Chapter 8: The Board

The board room had a table the length of a canoe and three people sitting at the far end of it.

Judith took the seat in the middle.

On her left sat a man in his sixties with a bow tie.

On her right sat a woman in a grey suit who had not yet looked up from her notes.

Elliot and I stood at the foot of the table.

No one offered us chairs.

"Ms. Fairbrother," said the man in the bow tie. "You've been with us how many days?"

"Six."

"And within those six days you were assigned to the largest bid in the company's recent history."

"Yes."

"Remarkable."

He let that sit, lips pursed.

"Mr. Albright," said Judith mildly. "Questions after."

I took a breath and made it all the way to the bottom.

"Last Friday night I went into a bar and asked a man there to come upstairs with me," I said.

"I'm not going to dress it up for you."

Nobody moved.

The woman in the grey suit looked up.

"I've been trying to do my job ever since," I said.

"And last night?" said the man in the bow tie.

"Last night I went home with him."

"At a client dinner."

"After a client dinner. In a car I was invited into, and I said yes to, and then I said it again."

The woman in grey wrote something.

"Mr. Maddox," said Judith.

Elliot did not look at me.

"I did not approach her at the bar," he said. "She approached me."

It was careful.

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