Look Closely Read Online Free PDF Page A

ahandfulofthosetypesinmyoffice,andtheywere much more overt—staring at your breasts, letting theirhandsrunoveryourbackasyoupassedthem.
    “Are you doubting me?” McKnight asked.
    “I’m trained to doubt everyone.”

    “How interesting.” He sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest, as if waiting for me to make the next move.
    “Look,” I said. “I’m not trying to antagonize you, but if you want to avoid a trial, we need to win this week, and if we’re going to win, we need to make sure you sound credible.”
    “Are you saying I don’t seem credible?” McKnight’s tone was low and, to be honest, scary.
    “I’m simply saying that in case they’re al owed in, you have to be ready for some intense questions on this issue. Your story needs to be perfect.”
    McKnight’s gaze never left my face. “Wel , Miss Sutter, what part of my ‘story,’ as you put it, don’t you believe?”
    I reviewed the notes I’d taken. It was a good question, because I couldn’t exactly find fault with his rendition of the events. He was the problem, I realized. I didn’t trust him, and that made me very anxious. Any lawyer’s worst nightmare is a client you can’t trust, who might hold things back or take matters into his own hands. McKnight struck me as that type, but I couldn’t very wel tel him that. In one month, the Gardner, State & Lord executive committee would vote on new partners. If I lost the McKnight account right before the vote, I might lose the partnership. I’d worked too hard to let this guy ruin it for me.
    “It’s nothing precise,” I said, raising my head to meet his eyes again. “As I mentioned, I just want you to be ready.”
    “If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s this. I am always, always ready.” He closed the file folder in front of him as if the subject were also closed.
    “Al right then. Let’s review what’s going to happen this week.”
    I took them through what I expected of the arbitration step by step, and when we were finished, McKnight stood from the table and began moving toward the door. It was twelve o’clock, one hour before the arbitration started.
    “Please cal if you want lunch sent up,” he said to me. “You do eat, right? You do require regular human sustenance?”
    I blinked a few times, confused at his hostility. “I’ve been known to eat once in a while,” I said wryly.
    “Good to hear it. I’l see you at the arbitration.”
    “I think we should walk over together so that we can talk some more about your testimony,” I said.
    He stopped and turned around. “I think you’ve taken up enough of my time.” With that, he sailed out the door.
    I looked at Beth. “What the hel ?”
    She rol ed her eyes. “Don’t take it personal y. Supposedly, he wasn’t always like this. I’ve heard that he used to be a decent guy until he got a divorce years ago. He was never the same after that.”
    “A divorce made him such a jerk? Are you kidding me?”
    She shrugged. “You never know what can push a person over the edge.”
    A few days later, I sat at a scratched wooden table, alone in the arbitration room, getting ready to present McKnight’s Web designer as my next witness. Since everyone else was at lunch, the room was cool and quiet. The proceeding was being held in a stately old government building near the federal courthouse, the place where McKnight Corporation would find itself in approximately six months for a trial if the arbitration didn’t go wel . The arbitrators had barred members of the press from the room, but journalists were always stationed outside, like vultures waiting to swoop, so most of the time I stayed put until I had to leave for the day.
    It was hard when the room was so stil . I wasn’t as focused as I should have been. My thoughts kept straying from the notes and deposition transcripts piled in front of me to the letter tucked at the bottom of my trial bag. I kept counting the days until I could