Chapter 8 - The Question Nobody Could Dismiss
The courtroom did not resemble the rooms in which Preston Caldwell usually won arguments. There were no private waiters, no chandeliers designed to flatter him, and no dinner guests obliged to laugh. He sat beside his lawyers wearing a dark suit and an expression of practiced impatience. Across the aisle, Rosa held a notebook filled with questions from the plant.
The immediate matter was narrow: whether a proposed sale of Hudson Forge's Cleveland facility to an affiliated buyer should proceed before interested parties could examine the process. The court was not being asked to decide every allegation about pensions, every employment claim, or who had said what at Laura. The judge made that clear before the testimony began.
Meline had been asked to explain her role in assembling the chronology, not to present herself as an authority on the company's entire financial condition. She rehearsed with her attorney until she could distinguish what she personally heard from what she learned afterward. Then she waited, palms damp, as executives spoke about deadlines and assets.
Preston's lawyer argued that the company needed immediate cash. The proposed buyer, he said, could close quickly and keep at least part of the plant operating. Delay might cost the workers the jobs the other side claimed to protect.
The independent board committee's lawyer presented records showing that Preston's financial interest in the buyer had not been properly disclosed to the committee when it considered the offer. She also described the existence of an alternative bidder requesting a short period for review. The alternative was not guaranteed. Its interest was genuine enough to warrant examination.
Nina testified about the approval she had signed and the different instruction she subsequently discovered. She acknowledged her own lack of care. Gideon confirmed that he had pressed her to move quickly and had failed to document important questions. Neither presented himself as blameless.
When Meline's name was called, Preston looked up. She walked to the witness chair in the same blue coat Evelyn had chosen, then took it off and folded it neatly over the chair beside her.
“Were you employed at Laura on the night of the dinner?” the committee's lawyer asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you hear a discussion about Hudson Forge?”
“Yes. Some of it was in Arabic.”
“Can you tell the court exactly what you heard?”
Meline repeated the statements as accurately as she could, marking where her memory was uncertain. She described Preston's contemptuous language and the discussion about dismissals and pensions. She did not say she witnessed a transfer. She did not suggest that the dinner conversation established the contents of contracts she'd never seen.
Preston's lawyer stood. “You lost your job after that dinner, correct?”
“I was suspended without pay.”
“And you were angry?”
“I was frightened about my income. I was also angry.”
“Are you seeking money from Mr. Caldwell?”
“I declined an offer conditioned on saying I misunderstood him.”
“Did you accept payment from a competitor?”
“No.”
“You expect this publicity to revive your career?”
Meline glanced at Rosa, then returned her attention to the question. “I expect to answer questions truthfully. I don't know what it will do to my career.”
The attorney tried a different approach. “You're not a pension expert, are you?”
“No. The employees have an independent accountant. I assembled a chronology from records the relevant people were permitted to share.”
The simplicity seemed to irritate him. Meline was familiar with the tactic. If she could be made to claim too much, the other side could prove she didn't know everything and argue that she knew nothing. She refused the invitation.
During a recess, Rosa sat beside her in the hallway. “I wanted you to tell him off in Arabic.”
Meline smiled. “Would it help?”
“Probably not. But it would feel amazing.”
They shared a laugh that dissolved the pressure in Meline's chest for the first time that day.
A few hours later, the judge ordered a temporary pause on the proposed insider sale while the relevant parties completed further review. The decision was limited; the judge stressed that the company's distress remained serious and the employees needed timely answers. But the immediate transfer would not happen behind closed doors.
Rosa squeezed Meline's hand. “We bought time.”
“Don't say bought. We can't afford it.”
Rosa laughed so loudly the court officer looked over.
Rosa also phoned the plant before anyone could turn the ruling into a triumphal headline. She told workers that the judge had only paused one transaction and that independent bids still needed scrutiny. Some cheered anyway. Others asked whether Friday's pay would arrive. Rosa answered the payroll question first. Meline listened to the call from the courthouse corridor and felt a complicated relief. Their work had mattered, but the people waiting on the other end could not pay rent with a moral victory. Afterward, Leonard thanked her for explaining the difference between a court order and a retirement statement. “My friends keep asking which one they should frame,” he joked. “Neither,” Meline told him. “Frame the photograph from your retirement party when we finally get there.” He laughed, and she hoped the promise wouldn't turn into another thing she couldn't deliver.
Outside, reporters gathered on the steps. Preston's spokesperson announced that the company would defend its actions and pursue a transaction in the best interests of stakeholders. Rosa told journalists that the workers were not celebrating a delay for its own sake; they wanted a legitimate buyer and honest pension information.
Meline declined to address the crowd. She called Evelyn.
“Are you coming home?” her mother asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. I burned the rice.”
“You're not supposed to leave the pot—”
“I know what I'm supposed to do. Come home and criticize me in person.”
Meline took the subway, laughing into her scarf. She thought the hardest part might finally be over.
At the apartment door, Hana called. The alternative bidder had begun its review, but the documents disclosed a hole in Hudson Forge's finances larger than expected. Even if the insider sale was blocked, some employees could lose their jobs. Pension recoveries might take months or years and would depend on the obligations and assets of each arrangement.
“I can't tell Rosa everything will be fine,” Hana said.
May you like
“Neither can I,” Meline answered. “Tell her what you can verify.”
Meline opened the apartment and found Evelyn by the stove, turning the scorched rice into a joke. Tomorrow would bring more complicated news. Tonight, she was home. She washed the pot while her mother told her a long, completely unnecessary story about the neighbor's cat.
