AC05 - Death Mask (5 page)

She slipped inside the glass doors and left Nigel to conduct a doorstep interview; he was an old hand at media grabs. Profiling some of America’s most notorious killers had led to regular appearances in the news and interviews.

Anya had first met Nigel when she was a pathology registrar, and immediately understood the friendship between her then boss, Peter, and the flamboyant professor. Where Peter was serious and methodical, Nigel was witty and often went with his gut instinct. The yin and yang friendship had lasted for decades.

Anya had Peter to thank for the study in the first place. After seeing Hannah, and noticing there was an increase in the numbers of women attending sexual assault units who had been assaulted by groups of men belonging to sporting teams, Anya had decided to survey a number of professional male sports players and teams to establish their attitudes to sexual assault. Peter had discussed the idea with his old friend, and Professor Everett had been kind enough to co-author the study. His name had attracted government funding for their work and, subsequently, international attention.

Today he was wearing his favourite floral bow tie and a green jacket, and he had trimmed his short grey beard for the occasion. At five foot three, with a walking stick and an impish grin, he was the closest thing to a leprechaun Anya had seen.

Anya straightened her suit skirt and waited for her colleague. A committee member she did not recognise approached.

‘Thanks for coming, Doctor Crichton. We’re all looking forward to hearing what you have to say.’

She suspected the media attention made the politicians more responsive to the study’s findings than they otherwise would have been. Rumour had it not all the committee members were pleased with the media attention.

Nigel gave her a self-satisfied grin as he came through the
door. ‘Gave them a three-second and a ten-second grab. Keep the message simple and they’ll run with it every time.’ He squeezed her hand and whispered, ‘Just relax and don’t forget to breathe, in
and
out. Remember, no one knows more about your work than you.’ He offered Anya his arm. ‘Shall we?’

They headed through security and into a room with tables set up in a U-shape facing two seats behind microphones. A stenographer sat to the side, and camera crews had already set up to record the proceedings. Most committees came and went without the public knowing, but this one had become more of an issue after a former star footballer had been named in a group sex incident. Despite pleas by the woman concerned and the game’s administrators, he refused to implicate any of the others involved, maintaining the code of silence.

Public outcry had coincided with the release of the study and the senate investigation into sexual misconduct in sport. So far, social commentators, sports executives and coaches had appeared before the six-member committee.

They took their seats in front of the two female and four male senators. The chair, Senator Woodrow, spoke first.

‘I would like to thank Professor Everett and Doctor Crichton, who have attended today at their own, considerable expense.’

The chair continued. ‘We have all received and read your submission and are particularly interested in the results of your study. I, for one, am disturbed and alarmed by your findings. Would you care to describe how you came to your conclusions?’

Anya deferred to Nigel, who remained silent, his head down. For a moment she wondered if he had dozed off. Clearing her throat, she began.

‘We showed a number of dramatised scenarios to five hundred professional male players coming from a number of sports including swimming, rugby union, rugby league, soccer, Australian Rules and tennis. We then presented the same scenarios to five hundred first year university students and compared the responses.’

A woman appeared from the side and pushed the microphone
closer to Anya’s mouth. The committee members flicked through the pages in front of them.

‘To clarify,’ the chair added, ‘what did you find were the main differences in the two groups?’

Anya glanced at Nigel, whose head was still down. ‘In the sports that were predominated by team involvement, the four forms of football, sixy-nine percent of players were unable to identify the situations in which sexual assault of a woman had taken place. That was in comparison with scores of two percent for the swimmers and four percent for the tennis players. The university students were unable to recognise sexual assault in fourteen percent of the scenarios. In contrast, ninety-eight percent of all participants correctly identified a man being sexually assaulted.’

‘So what you’re suggesting,’ Senator Woodrow summarised, ‘is that more than two-thirds of male footballers are incapable of determining what constitutes rape of a woman?’

‘From our data, that appears to be the case.’

One of the male senators rubbed his forehead. ‘Does this suggest that these men are potential rapists, who refuse to take “no” for an answer?’

Nigel lifted his head but remained quiet. The public gallery behind erupted into protestations.

‘No,’ Anya raised her voice to dispel the suggestion. ‘We are not alleging that. All we can conclude is that a higher percentage of footballers, when compared with men from other sports, were unable to recognise when a sexual assault took place.’

An older, bald senator wearing small spectacles shifted in his seat. ‘I’m sorry but I find that difficult to believe. Claiming sexual assault is easy, but there are always two sides to every story. By what standard could you unequivocally state that rape had occurred in these scenarios?’

‘The woman in each dramatisation had not consented to the sexual act, was clearly distressed and immediately sought medical attention. When the scenarios were presented to a series of prosecutors, there was unanimous agreement that each woman had been sexually assaulted as defined by the law.’

The other female senator, a former champion swimmer, sat forward. ‘Do you have any possible explanations for the significant differences in results from tennis and swimming participants? All were elite athletes at the top of their game, with, I assume, endorsements or salary packages that generously rewarded their level of skill.’

Nigel replied this time. He must have decided to put Anya out of her misery. ‘I believe the results are telling in a number of ways. Tennis and swimming aren’t really team sports. Medley and relay teams, and doubles in Davis Cup or the Olympics, are not comparable to a team of eleven or more males who bond, train, eat and play together. A totally different culture is created in that environment, one in which pack mentality becomes the norm.’

The bald man tugged on an earlobe. ‘So, by implication, teams of men working closely together in a combative situation are more likely to abuse women. I find this insulting to our boys in the military who lay their lives on the line to defend this country. They are highly trained, eat, sleep and work together, and are dependent on every other man in their unit to survive. And yet we don’t see these men raping women. I believe your analysis of men in teams and sexual abuse is absurd.’

Anya felt her stomach lurch. This was the part where she and Nigel were both publicly humiliated and their professional reputations tarnished by an ultraconservative who was merely looking to win political points. He would probably be given a private box at the next NRL Grand Final for his trouble.

Professor Everett nodded patiently. ‘Perhaps I have not made myself clear enough. This is not merely about men in groups. It is about men with money, celebrity and physical strength who are enabled by the administrators and sponsors of the sports they represent. Men in the military do not enjoy any such privilege, at least not in my country.’

This comment amused the public gallery. Anya turned and suddenly caught a glimpse of the man who had tried to protect
her and Hannah outside the court the previous day. Suddenly, she felt even more uncomfortable. What was he doing here?

Meanwhile, Nigel had everyone in the room hanging on his every word. ‘To put it another way, Senator, this alarming trend is something you have perhaps witnessed in your chosen profession of public service. The issue is really abuse of power. Plainly and simply.’

‘Doctor Crichton,’ the chair asked, ‘in your experience, why are women who are raped by footballers loath to report the matter to police?’

Anya began by citing a case of a young waitress who had reported being raped by four footballers at an after-game function. ‘When I examined this woman, who had been brought into the sexual assault unit by police as per the protocol, she was in severe distress. She was crying, and seemed frightened of the players finding out she had told the police.’ Anya spoke more confidently, remembering every detail about the case. ‘The players were in a training camp, staying next door to where she worked. She was afraid they would be able to find her and assault her again, so she decided against giving a police statement. I had to respect her wishes and inform the police that she had changed her mind.’

The bald senator seemed unimpressed. ‘Yes, well, it could also be that she had good reason to withdraw her complaint. Her distress could have been due to regret once she sobered up at participating in consensual sex with a number of men.’

Senator Woodrow spoke next. ‘Doctor, was there any physical evidence to suggest the woman had been raped?’

‘Yes. The pattern of bruising on her wrists and upper arms suggested she was held by large hands, and purpuric bruises between her upper thighs were fresh and fist-sized. There was also a significant amount of vaginal bleeding and she had a tear that required eight stitches. I believe the physical evidence was consistent with the story she gave of violent, nonconsensual intercourse with a number of men.’

‘Why in heaven’s name wouldn’t she give a police statement?’

Anya let out a deep breath. ‘The assault occurred not long after a woman who accused a rugby player of rape had been named on television and had had her past sexual history detailed in every media outlet. As it happened, the station that first named her owned broadcasting rights to that particular code of football.’

Two of the committee members shook their heads either in disbelief or surprise.

‘In this case the woman was a single mother and she didn’t want her daughter to find out what had happened, but somehow the press got hold of the story. She ended up losing her job and going into hiding. She knew the players would claim the intercourse was consensual, so it would essentially be her word against theirs. She didn’t feel she could fight the four perpetrators, the rest of the team, the fans and the promoters.’

Anya’s mouth and throat felt as dry as sandpaper. She took a sip of the water provided.

‘To be sure we are all clear on this,’ Nigel added. ‘What we’re all dealing with in these cases has absolutely nothing to do with sex. It is about abuse of power, a gross abuse. The only solution is to remove that power.’

The bald senator seemed to take offence at this. ‘My concern is that you appear to be tainting entire sports on the basis of a few bad apples. Surely those apples can simply be identified and removed.’

Nigel rubbed the top of his stick again. ‘Sir, with all due respect, it’s not a few apples that are rotten here, it’s the barrel itself.’

An assistant handed the chair a note, and she covered her microphone before conferring with her colleagues. ‘I’d like to thank you, Doctor, Professor, for taking the time to meet with us today. We’ll take a twenty-minute recess before we resume.’

Anya sat numbed by this dismissal. She had prepared so much more data on sexual assaults and had expected a deeper analysis of the issues. In addition, she had a presentation on the results of previous programmes designed to educate players in social skills,
responsibility and behaviour. Being dismissed so quickly made her suspect the committee was not really interested in changing the current culture.

‘I think that went rather well, don’t you?’

Nigel gave her a cheeky grin, one that made his eyes twinkle like a boy with a mischievous plan. Anya wondered what he had to be so cheerful about.

N
igel stopped to speak with a member of the press as they headed for the door. Anya turned to tell him she would wait for him outside and almost bumped into someone behind her.

‘I’m sorry —’ she began.

The man looked down and smiled. Beneath the brown hair hanging over his forehead was a bruise, a few centimetres above deep blue eyes framed by long black lashes that any woman would die for. Anya was shaken – it was the man from the courthouse yesterday.

‘I’m not sorry. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.’

He had an American accent. He was dressed in a navy shirt and tie, with a tan jacket and casual chinos.

‘Is there a reason you’re following me across States and getting bruised in the process?’ Anya asked with a frown.

‘I assumed … OK, I can see I was wrong. Prof hasn’t told you, has he?’

Anya had no idea what this man was talking about. ‘Told me what?’ She clutched her papers to her chest, and stood aside for a group of people filing out of the room.

‘I’m Ethan Rye. I work for the USA Professional Football Leagues.’

She put down her briefcase to shake his hand and dropped the papers in the process. He immediately bent down to help.

‘Thanks,’ she said, embarrassed at her clumsiness. ‘Are you involved in the plans for a US component of our study?’

‘No.’ He handed over her notes, which she placed safely in her briefcase.

‘I’ve been out here checking out potential recruits for our teams. Your Aussie Rules kickers are of particular interest.’

‘You’re a talent scout?’

They moved out into the corridor, which was full of people hurrying in each direction. There must have been a number of committee hearings that morning.

‘Not exactly. I’m a private investigator and I’ve been asked to check out which players are most suitable, from a personal point of view.’

He was doing background checks – but that still didn’t explain why he had been at the courthouse.