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“I’m afraid not,” Annette said. “We have a problem, Larry.”
There was a soft pain somewhere in his gut, fear that perhaps one of his affairs had been uncovered. “What now? My taxes are clean. Didn’t you just finish with them?”
“Yes. Taxes are fine. I’m afraid this has to do with your son.”
“Duncan?” Larry turned from the bar, holding his scotch. “It was a DUI, Annette. And the bloodwork was equivocal. They dismissed it more out of a lack of evidence than any influence I was able to apply.”
“It’s not the DUI.”
Larry saw that Annette’s expression was straight-faced and stoic.
“What is it?” Larry asked.
“Have you ever heard of a McCormack University radio program called The Scoop?”
Larry sat down next to Renee. “No. Should I?”
“It’s produced by a student named Laura McAllister. The show is broadcast from the school of journalism’s recording studio on campus and is quite popular. It sounds like the whole university tunes in to listen each week. The girl has gained national notoriety for scooping breaking stories and was recently featured on Wake Up America with Dante Campbell.”
“Okay,” Larry said.
“What started out as a little university program has turned into a pop-culture sensation. Laura McAllister is being dubbed the female version of Joe Rogan. He’s a popular podcaster who appeals to a young audience.”
“I know who he is.”
“For a senior in college, Laura McAllister has been able to attract legitimate A-list guests on her show, and no topic is off limits. Through social media, more than a million people—mostly college students across the country—listen to her show each week when she uploads the episodes to her social accounts. Her show’s growing exponentially.”
“Okay,” Larry said again. “And this affects me how?”
Annette folded her hands and placed them on the table. “We have sources telling us that this student journalist is looking into allegations of rape on McCormack University’s campus and is preparing to air a show spilling all the details.”
Larry exhaled an exhausted breath. “Do I want to ask?”
“Probably not, but you need to know. Laura McAllister is preparing to make allegations against the Delta Chi fraternity—your son’s fraternity—claiming that members were involved with spiking drinks at fraternity-run parties with the drug gamma hydroxybutyrate, referred to as Liquid G. It’s a tasteless, odorless drug commonly used as a date-rape chemical. There’re accusations from a number of girls, but one of them—a girl named Kristi Penny— claims she was raped earlier in the semester at the Delta Chi fraternity and has filed a formal police report.”
“For Christ’s sake,” Larry said. He took a large gulp of scotch. “Why haven’t I heard anything about this from the school?”
“They’re investigating it internally, from what my sources tell me. You haven’t heard about it because the university is desperate to keep a lid on the crisis. McCormack has a significant endowment and strong financial support from alumni. The university is positioned nicely as an elite academic institution that rivals the Ivy Leagues. A rape scandal would be bad for business, devastating to the university’s image, and would close the spigot of alumni donations. It would put the president of the university and the dean in a difficult situation, one from which it’s unlikely either would survive. Not to mention that a rape scandal would hinder recruitment. These cases of sexual assault have been ongoing for some time, my sources tell me. The university has been working hard to keep the stories quiet, but now that the latest victim has filed a formal police report, keeping a lid on things for much longer won’t be possible. And if Laura McAllister airs her show, depending on what, exactly, she has uncovered, the scandal will be all over the news.”
“Is Duncan involved?” Renee asked.
“That’s what we need to find out. But even if Duncan wasn’t involved, it might not matter as far as your nomination is concerned. The scandal alone might be enough to tank you.”
“Goddammit!” Larry said.
“Before we overreact,” Annette said, “We need to talk to Duncan. Everything we’ve heard so far is second sourced. We may be able to get out in front of this if we know the specifics. If Duncan can provide us with insider details. If he wasn’t involved, then we can make a statement before the story drops that will hopefully defuse things.”
“What kind of statement?” Larry asked.
“You, Renee, and Duncan make a public statement via press conference, denouncing any wrongdoing by the fraternity and speaking out definitively against sexual assault. You make a strong statement about consent. Of course, Duncan will have to speak as well, and will have to distance himself from the fraternity. You don’t have any daughters, so that’s going to work against you because you won’t be able to mention how empathetic you are to the victims. People will call you out on it if you try. Anyway, there’s an avenue around this. It’s narrow, treacherous, and needs to be navigated very carefully. But it exists. The first thing we need to do is talk with Duncan.”
Larry nodded. He finished his scotch in one giant gulp. “What did you say this girl’s name was? The student journalist?”
“Laura McAllister. Why, do you know her?”
Larry shook his head. “No, just trying to get my brain around this thing.”
CHAPTER 31
