“Uh-huh.” She showed no surprise. Her expression was completely neutral. “You want to tell me the circumstances?”
“My boss, ah, came on to me.” “And the name of your boss?”
“Meredith Johnson.”
“Is that a man or a woman?”
“A woman.” “Uhhuh.” Again, no sign of surprise. She continued making notes steadily, the pen scratching. “When did this happen?”
“Last night.”
“What were the exact circumstances?”
He decided not to mention the merger. “She has just been appointed my new boss, and we had several things to go over. She asked if we could meet at the end of the day.”
“She requested this meeting?” “Yes.”
“And where did the meeting take place?” “In her office. At six o’clock.”
“Anybody else present?”
“No. Her assistant came in briefly, at the start of the meeting, then left. Before anything happened.”
“I see. Go on.”
“We talked for a while, about business, and we had some wine. She had gotten some wine. And then she came on to me. I was over by the window and suddenly she started kissing me. Then pretty soon we were sitting on the couch. And then she started, uh . . .” He hesitated. “How much detail do you want?”
“Just the broad strokes for now.” She bit her sandwich. “You say you were kissing.”
“Yes.”
“And she initiated this?”
“Yes.”
“What was your reaction when she did that?”
“I was uncomfortable. I’m married.”
“Uh-huh. What was the general atmosphere in the meeting, prior to this kiss?”
“It was a regular business meeting. We were talking about business. But all the time, she was making, uh, suggestive remarks.”
“Like what.”
“Oh, about how good I looked. How I was in shape. How glad she was to see me.”
“How glad she was to see you,” Fernandez repeated, with a puzzled look.
“Yes. We knew each other before.”
“You had a prior relationship?”
“Yes.”
“When was that?”
“Ten years ago.”
“And were you married then?”
”No.”
“Did you both work for the same company at that time?”
“No. I did, but she worked for another company.”
“And how long did your relationship last?”
“About six months.” “And have you kept up contact?”
“No. Not really.”
“Any contact at all?”
“Once.”
“Intimate?”
“No. Just, you know, hello in the hallway. At the office.”
“I see. In the last eight years, have you ever been to her house or apartment?”
No.
“Dinners, drinks after work, anything?”
“No. I really haven’t seen her at all. When she joined the company, she was in Cupertino, in Operations. I was in Seattle, in Advanced Products. We didn’t have much contact.”
“So during this time, she wasn’t your superior?”
“No.”
“Give me a picture of Ms. Johnson. How old?”
“Thirty-five.”
“Would you characterize her as attractive?”
“Yes.”
“Very attractive?”
“She was a Miss Teenage something as a kid.”
“So you would say she’s very attractive.” The pen scratched on the legal pad.
“Yes.”
“And how about other men-would you say they find her very attractive?”
“Yes.”
“What about her manner with regard to sexual matters? Does she make jokes? Sexual jokes, innuendoes, ribald comments?”
“No, never.”
“Body language? Flirtatious? Does she touch people?”
“Not really. She certainly knows she’s good-looking, and she can play on that. But her manner is . . . kind of cool. She’s the Grace Kelly type.”
“They say Grace Kelly was very sexually active, that she had affairs with most of her leading men.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Uh-huh. What about Ms. Johnson, does she have affairs inside the company?”
“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t heard anything.”
Fernandez flipped to a new page on her pad. “All right. And how long has she been your supervisor? Or is she your supervisor?”
“Yes, she is. One day.”
For the first time, Fernandez looked surprised. She glanced at him, and took another bite of her sandwich. “One day?”
“Yes. Yesterday was the first day of a new company organization. She had just been appointed.”
“So the day she is appointed, she meets with you, in the evening.” “Yes.”
“All right. You were telling me, you were sitting on the couch and she was kissing you. And what happened then?”
“She unzipped-well, first of all, she started rubbing me.”
“Your genitals.”
“Yes. And kissing me.” He found himself sweating. He wiped his forehead with his hand.
“I understand this is difficult. I’ll try to make this as brief as possible,” Fernandez said. “And then?”
“Then, she unzipped my pants, and started rubbing me with her hand.”
“Was your penis exposed?”