Chapter 29 #2
Her question confused him. Why would she ask? They both knew his career was nothing compared to hers. He played a damn game for a living.
“You have a reputation too. Millions of people love you, count on you. You do good with your fame and fortune, Trent. You need to be able to keep doing that.”
The first thought that flashed into his head was about Dylan. And how disappointed the boy would be. He’d let the kid down.
“She’s right,” the attorney said. “We’ll need to have a press conference, get out ahead of this before the NFL strikes. I have a publicist on staff who will call you, work with you. When the NFL makes their charges, I’ll handle it.”
“You? Shouldn’t I get a specialist for that? Maybe a Players Association attorney.”
“We’ll have them work with us and coordinate.”
He could see that this scandal was going to get complicated fast, take over his life if he let it, and there was no way he wanted to let that happen.
He drove to New York City that afternoon and showed up at the stadium, where the team was getting ready for a short practice.
In the locker room, Coach Parker stopped him and pulled him aside.
No one looked at him. Not even Jamie. He stiffened his spine, but it didn’t prevent the lead ball from forming in his gut.
His coach stared at him in their two-man huddle, his eyes fierce with anger but looking like he wanted to cry at the same time. Trent held himself in check as if the line around him was collapsing, but he had to hang on to make the throw.
“It shouldn’t be a big surprise to you, but I’m still having a hard time grasping it,” Parker said. “You’ve been suspended indefinitely by the league. Pending an investigation.”
His coach’s words were like the crunching sound of bones breaking, a devastating blow.
Trent turned to face the abnormally subdued locker room where his teammates sat and stood in various states of dress and undress.
He gathered his guts, whatever courage he possessed, and called out to get their attention, the way he always did before a game.
They turned his way, some appearing wary and some angry.
“I owe you all an apology. I messed up. I made a decision that ultimately I should have known better than to make, one that I should have realized was a very selfish decision.” He glanced around at them. They were silent. It was so quiet, he thought they might be holding their breath.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say that I feel worse about letting you down than I do about the end of my career.”
Now there was noise, some protests, some grousing. Jamie followed him as he walked toward the door.
“Hey man, no hard feelings from me. I know you gotta do what you gotta do to stay on top. I know how driven you are.” He slapped Trent’s back. “I hope you come back to play is all. Preferably in time for the Super Bowl.”
Trent grunted, his throat too tight to speak.
On his drive back to Boston, he listened to the media coverage of him “bailing out his fiancée,” of him taking drugs, of his indefinite suspension and the NFL’s pending investigation.
They referred to it all as the Magic Serum Scandal.
There were plenty of people on both sides of the debate.
By the time he got to Worcester, he’d heard it all.
More than he wanted to. Listening to it was like doing his penance, making sure the full impact of what he’d done wasn’t lost on him.
He was about to shut the sports radio show off to give himself a break, but his phone rang. When he saw it was his attorney, he picked it up.
“What’s up?”
“Everything.” His attorney spoke with calm purpose as always.
He was the kind of wise old man that reminded Trent of Doc Waters from his old hometown.
“Listen carefully. It is imperative that you lie low. Not only do you not speak with the media, but you may not comment to anyone about your suspension. And you most especially are not to have any contact with Charline. Is that clear?”
“Why not?”
“Wrong answer. We need to separate you from her issues. In fact there may even be a conflict of interest involved if we need to argue that you were told that this designer serum was a new and therefore not banned substance.”
“She didn’t claim that it wasn’t banned.”
“But she told you it was new and experimental.”
“Sure. That was the whole point of the drug trial.”
“Exactly. In the meantime, we’ll file an injunction to prevent the NFL’s immediate suspension of you.”
“Okay.” Trent’s mind worked through the implications, trying to figure out if this was a good thing. He’d been ready to martyr his career. But then he remembered his team, especially Jamie, and realized he needed to play this one last game.
“The main thrust of our position is to assert that the NFL can’t dole out the punishment before they’ve investigated the crime. I’m pretty sure we can get the suspension lifted long enough so that you can play in the Super Bowl.”
After Trent left for New York City, she went home to find Suzette, Buck, and Diggins at the kitchen table.
They were watching the news on the small television perched on the kitchen counter.
As Charline removed her coat, Suzette stood and came to her with her slow awkward gait.
She hugged Charline. Neither of them said a thing.
Charline would have stayed in the comforting embrace for a long while, but she knew it was a strain for Suzette. When the TV anchor said the chair of the board of trustees was going to speak, they both let go and turned to watch the press conference.
Dr. Jonas appeared at a podium with numerous microphones.
“It is with great sadness and disappointment that I announce the university’s decision to terminate Dr. Charline Morneau.
We are working with NIH and the FDA to arrange for a continuation of the study with a new principal investigator.
This research and the EM HGH-1 serum is too promising to abandon. ”
He went on to say more, but the buzzing in her head numbed her hearing, numbed everything for a second, until the dull ache took hold.
“I’m so sorry.” Suzette took her hand. The doorbell rang. “Someone’s at the front door.”
“I’ll go see who it is,” Diggins said. He rose from his chair.
Charline’s heart pounded. It could be a reporter, or it could be someone else. She let Diggins check. The last thing she needed was to be confronted by the press at her own home. The attorney would be upset. Besides, she had no idea what to say. She’d just been fired at a press conference.
Diggins left the kitchen to answer the front door and Charline tried to focus on the television until he came back. When he did, he handed her a letter.
“It was a messenger,” he said. “Looks like it’s from the university.”
Standing, she took the letter.
Suzette said, “It must be the official notice . . .”
Trying to control the trembling in her hands, she realized Suzette was right.
She already knew what the letter would say, but she forced herself to focus and read it through anyway.
Suzette, Diggins, and even Buck watched her with sympathy.
She hated those expressions, but she couldn’t blame them.
If she didn’t want their sympathy, then she needed to stop acting so pathetically.
She stood straight, clenched her jaw, and read the letter.
“Besides telling me that I’ve been terminated,” she said, “which we already knew, it says I have a one-time, one-hour window to remove my personal belongings from the premises.” She looked at her watch. “Beginning in fifteen minutes.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Suzette said.
“Do you want me to go with you? I have a truck,” Diggins said.
“I can go with you to help too,” Buck said. He and Diggins started to stand. With a firm set to her jaw, she waved at them to stay seated.
“No need. I don’t have that many personal effects at my office. But I would like to say goodbye to any remaining friends I might have.” She smiled, trying to make light of it.
“Oh, Charline. I’m sure your friends are as sick about this as we are,” Suzette said.
Charline took her coat from the chair where she’d tossed it and put it on.
“Some of them. I guess it doesn’t matter about the rest of them, does it?” The way they all looked at her made her feel like a tragic heroine. And that was the last thing she wanted to be. She was glad the research would continue. Glad for Suzette’s sake.
She wanted to get past this, move on. And she would. She was sure she would. She only wished she was sure it would be with Trent.
It didn’t take her long to drive to the research center where her office was.
It took her less time once she got there to figure out it was a setup.
There were TV cameras and reporters camped everywhere, blocking the driveway, making it difficult for her to park her car.
Making it impossible to get from her car to the building without being besieged by them.
Keeping her head down as she walked the endless thirty yards to the door of the building, she tried to ignore their questions.
She walked past the makeshift press conference area where numerous trustees and administrators still lingered.
One of them was Dr. Lisa Cooper. She looked away when she caught the woman’s eye, but too late. Dr. Cooper headed in her direction.
When she picked up her pace, the questions from the reporters got louder, as if they sensed the window on their opportunity closing down.
“Dr. Morneau, why did you steal the serum? Didn’t you think you would get caught?”
“Dr. Morneau, what will you do now? Will you continue your research elsewhere?”
“Dr. Morneau, were you aware that your serum would be considered a performance-enhancing drug by the NFL? And if so, why did you give it to your fiancé?”
“Is it true that Trent Lockheed bought his way onto the drug trial so that he could take your magic serum?”