I know about what you did in the locker room. Don’t worry. I won’t tell. Stay out of it for your own good. 7 Likes
Breanna Franks If caring about school and
our community is white trash I guess we r white trash. Don’t matter to me #WhiteTrashPride 9 Likes
Trina Grisham I’m so tired of all this bullcrap. Barnett and Pruitt should go to prison. 7 Likes
Janet wondered when she should drop the bombshell about Pastor Goode. Not too soon. Don’t confuse the white-trash mob. Let them focus on Barnett and Pruitt first. Janet frowned, thinking about a potential snag. She might be a problem. She’s kept that secret for sixteen years. I doubt it’s out of loyalty to Pastor Goode. It must be vanity. She must not want the town to know she fucked that crypt keeper. Or maybe she’s still getting money from Goode. I doubt it’s about protecting her kid. When the time’s right, I may have to sell it to her myself.
CHAPTER 65
Gwen and the Confidant
Her phone went straight to voice mail and a generic greeting.
After the beep, Gwen said, “Hi, Mrs. Miles. This is Gwen Townsend. Hopefully this is your number. I wanted to talk to you about Caleb. Could you please call me back at your earliest convenience? Please call me anytime. My cell phone number is 215-555-8991.” Gwen disconnected the call and set her phone on her desktop.
She stood from her desk and walked across the hall to Lewis Phelps’s classroom. The school was quiet. The students had been dismissed hours ago. Gwen knocked on Lewis’s open door. He looked up from his laptop and motioned for her to come in. Gwen shut the door and approached his desk.
Lewis forced a smile. “You okay?
Gwen shrugged and slumped into the chair next to Lewis’s desk. “I can’t remember the last time I was okay.” She sighed. “I thought he was one of the good ones.”
Despite the end of another long day, Lewis looked sharp and fresh with his gelled blond hair and tailored button-down. “It may be a big misunderstanding. We shouldn’t convict him based on a rumor. You know how everybody gossips around here.”
Rumors Page 18