Page 92 of Go Back to December

Charge it to my employee ID.

“It’s Sybil.” I frown at my phone. “She’s asking for snacks.”

“Now? It’s barely after nine o’clock on a holiday.” Lacy flicks through her phone and curses.

“What’s going on?”

“Follow Sybil’s directions,” she replies. “Let yourself in reception with your work ID. If anyone asks, you’re delivering a lunch order. I’ll meet you up there.”

With a Hard-Core Shore stare, she adds, “Don’t talk to anyone.”

Since I’m forbidden from asking for directions, it takes a while for me to navigate the maze of corridors to conference room 57G.

It’s hidden in an interior hallway with no windows. The door handle has one of those old-fashioned punch locks, the kind you’d find on a locker in a fitness club circa 1998. When I knock gently at the door, Lacy pulls it open and motions for me to hurry inside.

Sybil sits at a small oval table. Behind her, file boxes stack against the wall from floor to ceiling. Everything’s dimly lit by a partially burned-out fluorescent bulb that flickers with the cadence of the patrol light at Alcatraz.

This has to be the shabbiest, shadiest room in the entire Blackhart & Steele building. I feel the devil coming for my soul.

“What is all this?”

Lacy smirks. “It’s the data room. For the merger.”

I recoil. Blinking at anything in here would require me to sign away most of my vital organs. Whatever Sybil has uncovered must be urgent and catastrophic.

“You’re just delivering food,” Sybil says. She peers at the credenza on the far wall. The surface is entirely clear, except for an open folder.

“You should unpack slowly. Wouldn’t want you to spill. Lacy, make sure that you help her.”

We cross the tiny room, dread chaining our steps like we’re walking the Green Mile. Together, we place the bags on top of the table and stare at the file. It’s a simple chart from a PowerPoint. At the top it reads Project Starfish: Employee Reduction Plan.

Out-of-Scope

Complex Litigation

Tax and Finance

Bankruptcy

IP

Family Law

Labor & Employment

In-Scope

Environmental

Regulatory

Employee Services

My hand hovers above the crisp black type. “That’s us. The café.”

Lacy draws my finger below it. Where the list reads Human Rights.

At this stage, I shouldn’t be shocked that Blackhart & Steele would want to eliminate the only practice area rooted in integrity, or betray the one person who made the merger driving these changes possible.