The Best American Sports Writing 2020 by Jackie MacMullan

Author:Jackie MacMullan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358181835
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2020-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Back in Coconut Grove, in the living room of the house that Jeff and Kate had been renting, Kate lies shivering in a ball on the couch. Hours earlier, the FBI had stormed her house. Her bank accounts had been frozen. And now, after her husband has confessed to a monstrous fraud, her mother sits beside her and extends an arm, but she is virtually unresponsive.

“I’m in really big trouble,” Jeff says to Kate’s mother, Nancy, and her partner, Rich.

Kate is inconsolable.

Jeff explains—the visit from the FBI earlier in the day, the full breadth of the scam. Still, to Nancy and Rich, he seems oblivious to the depth of his crime.

“I’ll just give the money back,” Jeff says. “I can liquidate the properties. All the money’s there. I’ll give it back, and when I do, it’ll be okay.”

Rich shifts into fix-it mode, calling attorneys he knows back at home in Ohio, leaving messages because it’s after midnight on a Tuesday morning. Rich tells Jeff it’s imperative that he get legal protection.

“I think you’re making too much of this,” Jeff says. “I’ll go to the FBI. I’ll call them tomorrow. I’ll tell them the whole story and show them where the money is. Everyone will get their money back, and it’ll be okay. It’s not going to be a big deal.”

Rich and Nancy become incredulous. Does Jeff truly believe that the only item on his to-do list is restitution? As Rich pleads with Jeff, Kate rouses from her trance, shock replaced by resignation.

“You’re going to go to prison,” Kate says. “We’re going to lose everything.”

For several more hours, Rich tries to pierce Jeff’s logic, while Nancy reassures the family that Jeff is redeemable.

“We went back to bed at four in the morning, and I said, ‘I don’t think he really gets it,’” Rich says nearly a year later.

After a short night’s sleep, the family returns to the house in Pinecrest the next morning to rebox their belongings.

Says Nancy: “It was awful.”

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