Yes, I'm reporting true gossip. I really did make the call, pretended to have been routed to wrong extension, and innocently asked if Chris was in today. I can honestly tell you I am not making up that gossip. Ditto for the LinkedIn exchange. Neither response seemed scripted, just genuine, innocent reactions to an innocuous question.
Are the 5 execs still there? No idea. But those two gossip data points are weird. Apologies for not reporting that earlier.
TC