The senior director’s sentence was quiet, but I watched it change the temperature of the room.

It told Conrad that the protective blindness he had relied on his whole life had, at last, opened its eyes.

There would be no managing this privately.

The company was going to look, and having looked, it was not going to look away.

Chapter 11 — Administrative Leave

Within two months the board voted to place Conrad on administrative leave while outside auditors finished their review.