Ms. Dixon reached out for a stack of documents and handed one to Cal.
“I am hereby serving upon you a subpoena duces tecum, requiring you to produce any and all documents in your possession relating to David’s accounts with Rigby, Thompson and Associates, and including specifically any documents printed out from his files and removed from Rigby, Thompson and Associates’ offices. The subpoena covers any documents in Mr. Fox’s possession as well. Next, you are hereby served with a Temporary Restraining Order preventing you or your attorney from altering or destroying any such documents, as well as any documents relating to the allegations of rape made against David. It also restrains you from disclosing that information in any way to third parties, and from using those documents or the information contained therein in any way. Including, for example, having your lawyer send mail to the private offices of college personnel who have been recruiting David, and trying to persuade them they should not recruit an alleged and, it turns out, falsely accused, rapist.”
“How did you get all this done so quickly?” Cal asked in shock.
It was a Sunday afternoon, and she would have had to have prepared the documents, found a way to see the judge between the time she left us yesterday and now (likely at his home), and gotten him to sign the TRO and order a hearing.
“There are some benefits to being a United States senator’s daughter, and there are even more benefits to having a reputation for integrity, and for being really, really good,” Ms. Dixon said with a smile. “It may also be that the judge was upset with the less-than-completely-candid-and-forthright actions of you and your counsel in persuading him to sign the TRO against David last week; but then again, I didn’t ask.”
Then she looked directly at Mr. Fox and continued.
“Oh, yes. One exhibit to the Motion for the TRO is a copy of Mr. Fox’s letter to one of the college coaches recruiting David. It was mailed last Monday to that coach’s office address. The exhibit is supported by an affidavit from the coach, stating his office address is unknown to any persons other than his college’s personnel department, and that David is the only person that he’s ever recruited who has been given that address. All the coaches’ mailing addresses are the same: a generic address for the football program is listed in all publications, but the private office addresses are never disclosed, as a matter of school policy. The affidavit also states David had told him he doubted he’d ever need that address, but that David would have his agent file it away just in case."
“As I recall, the letter in question did indeed attempt to persuade the coach that he should stop recruiting an accused rapist. That exhibit might have caused the judge’s eyebrows to go up a bit as well, now that I think on it,” Ms. Dixon said with a grin.
Cal and Mr. Fox both looked a bit sick when they heard that. She then turned to Don Rigby and handed him another stack of documents. He didn’t look much better.
“A similar subpoena and TRO are hereby served on your firm, requiring similar production and preservation of records. An expedited hearing on making these temporary orders a permanent injunction is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 10:00 in Judge Hitchens’ courtroom, which is in the County Courthouse, Room 203. The courtroom is a public venue at which the media is allowed to be present. If this is not resolved today, you can bet it will be brought up at that hearing, and we will oppose any suggestion that the hearing be a closed one.”
Ms. Dixon then pulled out another stack of documents and handed a set to Mr. Fox and Mr. Rigby.
“This is an outline of what we’re seeking in terms of a settlement. We are willing to negotiate the fine points, but we would like to reach a point where we can agree on the basic terms and put together a letter outlining an agreement in principle to that effect by the end of the day. Our other requirement is we want a chance to talk to Pam and make sure she agrees. Let’s reconvene in one hour. You can then tell me how you want to proceed,” Ms. Dixon said.
◊◊◊
We went to the office Ms. Dixon had to wait for the meeting to resume. Ms. Dixon left us alone to go out and get a breath of fresh air.
“I’ve been in contact with Lacy,” Mom said. “She was unaware that all this was going on. She and Cora were busy getting wedding plans firmed up. Devin and Sandy Range assumed Lacy knew what was happening here. Lacy said that when she confronted them about it, they were embarrassed. Cora was being Cora and focused on only herself.
“It looks like Lacy will divorce Cal over this. When I called her, and he’d told her the meeting had been switched to tomorrow, that was one more nail in his coffin,” Mom explained.
“With Lacy back, will Pam be safe? She seems scared.” I said.
“Yes. Lacy made Cal move out when she got home. Once he was gone, she and Pam had a long heart-to-heart. Pam feels awful that she went along with what her dad made her do. Lacy is embarrassed as well, and hopes you don’t hold it against her,” Mom said.
“Did Pam explain how she got the split lip and black eye?” I asked.
Mom gave me a hard look. I think she had kept this part from me because she worried about what I might do.
“Pam told her mother that Cal had made her make all the charges against you against her will. While Pam didn’t say so, Lacy suspects Cal hit her. That was the main reason he had to move out,” Mom said, and then looked somber. “Trust Lacy or me to deal with this. You have too much at stake to add physical harm to Cal on top of everything else we have to resolve today.”
I thought about what Mom had just said. I would reserve judgment on whether or not I would track down Cal and give him a beatdown. There were some things you just didn’t do. Punching your daughter, your pregnant daughter, was one of the big ones. I gave my mom a tight-lipped nod.
“I talked to Ms. Dixon while you and your mom were at church,” Dad said. “When she gets back, we need to go over what I asked her to put together. Most of it you’re aware of, but we added one little wrinkle I hope you’re okay with.”
Before I could ask, Ms. Dixon came back in. Mom and Dad caught her up with what they’d told me.
“Take a moment to read the different agreements, and then we’ll talk,” Ms. Dixon said.
As I read through the agreements, several points jumped out at me. The first was that my mom and dad planned to take custody of my child until I either graduated from college or reached the age of 22. I guess my dad had read my fears of becoming a father at such a young age. I was relieved they would support me like this.
Second was that none of the three parties was allowed to disparage any of the others in any way, nor to file charges or lawsuit against them related to this debacle. So we didn’t have to worry about that, as much as it might feel good for me to go after Cal. Another was that I would be moving on to a new firm for legal representation, and Rigby, Thompson had to assist in that move. Yet another point was that Cal and Rigby, Thompson would be paying all my legal and PR fees.
My final takeaway was I didn’t understand why Rigby, Thompson and Associates would be forced to keep Cal on. So I asked about that part.