She placed a thick box on my kitchen table.
“That should be everything.”
“I thought lawyers kept this forever.”
“We keep copies.”
“Of course you do.”
She smiled.
I opened the box.
The first item was Brenda’s original security notice.
MANDATORY KEY COMPLIANCE.
I held it up.
“All this.”
Laura looked at it.
“All this.”
“Over a key.”
“No.”
I looked at her.
She shook her head.
“Not really.”
“What then?”
“Power.”
That answer felt obvious now.
“Brenda could have abandoned the policy the moment you challenged it.”
“She didn’t.”
“She could have asked counsel.”
“She didn’t.”
“She could have brought it to a vote.”
“She didn’t.”
“She could have accepted your refusal.”
“She definitely didn’t.”
Laura nodded.
“The key was simply the point where you exposed that her authority depended on nobody forcing her to prove it.”
I sat back.
“That sounds expensive.”
“It was extremely expensive.”
