All Her Little Secrets

Ellice arrives at the Houghton Transportation lobby at 6:45 am to meet her boss, Michael Sayles, the executive vice president and general counsel. Ellice works as Michael’s assistant general counsel and they are having an affair.

Ellice knocks on the door to Michael’s office, then lets herself in when he does not answer. She turns on the light and sees Michael’s lifeless body with a bullet hole in his head and a gun near his body. Ellice knows that no one knows about their meeting, so she closes the door behind her and leaves Michael’s body without calling for help.

Ellice has flashbacks to when she lived in Chillicothe with her mother Martha. Her earliest memory is of running away because Martha told her that if she did not run, she would leave Ellice behind.

Michael told Ellice that the 20th floor does not have security cameras, but she worries that someone saw her leaving his office. Rudy Clifton, Ellice’s only friend in the office, appears at her door. As they talk, they notice police officers and EMTS, and soon the gossip spreads that Michael committed suicide in his office.

In the lobby, Ellice sees Hardy King, the director of corporate security. Hardy gives her a hug, his signature greeting. As they talk, Ellice notices that the protestors outside the lobby. They carry signs that say, “HOUGHTON HATES BLACKS” (20). A few months earlier, the protests started when several people of color filed EEOC charges because Houghton denied them employment despite their qualifications. A few weeks later, several Black employees in the Operations department filed charges saying that Houghton denied them promotions.

Ellice returns to the 20th floor because the CEO Nate Ashe wants to speak with her. Ellice notices he has a painting of an African elephant on his wall. Nate tells her that he loves elephants because of their strong sense of commitment to their family.

Willow Somerville, the head of human resources, joins them. Nate tells Ellice he wants her to take over Michael’s job because of her qualifications, but also because she is Black. Nate allows her some time to think it over before she accepts. Ellice leaves Nate’s office feeling sad that Nate chose her because of her race. She knows that if she takes the job, she will be the only Black executive and that will increase her loneliness.

Later that day, Detective Bradford speaks to Ellice about Michael’s death. Ellice denies that she met with Michael that morning and tells the detective that she lost her ID badge a few weeks before. Detective Bradford asks Ellice to call if anything else comes up about Michael’s death.

Willie Jay Groover pulls his police car up to Earthalene Jackson’s shack across the street from where Ellice lives. Sheriff Butch Coogler arrives as Willie Jay forces his way into the house. Vera, Earthalene’s next door neighbor, comes to her defense but Coogler tells her, “[T]his here is a police matter” (38). Ellice and Sam witness police brutality as Willie Jay drags Mario out of the house in handcuffs. Later in the day, Mario returns badly beaten because a woman thought she saw someone who looked like him throwing rocks at a building. A few weeks later, Ellice’s mother Martha announces she is marrying Willie Jay Groover.

At home, Ellice answers a call from Grace, her old roommate at Georgetown University, who checks in with her. Alone in the house, Ellice misses Michael. She goes into her room, sees Michael’s duffel bag on the floor, and starts to cry. She opens the duffel bag and finds a pamphlet for a gun-shop called Tri-County Outfitters.

As Ellice pulls into the parking garage the next morning, she notices that there are more protestors outside. She feels guilty for working for a company that discriminates against people of color in their hiring process.

When Ellice arrives in the legal department, she sees an email from Nate announcing her promotion to Michael’s position. Since Nate already announced it, Ellice officially accepts the promotion. Nate invites her to a cocktail party that weekend in Savannah to meet the board members.

Ellice attends Michael’s funeral. Rudy tells her that he heard Michael was having an affair, and that the police suspect the mistress of killing Michael. After the funeral, Detective Bradford approaches Ellice, telling her that the coroner ruled Michael’s death as a homicide, staged to look like a suicide.

At Martha’s house, Vera tells Martha that she must let Ellice go to private school in Virginia because she received a full scholarship. Martha tells her that Ellice has caused her “nothing but heartache since [she] came into this world” (70). Martha accuses Ellice of thinking she is too good for Chillicothe and does not say goodbye to her daughter.

Ellice takes the Houghton private jet to Savannah to attend Nate’s cocktail party. The party is at a country club that has a history of accepting only white men as their members. Ellice notices that she is the only Black person in attendance. She talks with Hardy who tells her that Michael was working closely with Jonathan, the chief financial officer, on a deal that was confidential. Nate takes Ellice over to meet two board members who appear uncomfortable around Ellice. Ellice notices that they are both wearing matching lapel pins, a red heart on top of two golden flags. One of the men asks Ellice the origin of her last name “Littlejohn.” The man’s casual racism shocks Ellice because it is obvious that because of American slavery, she cannot trace her lineage past her great-grandparents.

Later, Ellice overhears Jonathan and Max Lumpkin, the executive vice president in Operations, arguing about a company called Libertad. After the party, Ellice waits with Max for the car to take them back to the airport. Max tells Ellice that he does not want to offend her but that he “won’t sacrifice the safety of Houghton’s employees for novice advise” (83). Ellice knows his words are code for saying that he does not think she is smart enough to fill Michael’s shoes. 

The next day Grace takes Ellice out to brunch to celebrate her promotion. At brunch, Grace asks Ellice about her aunt Vera. Ellice tells her that she feels guilty because Vera never wanted to be in a nursing home. Grace assures her that since Vera has dementia, a nursing home is best for her.

After brunch, Ellice visits Vera. Vera moved to Chillicothe in 1967, running from some trouble up north, although Ellice never knew what that trouble was.

Sam meets Ellice at the nursing home to ask Ellice for money. She refuses to give him the money and he accuses her of thinking she is better than him. Ellice tells him that he should be grateful that she is a lawyer because he has taken advantage of all the times that she bailed him out of jail. Sam gets angry and leaves. Ellice says goodbye to Vera and lays Vera’s old quilt over her. Ellice remembers that it is the same quilt that Vera wrapped Ellice in when she was pregnant at 14.

Martha counted the sanitary pads in the bathroom every month to keep track of Ellice’s cycles. When Martha finds out Ellice is pregnant, she slaps her and tells Ellice that she has ruined her life. Ellice fears that she will never go to the school in Virginia because she does not know what to do with the baby.

Ellice sits in her new office where Michael died. Ellice calls Sam and apologizes to him. She tells him that if he comes to her house later, she will give him the money he needs. He tells her that he has found a new job, so he does not need the money. This worries Ellice, but she tries to trust that the job is legitimate.