AUDIT DESK ITEM: Director's pen
OWNER: Edda Kline
USE: Denial, delay, settlement, emergency classification
NOTE: Ink is not neutral.
The gold pen sat uncapped.
That was the first thing Nora saw in the hearing prep room.
Not Edda.
The pen.
It lay on a cream folder at the center of the table, angled toward Edda's right hand. Heavy. Polished. Too bright under the flat ceiling lights. The kind of object that looked decorative until a person realized every denial in the room had to pass under it.
Edda Kline sat behind it.
No podium today.
No screen.
No public smile.
Just the director, the pen, two legal officers, one Civic Trust recorder, and a stack of folders with Nora's name on the top.
Nora sat across from her with Tess on one side and an empty chair on the other.
The empty c
