“Why would I-”
“What’s the drama, Kelly?” The general manager of the Titans said as he walked into the office, eye scanning all of the people in the small room. “And who the fuck is that?”
“This is my lawyer,” Tristan said, motioning over his shoulder at Steven.
“Nice to meet you guys,” Steven said with a confident nod of his head. “I believe my client has something very important he’d like to show you.”
“Are the theatrics really necessary?” Coach Rice asked.
“For this, yes,” Tristan said, green eyes meeting Tessa’s blues in the tense moment, looking for comfort. She stood in the corner, quiet and stoic but very present. She tried to insist that Tristan should handle this for himself, but he insisted right back that he needed her there, even just as a comfort to fall back on.
“Well, spit it out, Kelly,” Brett said. “You’re supposed to be on curfew anyway, the game is early tomorrow.”
“Oh, by the way,” Tristan said with a sly smile. “Iwillbe playing tomorrow.”
Coach Rice rears his head back and holds intense eye contact with Tristan before tilting his head curiously.
“And what makes you say that?”
“I was adamant that I’ve never touched a steroid or any kind of drug that would pop on any test during the season. You said I needed proof of my innocence, and I have that.”
Brett and Rice both look at each other with raised eyebrows, clearly intrigued.
“I’d love nothing more for that test to be wrong, Trist,” Rice says. “But do you understand how solid your evidence has to be?”
Tristan simply nods his head before turning back towards Tessa’s desk and picking up a thin manilla envelope.
“Here,” He says. “This is part one.”
Coach Rice clears his throat before turning towards Brett and opening the envelope, the silence in the room deafening and almost too much for Tessa to bare. Her heart felt like it was pounding against her ribs so hard she was sure everyone in the room could hear it. She had discovered most of this on her own before giving it to the lawyer for confirmation, and she wasn’t sure how they were going to take it.
“This is basically a foreign language to me,” Rice says, trying to adjust his glasses.
“What does it mean?” Brett asks impatiently, and Tessa takes a tiny step forward.
“It’s the official transcript from the lab,” she says in a small, unsure voice, but Tristan’s smile gives her a quick confidence boost.
“It shows that the original test sample was recalled back to the facility and then returned. If you look at the original test, it shows the result as negative. But the recalled test that was returned shows positive. It has Dr. Hines’ signature on it, so it was him who authorized the return of the sample. Me and Dennis, the IT guy, combed through company emails to find anything indicating that this was ever discussed, and we couldn’t find anything. Were you two aware that Dr. Hines had recalled Tristan’s original test and resubmitted it?”
They both shake their heads immediately and look towards Tristan with wide eyes.
“What are you implying?” Rice asks, and the lawyer steps forward.
“She’s notimplyinganything,” Steven says. “She’s showing you evidence that Dr. Hines knows that the test was originally negative, and that he alone was in possession of the test that was returned positive.”
“Why didn’t he bring this up?” Brett asks, and Steven has to stop himself from rolling his eyes.
“Because he tampered with it. He caused a false positive. How are you not picking that up?”
“I’m just trying to wrap my head around this,” Brett barks back. “Hines has been our head doctor for almost 10 years. What would his motivation for doing this even be?”
“And there’s our part 2,” Tristan says with a sarcastic smile. “Do you boys mind following me?”
“Trist,” Coach Rice groans. “I’m not into the games, alright? Just tell us what’s going on so we can get you back on the fucking field.”
“Trust me, Andy,” Tristan slaps a heavy hand on Coach Rice’s shoulder and nods his head towards the door. “You’re going to want to see this.”
“I don’t know if anybody really wants to see this, babe,” Tessa says.
