See Me(112)

“Hi, Maria. Would you mind coming to my office?” he asked.

“Oh, hey, Barney,” she said, gathering her pages and placing them back in the file, feeling a surge of relief. “Thank goodness. I was hoping to talk to you about the complaint. I’ve been thinking that there are a few different angles we can take, and I wanted to make sure I was clear on what you were planning to do before I really started to dig in.”

“You can leave that for now,” he said. “We’ll go over the case later. Will you join me? There’s something we need to discuss in my office.”

Despite Barney’s outwardly pleasant demeanor, there was something in his tone that made her cautious as she rose from her desk. Whatever he wanted to talk about, she suddenly thought, it wasn’t going to be good.

Barney trailed half a step behind her, avoiding even small talk, and it wasn’t until they got to his door that he reached her side. Always the gentleman – even when about to lower the boom, no doubt – he opened the door and motioned toward the high-backed chair farthest from the window that faced his desk. It wasn’t until she’d moved closer to the chairs that she saw who was already seated in one of them. She came to a sudden halt.

Ken.

By then, Barney was already moving around his desk. She continued to stand in place even as Barney began pouring three glasses of water from a pitcher on his desk.

“Please,” he said, urging her to take a seat. “There’s nothing to worry about. We’re just here for a friendly discussion.”

I should simply tell him, no, thank you, and walk out the door, she suddenly thought. What were they going to do? Fire her? And yet, the old habits began kicking in – the ones about respecting her elders and obeying the boss – and she found herself almost on autopilot as she took her seat.

“Would you like a glass?” Barney asked. From the corner of her eye, she could see him studying her.

“No, thank you,” she said. She could still walk out, she told herself, but…

“I appreciate you joining us, Maria,” Barney said, his drawl just a bit heavier than usual, his cadence a beat slower. It was the same way he spoke when in the courtroom. “And I’m sure you might be wondering why we asked you to join us. Now…”

“You said there was something we needed to discuss,” she interrupted. “As in the two of us.”

Barney flinched ever so slightly, his surprise at being cut off evident but only for an instant. He smiled. “Excuse me?”

“You said ‘we,’ as in you and I. You didn’t say that anyone else would be here.”

“Of course,” he said, his voice smoothing once more. “You’re correct. I originally asked you to join me. My apologies for misspeaking.”

He offered an opening for her to respond – no doubt expecting her to dismiss the error – but Colin probably wouldn’t have said anything, so she didn’t, either. I’m learning, she thought.

Barney opened his hands. “I suppose we should just get to it, then, so as not to waste your time with preliminaries. The last thing I would want is for this meeting to extend your workday.”

“Okay.” Inwardly, she smiled to herself.

Again, it wasn’t what he expected her to say, but Barney was a master of recovery. He cleared his throat. “I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors in the office concerning potential allegations by various employees against Ken Martenson. Allegations, by the way, that have no factual basis.”

He waited, but this time she said nothing at all.

“Am I correct?” he finally asked.

She glanced over at Ken, then back to Barney. “I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure if you’ve heard the rumors?”

“Oh, I’ve heard the rumors,” she said.

“Then what aren’t you sure about?”

“I’m not sure whether the allegations have a factual basis or not.”

“I can assure you, Maria, that they do not.”

She waited a couple of beats. “Okay.” Colin, she thought, would be proud of her right now. More than that, she began to understand how the use of the word okay shifted the power dynamic in the room. Or at the very least, set the tone she wanted, even if Barney didn’t like it. He didn’t, but he was professional enough to hide it, the drawl and slower cadence continuing in his courtroom rhythm.

“Because Mr. Martenson is our managing director, the firm intends to vigorously contest these allegations in whatever manner the firm deems best. That includes litigation. Of course, as you know well, when reputations are at stake, cases like this are usually settled to avoid lengthy, expensive, and distracting legal proceedings. In this particular instance, any potential settlement would not reflect on the veracity of the claims, but rather the time, money, and inconvenience that contesting the charges would bring. Obviously, any settlement – if there is a settlement – would be sealed and confidential.”

Maria nodded, thinking, Just get to the point. Why did you ask me here?

“I’m sure I don’t need to review Mr. Martenson’s stellar reputation with you. Those who know him best – people like you and me – know that he has always kept the best interest of the firm at the forefront of his thoughts and actions. He has made tremendous sacrifices, and it’s simply not possible that he would have done anything to put either the firm or his own personal reputation at risk. The allegations, I might add, are preposterous. In his nearly three-decade career as an attorney in our community, no claims of sexual harassment have ever so much as seen the light of day in any courtroom. Three decades of hard work, now at risk because there are people in the world who are simply greedy.”