“Okay, thanks,” he said.
They had breakfast in complete silence. At one minute before nine, his father dialed into the teleconference number provided in the email. He put the phone on speaker.
David Willis introduced himself as Princeton’s director of admissions. “I also have on the call with me Lawrence Knolls, chief counsel to Princeton University.”
Perfunctory greetings were exchanged before Willis came to the point.
“Alan, we are aware of the unfortunate circumstances in which you find yourself. We have come to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of all parties if you were to defer enrollment until your personal situation is satisfactorily resolved.”
June said, “But we are planning to drive him for freshman registration tomorrow.”
“I know that Mrs. Crowley. That is why we are speaking today.”
Doug jumped in. “You said, ‘if you were to defer enrollment.’ Is this Alan’s choice, or are you telling us this is what he has to do?”
“I’m sorry if I was not clear. It would be awkward under the present circumstances for Alan to take his place in the freshman class.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” June demanded.
This time it was the attorney who responded. “It means when all of the charges against Alan have been dismissed, he can apply for readmission.”
“I told you we should have had Lester Parker on this call,” June interrupted, glaring at Doug.
“We will refund to you the money you have sent to date,” Willis added.
Alan asked, “How did you find out about what happened to me?”
Lawrence Knolls answered, “We make an effort to keep track of our incoming freshmen, but I will not answer more specifically than that.”
• • •
When the call ended, Knolls dialed Willis, who picked up immediately. He said, “David, I guess that went as well as could be expected.”
“Do you think they’ll challenge our decision?”
“I doubt it. Any lawyer who reviews our terms of acceptance will see that our moral turpitude clause gives us wide latitude regarding whom we allow to enroll.”
“By the way,” Willis added, “our news monitoring service appears to have worked. I got an email from the PR firm this morning. They attached the article from a northern New Jersey paper about ‘Princeton-bound’ Alan Crowley being arrested for murder.”
“Well, that’s reassuring that they picked it up,” Knolls said.
“Yes, it is,” Willis agreed.
In this case the monitoring service had not been necessary. Two calls about Alan Crowley had already been made to the university’s Office of Admissions. The first was polite, almost apologetic. The second was a very angry caller who questioned the type of student Princeton was admitting nowadays.
41
As the days passed, Marge became more and more concerned about Jamie. Usually sunny in the morning and looking forward to going to work, he had become very silent. In her attempts at conversation, he invariably brought up Kerry’s name. “Kerry’s in Heaven with Daddy. I want to go there too.”
“You will someday, but not for a long time. I need you here with me, Jamie.”
“You can come up with us too.”
Another time out of the blue he asked, “In Heaven, do people go swimming like Kerry did?”
“Maybe.” Dear God, please don’t let him keep bringing up Kerry’s name, Marge begged. She tried to change the subject. “Now that football has started again, are you looking forward to going and watching the practices?”
“They’re big guys too.”
“Does anyone call you Big Guy, Jamie?”
“Daddy did.”
“I know. Anybody else?”
Jamie smiled. “I call myself the Big Guy.”
Despairing, Marge thought, It’s only a matter of time before he talks to somebody and gets himself in trouble.
42
Aline began to fall into the welcome pattern of busy days at school. True to her promise to Mike, she tried to make a point of meeting the seven girls who had been at the party but had not spoken to the police. She was making slow progress before help came from an unexpected source, Pat Tarleton, who stopped into her office one morning.
“Good morning, Aline. How are things at home?”
Aline sighed. “Okay, I guess.”
“Anything wrong?” Pat asked.
“Last night at dinner my mother and I got into a,” she paused, “let’s say we had a frank exchange of viewpoints.”
“Uh-oh, about what?”
“Mom told us that she called Princeton to give them a piece of her mind and let them know what she thought of the type of students they are admitting. Of course, she was referring to Alan Crowley. I told her I thought that she was wrong. He has only been accused of a crime. He hasn’t been convicted. I told her she should stay out of it. Needless to say, she strongly disagreed.”
“Oh, Aline, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, Pat. We’re back on speaking terms.”
“No, Aline. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I called Princeton to make sure they knew about Alan’s arrest.”
“Pat, I don’t understand. Why would you—”
“Because Aline, I have a duty to this school and our current and future students. Every parent in this town is hoping their son or daughter will be accepted by Ivy League schools or the Notre Dames and Georgetowns. As you well know, the competition to get into these places is fierce. It is essential that Saddle River High maintain a good relationship with them, including Princeton. If we didn’t give them a heads-up that one of our students who is headed their way was going to cause them bad publicity, they could make it that much tougher for future students who apply to their school.” She paused. “I didn’t like making that call, but I had to do it. And if I had told you, I could have spared you an argument with your mother.”
“I never thought of it that way, Pat. I guess I still have a lot to learn.”
“You’re doing fine,” Pat said. “And now let me get to the reason why I dropped by. Aline, I have a favor
