Ignoring the subtle hint of political fall-out, Jane continued to direct her questions to Mandy. “So you’d like us to fire Dr. Burns, is that it?”
“Now, now, ladies,” Gary interjected. “Let’s not be hasty here. Mrs. Benedict, our policies on the issue of fraternization between faculty and students are very new, so we’ll have to see how the ethics committee chooses to handle—.”
“But you do have policies against sexual harassment of employees, do you not?” she noted. “Not to mention state and federal laws. Ms. Taylor was an employee of Dr. Burns. I’m still considering the option of filing an EEOC complaint, and possibly state charges of serving alcohol to a minor. The only reason I haven’t gone to the press is to save my daughter the embarrassment.”
Jane finally broke her gaze away from Mandy. “Embarrassment? Have you seen your child’s Web page?”
“Yes, that’s how I found out about this whole sordid incident,” Katherine explained, watching her daughter shift nervously in her chair. “That photo alone should be all the evidence you need to prove how Lewis Burns took away my daughter’s innocence and destroyed her soul!”
“Geez, Mom, you’re not giving a summation,” Mandy muttered.
“Not yet.” Katherine steeled her eyes at Gary.
“J-jane,” Dean Piglet pleaded gently.
“I’m not trying to be difficult here. I’m just trying to understand what Mrs. Benedict is saying.” Jane directed her comments toward Katherine. “It sounds to me like you might be willing to let the matter drop if we just fire Dr. Burns.”
“That would be a good start,” Katherine admitted.
“W-well, we have to let our processes play out,” Piglet interjected. “Dr. Burns does have certain rights as a university employee, as I’m sure you know. But I assure you, we will do all we can to investigate the matter thoroughly.”
“So you have said,” Katherine responded coldly.
“B-but, these things take time,” he stammered.
“How much time? I would hope to have some closure before my husband begins the next legislative session in January.” She turned back to Jane. “You may have heard of my husband, Dr. Roardan. State Senator Rick Benedict? He is very upset about this situation. I would hate to see that affect his position on issues of higher education funding.” There, she brought out the big guns.
Sensing the growing tension in the air, Jane made a motherly appeal. “I understand you’re upset, Mrs. Benedict. I would be too if what you’re accusing Dr. Burns of happened to my daughter.”
Katherine nodded in sisterly sympathy. Here’s my opening. She asked, “And what would you want done to the perpetrator?”
Jane smiled knowingly. “Oh, I’d want him strung up by the testicles, for sure. But you know we can’t do that.”
“—as good as it might feel,” Katherine finished. The two women chuckled, as if sharing an inside joke. In a way, they were. Despite being on opposite sides of the table, the two women respected, and were even beginning to like, one another. In a different context, they might even have become friends. Now they would have to settle for being friendly adversaries. Katherine had long ago learned how to separate friendship from legal confrontation. You never knew when an enemy might be needed as an ally. She had gained many allies by treating a fellow lawyer she had just decimated in court to a nice dinner purchased with the royalties from her victory. This Jane Roardan might make a better than average meal companion.
The tension broken, Jane offered an olive branch. “How about this? Let’s everyone cool off while the university wheels turn. In the meantime, let’s both sides agree to a ceasefire on any actions or commentary beyond the confines of this process.”
“That’s agreeable. However, I’d like regular updates on the progress of the investigation,” Mrs. Benedict countered.
“I’m sure we can do that.” Gary nodded in agreement. Jane looked at Mandy. “This also applies to the Internet. Meaning, take that photo off your Web page.”
Katherine looked at her daughter. “Amanda?”
The student finally spoke up. “Yeah, okay, that was Blanca’s idea, anyway; but I can’t do anything about the other stuff that’s out there.”
“What other stuff?” all three adults asked, almost in unison.
“Uh, you know how the Web is. Things go viral.” The adults looked at her blankly. “A lotta people’ve probably copied it and sent it to other folks. Then Gus did some stuff for his site. He’s gotten a lotta hits. It’s one of his most popular bits.”
“Who is Gus?” Jane asked, hoping perhaps it was a new boyfriend who might distract Ms. Taylor from memories of Dr. Burns.
“A friend a mine,” Mandy explained. “He makes movies about us and posts ‘em on the Web.”
Gary turned three shades of green. All we need is a reality show version of this mess.
“Gus Gomez. I’ve given him some legal advice,” Katherine explained. “I’ll look into it.”
Sensing there was little left to say, Gary closed the meeting with more assurances of an in-depth investigation, followed by handshakes all around. Mandy left the same way she had entered, looking morose. Jane could tell that the complaint was more her mother’s idea than hers, but it was difficult to get any sense of the young woman’s true perspective.
So much like Dana.
After witnessing the office confrontation with Lewis and hearing the revelation that Blanca Dejean was behind the Internet photo, Jane and Gary felt it was necessary to reign in Mandy’s friend. Jane asked Sheila Stevens to set up a meeting.
From the moment she entered the room, Jane could tell that Blanca was uncomfortable, though her demeanor was totally different from Mandy’s during their meeting. Whereas Mandy had seemed embarrassed, Blanca emitted righteous anger, her rigid posture and grim face positively seething as she waited for the inquisition. She shook Jane’s hand politely as they introduced themselves, without thawing one bit. If Jane had not known better, she would have thought Blanca was the victim in this soap opera. Dr. Stevens sat quietly behind her desk, content to be an observer, not an active participant, in the discussion.
Jane could tell that there was no need to pussyfoot around with this young woman, so she came right out and asked Blanca what she knew about Mandy Taylor and Lewis Burns. The young woman glanced at Sheila before answering.
“Mandy Taylor’s one of my roommates, Ma’am,” she answered plainly. “Lewis Burns is a History professor. Mandy worked for him last year.”
Obviously this young woman was not going to be easily forthcoming, but not for the reasons Jane thought. Blanca was not particularly upset about the question. In fact, if she had her way, she would say whatever it took to get Lewis in trouble. After weeks of listening to endless crying, giving countless hugs and sharing limitless amounts of alcohol to console her friend, Blanca wanted to see the man suffer. She indulged in vengeful fantasies of how Mandy’s trio of housemates could kidnap and torture the professor, making him feel as much physical pain as the emotional hurt he had caused their friend. She had even asked her vodoun-believing grandmother to put a gris gris on him.
But Mandy, frustrated enough by her mother’s interference, had begged her friends not to say anything. Dragging out Lewis’s crucifixion was only prolonging her own pain. So Blanca sat before Jane tight-lipped, even though she was bursting inside to tell what she knew. The only reason she was present was because Dr. Stevens asked her to be. Blanca would do just about anything for the woman who represented everything she hoped to become.
Jane pressed on. “I overheard a conversation between you and Dr. Burns the other day. You don’t seem to like him much, do you?”
“He just misunderstood somethin’ I said. ‘Thought I was bein’ disrespectful,” she explained.
Blanca was frustrated with herself for momentarily forgetting her mentor’s admonition to always exhibit professionalism and decorum, including controlling one’s temper and using crisp, precise language. “When you are
with your own, you are free to speak like that,” Dr. Stevens had advised her apprentice after the lounge incident, “but when you are in public, especially in a professional setting, you must reflect a professional countenance.”
Blanca was working hard to emulate Dr. Stevens, a challenge for this girl raised to hold her own against Cajun coonasses and Ninth Ward warriors, both of whom could be found within the tangled branches of her family tree. She knew she should have exerted more self-control with Lewis, but it felt good to let her feelings out. Somebody needed to get that coullion.
“There’s an Internet photo of Dr. Burns that’s being circulated,” Jane noted. “Did you have anything to do with that?”
Blanca shrugged. “Lotsa stuff gets passed ‘round the Web. Ya know how it is. With digital, ya don’t even know if a picture’s real. ‘Could be a head pasted onto somebody else’s body.”
“Well, as of now, I want a moratorium on any further Internet activity having to do with Dr. Burns. Do you understand?” Jane admonished.
Blanca nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”
Jane could have ended the conversation, but she sensed that this young woman might know other helpful information.
“Tell me, have you ever socialized with Dr. Burns?” she asked.
“Socialized?” Blanca repeated, the wheels in her head turning to decide if she could safely answer that question without betraying her friend. “Yes, Ma’am,” she admitted. “He hung out with all of us a few times.”
“All of you?” Jane quizzed.
“Yeah, there’s four of us that share a house. Lew, well, er, Dr. Burns, came over and hung out a few times. He even went clubbin’ with us sometimes.”
“Us?”
“Me ‘n’ Mandy and our other roommates,” she explained.
Jane pressed on. “As you know, the university has a strict policy against sexual harassment and any sexual contact between professors and students. Did Dr. Burns ever act inappropriately towards you?”
“Inappropriate?” Ms. Dejean repeated, again thinking of the best way to respond. She was tempted to lie and claim victimhood, but knew such a false accusation would only get her into trouble. Instead she chuckled at the mere idea of Lewis hitting on her. “No. Ma’am.”
“Did you ever observe any inappropriate behavior between him and Ms. Taylor?
Blanca quietly bit her tongue. “I’m not sure, my memory’s not so good after we’ve been partyin’, ya know?”
Ah-ha. Jane might be on to something here. “Partying? Did Dr. Burns ever provide you with alcohol?”
“No, Ma’am,” the student answered without hesitation. “We’ve got our own ways of gittin’ that.” Then she remembered the beer. “Oh, wait, he did bring some beer over one night when we were watchin’ movies. But I think he and Gus mostly drank it. And Gus is over 21.”
“Do you know if he ever served alcohol to Ms. Taylor?”
“Not that I recall, Ma’am,” she answered in the rehearsed tone of a criminal defendant.
Now Jane went for the big question. “Ms. Dejean, I need you to be honest. Do you know if Dr. Burns and Ms. Taylor had a sexual relationship?”
“No, I never saw them havin’ sex,” she stated bluntly.
“But do you have knowledge that it happened? Did she confide in you?”
Blanca looked directly at Dr. Roardan. “If she confided in me, then I can’t break a trust. The answer is still ‘No.’ I have no firsthand knowledge of a sexual relationship between Mandy Taylor and Lewis Burns.” Spoken like someone who had been well-coached by a lawyer’s daughter.
Jane recognized defeat at the hands of loyalty. Short of pursuing disciplinary action against Blanca for violating the rarely enforced student code of conduct against lying to a school official, there was no way Jane could make the young woman reveal any further information. She looked to Sheila for help, but Dr. Stevens just shook her head silently, refusing to get involved further. Jane was about to end the conversation, when another idea hit.
“Ms. Dejean,” she asked. “I admire how you’re trying to respect your friend’s privacy. Can you tell me this, just for my own edification: What is your impression of Lewis Burns? As a student observer.”
Blanca smiled slyly. Here was a question she could answer without breaking her word. She straightened up and came alive with righteous indignation. “Honestly?”
Jane nodded, indicating that Blanca was free to express herself. “Just between the three of us in this room.”
Choosing her words carefully, Blanca spit out, “I think he’s a . . . fool.” Her description to Sheila had been much more colorful, but she trusted Dr. Stevens more than Dr. Roardan. Still, being able to express a negative feeling did help Blanca relax a bit. Jane glanced at Sheila, who merely raised one eyebrow.
“Why do you say that?” Jane pressed.
Blanca shrugged impassively. “I dunno. Just an impression, ya know? Am I done now?”
Jane dismissed the student, knowing she had gained little hard evidence in the process. Still, the Chair admired Blanca’s sisterly anger at Lewis and loyalty to Mandy. It had been a long time since she had had such a protective friend. She was not sure if she had ever had one, although Perry in his heyday may have come close.
Returning to her office, Jane recalled another helpful name. What had Mandy said? Something about videos on a friend’s Web site? The professor Googled the fairly common Hispanic-sounding name. Finally she hit the right page. Gus Gomez, professed CEO of Nana’s Boys Productions, with links to a host of videos the budding filmmaker had posted, along with his blog, broken down into a variety of topics—How to Make it in Show Biz, The Life of a Vet, War and Politics, etc. There was also a page touting some Latino boy band and a short documentary film called View from the Missing Leg, which mostly seemed to consist of strangers’ faces from the unseen filmmaker’s point of view. Under the “Most Popular Series” section, she spotted a familiar-looking face. With a click, she was directed to a list of all the webisodes for what appeared to be an online series entitled “In the House.” The most recent 10-minute webisode had been posted just a week earlier.
She clicked on that entry, which began with a rolling narrative:
In the House: Episode 46
Previously on “In the House,” Mandy confronted her boyfriend after his text-message break-up, only to face further rejection. Spurred on by friends, she exposed their affair by posting an intimate photo of him on her Web page. Now she faces fallout from that decision.
What followed was a rather impressively edited, documentary-style version of the events surrounding Katherine’s discovery of the contents of her daughter’s Web page and insistence on pursuing action. The real Katherine never appears, and Jane doubted that she even knew about this show, given its rather unflattering portrait of her. Most of Katherine’s scenes involved Mandy’s side of telephone conversations, sometimes capturing the mother’s voice on speakerphone with subtitles. A couple of scenes involved reenactments, with someone else playing Katherine’s role. All-in-all, a very professional-looking series, one that no doubt would soon be shut down by Mrs. Benedict.
Intrigued by the series, Jane began to go back and view past webisodes. The show began during freshman year, with overwrought captions describing the main players thusly:
Mandy: The bodacious brain. Determined to find success in life and love. Shaped by a broken home and parents who hate one another. Can she prove that true love still exists?
Blanca: The bootylicious believer. Uprooted by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, but determined to join the Chocolate Brain Trust that will rebuild her city to its former glory. Can she really save a world destroyed?
Julie: The boot-camp babe. Loyal, loving, and determined to always do her duty. A patriotic, military brat raised to be ready for battle. Can she fight the good fight without losing herself?
Gus Gomez (narrator): The battle-scarred veteran. Determined to rebuild his mind and body by revealing truth through art. Ca
n he become the great filmmaker he desires to be?
The early entries reenacted the three girls meeting in a freshman dorm, with Gus appearing as an off-screen voice who visits the girls on occasion. Jane skimmed through these early entries, then jumped forward and began backtracking from the most recent. Episode 44 apparently took place just after Mandy and Lewis parted ways, as revealed in a final monologue by Mandy. Facing the camera alone, she expressed her feelings in a raw, emotional outpouring:
Well, it happened. He dumped me. I shouldn’t be surprised. It had to happen. But why did he have to be such a dick about it? God, I’m an idiot! He broke up with me by text message! That’s so Paris Hilton! And I’m the one who taught him how to text! Gus, don’t ever text a girl to break up! That is so lame! I shoulda known he was screwed up. Momma was right. Never date a divorced guy, especially one that just left his wife. Like, they are totally fucked in the head. The bad thing is, I really loved him, ya know? I thought we could still be friends, or keep seeing each other in secret. ‘Guess that was stupid! ‘Guess I was just a hole to fill his need. Live and learn, huh?
Mandy looked like she was about to say more, but began to cry and waved at the director to stop filming. Jane’s maternal heart broke for the child. She wanted to view earlier scenes, hoping they might shed more light on the truth, but she ran out of time. Driving home that evening, Mandy’s words kept replaying in Jane’s mind. ‘Guess I was just a hole to fill his need. A crude expression that reflected a deep well of pain.
Chapter Eight
Tenure Track Page 10