Chapter 39 - Sarah's Decision
Sarah was exhausted by being described in news coverage as an anonymous “former insider.” Her attorney advised her to give a protected factual statement to the independent investigation, with clear limits on how her information could be used.
“I keep thinking I should have done more before I resigned,” she told me over coffee.
“More than reporting the numbers and asking for a review?”
“I should have insisted.”
“Would they have listened?”
She considered that. “I don't know.”
The shame in her face reminded me of my own thoughts about the marriage: if I'd asked the right questions, if I'd been less quiet, if I'd looked closer. It's easier to blame oneself for not seeing something than to accept that another person intentionally hid it.
Sarah signed the statement that afternoon. It identified the files she had seen, the concerns she had raised, and the instructions she'd been given. It did not pretend she could prove who leaked the model.
We celebrated afterward with two bakery cookies, eaten on a bench while a delivery dog chased fallen leaves.
May you like
“Feels anticlimactic,” she said.
“Good,” I told her. “Maybe truth is allowed to be.”
