“I had a conversation with Megan Crowley, who I recently hired from Rigby, Thompson and Associates. She asked to have a moment with me, and during that discussion, she told me some things about Brandon Rigby. She’d overheard a conversation between Brandon and an associate where he said he’d drugged both Tami and Alan and staged it to look like they’d had sex. He bragged that he’d in fact raped Tami,” I said.
“Why would he do that?” Detective Kitchens asked.
“Megan said he wanted to take me down a notch. I was skeptical, so I had him investigated. That was when I found out first, that he hadn’t been a top-150 recruit, and second, why he left Harvard. There were two instances where classmates accused him of drugging and raping them. I dug further and found that there were several other instances over the last two years where he was a potential suspect.”
“Why didn’t the local police put it together?” Detective Kitchens asked.
“The problem was that all the woman went to their parties willingly. They’d wake up to find they’d had sex. A few agreed to have rape kits taken. Different detectives were handling the different cases. Each case wasn’t pursued for its own reasons. The bottom line was that none of the kits were processed.
“I had help from Bev Mass, a friend and the State’s Attorney for Cook County, who contacted the local DA in Massachusetts. They agreed to expedite the investigation if I would pay to have the rape kits analyzed,” I said.
“And you have no DNA to compare it to.”
“They just finished getting his fraternity brothers to voluntarily give DNA samples to eliminate themselves. I’ve been told that they may need to find a way to get his DNA without him offering to provide it. It was made clear to me that the chain of custody is important. And the best way to do that was to have people who know what they’re doing collect it,” I said.
Detective Kitchens saw our problem but wanted to make sure he had all the facts. He had me go through my story again but drilled down. I was glad that Ms. Dixon was on the phone because I refused to explain how I’d gotten police records.
Bev Mass was called, and soon we had the Middlesex DA on the phone. At that point, Dad and I were kicked out of the room so the others could talk about the status of the case. When they were done, we were invited back in.
“I’ve offered to help them,” was all Detective Kitchens said.
“Thank you.”
I knew better than to ask what he planned to do. Now I would have to wait and see what happened.
◊◊◊ Tuesday March 1
During school, I received a text from Ms. Dixon to call her. I made a quick call between classes.
“Did Detective Kitchens find anything?” I asked when she came onto the line.
“Not yet. I just got a call from Duane Morris, though. He got a heads-up that you’ll receive a letter from the NCAA today and wanted you not to freak out. They’ve determined that you are ‘Under Investigation’ for your amateur status.”
It had been explained to me that there were three possible outcomes from my application. The best would be that I would be ‘Certified,’ which meant I was good to go. Mr. Morris hadn’t felt that one was likely. Next best was ‘Preliminarily Certified with Conditions.’ The worst of the three was ‘Under Investigation.’ Mr. Morris had explained the meaning of ‘Under Investigation.’ It only meant that the first investigator found enough potential problems to pass it on to a committee. That committee would dig deeper into those issues to determine my eligibility. Still, hearing the verdict made my stomach queasy.
“Should I be worried?” I asked.
“Mr. Morris had said this was a distinct possibility, but he is confident he can work through any issues. When you get the official letter, scan it, and send it over. He wants to see what they actually say before he decides whether we should get nervous.”
“Fu … udge,” I said in place of what I wanted to say.
“I have other news,” she said.
“Please tell me this is good. I don’t think I can handle any more bad news right now,” I admitted.
“This is good. I hired Tom Dole, and he’s managed to get his old firm’s Entertainment Division clients to come with him. I heard you were worried about that,” she said.
“How did you hear that?”
“His daughter told him. Speaking of which, she’ll be moving in with you.”
“What the hell?!”
I heard peals of laughter. I’d no idea that Ms. Dixon had a sense of humor. She got me good.
“We set him up in an apartment in the Gold Coast area, just north of the Loop. He plans to spend weekends at home for now.”
“What about Angel Hargrove? Is she part of the deal?” I asked.
She was the manager of both Eve Holliday and Birthrite.
“Yes, she agreed to come with him. We also picked up the contracts with Ford and AT Modeling. I think Tom wants to talk to you about managing your photo portfolio and their secondary sales. He used big words like synergy with the other models and the ability to package deals.”
