“I’m a friend of Owen Gasnier’s.”
Emily rolled her head and groaned as she rose. “So, he sends another one... Jesus Christ almighty...”
“He doesn’t know I’m here...”
“Fuck you,” she replied, walking away.
“I know you’re lying, Emily.”
This made her stop and turn around, to which Tegan offered gently, “Can you please sit down? I just want to have a chat.”
Emily, very reluctantly, sat down. “If you threaten me in any way, the cops will be called.”
“Do I look like I could threaten you?”
“What do you mean, you know?”
“To answer your question, I need to tell you a quick story. Many years back, a girl went to her parents claiming a priest touched her. Made her do things to him, that kind of thing.
Now, I wish I could tell you that she was believed. But she wasn’t. Her parents took her to see the priest. Made her sit in front of him and recount her story which was then completely twisted and dismissed. Her parents shunned her for shaming them. So did everyone she had the guts to tell, bar one person.
Her sister was the only one that believed her. Her sister vowed to bring him to justice and to protect her from that day on. A year later, she committed suicide.
Why am I telling you this? Because I was that sister. I was in the room that day when the story was recounted to that vile pig. I saw the look in his eyes, and I knew he was lying. The same way I could tell my sister wasn’t.
The story has a tragic ending. And it's because of stories like this, where the victims aren't believed, that people can't get their courage up to tell their own stories. There are years and years of it. And you're making a mockery of those real struggles.”
“You said you know I’m lying. Is it just the look on my face?”
“That and the look on Owen’s when he denied it. How long do you expect to keep this up? You and I both know nothing happened. I just want to know why you would do this? Has he wronged you somehow? Do you want attention?”
“Want attention? That’s a laugh. I’ve been hounded by press all week. They follow me everywhere. Today is the first day I’ve had peace. And only because I swapped my shift at work.”
“What did you think was going to happen, given who he is?”
“I don’t know, OK? I just... I don’t know.”
Tegan sat up straighter, looking her in the eye. “Emily, from what I can see, you haven’t thought this through at all. You don’t know me. But I’m going to ask anyway. What’s going on? That crying I just saw wasn’t because you’ve had a bad day at work. You’re cracking. And for what?”
Tegan let the words sink in, and Emily looked like she was close to the breaking point yet again. “I can’t do this anymore.”
“Lie?”
Emily sighed the answer, “Yes. It happened the day of the contract signing. We were all there afterwards, and this guy came up to me. He said he’d give me fifty thousand to sleep with Owen Gasnier. Like I was going to pass that money up. But it didn’t happen. Then he said he’d give me a hundred and fifty thousand to say Gasnier exposed himself to me. That’s it. That’s all I had to do. I was broke, so I said yes. Was it wrong? Yes. But you tell me the same thing when you’re a single mum with two kids under five and suddenly there’s over one hundred fifty thousand in your account, just as promised.”
“So, it doesn’t matter who’s life and reputation are destroyed as long as you get paid?”
“Maybe it’s different to you coz you’re living in la la land. But for us working mums, we see people everywhere making money who lie, cheat and steal. At some point you realise morals don’t pay your bills. But I... I’m not sleeping. I haven’t touched that money because I’ve been too scared. Now, the press is following me home, following my kids at school. And I’m terrified of this guy coming back if I don’t use it or if I make a retraction. What if he targets my kids? God...”
“You said it yourself. Your life is falling apart because you’ve subjected an innocent man to a bullshit story. No money is worth that. As for him coming after you, surely you can go to the police about him?”
“He’s not the type that leaves a name. But I have seen his picture.”
“Where?”
“In the paper. He’s that big MMA champion’s manager.”
* * *