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“Rumors? What rumors?” She cleared her throat and kept her voice low. “I’m not a gossip.”
“Let me ask you a question, and I expect an honest answer. Would you leave your teenage daughter alone in a room with Jerry?”
Ruby swallowed and met my gaze. “Hell. No.”
Dad and Jerry went way back. They’d been friends since they were kids. Awful to think of Dad turning a blind eye to bad behavior, but not as surprising as it should have been. Jerry had worked as a talent scout for years. He’d been dealing with women hungry to play football with a professional club. Young women.
“Thanks. That’s all I wanted to know.”
I dialed Miri Forster’s number. She answered after the third ring.
“Gabe?”
“Put your phone on mute. You’re going to want to listen to this.”
I opened my desk drawer and set the phone inside so Miri would be able to hear. The door buzzed and Ruby brought Jerry inside. He was a sweaty, porky man with a bald head and button nose. I’d always thought he was harmless enough. He’d got away with it in plain sight.
“Take a seat, Jerry.”
Ignoring me, Jerry pulled me into a bear hug and thumped my back. “I heard you’d got the team.” He bellowed with laughter. “Shame it’s the women’s, eh? Although it isn’t all bad coaching women.”
I held my tongue. Better to let him talk. With a man like Jerry, you only needed to hand him a bit of rope and he’d hang himself. He slouched into a chair at the other side of the desk, his belly visible in patches where his shirt strained against his trousers.
“I’m all for equal opportunities, but it’s all gone too far, hasn’t it? No one wants to see a woman on a football pitch. But you’ve got to make the most of a bad hand. I wouldn’t mind scouting for the women again. It was always more fun.” He gave me a wink and raised a suggestive eyebrow. “Fresh meat.”
I linked my hands over my chest and rocked back in my chair. “I’ve had some complaints, Jerry. I’m afraid we’re going to have to let you go while we investigate.”
A bead of sweat rolled down his porky face. “What?”
“Effective immediately.”
“I’ve worked at this club for forty years.”
“Right. Maybe we’re ready for some …fresh meat. We’ll be conducting a thorough investigation. An outside contractor. No stone left unturned. I’m not sure I trust our internal processes. As director of the women’s team, I take any complaints seriously.”
“Your dad wouldn’t want this.”
My stomach hardened, but I kept my voice level. “Dad’s not here.”
Jerry’s mouth spread in a thin-lipped smile. “No. He’s not.”
His eyes locked with mine and I glared back at him. He wanted to say more.
Go on. Say it. I fucking dare you.
The silence stretched between us.
“Anyway, if you’ll excuse me. I have another appointment.”
Jerry mopped his brow with a handkerchief. “Don’t let them hang me out to dry, Gabe. Your dad wouldn’t have wanted that.”
I needed to deal with him properly or he’d go straight to another club to continue his bullshit. But I needed him distanced from the club before I took him down, so it didn’t drag us all into the mud with him.
I forced my lips into a smile. “If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about.”
“Come on, Gabe. Please.”
I held up a hand to silence him and pointed toward the door.
