Rumors

by Phil M. Williams

The Truth about West Lake

  November 12 at 2:27 PM

  Coach Rick Barnett was fired and his reputation was destroyed by the first picture in the collection. The picture portrays Rick Barnett kissing an underaged student, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. To this day, Barnett maintains that the girl in the picture entered his home uninvited while he was in the shower.

  When Barnett heard someone in his bedroom, he exited his shower, and put on a towel, not bothering to dry himself. He told the girl to leave, but she wouldn’t, so Barnett threatened to call the police. The girl called his bluff, saying that, if he called the police, it looked bad for him.

  Out of options, Barnett escorted her from his house. When he reached around her to open the front door, the girl kissed him, and Janet Wilcox was waiting outside ready to take a picture. Janet Wilcox had been tailing Barnett that evening, upset that he’d benched her son in favor of a different quarterback. She’d seen the girl park in Barnett’s driveway and enter his unlocked house without knocking.

  Wilcox positioned herself in Barnett’s front yard, hiding behind a tree, hoping to catch Barnett in a compromising position. As soon as the girl kissed Barnett, he turned his head and shoved her onto the stoop. Then he slammed the door in her face.

  This is the story that Rick Barnett has consistently told the West Lake School District administration, but they didn’t have the photo evidence you see here to back up his story. Notice that Rick’s hair and chest are still very wet. If this was consensual, he would’ve taken the time to dry off. Look at the expression on his face. At no time does he look happy.

  Janet Wilcox ruined a good man’s life. #BringBarnettBack 42 Likes 14 Shares

  Roger Elkins These pictures are fake. Barnett is a scumbag. He should be arrested. #FireBarnett #FirePruitt #FireTownsend 8 Likes

  Lance Osborn Hey dumbass, if the pictures are fake that means he didn’t do it. #BringBarnettBack 16 Likes

  Trina Grisham Where did these pictures come from? I don’t trust Barnett. I heard he’s in a relationship with Townsend-Walker. They are in this together. 4 Likes

  Sadie Ollinger OMG. THEY LIED. Principal Wilcox set him up. 7 Likes

  Aaron Fuller I knew it was a lie. I’ve been saying so for weeks. Principal Wilcox is a big fat hairy CUNT. She lied about Barnett, Townsend, and my brother Drew. #FreeDrewFuller 10 Likes

  Will Gilroy This is bullshit. Don’t believe it. Barnett and Townsend-Walker deserved to be fired. They might be going to prison. Drew Fuller is a piece of shit drug dealer. #FireBarnett #FirePruitt #FireTownsend 4 Likes

  Breanna Franks I agree with you, Will Gilroy. 3 Likes

  Janet stared at the screen in shock. She was losing the crowd. She thought about Aaron Fuller’s post. CUNT. The same word that was etched into the driver’s side door of her BMW.

  “Are you still there?” Rachel asked.

  “I have to call you back.” Janet disconnected the call. She marched up the stairs and barged into Shane’s room. It was dark, the shades blocking the sun. She flipped on the light. Her son was still asleep at one in the afternoon. “Wake up!”

  He groaned and covered his head with a pillow.

  Janet approached the bed and yanked the covers from his body. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

  He rolled on his side and rubbed his eyes, squinting at his mother. “Get out of my room.”

  “You took those pictures off my laptop.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about. The pictures you posted on Facebook.”

  Shane sat up, his feet now on the floor, wearing a T-shirt and boxer briefs. One side of his mouth was raised in contempt. “You lied about Coach Barnett. He got fired because of you.”

  “There’s a lot more that you don’t know. Coach Barnett has been having sex with students for a long time. He saw the camera, that’s why he pushed Ashlee away.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  Janet crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s the truth, which you’ve managed to destroy with your little stunt. It’s not enough to totally humiliate me with your bullshit, you have to put my career at risk too?”

  “I don’t give a fuck about you or your career.”

  Janet reared back and slapped him across the face.

  Shane stood abruptly, towering over his mother, posturing. “Do it again, and I’ll knock your ass out.”

  Janet turned and marched from his room, slamming the door on the way out. She went back to her home office and sat behind the desk. Her hands were shaking. This is about prison. He’s scared and acting out. Shane still had a few days to get his affairs in order before he had to report for his six-month prison sentence. Janet thought about her next move. She had to respond to this nonsense on Facebook. She tapped her Rachel contact on her cell phone.

  “What do you wanna do?” Rachel asked in lieu of a greeting.

  “I want you to contact anybody who’s willing to post on Facebook. Tell them the real truth. You have a pen and paper handy?”

  “I’m ready,” Rachel replied.

  “Tell them that Rick has been suspected of multiple affairs with students. He was finally caught, but he saw the camera and pushed the girl away, acting like he didn’t want it. Rick Barnett is a child molester and a liar.”

  CHAPTER 111

  Gwen and the Tide’s Turning

  They left their phones at home as they drove to a Sheetz gas station. Rick parked near the building so Gwen could pick up the Wi-Fi with her laptop. The gas station was sparsely populated on a Sunday night. Rick left the truck running for heat.

  Gwen logged into the VPN using the free internet from Sheetz. She created a fake Gmail account, then a YouTube account using the fake Gmail account. She uploaded the edited video of Janet holding that paper on the day of the shooting. Gwen had done a good job of providing captions and still shots from the video to make her case that Janet did, in fact, have the essay and that she planted it in Gwen’s classroom. After posting the video on YouTube, she spread it around in the comment sections of a few popular blogs that talked about school shootings. Gwen knew it would likely go viral from there.

  “That’s it.” Gwen disconnected from the Wi-Fi and closed her laptop.

  Rick’s smile reached his eyes. “The tide’s turning. I can feel it.”

  Gwen smiled right back. “Me too.”

  Rick reversed from the parking space and drove back toward Gwen’s apartment. “We need to talk to a lawyer. We’re running out of time to respond to Heather’s lawsuit.”

  “With what money?” Gwen asked. “I have enough to pay my bills for maybe two more months.”

  “I’m not much better off, but aren’t there lawyers who only get paid if you win? With the evidence we have now, we could countersue Heather and the school district for wrongful termination.”

  “I don’t want to sue the school district. I want the truth to come out, and I want Janet gone, and I want my job back.”

  “So do I, but maybe suing is a way to get the truth out there. We can drop the suit if they do the right thing. Either way, we need a lawyer for Heather’s lawsuit.”

  “You’re right.”

  CHAPTER 112

  Rick and the Lawsuit

  “This is inappropriate,” Cliff Osborn said. “How did you get this number?”

  Rick paced in Gwen’s living room, his cell phone to his ear, Gwen watching and listening from the couch. “You called me about Lance, remember?”

  “But I never gave you my number. I have to go—”

  “We’re suing you and the school district,” Rick said.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Cliff replied.

  “Is it? That’s not what our lawyer says. I have pictures that show I was telling the truth about Ashlee Miles, and there’s the video that shows Janet with the essay.”

  “It’s not conclusive.”

  “Neither was firing Gwen. The video backs Gwen’s stor
y. Our lawyer thinks we have a multimillion-dollar wrongful termination suit. I’ve heard that you and some of the other school board members colluded with Janet to fire me and Gwen. We’ll sue board members in civil court too. I hope it was worth it.”

  “Now hold on, Rick. You know I’ve always supported you as a coach and a teacher. I was on the board that approved your hire when you started. This is getting out of hand. We can work this out.”

  Rick smiled at Gwen but stayed in character with Cliff. “We want a public hearing in front of the school board to discuss the recent developments.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “We won’t be pushed around anymore. It’s not right.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  Rick disconnected the call and looked at Gwen. “He said he’ll try to get us a hearing.”

  “Do you think he’s telling the truth?”

  “I think he’s scared. He knows they did some shady shit. Now he’s afraid of getting sued.”

  Gwen had a crooked smile. “Multimillion-dollar lawsuit, huh?”

  Rick chuckled. “We have a meeting with two lawyers tomorrow. They might say that.”

  CHAPTER 113

  Janet and Mahanoy

  The sky was gray, a light rain falling. Janet drove her BMW on I-81, with Shane sitting shotgun. They’d barely spoken that Wednesday morning. Shane slumped in his seat and stared from the passenger window. Janet took the exit for the Mahanoy State Correctional Institution. They were forty-five minutes early. They’d left in plenty of time. The punishment for being late was harsh.

  She parked in the expansive parking lot of the expansive complex. Beyond the lot, razor wire surrounded the facility. She saw a football field in the distance. No goalposts but it looked like a football field. Janet thought about saying something positive to Shane, but she didn’t have the energy, and, to be honest, she was sick of coddling him.

  Janet stepped from her car and opened her umbrella. Shane lagged behind, but Janet didn’t wait. Inside was a waiting area, and a small queue of damp people to talk to one of the three prison guards behind bulletproof glass. Janet stood in line. Shane entered the building, joining her in the queue. After a short wait, one of the guards motioned for them. They approached the window. The middle-aged man must’ve been the least-welcoming receptionist in existence. He looked at Janet and Shane, scowling.

  “I’m here to drop off Shane Wilcox,” Janet said.

  The man didn’t reply. He pecked on his keyboard for a minute, then said, “Does he have his ID?”

  “Yes,” Janet replied.

  “Have a seat. They’ll call you.”

  They sat in a lonely corner of the waiting room. A handful of other people sat in the plastic chairs, everyone keeping their distance from each other.

  “You can go,” Shane said, not looking at his mother.

  “I can wait with you,” Janet replied.

  Shane turned to Janet, his face blank. “I want you to go.”

  “I know you’re upset, but this was a good deal.”

  “For who?”

  “I’m not having this discussion with you again. It was your choice.”

  “Was it?”

  “Yes, it was. Grow up, Shane. Maybe you’ll appreciate all I’ve done for you after spending some time here.”

  “I talked to Dad.”

  Janet’s eyes went wide. “That man is an evil psychopath and a manipulative liar. I can’t believe you’d go behind my back.”

  “He said you told him that I didn’t want anything to do with him.”

  She put her hand to her chest, her voice going up an octave. “That’s ridiculous. I never said that.”

  “He said you made it impossible to visit. He said you wouldn’t even let him talk to me on the phone. He said he wrote letters, but I never got any letters.”

  “He’s a liar. You didn’t get any letters because he didn’t send any. He could’ve come to visit anytime he wanted. He chose not to because he was with his whore. You don’t know the first thing about your father.”

  “If he’s lyin’, why did he say he’ll come and visit me here?”

  “I don’t see your father taking time off work to drive you to prison today. I don’t see your father feeding, clothing, and housing you for the last eighteen years.”

  “I don’t want you here.” Shane said this matter-of-factly, as if he was talking about the weather.

  “I don’t care.”

  “That’s the most honest thing you’ve ever said.”

  Janet stood from her seat and reared back to slap him but stopped herself, remembering where she was. She looked around the waiting room, all eyes on her. She glowered at Shane and said, “You ungrateful little piece of shit.” She grabbed her umbrella, turned on her sneakers, and left.

  CHAPTER 114

  Gwen and a Glimmer of Hope

  “I knew you guys were innocent,” Lewis Phelps said through her cell phone.

  “Thanks, Lewis. I think you were the only one who believed us,” Gwen replied, sitting next to Rick as he drove, the world passing by in a blur. “Unfortunately, I think most people still think we’re guilty. People have been posting on Facebook that Rick saw the camera, and that’s the only reason he pushed Ashlee away, and they’ve been saying that the security footage of Janet with the essay is inconclusive.”

  “How did you get the video and those pictures?”

  “It’s probably better that we don’t talk about it.”

  “I understand.”

  “How’s everything at school?”

  “I think Greg Ebersole’s been fired.”

  “Really? How do you know that?”

  “I saw him being escorted out by Wilcox this morning. He was in tears. It’s insane. How many more people are gonna be fired by that crazy bitch? I keep wondering if I’m next.”

  Rick turned off Route 72 into the city of Lebanon.

  “Greg deserves to be fired,” Gwen said.

  “Do you know what he did?” Lewis asked.

  “Yes, but I can’t say what or how. Trust me. It’s a good thing he’s gone.”

  “What’s your next move?”

  “We’re on our way to meet with a lawyer.”

  “I’ll let you go then. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Thanks, Lewis. We’ll talk soon.” Gwen disconnected the call and turned to Rick.

  He glanced her way. “I’m glad they got rid of that creep. The truth always comes out eventually.”

  Gwen pursed her full lips. “Not always.”

  Rick parked in a cramped parking lot next to a brick row house; a sign out front read Law Offices of Fischer and Ziegler. They stepped into the law office, Gwen holding a manila folder containing the legal paperwork they’d received from Heather Miles’s attorney, as well as various screenshots and links to information that backed their stories. To their immediate left was an open office, a middle-aged woman sitting behind a large desk, and filing cabinets lining the walls.

  “May I help you?” she asked, standing from her seat.

  Rick and Gwen walked into the room, still wearing their coats.

  “We have an appointment with Derrick Ziegler at two,” Rick said.

  “Of course. You must be Mr. Barnett and Ms. Townsend?”

  Gwen smiled without showing her teeth. “Yes.”

  “Mr. Ziegler will be down in a few minutes. May I take your coats?” The woman hung their coats on pegs in the hallway, then led them to an empty conference room. “Please, have a seat. Would you like something to drink?”

  “No thank you,” Gwen said.

  “Nothing for me, thank you,” Rick added.

  The receptionist left, and Gwen and Rick sat next to each other in cushy leather chairs. Shortly thereafter, an elderly man entered the conference room. He was thin and a little hunched, his hair white as snow. He held a pen and a yellow legal pad.

  “Mr. Barnett, Ms. Townsend,” the man said with a twinkle in his eyes. “
I’m Derrick Ziegler.”

  They stood from the table and shook hands with the old man, exchanging greetings and pleasantries. Mr. Ziegler sat at the head of the table, kitty-cornered from Rick and Gwen.

  With his legal pad in front of him and his pen at the ready, Ziegler said, “How can I help you two?”

  For the next hour, Gwen and Rick told their stories, and Mr. Ziegler took notes and asked questions here and there for clarification.

  Mr. Ziegler put down his pen and said, “Sounds like you two poked the hornet’s nest.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Rick said.

  Ziegler chuckled. “Two issues are at stake. There’s the Heather Miles lawsuit against you, and there’s the wrongful termination by the school district. I’m assuming Heather Miles doesn’t have very much money?”

  “I don’t think so,” Rick said.

  “Which means her lawyers are probably fishing for a quick settlement. We’ll hit ’em with a libel countersuit. I’m assuming her attorneys took the case on contingency, meaning that they only get paid if they win a settlement, but I doubt they would continue on a contingency basis with a strong countersuit. I think there’s a good chance I can make the lawsuit go away, especially if I can offer to drop the countersuit as an incentive.”

  “We’re not interested in suing Heather Miles,” Gwen said. “We just want the lawsuit to go away.”

  Rick nodded. “I agree.”

  “What are your goals with the school district?” Mr. Ziegler asked. “Would you like to be reinstated? Are you looking for a cash settlement? Both?”

  “I’d rather not sue the school,” Gwen said. “I want them to admit publicly that they made a mistake and to reinstate me. And I’d like for Janet Wilcox to be fired.”

  “Rick?” Ziegler asked.

  “I agree. We also want back pay for the weeks we’ve been out of a job.”

  “I can draft a letter today to Heather Miles’s attorneys, telling them of our intentions. That might be enough for them to drop the lawsuit. The bigger problem will be the school district. They have an in-house attorney and nearly unlimited funds, at least in comparison to a teacher’s salary. I’d like to draft a letter to them too and see where it goes.”