The org chart arrives as a PDF attachment. I open it on my office computer, not my phone. Phones are for things that can wait. This cannot wait — not because I am in a hurry, but because I want to read it once and file it and move on.
Intake Lead, Regional Procurement, Northeast. One name in the role designation column. One start date. One end date that is still blank — they are still in the role. The intake window ran from March to November, nine months. This person was there the whole time.
The role had discretionary authority over intake sequencing. That is the language in the org chart's role description section. Discretionary authority. Which means: they decided which pending items moved forward in each batch cycle. Someone decided which of the fourteen pages of pending rows would stay pending, and which would advance.
I read the name once. Close the PDF. Open it again. Read the name again. Close it.
I know what this means. I am not going to write down what it means. I am going to file the org chart and wait for the subpoena response to confirm the role continuity, and then I am going to write down what it means in a motion.
There is a version of this work where I follow instinct. I have been a lawyer for eleven years. I know what the instinct is worth and I know what it costs when you act on it wrong. The instinct says: one person, nine months, discretionary authority, 847 rows. The evidence says: I have an org chart and a subpoena. Those are not the same thing yet.