“Why can't she?” I shot back.
Caroline choked for a second, then her temper flared.
“What kind of attitude is that? Is this how a parent behaves? Covering up, enabling her. No wonder she raised a daughter like this!”
Just then, the office door was shoved open.
My wife, Davina Dickerson, came rushing in, out of breath.
The moment she was through the door, before she'd asked a single question, she marched straight up to Jeanette.
“Crack!”
A sharp, ringing slap.
Jeanette's head snapped to the side, half her face flushing red in an instant.
“Mom?”
Jeanette cupped her cheek, staring at her in disbelief.
“Don't call me that! I don't have an embarrassing disgrace of a daughter like you!”
Davina jabbed a finger at Jeanette's nose and let loose.
“I sent you to college for this? To pull this kind of filthy, low-class stunt? You've humiliated me completely!”
Done cursing, she turned to Caroline, her back bending in an instant, her face piling on a fawning smile.
“Advisor Lambert, I'm so sorry, truly sorry. I failed to raise her right.”
Caroline's expression eased a little.
“Ms. Dickerson, at least you understand how things work. This is a very serious matter. If it blows up and the police get involved, Jeanette's whole future is ruined.”
At the word "police," Davina's legs nearly gave out.
She waved her hands frantically.
“No, no, no, please don't call the police! Advisor Lambert, we have money. Can't we handle this ourselves?”
Caroline let out a sigh.
“For the sake of Jeanette being the state's top liberal arts scorer, the school doesn't want to ruin her either. Here's what we'll do.”
She looked over at Hilary.
“Hilary, you've been wronged. But if the police really get involved, it won't do your reputation any good either. Why don't we have Jeanette apologize to you and give you some financial compensation?”
Hilary lifted his head, his eyes rimmed red.
“Advisor Lambert, I don't want money…… this isn't about money……”
“I'm a guy. Don't I have any dignity to protect……”
He bit his lip, the picture of someone humiliated beyond words.
“I just think it's unfair. Why should someone with morals as rotten as hers get to represent the freshmen and give the speech, and take the full top-tier scholarship on top of it?”
So that was what he'd been angling for all along.
The moment Davina heard it could be settled with money and a spot, she spun around and glared at Jeanette.
“What are you standing there for? Get over there and kneel and apologize to him! We don't want that scholarship or whatever, and you can hand over the speaker spot too!”
She came over, reaching out to force Jeanette's neck down.
“Move it! Smooth this over and don't wreck my company's business!”
I stood up, seized Davina's wrist, and wrenched it away.
Davina glared at me. “What do you think you're doing!”
I looked coldly at this cowardly, selfish woman.
“What am I doing?”
“My daughter didn't do anything. Why should she apologize? Why should she give up her scholarship?”
“Owen, have you lost your mind!”
Davina lowered her voice into a snarl.
“Do you want your daughter to go to prison? Do you want me to be a laughingstock to my business partners!”
I ignored her.
I walked over to Hilary and looked at him.
“Hilary, are you certain it was my daughter, Jeanette, who tried to harass you in the third-floor stairwell of the science building?”
Hilary shrank back, his eyes darting away.
“Yes……”
“What exact time?” I pressed, step by step.
“Around…… around one thirty in the afternoon……”
“What was she wearing?”
“A whi…… a white dress, white canvas sneakers.”
His description was strikingly accurate.
“Was there anyone else in the stairwell at the time?”
