Chapter 16: Suspended

Nolan's POV

They held it in the training room because Lars wanted me to have to stand there.

Fourteen people were already inside when I came in at eight: the assistant trainers, the equipment manager, two doctors, the strength coach.

Nobody looked at me, which told me how much they'd heard.

The team doctor sat at the far end by the whirlpool.

He had a glass of water in front of him, and he turned it by the rim.

A woman from the general manager's office stood at the front with a folder.

She was in her forties, in a gray suit, and she did not say good morning.

"Mr. Brumley. Thank you for coming."

"Is Lars here?"

"The captain isn't part of this."

She opened the folder.

"The organization has received a complaint. It says you removed a confidential medical record from a locked cabinet."

"I did."

A chair creaked. The strength coach shifted uncomfortably.

"You don't want counsel present?" she said.

"I don't need counsel to tell you what I did."

"Then I'll read the decision. Effective now, you are suspended with pay until the state board reviews it."

She turned a page.

"You'll surrender your keys and card, and you will not enter the building."

I unclipped the card from my belt. The lanyard was the one I had worn for eleven years.

I laid it on the tape table.

The whole room watched me do it.

"I'd like to say one thing," I said.

"That isn't part of the process."

"I'll say it anyway."

She waited.

"I signed a promise three years ago to keep a teammate's record shut," I said.

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