Free Cold Rain by Craig Smith Page A

again unless they turn stupid, in which case we sue and win and can both retire from the rat race.’
    ‘What about the other complaint?’
    ‘Conway? Conway doesn’t even know what she’s complaining about. You brought up adultery in class.
    Is it in the literature?’
    ‘All over the place.’
    ‘And you called someone on campus about getting her some work?’
    ‘She asked. She said she wanted to quit dancing at The Slipper.’
    Gail blinked. ‘She’s an exotic dancer and she’s complaining that you complimented her hair?’
    ‘She asked me what I thought of it.’
    Gail shook her head. ‘This isn’t a complaint, David.
    This is a piece of paper.’
    ‘These things are supposed to be confidential, but everyone on campus knows I’m being investigated.’
    ‘You’ve been harmed by that?’
    ‘I was going to apply for promotion this year.’
    Gail thought about this. She shook her head. ‘Take the hit. Apply next year. It’s not worth the ill-will you’ll garner by filing suit.’
    I said nothing, but Gail could see I was upset.
    ‘How is Molly handling this?’
    ‘I haven’t told her about it. Actually, I wasn’t planning on bringing it up.’
    ‘Afraid she’ll think there has to be something to this, a little hanky-panky?’
    ‘Molly knows better. Look, we don’t talk about what goes on at school because she thinks the whole place is a loony bin and the only reason most of us are working there is it’s cheaper for the state to pay us a salary than keep us locked up in an asylum. She doesn’t want to hear it.’
    ‘Well, it’s your business, but I’d say it’d be a good idea to at least fill her in on the complaints. Just to be on the safe side.’
    ‘I’ll talk to her tonight.’
    ‘Good. Now, when Blackwell interviewed you, were you relatively honest? Hell of a thing if they drop the charges and bring you up for obstructing an investigation.’
    ‘I was perversely honest, Gail.’
    ‘Enlighten me. What is perversely honest?’
    ‘I answered the questions without attempting to discuss the setting or context of my words.’
    ‘You didn’t try to explain anything?’
    ‘She didn’t ask. I didn’t offer. What the hell? I didn’t do anything wrong.’
    ‘Did she record the conversation?’
    ‘No. She took notes.’
    ‘Let’s hope she knows what she’s doing and she’s honest. Otherwise, she’ll have you confessing to anything she wants you to.’
    Gail looked at her watch. We had been at it for close to thirty minutes. ‘Okay. You’re in to me for a little over three hundred bucks. Let’s leave it at that for now. If they want to talk again, tell them to contact me. Say nothing. Write nothing down for them. If they attempt any kind of disciplinary action, do whatever they say and contact me immediately. I’ll have charges filed against them so fast it will make their collective head spin. And don’t talk to anyone about this, except Molly. Are we clear on that?’
    ‘Tell me I don’t have anything to worry about, Gail.’
    ‘I make it a policy never to lie to my clients, David.’
    ‘But it’s bullshit. You think the complaints are bullshit?’
    ‘You’re the man with the farm. You know what it’s like when you step in that stuff.’
     
    I WENT TO A TAVERN after I left Gail Etheridge. It had been a favourite in my drinking days, and I convinced myself they had a good menu. In fact, it was a bar for the locals, safe territory. I knew the people there. It had been two years since I had crossed the threshold, but some of them hadn’t even changed seats.
    The waitress asked me where I had been. ‘Been sober,’ I said and ordered a tenderloin sandwich, fries and a non-alcoholic beer.
    ‘We don’t serve that crap, Dave. It’s the real thing or nothing at all.’
    ‘Possible to have a Coke?’
    She gave me a smile. ‘For you I’ll see what I can do. But this sobriety has to go. You’re setting a bad example for the people who keep this place in