Disclosure: A Novel (32 page)

"Maybe he had to go to the bathroom."

"So? How long does that take? Goddamn Sanders. Could you believe him?"

"No, I couldn't, Bob."

"I just don't understand. He won't deal with me on this. And I'm bending over backward here. I offer him his job back, I offer him his stock back, I offer him everything. And what does he do? Jesus."

"He's not a team player, Bob."

"You got that right. And he's not willing to meet us. We've got to get him to come to the table."

"Yes we do, Bob."

"He's not feeling it," Garvin said. "That's the problem."

"The story ran this morning. It can't have made him happy."

"Well, he's not feeling it."

Garvin paced again.

"There's the car," Blackburn said, pointing down the street. The Lincoln sedan was driving toward them.

"Finally," Garvin said. "Now look, Phil. I'm tired of wasting time on Sanders. We tried being nice, and it didn't work. That's the long and the short of it. So what are we going to do, to make him feel it?"

"I've been thinking about that," Phil said. "What's Sanders doing? I mean really doing?

He's smearing Meredith, right?"

"Goddamn right."

"He didn't hesitate to smear her."

"He sure as hell didn't."

"And it's not true, what he's saying about her. But the thing about a smear is that it doesn't have to be true. It just has to be something people are willing to believe is true."

"So?"

"So maybe Sanders needs to see what that feels like."

"Like what feels like? What're you talking about?"

Blackburn stared thoughtfully at the approaching car. "I think that Tom's a violent man."

"Oh hell," Garvin said, "he's not. I've known him for years. He's a pussycat."

"No," Blackburn said, rubbing his nose. "I disagree. I think he's violent. He was a football player in college, he's a rough-and-tumble sort of guy. Plays football on the company team, knocks people around. He has a violent streak. Most men do, after all. Men are violent."

"What kind of shit is this?"

"And you have to admit, he was violent to Meredith," Blackburn continued. "Shouting.

Yelling. Pushing her. Knocking her over. Sex and violence. A man out of control. He's much bigger than she is. Just stand them side by side, anybody can see the difference.

He's much bigger. Much stronger. All you have to do is look, and you see he is a violent abusive man. That nice exterior is just a cover. Sanders is one of those men who take out their hostility by beating up defenseless women."

Garvin was silent. He squinted at Blackburn. "You'll never make this fly._

"I think I can."

"Nobody in their right mind'll buy it."

Blackburn said, "I think somebody will."

"Yeah? Who?"

"Somebody," Blackburn said.

The car pulled up to the curb. Garvin opened the door. "Well, all I know," he said, "is that we need to get him to negotiate. We need to apply pressure to bring him to the table."

Blackburn said, "I think that can be arranged."

Garvin nodded. "It's in your hands, Phil. Just make sure it happens." He got in the car.

Blackburn got in the car after Garvin. Garvin said to the driver, "Where the fuck have you been?"

The door slammed shut. The car drove off.

Sanders drove with Fernandez in Alan's car back to the mediation center. Fernandez listened to Sanders's report of the conversation with Garvin, shaking her head. "You never should have seen him alone. He couldn't have behaved that way if I was there. Did he really say you have to make allowances for women?"

"Yes."

"That's noble of him. He's found a virtuous reason why we should protect a harasser. It's a nice touch. Everyone should sit back and allow her to break the law because she's a woman. Very nice."

Sanders felt stronger hearing her words. The conversation with Garvin had rattled him.

He knew that Fernandez was working on him, building him back up, but it worked anyway.

"The whole conversation is ridiculous," Fernandez said. "And then he threatened you?"

Sanders nodded.

"Forget it. It's just bluster."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely," she said. `Just talk. But at least now you know why they say men just don't get it. Garvin gave you the same lines that every corporate guy has been giving for years: Look at it from the harasser's point of view. What did they do that was so wrong. Let bygones be bygones. Everybody just go back to work. We'll be one big happy family again."

"Incredible," Alan said, driving the car.

"It is, in this day and age," Fernandez said. "You can't pull that stuff anymore. How old is Garvin, anyway?"

"Almost sixty."

"That helps explain it. But Blackburn should have told him it's completely unacceptable.

According to the law, Garvin really _ doesn't have any choice. At a minimum, he has to transfer Johnson, not you. And almost certainly, he should fire her."

"I don't think he will," Sanders said.

"No, of course he won't."

"She's his favorite," Sanders said.

"More to the point, she's his vice president," Fernandez said. She stared out the window as they went up the hill toward the mediation center. "You have to realize, all these decisions are about power. Sexual harassment is about power, and so is the company's resistance to dealing with it. Power protects power. And once a woman gets up in the power structure, she'll be protected by the structure, the same as a man. It's like the way doctors won't testify against other doctors. It doesn't matter if the doctor is a man or a woman. Doctors just don't want to testify against other doctors. Period. And corporate executives don't want to investigate claims against other executives, male or female."

"So it's just that women haven't had these jobs?"

"Yes. But they're starting to get them now. And now they can be as unfair as any man ever was."

"Female chauvinist sows," Alan said.

"Don't you start," Fernandez said.

"Tell him the figures," Alan said.

"What figures?" Sanders said.

"About five percent of sexual harassment claims are brought by men against women. It's a relatively small figure. But then, only five percent of corporate supervisors are women.

So the figures suggest that women executives harass men in the same proportion as men harass women. And as more women get corporate jobs, the percentage of claims by men is going up. Because the fact is, harassment is a power issue. And power is neither male nor female. Whoever is behind the desk has the opportunity to abuse power. And women will take advantage as often as men. A case in point being the delightful Ms. Johnson.

And her boss isn't firing her."

"Garvin says it's because the situation isn't clear."

"I'd say that tape is pretty damn clear," Fernandez said. She frowned. "Did you tell him about the tape?"

“No.”

"Good. Then I think we can wrap this case up in the next two hours."

Alan pulled into the parking lot and parked the car. They all got out.

"All right," Fernandez said. "Let's see where we are with her significant others. Alan.

We've still got her previous employer-"

"Conrad Computer. Right. We're on it.

"And also the one before that."

"Symantec."

"Yes. And we have her husband-"

"I've got a call into CoStar for him."

"And the Internet business? Àfriend'?"

"Working on it."

"And we have her B-school, and Vassar."

"Right."

"Recent history is the most important. Focus on Conrad and the husband."

"Okay," Alan said. "Conrad's a problem, because they supply systems to the government and the CIA. They gave me some song and dance about neutral reference policy and nondisclosure of prior employees."

"Then get Harry to call them. He's good on negligent referral. He can shake them up if they continue to stonewall."

"Okay. He may have to."

Alan got back in the car. Fernandez and Sanders started walking up to the mediation center. Sanders said, "You're checking her past companies?"

"Yes. Other companies don't like to give damaging information on prior employees. For years, they would never give anything at all except the dates of employment. But now there's something called compelled self-publication, and something called negligent referral. A company can be liable now for failing to reveal a problem with a past employee. So we can try to scare them. But in the end, they may not give us the damaging information we want."

"How do you know they have damaging information to give?"

Fernandez smiled. "Because Johnson is a harasser. And with harassers, there's always a pattern. It's never the first time."

"You think she's done this before?"

"Don't sound so disappointed," Fernandez said. "What did you think? That she did all this because she thought you were so cute? I guarantee you she has done it before." They walked past the fountains in the courtyard toward the door to the center building. "And now," Fernandez said, "let's go cut Ms. Johnson to shreds."

Precisely at one-thirty, judge Murphy entered the mediation room. She looked at the seven silent people sitting around the table and frowned. "Has opposing counsel met?"

"We have," Heller said.

"With what result?" Murphy said.

"We have failed to reach a settlement," Heller said.

"Very well. Let's resume." She sat down and opened her notepad. "Is there further discussion relating to the morning session?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Fernandez said. "I have some additional questions for Ms. Johnson."

"Very well. Ms. Johnson?"

Meredith Johnson put on her glasses. "Actually, Your Honor, I would like to make a statement first."

"All right."

"I've been thinking about the morning session," Johnson said, speaking slowly and deliberately, "and Mr. Sanders's account of the events of Monday night. And I've begun to feel that there may be a genuine misunderstanding here."

"I see." Judge Murphy spoke absolutely without inflection. She stared at Meredith. "All right."

"When Tom first suggested a meeting at the end of the day, and when he suggested that we have some wine, and talk over old times, I'm afraid I may have unconsciously responded to him in a way that he might not have intended."

Judge Murphy didn't move. Nobody was moving. The room was completely still.

"I believe it is correct to say that I took him at his word, and began to imagine a, uh, romantic interlude. And to be frank, I was not opposed to that possibility. Mr. Sanders and I had a very special relationship some years ago, and I remembered it as a very exciting relationship. So I believe it is fair to say that I was looking forward to our meeting, and that perhaps I presumed that it would lead to an encounter. Which I was, unconsciously, quite willing to have occur."

Alongside Meredith, Heller and Blackburn sat completely stonefaced, showing no reaction at all. The two female attorneys showed no reaction. This had all been worked out in advance, Sanders realized. What was going on? Why was she changing her story?

Johnson cleared her throat, then continued in the same deliberate way. "I believe it is correct to say that I was a willing participant in all the events of the evening. And it may be that I was too forward, at one point, for Mr. Sanders's taste. In the heat of the moment, I may have overstepped the bounds of propriety and my position in the company. I think that's possible. After serious reflection, I find myself concluding that my own recollection of events and Mr. Sanders's recollection of events are in much closer agreement than I had earlier recognized."

There was a long silence. Judge Murphy said nothing. Meredith Johnson shifted in her chair, took her glasses off, then put them back on again.

"Ms. Johnson," Murphy said finally, "do I understand you to say that you are now agreeing to Mr. Sanders's version of the events on Monday night?"

"In many respects, yes. Perhaps in most respects."

Sanders suddenly realized what had happened: they knew about the tape.

But how could they know? Sanders himself had learned of it only two hours ago. And Levin had been out of his office, having lunch with them. So Levin couldn't have told them. How could they know?

"And, Ms. Johnson," Murphy said, "are you also agreeing to the charge of harassment by Mr. Sanders?"

"Not at all, Your Honor. No."

"Then I'm not sure I understand. You've changed your story. You say you now agree that Mr. Sanders's version of the events is correct in most respects. But you do not agree that he has a claim against you?"

"No, Your Honor. As I said, I think it was all a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding," Murphy repeated, with an incredulous look on her face.

"Yes, Your Honor. And one in which Mr. Sanders played a very active role."

“Ms, . Johnson. According to Mr. Sanders, you initiated kissing over his protests; you pushed him down on the couch over his protests; you unzipped his trousers and removed his penis over his protests; and you removed your own clothing over his protests. Since Mr. Sanders is your employee, and dependent on you for employment, it is difficult for me to comprehend why this is not a clear-cut and indisputable case of sexual harassment on your part."

"I understand, Your Honor," Meredith Johnson said calmly. "And I realize I have changed my story. But the reason I say it is a misunderstanding is that from the beginning, I genuinely believed that Mr. Sanders was seeking a sexual encounter with me, and that belief guided my actions."

"You do not agree that you harassed him."

"No, Your Honor. Because I thought I had clear physical indications that Mr. Sanders was a willing participant. At times he certainly took the lead. So now, I have to ask myself why he would take the lead-and then so suddenly withdraw. I don't know why he did that. But I believe he shares responsibility for what happened. That is why I feel that, at the very least, we had a genuine misunderstanding. And I want to say that I am sorry truly, deeply sorry-for my part in this misunderstanding."