Chapter Thirty-Four
Excerpt from Testimony of Bobby Stark
Ada Olson: After Indy was suspended from competition for the Olympic year, did you worry about her emotional state?
Bobby Stark: Yes. I was there at the competition when it happened.
I couldn’t believe it. I called Patrice the next day and told her I would take Indy back.
No questions asked. I knew this had to be some kind of mistake, and if it wasn’t, she had a good reason for using the drugs. And it turned out, I was right.
Ada Olson: What did she say?
Bobby Stark: What she always said when Indy asked to come home.
Ada Olson: Which was what?
Bobby Stark: Over her dead body.
Ada Olson: And why was that?
Bobby Stark: I don’t know.
Ada Olson: Was it the rivalry with Dawn Sumner?
Bobby Stark: Maybe. That’s what Indy thought.
Did you know that Dawn let her fall on that jump—knowing what was wrong with the takeoff?
Indy told me how she learned to fix it. She said she told Dawn to her face when they were alone in her office—she told her that she was a shitty coach, and she was right.
Ada Olson: That might explain why Dawn did what she did—but I was asking you about Patrice. Indy’s own mother. Why didn’t she let her come home? It wasn’t a decades-old rivalry, was it?
Bobby Stark: No.
Ada Olson: So—what was the reason Patrice wouldn’t let Indy train with you?
Bobby Stark: It was personal.
Ada Olson: How so?
Bobby Stark: Does it matter now?
Ada Olson: Just answer the question, please.
Bobby Stark: But it’s not relevant to any of this.
Ada Olson: Mr. Stark . . .
Bobby Stark: Okay. Okay. Look—the year before Indy was sent to The Palace . . . Patrice—she tried to initiate a relationship.
Ada Olson: A sexual relationship?
Bobby Stark: Yes.
Ada Olson: Did you refuse her? Turn her away?
Bobby Stark: Of course. I’m married—so is she. And I didn’t share those feelings.
Ada Olson: And how did she react?
Bobby Stark: She was furious—she accused me of leading her on—and then she . . .
Ada Olson: What, Mr. Stark? What did she tell you?
Bobby Stark: She said I must be in love with Indy—her daughter. That must explain my interest in her—and their family. I think it made her feel better to believe that I was some kind of pedophile.
Ada Olson: What happened after that?
Bobby Stark: Two months later, Indy was sent away. And her mother never let her come back.