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It's August 2001, an Enron CEO Jeff Skilling has left the building.

Sharon Watkins sits patiently outside Rex Rogers office. She still can't believe the number one energy trading company in America is heading into a hurricane and the captain has a band in ship.

This tells Watkins a few things. As CEO, Skilling knows what she knows and resigned because Enron engaged in illegal activity and will soon get caught.

The irony of this is that Watkins herself had planned to quit the very same day.

She pictured herself breaking the news to Andy fast out and marching back to her office collecting her belongings and walking out the front door never to return.

But Skilling beat her to it. The man business week put on its cover, the man who had drunkenly declared I am Enron at a company party.

People don't know that the good ship Enron is about to hit the shoals and Skilling left them to face the consequences of what he'd done.

He didn't try to make it right, he just ran away.

The moment Skilling announces resignation Watkins made a decision. She would do what she could to make this right. And that's why she wrote the memo.

Sharon, come in.

Rex Rogers is an Enron attorney, a dour pale man with thinning hair. He does not offer to shake her hand. Dusty books and paperwork are stacked all around his office and it smells like mildew.

Rogers clears his throat and begins.

So you're the one. I'm the one? I'm sorry. I don't think I please. You wrote the memo. Sorry, but around here anonymous would be whistleblowers. Don't stay anonymous for long.

It wasn't hard to trace this document to you, trust me. Rogers puts on his glasses and begins to read,

Dear Mr. Lay, has Enron become a risky place to work? For those of us who didn't get rich over the last few years, can we afford to stay?

Skilling's abrupt departure will raise suspicions of accounting and proprieties and so on and so on.

Rogers looks up briefly, registers walk into astonishment and then continues.

Skilling is resigning quote for personal reasons, but I think he wasn't having fun. Look down the road and knew this stuff was unfixable and would rather abandon ship now than resign and shame in two years and on and on.

I'm incredibly nervous, you said, that we will implode in a wave of accounting scandal.

Sharon was all of this really necessary. Yes Rex, I believe it was.

Well if that's true, how come Rick Causy, Andy Fastout and the General Counsel don't think it's anything to worry about?

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