Chương 9
Nothing luxurious.
No handwritten note.
Eve found that oddly intimate.
Preston would have ordered truffle fries or sushi because he liked gifts that photographed well.
He had never once remembered that Eve hated mayonnaise unless it was mixed into tuna salad.
The sandwich had mustard.
She sat on the bed and ate half of it.
Then she became irritated at herself for assigning meaning to condiments.
By Friday morning, Boston had disappeared beneath six inches of snow.
Sterling Capital delayed opening until ten.
Hale Advisory’s New York office did not delay anything because New York had received rain.
Martin emailed Eve at 7:03 a.m.
Join call at 8.
No greeting.
No agenda.
At 7:58, Eve sat at the small hotel desk wearing a white blouse, black trousers, and slippers beneath the camera line.
Martin appeared on screen from his office.
Beside him sat Judith Hale, the firm’s managing partner and no relation despite the shared surname.
Judith was sixty-one, silver-haired, sharp-featured, and famous inside the company for remembering exactly who had missed which deadline six years earlier.
Eve’s stomach dropped.
“Morning,” Judith said.
“Morning.”
Martin did not speak.
Judith folded her glasses and set them beside her keyboard.
“I’ve reviewed the correspondence from Sterling.”
Eve waited.
“Sterling Legal has requested preservation of all communications related to the housing pilot.”
“I know.”
“They’re also conducting an internal review.”
“Yes.”
Judith glanced toward Martin.
“He tells me you raised concerns yesterday that had previously been discussed within our team.”
Eve looked at Martin’s image.
His face remained neutral.
“That’s correct.”
“Were you instructed not to disclose those concerns to the client?”
The wording mattered.
Eve sat straighter.
“I was instructed not to include an unverified property-manager call in the formal presentation.”
Martin’s jaw tightened.
Judith noticed.
“And the written concerns?”
“I had already sent two memos that included members of the client team.”
“So those were not undisclosed concerns.”
“No.”
Judith nodded.
“Did Martin tell you not to discuss the written memos yesterday?”
Eve took a breath.
“He told me to choose my words carefully after Mr. Sterling asked whether the operating assumptions were being followed.”
Martin leaned toward his camera.
“That is missing context.”
Judith held up one finger.
“I’ll get to you.”
Martin stopped.
Judith looked at Eve again.
“What did you understand that instruction to mean?”
There were safer answers.
Eve saw them lined up neatly.
Be cautious.
Be accurate.
Avoid speculation.
All of those were partly true.
She said, “I understood it to mean that he did not want me to tell Adrian Sterling about the memos.”
Martin’s expression changed.
Judith’s did not.
“Why?”
“Because the account is worth nine million dollars annually.”
Martin said, “That is not fair.”
Judith turned to him.
“Your turn.”
Martin spoke for nearly seven minutes.
He was good.
That was one reason he had become partner at forty-three.
He described concern about incomplete information.
He described the need to distinguish property-level discretion from institutional policy.
He described Eve as intelligent and talented, which immediately made her nervous.
Then he said she had been under “unusual personal strain” during the meeting.
Eve went cold.
Judith’s eyes shifted back to her.
“What personal strain?”
Eve looked at Martin.
He knew.
He had inferred enough from the airport connection.
Now he was using it.
Martin said, “I don’t think we need to get into private matters.”
“Then why mention them?” Judith asked.
Martin hesitated.
Eve almost admired how efficiently Judith had cut him open.
Judith waited.
Martin said, “Because emotional state can affect judgment.”
Eve’s fingers curled beneath the desk.
Judith looked at her.
“Did your emotional state affect your factual answers?”
“No.”
“Did you disclose information you believed was false?”
“No.”
“Did you disclose information you were prohibited from disclosing?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Did you have a personal relationship with anyone at Sterling Capital before this engagement?”
Eve’s heart stumbled.
“No.”
Judith’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Before the engagement?”
“No.”
Martin said nothing.
Eve could feel him waiting.
Judith caught it.
“What?”
Martin looked at her.
“What what?”
“You have the face you make when you’re waiting for someone else to say the thing you want said.”
Martin rubbed his mouth.
Eve almost laughed despite herself.
Judith did not.
Martin said, “Eve had an encounter with Adrian Sterling at JFK before the meeting.”
Judith looked at Eve.
“What kind of encounter?”
Eve considered lying for approximately half a second.
“I asked him to hug me.”
Silence.
Martin closed his eyes.
Judith blinked.
Eve continued because stopping now would somehow make it worse.
“I was upset.”
Judith stared.
“You asked the chief executive of Sterling Capital to hug you.”
“I didn’t know he was the chief executive of Sterling Capital.”
“How long did this encounter last?”
“I don’t know.”
“Minutes?”
“Maybe two.”
“And you had no prior contact?”
“No.”
Judith leaned back.
For the first time that morning, her composure cracked.
Not into anger.
Into disbelief.
“You randomly hugged a billionaire in an airport.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds poorly considered.”
Martin made an impatient sound.
Judith turned toward him.
“Did you know about this before yesterday’s meeting?”
“No.”
“Did Eve use the encounter to obtain access?”
“No.”
“Did Sterling treat her differently in a way that affected the presentation?”
Martin paused.
Eve watched him choose.
“He asked to speak with her privately afterward.”
Judith looked at Eve.
“What about?”
“The airport.”
“And?”
“He asked whether I was all right.”
“And?”
“That was essentially it.”
Martin gave a small humorless laugh.
Eve’s anger rose.
Judith heard it too.
“Martin.”
He shook his head.
“I’m sorry, but we’re ignoring the obvious.”
“What obvious thing?”
“That Adrian Sterling took a personal interest in her.”
Eve stared at him.
Martin continued.
“And within an hour, an internal issue that could threaten multiple people’s positions became formal legal review.”
Judith went very still.
“Are you suggesting Eve manipulated him into initiating an investigation?”
“I’m saying we should consider perception.”
May you like
Eve’s face burned.
She wanted to shout.
