“You touch it?”
Greene shook her head.
“Then yes, call the police. It’s easily proved whether it’s my daughter’s or not,” I said. “Either her fingerprints are on it or they’re not.”
The coach looked at Jannie. “Are they?”
“No way,” Jannie said.
“Was the bag open?” I asked.
“The bag was open,” Jannie said. “I got my hoodie out and came over.”
“Was that how you
saw it, Coach?” I asked.
“Eliza Foster, one of my athletes at Duke, noticed it and called me over.”
“So it was put in there either before practice or right after Jannie put on her hoodie and came over to talk to me,” I said.
“Eliza would have no reason to do anything like that,” Greene said.
“I want there to be concrete evidence that this was absolutely not my daughter’s. Jannie will even provide a blood sample that you can drug-test. Right?”
Jannie nodded. “Anything, Dad.”
I got out my wallet, dug out a business card, and handed it to the coach. “Call this guy. Sheriff’s Detective Guy Pedelini. He’ll handle the situation correctly.”
Greene hesitated, but then nodded. She walked away with Jannie’s bag, punching in the phone number on her cell phone.
Jannie looked about to cry when she sat down beside me and Bree.
“You’ll be fine,” I said, hugging her.
“Why would someone put that there?” she asked, looking torn up.
“To get at me and Bree through you,” I said. “But it won’t work.”
Detective Pedelini showed up ten minutes later. I let him speak with Greene first, waiting patiently with Jannie and Bree. He put on gloves and bagged the vial. He nodded to me and then went to talk with Eliza Foster.
When he was done, he came over and shook my hand in the twilight.
“Coach says you want it tested.”
“I do.”
He looked at Jannie. “You’re willing?”
“Yes,” Jannie said. “Definitely.”
“Any idea who might do this?” Pedelini asked.
“I’d start with Marvin Bell’s niece,” Bree said. “If Sharon Lawrence would lie about a rape for him, she’d plant drugs for him.”
The sheriff’s detective pursed his lips, said, “I’ll talk to her. Meantime, take Jannie to the office. I’ll call ahead for someone to take the prints and blood.”
Pedelini walked off toward the other girls, who were acting annoyed that they weren’t being allowed to leave.