The Innocent: The New Ryan Lock Novel
smile vanished. He stretched his arms into the air. His hands settled behind his head, a hostage to fortune. ‘I know what you’re thinking, Malik.’
    Malik had never heard Laird use his first name before. It unsettled him. It was the language of someone who badly wanted him on-side. ‘That so?’ he said.
    ‘You think I’m going to ignore this but, believe me, I’m not. Whatever went on last night, innocent or not, was wholly unacceptable to me and this institution. I’m going to deal with it.’
    Malik locked eyes with Laird. ‘How?’
    ‘Firmly,’ said Laird. ‘The individual in question has been asked to tender his resignation from the board of trustees. Furthermore, he is going to be told that he is no longer welcome anywhere on campus. His relationship with this university is over.’
    Malik didn’t say anything. The rage he had felt when he’d arrived was nothing to what he felt now. He wanted to stand up, grab Laird by his fancy tie, drag him over the desk, and explain to him what ‘firmly’ meant where he came from. Malik counted to ten. Slowly. It didn’t help. Finally, he said, ‘That’s it?’
    Laird leaned forward, steepling his fingers under his chin. ‘What more would you like me to do?’
    Suddenly the room felt hot. Malik reached up and loosened the tie he was wearing. ‘You’re serious? What do I think you should do? I caught a kid in the shower with one of our trustees and you’re asking me what I think you should do?’
    Laird appeared taken aback and, for a second, Malik took it at face value.
    ‘That wasn’t what I was told, Coach. Captain Tromso said that …’ he flicked through some notes on his desk ‘… shortly after midnight, this morning, campus dispatch received an agitated call from you that you had a found a young man in the shower area.’ He kept reading from the report. ‘And that, furthermore, you had seen someone flee the stadium. No one told me that you had caught both parties actually in the shower together.’
    Malik knew what Laird was doing. ‘You’re playing with words, Chancellor. Okay maybe I didn't actually see them together, but you don’t have to be a genius to know what was going on. What was a grown man doing with a child — not a young man, a child — alone in the middle of the night?’
    It was obviously time for Laird to up the ante. He got up, walked round his desk and perched on the corner. Malik had a feeling that this was a conversation the chancellor might have had before and that he’d used exactly the same approach to deflect it. Deny, deflect and, finally, downplay.
    ‘Coach, when matters like this arise I have a duty of care. Let’s assume you’re right. That something untoward was going on before you interrupted. It’s not enough to suspect. There has to be proof. Think of the damage that could be done to a man and his family. What if we, you, were wrong? The legal implications don’t bear thinking about.’
    ‘And what about that kid? Has anyone spoken to him?’
    Laird shot Malik a benevolent smile that came off patronizing. ‘The boy is denying that anything out of place happened. Now do you see why I’m reluctant to go in all guns blazing?’
    Malik looked past Laird to the trump card he had scoped out earlier. A series of silver-framed pictures of Laird’s wife and three kids, two boys and a girl, stood on a credenza behind his desk.
    ‘And if it had been your son, Chancellor, would you be so ready to accept that nothing happened? I know I sure as hell wouldn’t. And while we’re at it, who is this trustee? He have a name?’
    Laird glared at Malik, which gave him some satisfaction. It meant he had touched a nerve. If you thought the whole thing was innocent, a misunderstanding, you didn’t react in the way Laird just had.
    The glare was folded up and put away, replaced by the patronizing smile, which meant that a guy like Malik, a jock from the ghetto, could never understand the complex moral and ethical issues
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