I tried to jostle my way through a group of people leering out the window and blocking my path. “Excuse me,” I said quietly, before nudging a short bald guy who ignored me. I finally found a clear shot to the security desk and offered a friendly nod to the anxious-looking guard before signing into the logbook.
“Good morning, Ms. Littlejohn. You still haven’t found your security badge, huh?”
“Hey, Jimmy. I can’t find it anywhere. I guess I’ll have to wear the badge of shame again today.”
“I don’t know if you heard, they’re making us tighten up things around here,” he said. “You know, after what happened yesterday. They don’t want the newspeople getting in. They won’t let us cover for folks no more. You gotta get yourself a new badge if it doesn’t turn up soon. Sorry.”
“I understand.”
He offered a sympathetic smile filled with a cluster of crooked teeth as he handed me a peel-and-stick temporary name tag. “By the way, the fourth elevator’s out again. It might be a wait for your ride up.”
“Thanks.” I picked up the name tag and headed for the elevators, bypassing the wooden scaffolding and caution tape surrounding the broken elevator.
A couple minutes later, I stepped into the Legal Department. An unnatural calm hung in the air. The usual morning noises of clicking keyboards, copy machines humming, and people lightly chattering was gone, replaced by the quiet, heavy pall of Michael’s death. Word of his suicide had consumed the entire company, especially the Legal Department staff for the past twenty-four hours. People were genuinely overwhelmed by the loss. A few of the admins even cried the day before.
As the weight of the tragedy settled in, people either worked quietly in their offices or stood around talking in muted little clumps. I quickened my pace when I spotted a small cluster of paralegals standing outside my office door. One of them, Penny Dolan, Walter Graves’s paralegal, stood alongside two other paralegals. Rudy and I called her “Pinkie Do Little” because she had a remarkable skill for getting out of work or doing anything that required her to stay past five o’clock. She watched me approach my office with her arms folded. She flipped her hair across the back of her latest 100 percent polyester outlet mall purchase. “Congratulations, Ellice.” No smile. All snark.
“Excuse me?”
She rolled her eyes and walked off from the small group.
I looked at the others. “What was that about?”
The other women scurried off like a couple cockroaches exposed by the flip of a kitchen light. Sometimes, I wished there were another Black woman who worked in the department. Just anyone else who could pull me from the edge when I wanted to jump down the throat of one of these witches. Rudy and Hardy were supportive, but it wasn’t the same.
I entered my office and closed the door behind me. I took off my coat and hung it on the hook on the back of the door before I sat down at my computer and clicked it on. I started in on the emails. The first one:
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
Date: Wednesday, January 4
To: The Houghton Transportation Family
From: Nate Ashe, Chairman & CEO
Cc: Executive Committee
It is with a heavy heart that I announce the unexpected passing of Michael Sayles, Executive Vice President & General Counsel. Michael was a tireless leader in our organization. His uncompromising ethics and intellectual prowess led the Houghton family through a number of challenges and successes. His presence will be terribly missed.
I am pleased to announce that Ellice Littlejohn has accepted the promotion to replace Michael as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Ellice is an honors graduate of Georgetown University and Yale Law School. She has been a stellar legal business partner since joining the Houghton family three years ago. Her unwavering commitment to the Houghton family will be a tremendous asset to us all. Please join me in congratulating Ellice on this momentous achievement.
What the hell?!
I was so stunned by Nate’s email that I read it twice to make sure I wasn’t mistaken. I hadn’t accepted the offer. We agreed that I would think about it. Why would he make such an announcement?
I picked up the phone. “Hi, Sarah. It’s Ellice. I was—”
“Congratulations, Ellice,” she said, giggling into the phone.
“Uh . . . yeah . . . thanks. I’m calling to see if Nate has a few minutes. I need to speak with him. It’s rather urgent.”
“Well, if you wanna come up now, it shouldn’t be a problem. He doesn’t have a meeting for another hour.”