Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The next day, the day his team left for the conference championship game, Trent found himself in Middlesex Superior Court at Charlie’s arraignment. He was there to post bail.
He stood in the hallway outside the courtroom with his high-priced attorney and Charlie. She looked pale and resigned. She’d been quiet, but that was to be expected. He was worried she was shell-shocked. Too much had happened in too short a time.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said.
“He’s the money man,” the attorney said.
“I’ll be fine.” He pulled his ball cap down further over his eyes. He wore a hooded sweatshirt and jeans in contrast with the dark suits Charlie and the lawyer sported.
So far there were only a smattering of people in the court, attorneys with clients there for court business, But Trent knew that wouldn’t last. His agent had called him earlier to let him know he’d gotten a call from several sports outlets, including his old friend Mike Foley.
His agent hadn’t taken any of the calls, but he wanted Trent to reach out to Mike Foley to find out what they had so far, what their take on it was.
Trent would get to it. Maybe not today. It depended on how it went here, whether anyone took note of him and how long it took for word to spread.
It was bad enough he had to call Coach Parker and tell him he wouldn’t be on the team plane.
“I have to make a call. How much time do we have?”
The attorney gave him a considering look. “Ten to fifteen. If we’re not here, come inside the courtroom and sit in the first row.” He nodded.
“Trent . . .” Charline said. “Are you sure you want to stay?” Her eyes pleaded with him, he wasn’t sure if it was to stay or go. But it didn’t matter. If he ever wanted to look himself in the mirror again, he had to stay. Because it was the right thing to do. Finally.
He turned and walked down a corridor and then ducked into a stairwell and jogged up the stairs to the second floor. Looking around, he saw it was deserted. Leaning against the hard plaster wall, he slipped his phone from his pocket and tapped in Coach Parker’s number from memory.
“Coach—”
“Where the hell are you?”
He’d told the man where he was and why. Gave him the whole story.
He owed Parker that much. After the man regained his power of speech, he swore a blue streak.
Then he wished Trent well in whatever new career he had lined up because he’d be very surprised if he would be allowed to play football again.
“Are you going to report this to the NFL?” Trent asked. Not that it mattered except to buy him a little time.
“Hell no. I’m no doctor and I’m not the police. I’m going to sit on this as long as I can. But if you don’t get your ass to the game tomorrow, all hell is going to break loose because I don’t know what I’ll say about it.”
“I’ll show. But I’m pretty sure the news will catch up with me before I have a chance to play.”
Parker snorted. “Hell. Couldn’t you send your agent to bail her out?”
“My agent isn’t her fiancé.”
“Neither are you, from what you told me.”
Trent didn’t feel like explaining to his coach that things had changed. He was still trying to explain things to himself.
“Parker, I’m standing by her. If that means I get into trouble sooner than later, then so be it. I made this bed for myself.”
“You sure as hell did, but maybe you ought to think of your teammates. They don’t deserve this from you. They don’t deserve to be abandoned.”
Trent looked at the filthy tiled floor. This corridor on the second floor of the courthouse was deserted right now, but he didn’t know how long it would stay that way.
He’d told the attorney he’d only be a few minutes.
With his chest feeling impossibly tight, he tried taking a deep breath, but it was strangled and shallow and shuddering.
“I know,” he admitted quietly. The knowledge weighed on him, made him shameful, but it didn’t change his conviction that what he was doing now for Charlie was the right thing.
He only hoped he could get her out of all this unscathed.
The lawyer had told him he’d had a conversation before the arraignment with the research center’s attorney and one of the trustees already about settling the matter and they’d been amenable.
But he couldn’t explain all that to Parker right now. His time was running out and he had one more call to make.
“Look, I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow, one way or another. Do me a favor and don’t say anything to anyone else on the team.”
“I have to let Coach Marini know—”
“Fine. Not the players. I want to tell them myself. Tomorrow, in person.” Parker agreed and there was nothing left to say, so they ended the call.
He wanted to call Ralph then, but he knew he shouldn’t, knew he needed to distance himself from his good friend for his own sake, to keep Ralph from getting dragged down.
Nunley didn’t have millions in the bank to fall back on.
He needed his job, needed to work. Ralph couldn’t afford to have his reputation blasted to hell by this soon-to-be HGH scandal.
His hand shook as he tapped in Jamie Jones’s number. Closing his eyes, with his head and back against the wall, he listened to the phone ring. The clenching in his gut intensified with each ring until Jamie answered.
“Trent? Where the hell are you? The bus is leaving in five minutes. Tell me you’re on the way.”
“I’m not on the way, Jamie.”
Dead silence. Trent didn’t know if the buzzing was in his head or coming from the phone, but he pushed himself to speak, made himself confess his sins to his best friend.
Forced himself to admit that he was letting Jamie and the team down in the midst of their Super Bowl run.
It was the worst thing he’d ever done in his life, and owning up to it was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
“What the f—ck were you thinking, you son of a bitch?”
“I was thinking I needed to go for the brass ring. Pull out all the stops. You know me. Nothing half way.”
“What the f—ck is that supposed to mean? You already have all the damn brass rings you need. You were not thinking clearly at all.” Jamie lowered his voice. “Why didn’t you tell me, man?”
“Deniability. Didn’t want to drag you down if I got in trouble.”
“And what about Charlie?”
“I’m doing what I can for her. I’m not going to desert her.”
“No. But you’ve deserted your team. Went right off the deep end and left us behind holding the bag.”
“I know.”
“But you hang onto Charlie. She’s worth it. Don’t know if she’ll want you, though.”
“Shit.” His friend was right. He didn’t deserve her. Especially not now.
In court, they went into chambers with the DA and the attorney from the University Research Center and trustee.
As their attorney had promised, they came to an agreement whereby Trent would compensate the University for the serum Charlie used for her mother and donate another million to continue the research, on the condition that Hogarth resign.
The university research center agreed to drop charges.
“But whether or not you will be reinstated in your research position is another matter. The Board of Trustees will need to take that matter up for consideration.” The University Attorney said, closing his file and putting his pen back in his pocket.
Charlie’s attorney looked at the D.A.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to bother trying to convict a doctor for trying to save her own mother. I know a loser case when I see one.” The DA glanced sideways at Trent as if to say he was another matter.
Trent knew he was in trouble. Not with the courts, but with the NFL. The police report that had been filed with the arraignment included enough information about him being the John Doe subject of a designer HGH serum drug trial to get him investigated by the NFL. He was cooked. Guilty as charged.
When they left chambers, Trent saw the courtroom filled with all kinds of media. The judge dismissed the arraignment and told them they were free to go.
The media followed them out of the court, shouting all kinds of questions as they were leaving. TV cameras were waiting outside for them.
Charlie’s lawyer stopped for the number-one TV news outlet in Boston and talked to the reporter. He didn’t even wait for her to ask a question before speaking as if she were part of a jury.
“Trent Lockheed is a hero. He should be lauded for supporting his fiancée, who was wrongly accused of theft. Furthermore, he deserves recognition that he was generous enough to donate money to important medical research. Dr. Morneau has been wrongly persecuted for using experimental serum to try to treat her now-deceased mother in a desperate attempt to save her life. Tell me who among you, if you were in her position, wouldn’t do the exact same thing?
She is a brilliant medical researcher and has been mistreated by the director of research, Dr. Hogarth.
Hogarth has been standing in the way of this important research and is expected to resign. ”
When a reporter shouted above the crowd and asked Trent about whether he took HGH, the lawyer stepped in and said no comment. Ignoring the rest of the shouted questions and cameras, the lawyer ushered them forward into the waiting limo.
Once inside, Trent took a deep breath and took Charlie’s hand.
“You’re a stud,” he said to the attorney.
“This isn’t the first scandal that I’ve had to diffuse. I’m known for my ability to salvage reputations while defending my clients. Didn’t your agent tell you that?”
“No, but it figures.”
“He wants to protect his investment.”
“Is that all this is about?” Charlie asked. She didn’t bother facing them, instead stared out the window as they drove to her family home in Melrose.
“It’s about making sure you get to continue doing your research,” Trent said. “That’s the most important thing.”
“What about you? What about your career?”