Then she said, "Call Renee. Tell her I need everything she's found on Bridget's communications with Graham Pike. " Quinton reached for his phone. Nia sat down on the arm of his chair, leaned against his shoulder, and looked at Helena with a calm that was almost unsettling. "Are you going to be okay? " Nia asked. Helena looked at her for a moment.
"I think so," she said. It was the most honest answer she had given anyone in 8 months. The board met at 9:00 a. M. In the 44th floor conference room.
There were 11 members present. Bridget Cain sat at the far end of the table in the chair she always chose, the one that positioned her directly opposite whoever was presenting. She had a leather portfolio open in front of her, and the particular stillness of a person who believed the outcome was already settled. Helena came in last. She was not alone.
Quentyn was behind her. Renee came in after him carrying a laptop and a folder of printed pages. And behind Renee, Dr. Arthur Lennox. Helena's surgeon walked in with his hands in his coat pockets and a look on his face that suggested he had not slept well and had something he needed to say. Bridget's stillness became a different kind of stillness.
The board chair looked at the four of them and said, "We're here to discuss the Northgate proposal and the question of executive continuity. " Helena, do you have something to present before we proceed? I do, she said. Dr. Lennox went first. He stood at the head of the table and spoke without notes. He acknowledged that 8 months ago he had delivered a prognosis to Helena Carr that he had framed in terms that were more absolute than the evidence warranted.
He explained precisely and without self-serving qualification the distinction between complete and incomplete spinal injuries. He confirmed that the sessions Quentyn had conducted were grounded in current evidence-based neuro rehabilitation research, that they had been supervised and documented in accordance with academic clinical standards by Dr. Carol Meyers, and that the university conduct complaint against Quentyn Row had been filed on the basis of a material misrepresentation of those facts. He sat down. Quentyn opened the notebook and walked the board through 12 weeks of session records. He did not editorialize.
He presented the data the way he had been trained to present clinical data clearly in sequence with the documentation visible for anyone who wanted to review it. Then Renee connected her laptop to the conference room display and put up a timeline. 18 months of communications between Bridget Kaine and Graham Pike at Northgate Systems. A series of internal data transfers from Bridget's access profile to an external account flagged by the company's security system, but never escalated because the escalation path ran through Bridget's own office. Stock analyst notes citing information that had not been publicly disclosed at the time they were written.
Bridget said, "This is a distraction from the actual matter before the board, which is which is whether this company should be sold to the competitor you've been feeding proprietary information to for 18 months," Helena said. The room was quiet. Bridget looked at her. Her voice remained measured. "Your judgment has been compromised.