SATURDAY STORY, NED MORRISON - WEEK 3 - JUNE 4, 2022
(So far, we know that Ned Morrison is an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse in LaCrosse Wisconsin. In week 2, Ned collapsed in class and was taken to Gunderson Lutheran Hospital. His Dean, Mavis Larson came to visit. Meanwhile, on campus, one of Ned’s students was attacked and was almost raped until another of Ned’s students chased the attacker away.)
*****
Ned was back in class on Thursday. He apologized to his 1:00 class for collapsing and being unconscious. He had heard that Lori Rohn had helped him as did some of the others and he thanked them. Ned did have a seating chart but by halfway through the semester he knew all of his students by sight, at least in the classroom although he might forget their names if he saw them in the student union. He noticed that Lori was sitting next to Amanda Zolinski. Amanda looked a little scratched up.
He stated, “Today we’re going to look at the elasticity in supply and demand. Looking at Jim McMaster in the third row, he asked, “Jim, do you like donuts?”
Jim said, “Yes - especially apple fritters!” The class laughed. Jim was a big-hearted lineman player on the Eagle football team.
Ned went on, “Now, let’s say donuts are $10 each, would you buy any donuts today Jim?
Jim said “No way”.
Ned went back and said, “But what if donuts are 10 cents each and apple fritters were two for a nickel, would you buy any today Jim?”
The class laughed,
Jim answered, “I’d buy out the shop - well at least I’d buy all the apple fritters. I might even give one to Rafael”.
Rafael was a cross country runner - lean and fast - who probably hadn’t had a donut in years.
The class laughed again.
Ned went on with his presentation on elasticity.
*****
Later that afternoon, Brett Pappas stopped by Ned’s office. That semester, Brett was the social chair for Sigma Tau Gamma - and he needed the faculty advisor's approval for their party off-campus at “The Main” hall party location. This party was to welcome their new brothers and dates and was semi-formal.
Ned almost always showed up for their party events (if he was in town and not presenting a paper at some academic conference). But, he had an informal rule - leave by 11:00. Some of the guys could get pretty drunk. For some of their events, they chartered a bus so there wouldn’t be any drunk driving. This was one of those events.
*****
The UWL campus police were looking at video feeds from last night from cameras on top of Prairie Springs Science Center. A female student was dragged into the bushes by an unknown assailant who seemingly was going to rape her but another student walking by heard the commotion and interrupted the assault. Maybe some footage could be used to identify the individual.
*****
Max Winthrop was on the field for the lacrosse game. Thursday afternoons were prime times for lacrosse games - for the LaCrosse lacrosse team!! Max was a midfield player - whose primary job was to pass the ball forward to the attack players and also to stop the opponents from moving the ball down the field when they had the ball.
Lacrosse was a fast-moving sport. Max lamented that lacrosse was more physical and more demanding than either soccer or football, and much less recognized. This afternoon they were playing the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Pointers. Max was friends with a couple of the Pointers from back home in Madison.
Max thought that we were a good team, not the best in the WIC but probably better than the Pointers - but any sport has an element of luck. Jaxon Rice was our captain and a friend. He was not the highest scorer on the team but did lead the team in assists.
Brian Schultz was a forward on the team. He was the high scorer - and had the biggest ego.
*****
The Campus police watched and rewatched the video. First, they could see Amanda Zolinski coming from the east (probably the library). Then a blur as somebody wearing a ski mask jumped out of the bushes and grabbed Amanda. The person put his hand over Amanda’s mouth to keep her quiet. The bushes didn’t go right to the building. Some room had been left for the shrubbery to grow, and the person brought her there.
Now the situation was impossible to see. The camera was mounted on the top of the Prairie Springs Science Center and looked out at the campus but didn’t catch the action next to the building.
In a minute Lori Rohn came into view from the west to the east. She stops after hearing something and then runs towards the bushes. The camera caught the person running away. He seemed to be fast. From the camera view, they figured the person was between five feet ten inches and six feet two inches. That didn’t help much as maybe 80% of all the males on campus fit that size. As he ran, he turned around once to see behind him. And, it was very clear, that he had a Sigma Tau Gamma sweatshirt on. They tried to identify the shoes or other items of clothing, but they couldn’t. They weren’t absolutely sure it was a male, but rationally it probably was.
They send the video clip to the State Forensic office in Madison. Maybe they could find something else.
Meanwhile, they had investigated the area around the bushes for anything that might help. Shoe prints, fabric, fingerprints - they didn’t expect anything - but maybe they would get lucky. It hadn’t rained for a while, so no shoe prints, there didn’t seem to be any fabric snags, nothing with fingerprints, and the assailant didn’t spit on the ground, so no DNA analysis. No leads - yet.
*****
Ned stopped by the department office after class to say “hi” to Mavis. They had a Keurig Coffee Maker, so they each had a cup of coffee.
Ned started, “Thank you for sitting with me and checking on me”.
Mavis laughed, “I wasn’t ready to take over your ECON classes. No, seriously, I really appreciate you. I was - and still am - worried about you.”
She continued, “They said something like there might be a brain tumor? Will you be going back for checks?”
Ned answered, “I’m not really sure. The hospital has forwarded all my reports to Marcy Long, my PCP. Marcy is good and I’m sure she’ll be on top of this.”
They chatted over their coffee for a few minutes.
Then Mavis asked, “Did you hear about the attempted rape last night?”
Ned looked up from his coffee, “No, what happened.”
Mavis answered, “I think one - maybe two of your students might have been involved. Amanda Zolinski was attacked and taken behind the bushes at Prairie Springs, but somehow she yelled and somebody was coming by. I think it was the former EMT from your class.”
Ned asked, “Do you mean Lori Rohn?”
Mavis said, “Yes, that’s the one. I just got a confidential note from the campus police. Oh, this might interest you too. Their video feed has the attacker wearing a Sigma Tau Gamma sweatshirt.”
Ned blanched, “No. No. I’m their faculty advisor” (Mavis nodded), “and I’d hate to see that. Did they see the face or anything else?”
Mavis said, “No, the attacker wore a black ski mask.”
They chatted longer, but Mavis had a Dean’s Council meeting and had to excuse herself.
Ned trudged back to his office shaking his head. It just couldn’t be one of the Sigma Tau Gamma guys. He knew most of them - some better than others, and just couldn’t believe that one of them would attempt raping a girl on campus.
*****
Back in his office, Ned sent an email to Frank Hayes, this year’s president of Sigma Tau Gamma.
“Frank, somebody found a Sigma Tau Gamma black sweatshirt on campus. Can you ask around if anybody is missing a sweatshirt”.
Ned got a response almost immediately from Frank. “Yes, Brian Schultz lost his a while back. Can you get the shirt for him?”
Ned emailed back, “I’ll see if I can get it”.
It was a long shot, but maybe somebody was trying to frame one of the Sigma Tau Gamma guys. Why would a rapist wear any identifying materials?
*****
The lacrosse game went poorly for the UWL Eagles. Brian Schultz acted confused and preoccupied. The coach took Brian out with the score at halftime Stevens Point 23, LaCrosse 8. The coach moved Max up to forward, and Jaxon took the position that Brian normally had - left forward. John Maxwell came in off the bench to play midfield.
Brian Schultz just sat at the end of the bench - hardly watching the game. On the first play of the second half, Max passed to Jaxon - and Jaxon put the ball in. At the end of the third quarter, the score was Stevens Point 26 and UW-LaCrosse 21.
John Maxwell saw his chance to make the starting lineup and was really hustling on the field. Twenty seconds into the fourth quarter, John intercepted a pass and passed the ball to Max and on to Jaxon - score. 28 for Stevens Point to 22 for UW-LaCrosse.
It was close for the rest of the game and with three seconds left, Max faked a pass to Jaxon and slammed the ball in the goal for a 31 to 30 final score. The team collapsed around Max and Jaxon. Max slapped John Maxwell on the back - “Great job, Maxie”!!
Back in the locker room, the team celebrated, but Brian Schultz who generally was the most vocal didn’t stay and didn’t shower, and just left early.
Max wondered what was going on.
*****
Ned was struck with an idea. Why not ask Mavis Larson to go with him to the Sigma Tau Gamma party?
It was a couples event, although not all of the guys brought dates. He was going anyway as the Faculty Advisor, why not take Mavis along. She might like a night out.
Ned did like Mavis. She was fair and supportive of her faculty. He chuckled to himself, other than that adjunct professor who took bribes from students to get good grades. She bounced him out after one semester. Her husband had died in Afghanistan, he thought he was a captain or a major or some officer.
He called her.
Ned said, “Hi Mavis. A non-academic question for you. I’m chaperoning the Sigma Tau Gamma social event this Saturday at the Main and I wondered if you might go with me?”
Mavis said, “I’d love to go, Ned. Thank you for thinking of me. I like to get out and have students see that I’m a real person, not just a professor or dean.”
Ned filled her in on the details. He’d pick her up about 5:30. Social hour was 6 to 7 with dinner at 7 and dancing to a DJ after that. He also said they could leave as early as 9 if things were going well.
*****
Josh Kinross texted Ned to remind him of the UWL Eagle Football game on Saturday. They had season tickets together at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Saturday's game was against the University of Wisconsin Platteville - which was always a contender for the conference championship. Platteville had lost one game so far this season - a non-conference game against the University of Illinois. Generally, the big football schools scheduled a home game and sometimes two home games against schools like Platteville. The home fans loved to see their team win over a mismatched team, and the mismatched team went home with millions of dollars. Ned heard that Illinois had paid Platteville three million dollars to show up. It was kind of a form of football prostitution. And, as expected Illinois beat Platteville 45 to 3. The home school generally got a big win, and the visiting school got money to pay for other non-revenue sports like cross country and tennis.
UWL had lost three times this year, once to Minnesota State University at Mankato; once to the University of Wisconsin at Superior, and once to the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay. But, win or lose, Josh and Ned were on hand to support their team.
*****
The assailant that tried to rape Amanda Zolinsky was plotting another attack. He reasoned that being on campus was too risky. There were too many security cameras, and too many people around. Maybe someplace off-campus - like near Howie’s Bar on LaCrosse Street. Maybe after the bars closed and there might be some drunk coeds walking home. Yeah, that might work.
The assailant had been jilted by girls all his life, he hated the snotty women who looked down on him. His first rape had been a year ago and it emboldened him to try again.
He had tried to ask girls out for dates only to be turned down with phony excuses like “I already have a boyfriend” (he had never seen this girl with a man), “I’m going home for the weekend” (and then he sees her at the football game on Saturday).
*****
Lori Rohn worked as an EMT for the weekends. She was going to be on duty for the Eagles football game and then available until 3 a.m.
********
That’s the end of Ned’s adventures - part III
Will Ned and Mavis hook up? Will the rapist attack again? Will Lori save somebody’s life? Is Brian Schultz the rapist?
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