Chapter 12 - MARCUS FINALLY STOPPED CALLING IT A JOB
Marcus cooperated after Calder stopped paying his legal expenses.
I met him once during a recorded civil deposition.
He looked smaller than he did behind the diner counter.
“Why me?”
“You know why.”
“I want you to say it.”
He looked at his attorney.
Then:
“Calder needed you local.”
“So you sabotaged applications.”
“I gave him information.”
“You knew what happened afterward.”
“Yes.”
“You cut my shifts.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said if you got desperate enough, you’d open the folder.”
“And humiliating me?”
Marcus looked down.
“That wasn’t Calder.”
Good.
I wanted that separated.
Not every insult was part of a grand plot.
Sometimes a cruel man simply enjoys having power over an employee.
“You touched me.”
His face tightened.
I continued:
“You made comments. Changed schedules when I rejected you. Threatened references.”
“Yes.”
“No one paid you for that.”
“No.”
That answer mattered.
Conspiracy did not absolve personality.
Marcus had been both recruited and willing.
Then he said:
“You could have left anytime.”
I almost laughed.
“After you sabotaged the exits?”
He had no answer.
Northstar settled my employment claims without admitting every allegation.
Marcus lost the job.
Calder’s relationship to the surveillance and evidence interference became part of wider proceedings.
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My life did not become dramatically satisfying because he suffered.
I simply stopped having to see him.
