Disclosure_ A Novel - Michael Crichton [118]
Could it be someone at Conley-White? Hell, he thought, it could be anybody.
“What does it mean, we’re checking the wrong company?” he said. “We’re checking all her past employers, and we’re having a very difficult—”
He stopped.
You’re checking the wrong company.
“I must be an idiot,” he said. He started typing at his computer.
“What is it?” Fernandez said.
“They’ve restricted my access, but I still should be able to get this,” he said, typing quickly.
“Get what?” she said, puzzled.
“You say harassers have a pattern, right?”
“Right.”
“It shows up again and again, right?”
“Right.”
“And we’re checking her past employers, to get information about past episodes of harassment.”
“Right. And failing.”
“Yes. But the thing is,” Sanders said, “she’s worked here for the last four years, Louise. We’re checking the wrong company.”
He watched as the computer terminal flashed:
SEARCHING DATABASE
And then, after a moment, he turned the screen so Fernandez could see:
Digital Communications Data Reference Search Report
DB 4: Human Resources (Sub 5/Employee Records)
Search Criteria:
1. Disposition: Terminated a/o Transferred a/o Resigned
2. Supervisor: Johnson, Meredith
3. Other Criteria: males only
Fernandez scanned the list. “Looks like working for Meredith Johnson can be hazardous to your job. You’re looking at the classic pattern: people last only a few months, and then resign or ask to be transferred elsewhere. Everything voluntary. Nobody ever fired, because that might trigger a wrongful termination suit. Classic. You know any of these people?”
“No,” Sanders said, shaking his head. “But three of them are in Seattle,” he said.
“I only see one.”
“No, Aldus is here. And Squire Systems is out in Bellevue. So Richard Jackson and Frederic Cohen are up here, too.”
“You have any way to get details of termination packages on these people?” she said. “That would be helpful. Because if the company paid anybody off, then we have a de facto case.”
“No.” Sanders shook his head. “Financial data is beyond minimal access.”
“Try anyway.”
“But what’s the point? The system won’t let me.”
“Do it,” Fernandez said.
He frowned. “You think they’re monitoring me?”
“I guarantee it.”
“Okay.” He typed in the parameters and pressed the search key. The answer came back:
FINANCIAL DATABASE SEARCH IS BEYOND LEVEL (0) ACCESS
He shrugged. “Just as I thought. No cigar.”
“But the point is, we asked the question,” Fernandez said. “It’ll wake them right up.”
Sanders was heading toward the bank of elevators when he saw Meredith coming toward him with three Conley-White executives. He turned quickly, then went to the stairwell and started walking down the four flights to the street level. The stairwell was deserted.
One flight below, the door opened and Stephanie Kaplan appeared and started coming up the stairs. Sanders was reluctant to speak to her; Kaplan was, after all, the chief financial officer and close to both Garvin and Blackburn. In the end, he said casually, “How’s it going, Stephanie.”
“Hello, Tom.” Her nod to him was cool, reserved.
Sanders continued past her, going down a few more steps, when he heard her say, “I’m sorry this is so difficult for you.”
He paused. Kaplan was one flight above him, looking down. There was no one else in the stairwell.
He said, “I’m managing.”
“I know you are. But still, it must be hard. So much going on at once, and nobody giving you information. It must be confusing to try to figure everything out.”
Nobody giving you information?
“Well, yes,” he said, speaking slowly. “It is hard to figure things out, Stephanie.”
She nodded. “I remember when I first started out in business,” she said. “I had a woman friend who got a very good job in a company that didn’t usually hire women executives. In her new position, she had a lot of stress and crises. She was proud of the way she was dealing with the problems. But it turned out she’d only been hired because there was a financial scandal in her division, and from the beginning they were setting her up to take