slightly.
“I received a visit from Nathan Gamble this morning.”
Sidney stopped walking and leaned up against the brick wall of the cafe.
She closed her eyes and grit her teeth until they hurt. “I’m surprised
he waited so long, Henry.”
“He was a little distraught, Sid, to say the least. He firmly believes
you lied to him.”
“Henry, I know this looks bad.” She hesitated and then decided to come
clean. “Jason told me he had a job interview in Los Angeles.
He obviously didn’t want Triton to know. He swore me to secrecy.
That’s why I didn’t tell Gamble.”
“Sid, you’re Triton’s lawyer. There are no secrets–”
“Come on, Henry, this is my husband we’re talking about. His taking
another job isn’t going to damage Triton. And he doesn’t have a
noncompete.”
“Still, Sidney, it hurts me to say this, but I’m not sure you exercised
the best judgment in the matter. Gamble suggested quite strongly to me
that he suspected Jason of stealing corporate secrets.”
“Jason would never do that!”
“That’s not the point. It’s how the client perceives it. Your having
lied to Nathan Gamble does not help matters. Do you know what would
happen to the firm if he were to pull the Triton account?
And don’t think he wouldn’t.” Wharton’s voice was rising steadily.
“Henry, when Gamble wanted to teleconference Jason in, I had maybe two
seconds to think about it:”
“Well, for God’s sake why didn’t you tell Gamble the truth? As you
said, he wouldn’t care.”
“Because a few seconds later I found out my husband was dead!”
Neither one said anything for a moment; however, immense friction was
clearly present. “Some time has passed now,” Wharton reminded her. “If
you didn’t want to tell them, you could have confided in me. I would’ve
taken care of it for you. Now, I believe I can still patch things up.
Gamble can’t hold it against us that your husband wanted to change jobs.
I’m not sure Gamble will be too excited about your working on his
matters in the future, Sidney. Perhaps it’s good you’re taking some
time off. It’ll pass over, though.
I’ll call him right now.”
When she spoke, Sidney’s voice was barely audible. It felt as though a
large fist was wedged down her esophagus. “You can’t tell Gamble about
the job interview, Henry.”
“Excuse me?”
“You can’t do it.”
“Would you mind telling me why not?”
“Because I found out that Jason wasn’t interviewing with any other
company. Apparently…” She paused and forced back a sob.
“Apparently he lied to me.”
When Wharton again spoke, his tone was one of barely sup pressed anger.
“I cannot tell you the irreparable damage that this situation may cause
and may well already have caused.”
“Henry, I don’t know what’s going on. All I’m telling you is what I
know, which isn’t much.”
“What exactly am I supposed to tell Gamble? He’s expecting an answer.”
“Put the onus on me, Henry. Tell him I can’t be reached. I’m not
returning calls. You’re working on it and I won’t be back at the office
until you get to the bottom of the matter.”
Wharton thought that over for a moment. “I guess that might work. At
least temporarily. I appreciate your taking responsibility for the
situation, Sidney. I know it’s not of your making, but the firm
certainly shouldn’t suffer. That’s my chief concern.”
“I understand, Henry. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to find out what
was going on.”
“You sure you’re up to that?” Under the circumstances, Wharton felt
compelled to ask the question, although he was certain of the answer.
“Do I have a choice, Henry?”
“Our prayers are with you, Sidney. Call if you need anything.
We’re a family at Tyler, Stone. We take care of each other.”
Sidney clicked off her phone and put it away. Wharton’s words had hurt
her deeply, but maybe she was just being naive. She and Henry were
professional colleagues and friends, to a point. Their phone
conversation had underscored to her just how superficial most
professional relationships are. As long as you were productive, didn’t
cause waves, kept the sum of the whole thriving, you had nothing to