Chapter 20: The Hearing

The big hearing room on the first floor held two hundred seats, and by six o'clock about eighty were full.

The board of three sat at a long table at the front, under the county seal.

Abercrombie stood at a lectern with a laser pointer, and a projector threw a chart of timestamps on the wall behind him.

I sat at the table marked RESPONDENT with a glass of water I couldn't drink.

Brenda sat to my right.

Kyle sat in the second row with a donut box on his knees.

The reporter from the county paper sat behind him with a notebook.

At the very back, in the last seat on the aisle, Cyrus sat with his hands folded and did not move at all.

"Seven reports in fourteen days," said Abercrombie, and clicked to a slide of red bars.

"Each one landed within forty minutes of Ms. Novak leaving the building."

He clicked again.

A photograph of the Buick in the lake lot filled the wall.

A murmur went through the seats.

"On the night of November third, Ms. Novak was observed with Mr. Morvath in a parked vehicle."

"Eleven days earlier she told her director that nothing had happened between them."

I stood up.

"Chair," I said. "I'd like the floor."

The woman in the middle seat of the board looked at Abercrombie.

"The respondent speaks after the complainant's presentation."

"I know. I'd like to speak now, before he draws any conclusions for you."

Abercrombie said, "She's interrupting."

"She's volunteering," said Brenda, not looking up. "Let her."

The middle seat nodded.

I walked to the lectern, and Abercrombie stepped aside with his smile gone tight.

"My name is Molly Novak," I said. "I was Cyrus Morvath's caseworker for eleven days, and I'm going to tell you everything that happened."

The room went silent.

"I crossed the line with him while he was my case, and I told Brenda nothing had happened. That was a lie."

Someone behind me gasped.

Abercrombie said, "She admits it."

"I do. I filed Form 12-T afterward, and the transfer was signed."

I laid my signed resignation on the lectern, dated that morning.

"Brenda has it, and the board can use it. I won't ask you to hold it back."

"After that day I was no longer his caseworker, and everything since is my business and his."

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