See Me(114)

“There you are.”

Lost in thought, Maria looked up and saw Jill in the doorway. “Oh, hey…”

“Where were you?” Jill asked. “I came by a little while ago, but you weren’t in your office.”

“Barney wanted to talk to me,” she said.

“Figures,” Jill said, closing the door behind her. “How did the meeting with the detective go?”

Maria proceeded to update Jill on the things Margolis had told her. Like Maria, Jill wasn’t sure quite what to think. She asked the same questions that Maria had and was left with the same sense of confusion.

“I don’t know whether it’s good news or bad news,” Jill finally said. “It’s more confusing now than it was this morning.”

That’s not my only problem, Maria thought.

“What are you thinking about now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your expression just changed.”

“Uh… just thinking back on my meeting with Barney.”

“And?”

“Ken was there.”

Jill nodded. “Because of the lawsuit?”

“Of course.”

“And let me guess. Barney did all the talking… and he poured on the Southern charm and started talking about ‘doing the right thing’?”

“You know him well.”

“Sadly, I do. So… did you learn anything?”

“They want to present ‘a united front.’ ”

“Okaaay… but what exactly does that mean?”

“They want me to sign an affidavit that would essentially say that I never saw Ken do anything wrong, that he’s always professional, and that he never harassed me.”

“Did Barney ask that you sign? Or insist that you sign?”

“He asked. In fact, he made it perfectly clear that he wanted it to be my decision.”

“That’s good.”

“I guess.”

“You guess?”

When Maria didn’t answer, Jill looked at her. “Don’t tell me there’s even more,” she prodded. “Something you didn’t tell me this morning?”

“Well…”

“Let me guess. Ken has been harassing you for a while?”

Maria looked up. “How did you know?”

“Don’t you remember our lunch? After you’d gone paddleboarding with Colin, when I kept asking whether things at work were going okay? I knew you’d gone to the conference with Ken, and I’ve been around here long enough to know exactly what he might have tried to do. Even while you were swearing that everything was fine, I had my suspicions.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Jill offered the kind of shrug that asked, Do you really need me to answer that? “Office politics suck. That’s why Leslie and I have already outlawed them. Back then, I didn’t want to put the idea in your head if it hadn’t happened, but I remember thinking that I was correct in my suspicions. Which is terrible, of course. But I was kind of happy, too, and I know how awful that is for a friend to say.”

“What do you mean, you were kind of happy?”

“If you loved it here, you might not have been so eager to throw your lot in with us. Of course, at the time, I didn’t know about the potential lawsuits.”

“I’m glad you’re so concerned with my well-being.”

“You’re a strong woman, Maria. And frankly, I think you’re smarter than Ken. I knew you’d figure out a way to keep him at bay.”

“I did tell him my boyfriend, the MMA fighter, was the jealous type.”

Jill laughed. “Like I said. Way smarter than Ken. Okay, but back to the meeting you had with Barney and Ken, our illustrious leader. So Barney asked you to sign and you essentially told him that you’d think about it.”

Maria’s jaw dropped. “How could you know what I said?”

“Because I know Barney. He’s a master at masking the obvious, showing how his side is the righteous one, and then mixing in a dollop of guilt, in case you’re still wavering. It’s important for you to put all that aside and think about what actually happened. And by the way, what did happen?”

Maria then offered a recap of the conference – to which Jill didn’t raise an eyebrow – but when she told her about the subsequent encounters, Jill went stony.

“Hold on,” she said. “It’s one thing to offer the ‘my wife doesn’t understand me’ tale, but you’re saying he actually touched your chest?”

“Well, my collarbone… or maybe just below. He didn’t —”

“But his intent was obvious to you? And he wanted to have lunch and discuss being more of a ‘team player’?”

“Yes. But I stopped it from going any further… He didn’t —”

“Come with me,” Jill said, reaching for the doorknob.

“Where are we going?”

“To see Barney and Ken.”

“Let’s just let it go… I’m leaving anyway. And he didn’t actually touch my breast or anything…”

“Well, Barney doesn’t know the details. And I’m sure that the meeting wasn’t only about trying to protect the firm; it was also intended to keep you from joining the other women and filing with the EEOC.”