He sighed, inhaled deeply, and set about trying to explain it all to me in layman’s terms. Technically, the Stories and Lives producers didn’t have to fully corroborate Melanie’s claims as long as they presented it in such a manner that they weren’t seen to be professing that it had actually happened. They’d say they were just reporting the accusation, not trying to say it was true. In order for our suit against the show and the network to be successful, we’d have to prove that they’d assisted in damaging my reputation by airing the content. And they’d argue, no doubt, that such a thing was impossible at this point. Even if Stories and Lives lost a lawsuit against me and had to pay for it, it was worth the risk. The whole country would be tuning in to both Melanie’s and my interviews. It would smash any other program on at the same time out of the ballpark.

It was Melanie who should really have been sweating over a lawsuit. I presumed she didn’t have the kind of legal pull and piggy bank that Stories and Lives did. In order to defend herself against my defamation suit, she’d have to present a defense that what she’d said was true. It’s not defamatory if it’s true. And how could I ever prove that what she was saying about me hadn’t happened? Two decades had passed since the days she was talking about, those hazy summer afternoons at her house, the nerve-racking, dreadful responsibility of having a “girlfriend” for the first time. How could I prove I hadn’t touched her sister inappropriately? Was she even saying I touched her? I listened to Sean’s strained assurances and felt a great pressure growing in my skull.

None of it made sense. Why would she do this to me? I knew money could be a motivator. Melanie would have been paid big bucks by Stories and Lives for her interview detailing new allegations against me. What she was paid was probably in the hundreds of thousands, like the fee I’d accepted for mine. But my decision to talk to the show for the money had been with the secure knowledge that I wasn’t going to hurt anyone, except possibly myself. Had Melanie thrown me to the wolves just for cash? There was no telling; Melanie and her sister had gone to ground. Surely when they’d decided to release the allegation, they’d been prepared to back it up to the police and to my lawyer. Were charges being arranged at that very minute? Was I about to be arrested? How could Melanie think she could tell lies about me to a national current affairs program and simply walk away without having to defend what she’d said?

A searing hangover headache was pulsing at the back of my eyes. I’d lost track of what Sean was saying.

“I’m talking big money, Ted,” Sean said. He was almost seething. I hadn’t heard him swear since my trial. He was generally a very refined, considered man. “This is bullshit. Utter bullshit.”