All Quite Puzzling

 Short Short Fiction By Jane Genova

“I will keep this up for two more weeks.” That’s what Roger E. Smith said to himself. The “this” was threatening the life of the law firm chairman J. Edward Adams.

That this became his brainchild during the gala for equity partners in Paris, France. The non-equities like Smith were left back in the Chicago, Illinois office. There, they were “treated” to a feed of the gush speech Adams delivered, praising the equity partners – their inventive minds, tenacity, and more.

That did it for Smith.

His soul drifted back in time to the ultimate high of his life. That was boarding school where he pulled pranks that had never been traced back to him. Classmates revered him, never cracking when interrogated by the power structure. His legacy was "The Shadow." 

“I could have been the leaker at that Court of the Pompous Asses,” he decided that humiliating day when equity partners were saluted in magical Paris and that salute foisted on the working stiffs back in the urban ugliness of Chicago.

 How could Adams be so thoughtless to stream the “Let Us Praise Famous Equity Partners” address.

However, Smith knew that he never had enough ambition to prepare to apply to clerk at the High Court. Yet, he felt entitled to be an equity partner. That was the trigger.

No, an actual death was not part of the plan. That would be over in seconds. Emotional torment can be imprinted in the fear center of the brain for years. Never good in biology and chemistry, Smith was loosey-goosey in how he spun that fantasy of a traumatized section of the brain.  

The first move was a carefully done cut and paste of letters from a print magazine. They spelled out “You are scheduled for execution in 11.5 weeks.” He wore gloves, burned the magazine, and through myriad convolutions got the message delivered.

He smirked when the FBI arrived. The Administrative Assistant Camille Carlucci who Adams made feel small told select members of the office, in strict confidence, that Adams’ hands shook.

The next move was a quick hack. Smith always regretted not getting a doctorate in information science. The extracted emails disparaging colleagues and ex-wives, They were leaked to both Abovethelaw and, in the UK, RollonFriday. Carlucci shared in strict confidence that Adams had called in a psychiatrist. The invoice was made for “executive coaching.”

Smith was regaining the confidence he had lost after the transition from boarding school to the grim competitive arena of college, law school, and employment in Big Law. Adams took notice of the strategies Smith was recommending in two M&A transactions. “Genius,” Adams blurted out. And that it was.

That left Smith in a pickle. Should he shift to being ambitious, continuing the superior performance, and doing what elsse it takes to become equity partner? Let the resentments fade?

Or should he continue to enjoy being a clever teenage boy in a power-heavy setting?

“Only a few weeks more, then I can decide if I want to ‘be all I can be,’” Smith said to himself. That was when ringing off a conference call in which he was praised by Adams.

What was leaked as an exclusive to The New York Times was a copy of the original death threat. Adams’ enemies came out of the woodwork. It was quite the ambush. Outing his alleged transgressions and overall character defects were beyond the usual hatchet job.

Over that weekend Adams committed suicide with a gun.

Smith lost his champion. The confidence went too. In boarding school no prank had gone that wrong. This was all quite puzzling. That preoccupied him, not a possible lay off now that global and US M&A was in decline.

At his boarding school reunion it was difficult not to confide to former classmates that he hadn’t lost his touch.

Connect with author Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com. Her first work of fiction was the book “The Fat Guy From Greenwich.”