Rumors

by Phil M. Williams

  “We’ll be fine here,” the woman said.

  “I hate to even ask, but, if you two could leave your jackets here, I would appreciate it.”

  “That ain’t a problem,” the man said, removing his jacket.

  “And the … ?” Janet touched her head and looked at his do-rag.

  He smiled wide, showing his bright white teeth. “Wouldn’t wanna scare whitey.”

  Janet forced a smile. “Something like that.”

  Janet left her guests and went to the library. It was already packed, the chairs filled, and people standing in the back. Ashlee Miles stood by herself. Lance Osborn stood with the football team. I wonder if they’re still together. Aaron Fuller stared at Janet as she walked past. Janet shot him a glare, and Aaron grinned in response. Janet found her regular seat, Rachel guarding it like a faithful dog.

  Janet sat down, a scowl on her face.

  “Everything all right?” Rachel asked in a whisper.

  “Aaron Fuller smiled at me.”

  Rachel frowned. “That little creep.”

  “The police are incompetent. What he did’s no secret. I’d like to smack that shit-eating grin off his face.”

  CHAPTER 120

  Gwen and into the Lion’s Den

  Gwen and Rick and Mr. Ziegler walked into the library. It was packed, standing room only. Rick stopped at the back table and grabbed two forms from the stack.

  He looked at Mr. Ziegler and said, “We have to fill these out to participate in the public comment.”

  “I already submitted the forms on the website,” Mr. Ziegler replied.

  Rick took Gwen’s hand, leading her through the crowd, just behind their attorney. People stared and whispered. A few football players and assistant coaches nodded and said, “Coach,” as they walked past, Rick nodding back. Bob Schneider was notably absent. Ashlee Miles stood off to the side, her arms crossed over her chest, throwing daggers with her eyes.

  Rick placed the box of files on the table. They took off their coats, setting them on their chairs. Rick and Gwen sat at the reserved table for three, front and center, facing the school board. Mr. Ziegler approached the school board. Two long tables were set up at the head of the room for the nine school board directors and Superintendent Matthews and Solicitor Burks. Each seat was punctuated with a name placard and a microphone. The school board directors were there, some already sitting, some standing and talking. The school board was all male, except for Heather Miles.

  Mr. Ziegler talked to Cliff, asking about hooking up his laptop to the projector. This was prearranged, but Cliff acted dumbfounded. They eventually found the new tech guy and made it happen. A heavyset twentysomething named Wendall had already been hired to replace Greg. Mr. Ziegler brought paper copies of his arguments, just in case, but he wanted everyone in the audience to see the evidence.

  A hand touched Gwen’s shoulder, causing her to flinch. She turned her head.

  Lewis greeted her with a small smile. “Good luck.”

  Gwen nodded.

  “Good luck,” Lewis said to Rick, his hand held out.

  As Rick turned to shake his hand, his face went white, as if he’d seen a ghost. They shook hands, and Lewis disappeared into the crowd.

  Rick leaned over and whispered into Gwen’s ear. “My ex-wife’s here.”

  Gwen’s eyes widened. “Where?”

  “Sitting in the audience, ten o’ clock. Long blond hair. Pretty.”

  Gwen felt a pang of jealousy at that last word. She turned to look, curious. There she was, like a rose in a field of wheat. Pretty was an understatement. She was gorgeous. Perfect porcelain skin, with strawberry hues. A symmetrical face with a button nose and luscious lips. Honey-blond hair beyond her shoulders and breasts large enough to notice from twenty-five feet away. Rick had told Gwen very little about his ex-wife, and Gwen had told Rick very little about her soon-to-be-ex-husband. It was an unspoken agreement. Gwen did know that Rick’s ex had met someone else and had moved to Virginia, but Rick didn’t give specifics, and Gwen hadn’t asked, not wanting to give specifics of her own.

  Gwen turned back to Rick. “Why is she here?”

  “I have no idea. I can’t imagine she’s angry with me. We haven’t spoken in years. She doesn’t even live here anymore.”

  “Everyone take your seats,” Cliff Osborn said into his microphone. He waited for a moment. “Please be quiet. We’re about to begin.”

  CHAPTER 121

  Rick and Photo Evidence

  The cacophony of voices quieted, and people took their seats. People in the back still stood, jockeying for position.

  “Thank you,” Cliff said. “Please do not shout out or heckle during the hearing. This special hearing is to determine whether or not West Lake School District will reinstate Rick Barnett and Gwen Townsend. Mr. Barnett and Ms. Townsend will be given the opportunity to present recent evidence to the board, followed by public comments, followed by board comments, followed by a vote, the majority determining the outcome. If you’d like to participate in the public comments, you must’ve filled out a public comment form found at the back table or submitted the form via the district’s website. We’ll start with Mr. Barnett, followed by Ms. Townsend.” Cliff gestured to the trio sitting at the table in front.

  Mr. Ziegler stood slowly. “My name’s Derrick Ziegler, and I’ll be representing Mr. Barnett and Ms. Townsend.”

  “You may approach the podium,” Cliff said.

  The attorney approached the podium to the right of the school board. His laptop was already there, ready to go. Mr. Ziegler moved his cursor, clicked a few times, until a photo appeared on the large screen hanging from the ceiling. The audience craned their necks to the right and gasped at the image.

  Mr. Ziegler addressed the school board. “Mr. Barnett was terminated solely because of this picture.” The attorney gestured to the image of Rick and Ashlee Miles kissing in his doorway. “From the beginning, Mr. Barnett maintained that the student pictured here walked into his home uninvited while he was taking a shower and stole a kiss as he escorted her from his home. The following images will prove exactly that.” Mr. Ziegler went on to detail the photo evidence provided by Shane that corroborated Rick’s story. He also noted small details like Rick’s wet hair and chest and his look of revulsion immediately following the kiss.

  Throughout the presentation, Heather and Ashlee seethed. If looks could kill, Mr. Ziegler would’ve dropped dead.

  CHAPTER 122

  Janet Turns the Tables

  Janet watched the horror show. That fucking old lawyer. Now he was showing screenshots of unreturned phone calls Gwen had made to Heather Miles about Caleb. Janet thought Heather might jump over the table and strangle the old man. Then he presented that goddamn video. That lawyer went over the video in painstaking detail, pausing and showing Janet holding a piece of paper, her sleeve covering her fingers. Janet had had enough. It was time to turn the tables. She left the library, people in the audience staring, whispering, and pointing at her.

  She hurried to her office. Her guests still sat in the chairs where she’d left them. Potato chip wrappers and soda cans littered Janet’s desk. The young man looked like he was asleep, his head lolled to the side, his neck limp. Thankfully, he’d taken off his do-rag.

  “It’s time,” Janet said as she approached.

  The middle-aged woman turned to see Janet, then stood from her seat. She smacked the man on the back of his head, not hard. “Wake up, Elijah.”

  The young man’s eyes fluttered. “Shit, that drive made me tired as a motherfucker.”

  “Language,” the woman said with raised eyebrows.

  Janet returned to the library with her guests in tow. People stared as if they’d never seen a black person. Rachel and another one of Janet’s cronies gave up their seats so the guests could sit. They watched the end of Ziegler’s presentation.

  Ziegler said, “My clients are not looking to sue the school district, although I think they have a very s
trong wrongful termination case, and I’d be happy to represent them if they choose that route, but that’s not their goal. They simply want the truth to be told, to be reinstated, and to receive back pay for the time they’ve missed. Thank you.” Mr. Ziegler returned to the table, sitting next to Rick.

  “Thank you, Mr. Ziegler,” Cliff Osborn said. “We’ll open up the podium for public comments.” Cliff took the top form from the small stack in front of him. “Roger Elkins?”

  Janet smiled to herself. Roger was on her team.

  A dark-haired man—with a mustache, a gut, a fanny-pack, and a phone clipped to his belt—approached the podium.

  “You have four minutes, Mr. Elkins,” Cliff said.

  He cleared his throat and addressed the school board. “I’m Roger Elkins. I live in West Lake, just around the corner. I went to school here. I lived here my whole life and I’ve never seen such disgusting behavior.” He glowered at Rick and Gwen.

  Gwen stared at the tabletop, but Rick glared right back at Roger.

  “The fact that you’re even wasting our time is disgusting.” Roger looked back to the board. “They need to go, and they need to stay gone. They know what they did. Don’t let them try to argue different with their fancy lawyer. The truth of the matter is that the only reason Rick Barnett pushed that girl away was because he saw the camera. He knew he was busted, and he was trying to get out of it. Rick Barnett is a pedophile.” Spittle flew from his mouth when he said pedophile. “And Gwen Townsend-Walker’s responsible for Caleb Miles’s death. She knew the boy was suicidal, but she did nothing about it. Why wouldn’t she talk to the counselor or the principal? I think those screenshots are fake. Do not reinstate these criminals.”

  Half the crowd clapped as Roger Elkins left the podium.

  Cliff read the name from the next form in his stack. “Breanna Franks?”

  It had been a long time, but Janet recognized the thin woman who approached the podium.

  “I’m Breanna Franks.” She had the raspy voice of a smoker. “You keep talkin’ about the girl like she ain’t nobody. She is somebody. She’s my niece, and she’s tellin’ the truth. Rick Barnett tried to seduce her. She pushed him away, not the other way ’round. His face looked like that ’cause he was mad. I heard he did the same thing to other girls. It’s like Jerry Sandusky all over again.” She gestured to Gwen. “The other one, Ms. Townsend-Walker.” Breanna practically spit out Townsend-Walker. “My sister is a good mother. She don’t answer calls from strange numbers. You shoulda sent an email or a text. Townsend was the only one who knew Caleb was hurtin’, and she didn’t do nothin’. That’s facts.” She glared at the school board. “If you give either of them their job back, you’re gonna have one helluva lawsuit.”

  CHAPTER 123

  Gwen and the Public Comments

  Gwen felt the crowd boring a hole in the back of her head. The public comments had been brutal, until now.

  Jamar Burris stood at the podium, wearing slacks and a button-down shirt. He read from a single sheet of paper, his eyes never leaving the page. “Coach Barnett was my football coach and teacher, and Ms. Townsend was my teacher too. Coach Barnett’s the best coach I’ve ever had, and Ms. Townsend cares more about her students than any teacher I’ve ever had. I think they’re telling the truth. If you fire them, it’s the students who will miss out. Everybody claims to care about kids, but they do exactly the opposite.

  “I don’t understand why people are attacking Coach Barnett and Ms. Townsend. It’s clear from the pictures that Coach Barnett is telling the truth and that Ms. Townsend didn’t cause Caleb to do what he did. Caleb Miles was my friend. Ms. Townsend talked to me about helping Caleb because she thought he was depressed. And, if Ms. Townsend says she gave that essay to Principal Wilcox, I know she did. She wouldn’t lie about that.

  “It’s crazy that she got into trouble for Caleb doing what he did. She was one of the few people who cared about Caleb. She had tried to help him. I was in the class that Caleb held hostage. Ms. Townsend gave up herself, so we all could leave. She does that, and then you fire her? That’s so messed up.” Jamar snatched his paper from the podium and walked to the rear of the room, half the crowd clapping.

  “Thank you, Jamar,” Cliff said. He read from the next form in the dwindling stack. “Rick Barnett.”

  The crowd whispered as Rick made his way to the podium. Rick didn’t have a piece of paper. He was used to memorizing pregame speeches. He didn’t look at the school board. Instead, he scanned the audience.

  “Most of you know me. I grew up here. I went to school here. I started teaching here right out of college. At this point, I don’t care what you think. I don’t care about the gossip and the lies. Whatever happens tonight, I can live with it because I know I’ve told the truth.” Rick paused for a moment, scanning the crowd again. “Many of you don’t know Gwen Townsend. This was her first year at West Lake. There’s one thing I know about Ms. Townsend. She’s a talented and selfless teacher of the highest caliber. If you decide not to reinstate her, thousands of future students will miss out on a great teacher.”

  Rick turned his attention to the school board. “Ms. Townsend and I had discussions about Caleb Miles. We were both concerned. I had a one-on-one conversation with Caleb after he quit football. I thought something had happened to him, but he wasn’t talking, and neither was anyone else. It was obvious to me that he wanted to move on from what happened to him, and I didn’t want to humiliate him further. Ms. Townsend talked to me about calling Heather Miles and getting nowhere. She talked to me about giving the essay to Janet Wilcox. It’s a travesty that Gwen Townsend’s fighting for her career because of Janet Wilcox’s incompetence and subsequent political bullying.”

  Rick turned back to the crowd. “If you really wanna make a change in this district, if you really wanna make things better, get rid of Principal Wilcox.” Rick pointed across the room toward Janet’s typical seat. “Wilcox is over there, sitting in her regular spot. She uses smoke and mirrors to cover up her sins and to propagandize the public against her enemies. I became her enemy because I benched her son. Ms. Townsend became Wilcox’s enemy out of circumstance and bad luck. Ms. Townsend happened to be the teacher who went to Wilcox about Caleb and his essay, the essay that Wilcox failed to do anything about. Janet Wilcox used her political clout to fire Ms. Townsend and to turn the public against her, all to cover up Wilcox’s own incompetence.

  “I’m sick and tired of people in this community believing lies and gossip about people without checking the source, without checking to find out whether or not it’s true. Instead, they get a charge out of the juicy gossip and spread it around as if it’s true, not caring for one second about the person’s reputation they’re destroying.” Rick gestured to the room.

  Faces in the crowd ranged from wide-eyed shock to narrow-eyed fury. A few nodded in agreement.

  “All of you who’ve spread these lies should be ashamed of yourselves.” Rick stepped back from the podium, half the crowd clapping.

  Someone shouted, “Damn right.”

  Rick walked back to the table and sat between Gwen and Mr. Ziegler. He took Gwen’s hand and squeezed.

  Gwen had tears in her eyes. “Thank you.”

  Cliff waited for the applause to subside. “Lindsey Miller?”

  Gwen and Rick turned in unison, looking back toward Rick’s ex-wife. She stood and stepped to the podium, avoiding eye contact with Rick. She looked stylish and tall in her boots, pencil skirt, and button-down.

  Lindsey adjusted the microphone down a little. She was tall but not as tall as Rick.

  Gwen couldn’t help but think that they would’ve had beautiful children.

  “Hi, my name is Lindsey Miller. I used to be Lindsey Barnett. I was married to Rick Barnett for eight years. I was contacted and invited to speak by Rachel Kreider. She said that they needed to make sure Rick wasn’t reinstated. She told me all about Rick’s extracurricular activities. Rachel encouraged me to talk about what a ch
eating piece of crap Rick is. She was particularly interested in the age of Rick’s mistress.” Lindsey surveyed the crowd. “That was the rumor, right? That Rick cheated on me, and that’s why we got divorced? The truth is, I hated this town. I wanted to move to the city, somewhere diverse and vibrant and growing, but this place has always been the exact opposite. I’m sorry to be blunt, but a lot of people here are petty and small and close-minded. I couldn’t take it. I wanted to move, but Rick loves it here. He loves his job. He loves the kids—”

  “Yeah, a little too much,” a man from the audience shouted, followed by laughter.

  “Please refrain from shouting out,” Cliff said.

  Lindsey waited for the laughter to subside. “Go ahead and laugh. That’s the problem with this town. You’re happy to sit in your ivory tower and judge others, but what do you do? Nothing. Nothing important. Nothing that can ever be judged. Because most of you are afraid to put yourself out there. You’re content with the status quo. Content to criticize those who stand out. Rick doesn’t see it that way. Rick thinks it’s just a few bad apples and that most of this town really cares about their kids and each other. He sees the good.

  “I didn’t see it. I wanted to leave. He resisted, and I had an affair. Shortly after we divorced, I came home to see my parents for Thanksgiving. I heard from my sister that people were saying that Rick cheated. I also heard that Rick refused to talk about it.” Lindsey paused and took a deep breath. “Rick and I were together for a long time. He’s loyal to a fault. Do you know why he refused to set the record straight?” Lindsey paused for a moment.

  The audience was on the edge of their seats, the room dead silent.

  Lindsey swallowed and wiped the corners of her eyes. Her voice caught a little. “He didn’t want people saying terrible things about me. That’s the type of person he is.” She paused again. “Do you remember when this school was awful at football? It wasn’t that long ago. I remember those years. Rick built this program from nothing. He lost a lot of games back then, but he always took the blame for the losses and deflected the praise onto his players for the wins. That team that’s on the way to the state championship? That’s Rick’s team through and through. He may not be the coach anymore, but that’s his team. The coaches know it. The players know it.” Lindsey turned her attention to the school board. “I wish you knew him like I do because, if you did, you’d know he was telling the truth. Do the right thing and reinstate him. He loves his students and football players more than he even loved his wife.” A tear slipped down her cheek.