Wrecked(83)

Once they’re a few hundred feet from Taylor, Uncle Bruce begins talking. “I suppose I don’t need to tell you what’s happened.”

“Actually, I’m completely in the dark,” Richard says. “The guys just told me Jordan’s leaving?”

Uncle Bruce glances at him, eyebrows raised. Assessing. He seems genuinely surprised by Richard’s surprise. “Yes,” he says. “That was my advice, and for once, he took it.”

Richard stops walking. “The investigation—”

“Was dropped,” he says abruptly. “You can’t investigate someone who is not a student. Jordan has withdrawn from MacCallum, so the claim against him no longer exists.”

“I don’t get it,” Richard says. “Why?”

The expression on Uncle Bruce’s face puzzles him. A mixture of anger and amusement. He begins walking again.

“The investigator met with Jordan yesterday. Seems some new information was brought to his attention. Something that didn’t make it into the witness statements released to Jordan and Jenny earlier this week.”

Richard feels the man’s glance as they walk, as if he’s gauging his reaction to these words. Richard concentrates on the sidewalk ahead. Wills his expression to remain neutral.

“Someone came forward and testified that they knew for a fact that Jordan had had sexual intercourse with Jenny. Since the investigator didn’t learn of this until after he presented the witness statements to Jordan and Jenny, he thought he’d do Jordan the . . . courtesy of telling him directly. Especially because this information represented a shift from everything that came before. See, until this particular witness spoke up, Dean Hunt had not been able to find a single person who had seen Jordan and Jenny together that night. Dozens of witnesses, and not one person saw Jordan so much as brush shoulders with that girl.”

Uncle Bruce bends. The sidewalk is plastered with wet leaves, like splashes of red, gold, and brown paint. He picks up a brightly colored maple leaf. As he stands there talking to Richard, he methodically separates the lamina from the veins.

“Dean Hunt was planning, he told us, to recommend a finding of ‘no sanction’ to the committee. Because he couldn’t corroborate a single thing Jenny had said. What’s more, her statement was inconsistent. She had trouble remembering where she’d been, who she was with, and how she got home. It was going to be quite a reach, he said, for a committee to find in her favor with so many holes in her story. Until now. Until this witness. Now, Dean Hunt said, he was planning to go the other way. He would recommend expulsion for Jordan.”

Uncle Bruce holds the maple leaf by its stem. It reminds Richard of an exposed skeleton. The man twirls it between his fingers, then drops it. He looks at Richard.

“It was a courtesy, you see,” he explains. “Giving Jordan the heads--up. Letting him know which way the wind was blowing so he could, while he had the chance, withdraw from MacCallum with his record clean. Before the committee expelled him for sexual misconduct and ruined his chances of getting an education, or a job for that matter, elsewhere. You know, I’m not much of a poker player. What about you?”

The question is sudden and takes Richard aback.

“Uh . . . a little Texas Hold’em. I’m not very good.”

Uncle Bruce nods. “I suspect,” he says, “that Dean Hunt is very good. Or at the very least, better than me. Because I could not tell if he was bluffing. And I wasn’t willing to bet my nephew’s future that he wasn’t. I recommended we fold, and for once in his life, Jordan listened to reason.” Uncle Bruce glances at his watch. “So we are driving out of here very soon, and you, young man, will probably never see us again.”

Richard hopes that the relief he feels is not overly apparent. “Tell Jordan I said good luck.”

Uncle Bruce doesn’t comment on whether he plans to relay that message. “Aren’t you going to ask me about Brandon Exley?” The silk in his voice has disappeared.

“What about Exley?”

“Oh, he’s the key to all of this!” Uncle Bruce says with a cutting laugh. “You see, the mystery witness? This person apparently also told Dean Hunt that Jordan was involved with bullying Jenny. Writing on her door, starting the online thread, everything. Well, Jordan heard that and he just popped. Before I could clap a hand over his mouth and drag him from the room, he told the dean that it was all Exley, from the beginning. Dr. Feelgood, I think he called him.”

Richard tries to imagine this scene. Dean Hunt playing Jordan like a cat teasing a dog on a leash. The animal lunging, choking, wondering stupidly why it can’t breathe.

“My nephew never suspected you,” Uncle Bruce continues. “You didn’t know anything about The Board. But Exley did. So Jordan made that leap. Put two and two together and got . . . Well, you know. You’re good at math.”

Richard doesn’t respond. His gut warns him that there is nothing to be gained by revealing anything to Uncle Hard--ass.

“But as smart as you are, Richard, I have to say, top prize goes to Dean Elliot Hunt, who outsmarted us all. Because you know what I learned? He met with Exley and generously suggested he withdraw . . . after he spoke to Jordan. I won’t bore you with how I know that.”

At first Richard doesn’t understand the significance of what Jordan’s uncle is saying. But as it sinks in, there’s no hiding the flush that spreads across his cheeks.