Page 34 of Exposed

“Yes,” Todd admitted, after a moment.

“So that can’t be good for your bottom line.”

“It’s not.”

“And it can’t be good for you if your department causes the premiums to go up.”

“No. But I never said anything to him about it.”

“Did anybody ever say anything about that to you? Ray or Bashir?”

“No, never.”

“Was it just understood?”

“No, I mean, I admit, I’ll tell you, I worried about it. But I truly never said anything about that to Simon.” Todd shifted in the seat.

“Just tell me, Todd. If you did, no harm, no foul. We can settle this case. It won’t come back on you.”

Todd shifted again. “You don’t know that. You don’t know anything about this business.”

“True, but you don’t know anything about my business, either. And this is about my business—litigation. If this suit gets filed, goes to court, and we lose, it will cost the company a lot more than if we settle. And the PR will be terrible. We can make it go away now, but only if you tell me the truth.”

“I told you the truth!” Todd said, raising his voice. “Why do you think I’m lying? Why? You don’t even know me!”

“Hold on.” Bennie slipped her hand into her messenger bag and extracted Exhibit A, B, and C, the contemporaneous notes attached to the complaint, which she had photocopied. She turned them facedown on the table, watching Todd, who reacted instantly, shifting again in his chair and eyeing the sheets.

“What’s that? Is this some kind of game?”

“No, I’m just trying to get you to level with me. If you’re really telling the truth, then so be it. But I have to know, and this is what you’re up against.” Bennie turned over the top sheet, which was Exhibit A, showing Pensiera’s careful script on a notebook page:

Wednesday, October 20, 11:45 a.m. Todd said: “I hope this next round works, for her sake and for ours. These expenses are going to mount up, and we met our deductible already. Our premiums are going to go up.”

Bennie slid the piece of paper across the table and turned it around so that it faced Todd the right way. “Do you recognize that handwriting?”

“Yes, it’s Simon’s.”

“Take a moment to read it.” Bennie folded her hands,watching Todd critically. He read the sheet quickly, then raked his hand through his hair, leaving lines in the expensive layers of his haircut.

“I don’t know why he would write this. It’s a total lie.” Todd looked up, his face flushing with new anger. “He’s trying to set me up. He’s framing me. He made this whole thing up.”

Bennie kept her expression impassive. “Just so we’re clear, you’re saying that you never said any of this.”

“I never said any of this!”

“You remember that you didnotsay it.”

“I remember that I didnotsay it,” Todd repeated, mimicking her intonation.

“It has the date and the exact time.”

“So what?”

Bennie changed tacks. “You wouldn’t happen to remember where you were on October 20 of last year, would you?”

“Of course not.”

“You keep a calendar?”

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