“Not if James is fired. Then John can say: ‘I don’t tolerate fraud. We investigated, he violated policy, and I fired him.’” She traced the red lines on the chart. “But if we start with the Rothman case and the James case is promptly settled once the internal investigation concludes, then we lose any intelligence we would’ve learned from proceeding with James first.”

“I see. Getting information from the James case is helpful,” Hunter said. He studied the flow chart. “But if we start with the Rothman case, John can say that he fired James here and that would mitigate the damage.” He pointed to the red flow chart red arrow showing the James case intersecting the Rothman case.

Audrey looked at the intersection on the chart. “Unless you follow Colette’s proposal and the investigation is put on hold and he isn’t fired.” Yes, good point. Quick thinking. She could see Hunter register that as a good point. “Then John gets all these questions because he’s James’s boss about why he hasn’t dismissed James. That will be a nightmare.” She needed to add that point to these charts. She hadn’t ever considered the possibility of putting the company’s investigation on hold. I know Hen wouldn’t agree to that.

Hunter acknowledged that she had thought this over and asked for copies of the charts. He looked at Colette’s memo again. Her muscles tensed as she debated whether to say more. Then he said, “I agree with Colette that she should direct strategy too, because she is the same level as you. This doesn’t diminish your position.”

She worried that it did—that it would look to the other partners like she needed help.

He said, “You’ll be co-leaders. It’s always good to have more perspectives, although she should have raised her points with you directly. I don’t think she realizes that we’ve worked together for years and how much I value teamwork.”

Cold dismay coursed through her. I just lost strategy. He was bending over backward to be fair to Colette. She didn’t want to share strategy with Colette. She might’ve, if Colette seemed inclined to work with her, but she doubted that was going to be Colette’s approach. Hunter’s speech implicitly recognized that, but still rewarded Colette when she hadn’t worked as part of a team. It would be too confrontational to call him on this. And my ultimate goal is for both of us to make it.

“I need to ask you a question. Am I competing head-to-head against Colette for a partner position? There are rumors to that effect. As long as we are being frank, is that true?” she asked.

“That’s ridiculous. We need more women partners, not less.”

“Can you share with Colette that you think the firm needs more women partners?”

“I will.” Hunter stood.

“I’d appreciate that.”