He's trying to get ahead of the board disclosure by establishing you as a bad actor, someone who targeted a vendor for personal reasons, and who now has HR exposure. If that complaint lands before the board meeting, it creates a parallel narrative, a pause. When's the board meeting? Monday morning. Marcus said 9:00 a.m. The complaint won't be processed before Monday.
Hartwell said HR doesn't move that fast on a Friday afternoon filing. And Fitch's attorney knows that this isn't about the HR process. It's about the rumor. He wants your name associated with a complaint before you walk into anything official. How do I handle it?
You don't. She said, "You go to the board meeting Monday. You answer questions if you're asked, and you let your documentation speak. Do not respond to the HR filing directly. Do not contact anyone at Fitch's attorney's office.
And do not, under any circumstances, contact Fitch." Understood, he said. Marcus, her voice shifted slightly. Is there anything in the hostile work environment framing that has any surface to stick to? Any interaction with Fitch or anyone connected to him that could be characterized differently in isolation. He thought about the recorded call, about Fitch's voice, the things he'd said, the way the conversation had gone.
The only direct interaction I had with Fitch was a call he initiated to myself from a blocked number. I recorded it. He made statements that are on that recording. If he's characterizing that as hostile, he's going to have a problem when the recording comes out. Artwell was quiet for 2 seconds.
He doesn't know you recorded it. No. Good. She said, "Keep it that way until Monday. That recording is the last card, and it plays best when he least expects it." A pause.
Get some sleep. Monday's going to be long. He slept. Not well, but enough. Sunday morning, he drove back to LA, checked back into the $68 motel, and spent the afternoon doing the thing he was worst at, which was waiting without working.
He read half a book he'd been carrying in his bag for two months. He walked four blocks to a Takaria and ate something that wasn't from a gas station because Dana had told him to. He sat on the edge of the motel bed and thought about Monday. At 700 p.m. Diane called, "My ex called me an hour ago." She said, "He got Hartwell's letter this morning. What did he say?" He said Fitch told him the whole Cambria situation was a setup.
That I'd hired someone with a personal grudge against the contractor group to manufacture a vendor complaint that I was using governance process to push out a legitimate investor. A pause. He used the words malicious targeting. That's the same language as the HR complaint. Marcus said yes.