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methodical, Nigel was witty and often went with his gut instinct. The yin and yang friendship had lasted for decades.
    Anya had Peter to thank for the study in the first place. After seeing Hannah, and noticing there was an increase in the numbers of women attending sexual assault units who had been assaulted by groups of men belonging to sporting teams, Anya had decided to survey a number of professional male sports players and teams to establish their attitudes to sexual assault. Peter had discussed the idea with his old friend, and Professor Everett had been kind enough to co-author the study. His name had attracted government funding for their work and, subsequently, international attention.
    Today he was wearing his favourite floral bow tie and a green jacket, and he had trimmed his short grey beard for the occasion. At five foot three, with a walking stick and an impish grin, he was the closest thing to a leprechaun Anya had seen.
    Anya straightened her suit skirt and waited for her colleague. A committee member she did not recognise approached.
    ‘Thanks for coming, Doctor Crichton. We’re all looking forward to hearing what you have to say.’
    She suspected the media attention made the politicians more responsive to the study’s findings than they otherwise would have been. Rumour had it not all the committee members were pleased with the media attention.
    Nigel gave her a self-satisfied grin as he came through thedoor. ‘Gave them a three-second and a ten-second grab. Keep the message simple and they’ll run with it every time.’ He squeezed her hand and whispered, ‘Just relax and don’t forget to breathe, in
and
out. Remember, no one knows more about your work than you.’ He offered Anya his arm. ‘Shall we?’
    They headed through security and into a room with tables set up in a U-shape facing two seats behind microphones. A stenographer sat to the side, and camera crews had already set up to record the proceedings. Most committees came and went without the public knowing, but this one had become more of an issue after a former star footballer had been named in a group sex incident. Despite pleas by the woman concerned and the game’s administrators, he refused to implicate any of the others involved, maintaining the code of silence.
    Public outcry had coincided with the release of the study and the senate investigation into sexual misconduct in sport. So far, social commentators, sports executives and coaches had appeared before the six-member committee.
    They took their seats in front of the two female and four male senators. The chair, Senator Woodrow, spoke first.
    ‘I would like to thank Professor Everett and Doctor Crichton, who have attended today at their own, considerable expense.’
    The chair continued. ‘We have all received and read your submission and are particularly interested in the results of your study. I, for one, am disturbed and alarmed by your findings. Would you care to describe how you came to your conclusions?’
    Anya deferred to Nigel, who remained silent, his head down. For a moment she wondered if he had dozed off. Clearing her throat, she began.
    ‘We showed a number of dramatised scenarios to five hundred professional male players coming from a number of sports including swimming, rugby union, rugby league, soccer, Australian Rules and tennis. We then presented the same scenarios to five hundred first year university students and compared the responses.’
    A woman appeared from the side and pushed the microphonecloser to Anya’s mouth. The committee members flicked through the pages in front of them.
    ‘To clarify,’ the chair added, ‘what did you find were the main differences in the two groups?’
    Anya glanced at Nigel, whose head was still down. ‘In the sports that were predominated by team involvement, the four forms of football, sixy-nine percent of players were unable to identify the situations in which sexual assault of a woman had taken place. That was