“Still? It’s been more than an hour.”
“They just brought in Conley.”
“Only Conley? Nobody else?”
“No. And Nichols has left the building.”
“What about Meredith?”
“Nobody’s seen her.”
He leaned back in his chair. He stared out the window. His computer gave three beeps.
30 SECONDS TO DIRECT VIDEO LINKUP: DC/M-DC/S
SEN: A. KAHN
REC: T. SANDERS
Kahn was calling. Sanders smiled grimly. Cindy came in and said, “Arthur’s going to call.”
“I see that.”
15 SECONDS TO DIRECT VIDEO LINKUP: DC/M-DC/S
Sanders adjusted his desk lamp and sat back. The screen blossomed, and he saw the shimmering image resolve. It was Arthur, in the plant.
“Oh, Tom. Good. I hope it’s not too late,” Arthur said.
“Too late for what?” Sanders said.
“I know there’s a meeting today. There’s something I have to tell you.
“What’s that, Arthur?”
“Well, I’m afraid I haven’t been entirely straightforward with you, Tom. It’s about Meredith. She made changes in the line six or seven months ago, and I’m afraid she intends to blame that on you. Probably in the meeting today.”
“I see.”
“I feel terrible about this, Tom,” Arthur said, hanging his head. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything, Arthur,” Sanders said.
Kahn smiled apologetically. “I wanted to tell you earlier. I really did. But Meredith kept saying that you would be out. I didn’t know what to
do. She said there was a battle coming, and I had better pick the winner.”
“You picked wrong, Arthur,” Sanders said. “You’re fired.” He reached up and snapped off the television camera in front of him.
“What’re you talking about?”
“You’re fired, Arthur.”
“But you can’t do this to rue…,” Kahn said. His image faded, began to shrink. “You can’t-”
The screen was blank.
Fifteen minutes later, Mark Lewyn came by the office. He tugged at the neck of his black Armani T-shirt. “I think I’m an asshole,” he said.
“Yeah. You are.”
“It’s just . . . I didn’t understand the situation,” he said.
“That’s right, you didn’t.”
“What’re you going to do now?”
“I just fired Arthur.”
`Jesus. And what else?”
“I don’t know. We’ll see how it shakes out.”
Lewyn nodded and went away nervously. Sanders decided to let him be nervous for a while. In the end, their friendship would be repaired. Adele and Susan were good friends. And Mark was too talented to replace in the company. But Lewyn could sweat for a while; it’d do him good.
At one o’clock, Cindy came in and said, “The word is Max Dorfman just went into the conference with Garvin and Marden.”
“What about John Conley?”
“He’s gone. He’s with the accountants now.”
“Then that’s a good sign.”
“And the word is Nichols was fired.”
“Why do they think that?”
“He flew home an hour ago.”
Fifteen minutes later, Sanders saw Ed Nichols walking down the hallway. Sanders got up and went out to Cindy’s desk. “I thought you said Nichols went home.”
“Well, that’s what I heard,” she said. “It’s crazy. You know what they’re saying about Meredith now?”
“What?”
“They say she’s staying on.”
“I don’t believe it,” Sanders said.
“Bill Everts told Stephanie Kaplan’s assistant that Meredith Johnson is not going to be fired, that Garvin is backing her one hundred percent. Phil is going to take the rap for what happened in Malaysia but Garvin still believes Meredith is young and this shouldn’t be held against her. So she’s staying in her job.”
“I don’t believe it.”
Cindy shrugged. “That’s what they say,” she said.
He went back to his office and stared out the window. He told himself it was just a rumor. After a while, the intercom buzzed. “Tom? Meredith Johnson just called. She wants to see you in her office right away.”
Bright sunlight streamed in through the big windows on the fifth floor. The assistant outside Meredith’s office was away from her desk. The door was ajar.
He knocked.
“Come in,” Meredith Johnson said.
She was standing, leaning back against the edge of her desk, her arms folded across her chest. Waiting.
“Hello, Tom,” she said.
“Meredith.”
“Come in. I won’t bite.”
He came in, leaving the door open.
“I must say that you outdid yourself this morning, Tom. I was surprised at how much you were able to learn in a short time. And it was really quite resourceful, the approach you took in the meeting.”
He said nothing.
“Yes, it was a really excellent effort. You feeling proud of yourself?” she said, staring hard at him.