Helpless

Tom leafed through the pages. As he did, his skin began to crawl. Murphy put his sunglasses back on. Perhaps, Tom thought, to hide the glee in his eyes.

“I think the first post called you a better sex teacher than a coach,” Murphy said. “By the fifth one, well, let’s just say that stuff would make a stripper blush.”

Tom’s first thought was that some twisted kid was preying on Jill’s tragedy. Teens engaged in cyber bullying all the time. One of them must be out to humiliate Jill by attacking her father. Tom crumpled the pages Murphy had given him into a tight ball.

“Ah, shucks, Tom. That’s evidence,” Murphy said, but with a mock dismay. “No worries, though. I brought more copies. To show the girls.”

“To what!” Tom exclaimed, loudly enough for some of the girls to stop running, and for Vern to whistle to get them moving again. “What did you just say?” Tom asked.

“Tom, Sergeant Murphy and I believe this might be some sort of prank,” Powers said. “Sergeant Murphy suggested the best way to ferret out a prankster is to confront him or her head-on.”

“Well, that’s just insane,” Tom said in a disgusted tone. “Craig, please tell me that you don’t really think this is a good idea! Just the rumor of my being involved with a player will have devastating consequences for the team. You know that’s true—”

“Nonsense,” Murphy broke in. The sergeant patted Tom on the shoulder. The taps felt like blows from a sledgehammer, each one driving Tom deeper into the ground. “Best way to get the prankster to come forward is to get these girls talking as a group,” he continued. “In my experience with this sort of thing, once the group gets talking, they end up pressuring whoever pulled the stunt to delete the account. Or at least get one of them to come forward with some useful information.”

“And how much experience have you had with this sort of thing, Murph?”

“Are you questioning my judgment here, Coach?”

“Damn straight I am! We both know what this is really about. Don’t we?”

Powers looked first at Murphy, then at Tom with a degree of confusion. “What’s going on?”

“Murphy thinks I had something to do with what happened to Kelly,” Tom said. “Craig, he’s making a spectacle out of this anonymous blog because he knows what it’ll do to me in the aftermath. He’s only doing this to put the screws to me.”

Powers looked over to Murphy. “Brendan, is this true?” he asked.

“Not at all,” Murphy said. “One thing doesn’t have anything to do with the other. We agree Tom’s reputation is under attack and we think it’s a prank. Now we’ll find out who did this. I’ve already issued a preservation request with Tumblr. That way the data is safe and I can try to remedy the situation by interviews without having to go through the mountain of paperwork to obtain a search warrant.”

“My concern isn’t that you keep the data safe,” Tom said. “My concern is that you want to bring it to my team’s attention.”

“You worried about something else coming to light, Coach Hawkins?” Murphy asked. His tone was knowing, like a hunter setting his trap. Allow the interview because you’re innocent, and you end up screwed. Refuse to cooperate because you’re innocent, then you look guilty and you’re screwed.

“What I’m worried about, Sergeant Murphy, Craig, is the repercussions of false allegations.”

“If it’s a prank, Tom, we need to get to the bottom of it fast,” Powers said. “I’m here to reinforce the fact that we’re viewing this as a prank and only that. I’m here to protect you, Tom.”

Tom shook his head. “If you want to protect me and this team, you’ll put a stop to this right now.”

“You’re making a way bigger deal out of this than you should, Coach Hawkins,” Murphy said. “We won’t show the girls anything they shouldn’t see. The copies of the notes I brought have everything racy blacked out. Well, to be honest, the page is mostly black, but there’s still some stuff they might see that will help us ID the account creator.”

“Why don’t you just look at who made the damn account?”

“Gee, Coach, you’re a bit out of the know on how this technology stuff works,” Murphy said. Tom hadn’t been spoken to in that way since boot camp. “These kids make secret profiles all the time so they can bully each other online. Bogus email addresses. Fake profile pictures. Bottom line is we don’t know who made this Tumblr account. But we will soon enough.”

Tom clenched his hands. Murphy looked down and saw Tom’s tightly balled fists. He looked Tom in the eye and gave him a smile, as if to say, “Go ahead. Take your best shot.”

“I can’t tell you how much I’m against this, Craig.”

“Your objection is noted, Tom. But I’m following police advice here, and it’s not your authority to dictate how I run my athletic department. Sergeant Murphy has assured me this is the best way forward.”

“Forward into hell,” Tom wanted to say.

“Okay, call them together,” Murphy ordered.

Tom bowed his head, sighed, and blew his coach’s whistle.

The girls didn’t need another blast. They all came running.

Chapter 14

Vern Kalinowski got the girls into a row, their toes touching the white line that marked the playing field’s boundaries. Sergeant Murphy stood beside Powers. Murphy had his hands on his hips and watched the girls as they lined up. He looked like a dog licking his chops in anticipation of a juicy bone. His juicy bones.

Tom marched over to where Powers stood. He believed he still had time to prevent the coming disaster. He wasn’t worried about himself as much as about Jill.

“You’re a minute away from making me an outcast in this town.”

Powers gave Tom his best “come on, now” look, which Tom wanted to rub off with his knuckles. “Let’s not blow this out of proportion, Coach. We have every confidence that we’ll find the prankster within this group here.”

“And if you don’t?”

“If we don’t, then we’ll keep digging.”

“And how do you expect me to coach these girls after this, Craig?”

“The same way you always do,” Powers said. “You stand strong. Once we figure out who’s responsible, the whole incident will blow over. Trust me on this.”

“And what about my daughter?” Tom lowered his voice and asked the question through clenched teeth.

“We thought about that, too,” Powers replied, also in a low, secretive voice. “We know you two haven’t had the easiest time adjusting, what with her mother’s death, the circumstances, and you moving back to Shilo and all. I don’t want to imply anything here, Tom, but, well…”

A thick vein on Tom’s neck, usually visible only when he was working out, began to pulse for another reason. Every muscle in his body felt tense—on fire. “Say it,” he demanded.

“It’s just one theory, but…”

“You think my daughter is behind this?”

Powers looked around, worried that someone might have overheard. “Consider the timing.”

The thought churned Tom’s stomach. His chest tightened while his mind explored the unfathomable. Could Jill have done it? No! That was impossible to believe, but… but what if she had somebody do it for her? But why? Revenge for all his perceived wrongdoings?

Is it possible she thinks I had something to do with her mother’s death? he wondered.

Tom rubbed his hands back and forth through his hair. He glanced over at Jill, who stood in line, stone-faced and still. Unlike him, not a bead of sweat glistened.

Powers called for the girls’ attention. Tom considered leaving the practice field altogether in protest but decided to stay. Murphy had it all figured out from the start—Tom Hawkins, stay or go, was about to be branded guilty of something.