Chương 7
Then something passed across his face.
Not hatred.
Shame.
Claire had not prepared for that.
She preferred hatred.
Hatred was easier to organize.
They sat across from each other with lawyers between them.
Nathan’s attorney began with procedural language.
Claire let him finish.
Then she asked Nathan one question.
“Why did you fire me?”
His attorney turned.
Nathan answered anyway.
“You refused to do your job.”
Claire nodded.
“Which part?”
“Claire.”
“Which part?”
“You refused to sign the certification.”
“Because it was inaccurate.”
“That was your opinion.”
“It was my professional assessment.”
“You treated every uncertainty like fraud.”
“No.”
“You treated every disagreement like somebody was trying to corrupt you.”
Claire felt Malcolm shift beside her.
Nathan saw it.
His voice changed.
Softer.
More dangerous because it sounded reasonable.
“You did that long before the reserve issue.”
Claire knew what he meant.
She had challenged procurement exemptions.
Executive travel charges.
Unusual consultant access.
She had become known as the person who asked why after senior people had already decided they preferred how.
Some colleagues respected it.
Some avoided inviting her to meetings.
One vice president once told her she could turn a birthday cake into a regulatory event.
He had meant it as an insult.
Claire had laughed because it was funny.
Nathan continued.
“You made it impossible to manage.”
“Did you bury my memo?”
His jaw tightened.
“No.”
“Did you distribute it to the audit committee?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Martin and legal were reviewing it.”
“Did you tell Richard?”
Nathan looked toward his lawyer.
His lawyer said, “You can answer if you know.”
Nathan looked back at Claire.
“He knew.”
Claire felt the room change.
“About the memo?”
“About the issue.”
“What issue?”
“The reserve.”
“Everybody knew about the reserve.”
“The reclassification.”
Martin Ellison, who was attending remotely, spoke from the screen.
“Nathan.”
Nathan turned toward the monitor.
“Don’t.”
Martin’s face had gone pale.
Nathan laughed softly.
“There it is.”
Claire looked between them.
“Don’t what?”
Martin said nothing.
Nathan leaned back.
“You want to know why I fired you?”
“Yes.”
“Because Richard told me the unveiling could not move.”
Claire’s pulse slowed.
That happened sometimes when she was frightened.
Her body did not accelerate.
It narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Nathan’s attorney placed a hand near his arm.
Nathan ignored him.
“The lenders were nervous. Orders had softened. We had two customers threatening to walk. The new aircraft was the only thing keeping the valuation from collapsing.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“Richard said no internal issue was going to derail the launch.”
Claire looked toward Martin’s image.
“Did he say that?”
Martin rubbed one hand across his forehead.
“He said the launch needed to remain on schedule.”
“That is not the same sentence.”
Nathan smiled without humor.
“Of course.”
“Nathan.”
“He told me to contain it.”
“Those words?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Six days before I fired you.”
Claire looked at his attorney.
“Do you have support for that?”
Nathan answered.
“No recording, if that’s what you mean.”
“Email?”
“No.”
“Witness?”
“Martin.”
Everyone looked at the screen.
Martin closed his eyes.
For perhaps two seconds.
Then opened them.
“He said something similar.”
Claire did not move.
“Similar how?”
Martin’s voice was low.
“He said the issue belonged inside management until we understood it.”
“Did he say not to inform the audit committee?”
“No.”
“Did he say to reclassify deposits?”
“No.”
“Did he say to falsify anything?”
“No.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“He didn’t have to.”
Claire looked at him.
“That’s convenient.”
His face tightened.
“You think I woke up one morning and decided I wanted to create a balance-sheet problem?”
“I don’t know what you decided.”
“I was trying to keep the company liquid.”
“You were trying to hit your bonus.”
“Yes.”
The answer stopped her.
Nathan looked exhausted.
“Yes,” he repeated. “I wanted the bonus. I wanted the chair. I wanted Richard to finally say I was the guy instead of the kid he kept testing.”
His lawyer quietly said his name.
Nathan shook his head.
“No. She wants the truth.”
Claire said, “I want facts.”
“Well, here’s one. I wanted everything.”
He looked toward the windows.
“And every time we hit a number, Richard moved it.”
His voice had lost the polished executive rhythm Claire remembered.
“He wanted growth without risk. Speed without defects. Margin without suppliers getting paid late. He wanted everybody terrified of disappointing him and then acted shocked when people started hiding disappointment.”
Claire thought of the sapphire.
The envelope.
The slap.
Richard’s transfer of control.
“Why did you fire me?”
Nathan looked at her.
“Because you were going to take it to the audit committee.”
“Yes.”
“And because I knew Richard would let me.”
That was the first statement Claire believed without qualification.
Not because she had proof.
Because she had lived it.
The meeting ended at 2:18.
Claire walked directly into an empty office and closed the door.
It belonged to someone in corporate development who was traveling.
There were golf magazines on the desk and a framed photograph of a golden retriever wearing a red bandanna.
Claire stared at the dog.
Then she sat.
Her hands were shaking.
She placed them flat on the desk.
Outside, somewhere down the hall, a printer started.
A phone rang.
Someone laughed too loudly.
Sterling Aviation continued operating.
People were approving invoices.
Scheduling maintenance.
Answering customer calls.
Ordering parts.
Planning a launch campaign for an aircraft whose unveiling had become a corporate scandal before the champagne had been cleared away.
Claire found that strangely comforting.
A company was never only the people on the top floor.
That was the lie executive floors encouraged.
Her phone buzzed.
Richard.
How did it go?
Claire typed:
Come to headquarters.
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
A minute later:
Lender call in two hours.
She wrote:
I know.
Richard arrived twenty-eight minutes later.
Claire met him in the same conference room where Nathan had been interviewed.
She had deliberately left Nathan’s water glass on the table.
May you like
Richard noticed it.
He sat in the chair Nathan had used.
