I’ve seen it. Several people have taken photos and sent it to me. TheChicago Tribune’s front page, bottom right. The headline:Accused Coach Hires Big Gun—His Sister. The photo of us outside the courthouse. The story continues inside with a shot of Luke in his uniform and a stock photo of me from our law firm’s website.
“Talk about unintended consequences,” says Harp. “I tip off the state police about Trinity, but yourbrothergets busted.”
“Tell me about it.” I rub my temples.
“At least your suspicions about Trinity were right. Therewerepills in her car.”
I don’t respond. When I asked Harp to play informant, I left out the part about my planting those Oxy pills. No one can ever know about that.
My phone buzzes. A text from Luke. Suspension with pay, it reads.Will call later.
“Fuck,” I blurt out. “He should’ve let me go with him.”
“Sounds like you need to handle something.” Harp gets up. “I’ll see you later.”
“Okay.”
I call Luke. It rings three times. I’m expecting voicemail, but he answers.
“We’ll sue,” I say. “The complaint’s ready. We can file this afternoon.”
“No, don’t,” he says. “We worked out a deal.”
“A—adeal? What kind of deal?”
“They agreed that Alan would be the interim coach. The team’s in good hands.”
“But what aboutyou?” I plead. “You’re getting screwed.”
“Well, I’m making the best of the sit—”
“Luke, let me help you.Pleaselet me help you. Let’s at least try.”
Those words linger. I don’t know if he’s debating what I said or rolling his eyes.
“There’s no harm in trying—”
“There’s plenty of harm in trying,” he says. “Harm to theteam. They need to know who their coach is. If we battle it out in court, whathappens? One day, I’m the coach. A week later, I’m out. Then a higher court puts me back in. How’s the team supposed to focus on their goals when the coaches are playing musical chairs?”
“Luke, please—”
“No. We already made our deal. Alan’s the coach this season.”
“Meaning forever. Your contract runs out this year. Crisham won’t rehire you.”
“I’ll worry about that later.”
I drop my head in my hand. “I don’t get you. What happened to my brother, the ultimate competitor? You get arrested and the first thing you tell me is you want to plead guilty. Now the school boots you on your ass and rather than stand up for yourself, you lie down and take it?”
Luke begs off the call, saying he needs to get some air, go for a run, clear his head. I can’t believe he won’t let me help him. I don’t understand this.
I pick up my phone and call Harp. “Are you still in the building?”
“Yeah, I’m with Vivian. Want me to come back?”
Two minutes later, she returns to my office. “What’s up?”
“I have an assignment for you,” I say. “Trinity Casto. Good, bad, ugly.”
