Equivocal Death (12 page)

his vast power, WideWorld’s chief executive was nondescript. He 13

was slightly built, with jutting ears, pale skin, and wispy light 14

brown hair. Only his piercing gray eyes gave some hint at the un-15

derlying strength of will that must have driven his career.

16

Thorpe, on the other hand, was almost exactly what she’d ex-17

pected. The heavy body, the perpetual sneer that lingered at the 18

corners of his mouth — all this conformed to what she’d seen on 19

TV. He reminded her of a Jack Russell terrier, one of those quiver-20

ing, densely packed dogs that weighed far more than you’d imag-21

ine. It was his eyes that seemed out of place. They gave the 22

impression of dead things, empty of all expression. Kate couldn’t 23

be sure of their color. They seemed almost translucent, devoid of 24

any color at all.

25

With a start, Kate realized that Thorpe knew she’d been watch-26

ing him. Briefly, their eyes met, and Kate saw his mouth stretch 27

wider. She quickly looked back at her notepad. Her face was hot.

28

Then Thorpe was speaking again, irritation suffusing his voice.

29

“So let’s get on with things. We can’t just sit here all day.”

30

Kate saw a flicker of displeasure cross Carter Mills’s face. She 31

was somehow reassured by the sight. Mills, she felt sure, did not 32

like Chuck Thorpe.

33

“Fine,” said Mills. “Let’s start with the facts.”

ort 34

“The
facts,
” Thorpe exploded. “Who the hell cares about the reg 35

facts? The media is out to crucify me.”

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E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H

6 5

Mills looked down the table at Thorpe. “Chuck, I know where 1

you’re coming from. Believe me, we’re with you one hundred per-2

cent. But I’m going to need to ask you some questions.”

3

Mills’s voice was gentle, soothing. He might have been speaking 4

to a lover. Kate found herself admiring his diplomacy, his capacity 5

to focus on the problem at hand. Michael had been like that, too, 6

possessed of a scientist’s capacity for abstraction. She stopped her-7

self short, annoyed at the turn her thoughts had taken.

8

When Thorpe didn’t answer, Mills went on.

9

“First of all, I’d like to ask you about the plaintiff — Stephanie 10

Friedman.” Mills’s voice carried a hint of apology for the imposi-11

tion. “I’ve got some of the basic information from Mr. Epstein here, 12

but I’d like to get your perspective.”

13

Thorpe exhaled audibly. “Whatever. Okay. What do you want 14

to know?”

15

“I understand that Friedman was your secretary?” Kate was 16

struck by Mills’s offhand use of Stephanie Friedman’s last name.

17

It seemed to depersonalize her. Which, she supposed, was the 18

idea. Stephanie Friedman was no longer just a former employee.

19

Having threatened to file a complaint, she’d become the opposing 20

party. As such, she’d given up all claims to sympathy, let alone re-21

spect.

22

“Yup. My assistant.”

23

“How long did she work for you?”

24

“About five years.”

25

“And she resigned ten months ago?”

26

“Yeah.”

27

“Any contact with her since then?”

28

“Nope.”

29

“Good. What sort of work did she do?”

30

“She did, you know, what assistants do. Typing, filing, phones.

31

That sort of thing.”

32

“Attractive?”

33

Thorpe snorted. “
She
thinks so.”

34 sh

“She claims” — Mills scanned his notes — “that you regularly 35 re

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A M Y G U T M A N

1

demanded that she discuss her sex life with you, and that you re-2

counted your own . . . assignations.”

3

“
Assignations.
Christ. What century is this? Look, Mr. Mills, I’m 4

sure you’re a very fine lawyer, but you don’t have the slightest idea 5

how to run my magazine. Did I ask Stephanie who she was fucking?

6

Sure I did. Did I ask her what he did to her? What got her excited?

7

Sure. And did that turn me on? Absolutely.

8

“But you know why I asked those questions, Mr. Mills? Because 9

that’s the sort of magazine I run. It’s a sex magazine, Mr. Mills, in 10

case you haven’t noticed. Sure we write about politics, culture, all 11

that shit — just because a guy likes to look at tits doesn’t mean he’s 12

stupid. But the bottom line is sex. I go to my staff for ideas.

13

Stephanie knew what she was getting into when she took the job.

14

What’d she expect,
Good Housekeeping?
”

15

Kate struggled to keep her mind focused on the facts, to separate 16

her visceral reaction to Chuck Thorpe from the argument he was 17

making.

18

Mills smiled. If he shared Kate’s distaste, it didn’t show. “This is 19

actually quite helpful, Chuck — and please, call me Carter. You 20

see, without focusing too much on the law at this point, it’s signif-21

icant that she didn’t complain. To prevail in this suit, she’d have to 22

convince a jury that your conduct was unwelcome. But from what 23

you’re telling me, she never told you — or anyone else you know 24

of — that she had a problem with it.”

25

“A problem?
Stephanie?
Don’t make me laugh. She’d have had a 26

better chance of offending me than I would have of offending her.

27

Compared to Stephanie, I’m a puritan.”

28

“So she had an active sex life?”

29

“You could say that.”

30

“Do you remember any names?”

31

“Some guy named Bob, I think. She talked about him a lot.

32

That’s really all I remember specifically.” There was a tray of past-33

ries in the middle of the conference table. Thorpe reached for a ort 34

tiny cheese Danish and tossed it into his mouth.

reg 35

“If you think of anything else, be sure to tell me,” Carter Mills 9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 67

E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H

6 7

said. “Also — and I’m sure that Richard has gone over this with 1

you — don’t speak to anyone about this case. Anyone you talk to 2

could become a witness.”

3

“Got it.”

4

Kate noted that Richard Epstein wasn’t saying much. Relations 5

between Samson and in-house attorneys could get thorny at times, 6

with the corporate guys — they were almost always guys — resent-7

ing what they perceived as Samson’s high-handedness in managing 8

farmed-out cases. Often, the in-house lawyers seemed to see Sam-9

son’s involvement as an implicit rebuke, an implication that they 10

were not capable of handling complex legal matters on their own.

11

But having dealt with Samson for over a decade, Epstein must 12

have made his peace with the arrangement.

13

“Friedman claims that you required her to have sexual relations 14

with Ron Fogarty as a condition to keeping her job,” Carter Mills 15

continued. “I understand that Fogarty’s a friend of yours?”

16

“That’s bullshit,” Thorpe said, spitting out the words. “I could 17

hardly keep Stephanie away from Ron. It got to be embarrassing.

18

She was all over the guy every time he came to my office. I said, 19

‘Stephanie, enough’s enough. He knows you’re interested. We
all
20

know you’re interested. Now you gotta be cool. Let events take 21

their course.’ You ask me, that’s probably why Stephanie’s pulling 22

this shit. To get back at Ron.”

23

Kate tried to suppress her growing aversion, to listen without 24

making judgments. She glanced sidewise at Peyton, whose eyes 25

were on Thorpe, a sympathetic smile affixed to his mouth. No sign 26

of inner conflict there. That’s how she wanted to be. That’s how 27

she
would
be, purely focused and objective.

28

“I assume that Fogarty will back this up?” Carter Mills said.

29

“That he rejected Friedman’s advances?”

30

“Absolutely.”

31

Carter Mills again referred to his notes. “Moving on, Friedman 32

claims that you required her to wear sexually provocative outfits, 33

and that you made sexually explicit comments about her appear-34 sh

ance.”

35 re

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1

“I didn’t
force
Stephanie to dress the way she dressed. That’s just 2

how she came to work. Hell, she would’ve had a problem if I’d 3

made her dress like a normal secretary. I might have told her that 4

she looked good or something. I really don’t remember. Except I 5

know
that I didn’t say what she says I said. She’s flattering herself.”

6

“Fine,” Mills said. “The next allegations have to do with physi-7

cal contact. She claims that you fondled her, kissed her.”

8

“Hey, Stephie and I were
friends,
at least I thought that we were.

9

It was just horseplay.”

10

“Did she ever tell you that anything you did bothered her? Ask 11

you to stop?”

12

“No way.”

13

“I don’t suppose the magazine has any formal sexual harassment 14

policy?” Under ordinary circumstances, Kate thought, this would 15

have been among the first questions asked. Here, however, the pos-16

sibility was so farfetched that she could see why Mills had slipped 17

it in obliquely. Starting out with questions about office policy 18

would only have further alienated Thorpe. Again, she was im-19

pressed with Mills’s finely calibrated attunement to the human 20

equation. It was, she realized, the ultimate source of his power.

21

When Thorpe responded with an exasperated shake of his head, 22

Mills moved on without comment.

23

“Who were her friends at the office?”

24

“Well, I don’t know about
friends.
She had lunch sometimes 25

with Linda Morris and Melissa Lyle.”

26

“And they are?”

27

“Secretaries. Linda works for Brian Keck, the managing editor.

28

Melissa works for Oliver Leary, the deputy editor. She does over-29

flow work for me, too. Like when there was too much for Stephie 30

to handle.”

31

“Who’s doing your secretarial work now?”

32

“Depends. Some days, I just work with Melissa and Linda. If 33

there’s a lot going on, I call in a temp.”

ort 34

Epstein looked alarmed. “Temps? I didn’t know that, Chuck. We reg 35

need to talk about that. We don’t need any more potential wit-9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 69

E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H

6 9

nesses than we already have. Especially third-party witnesses we 1

don’t control.”

2

Thorpe rolled his eyes. “Sorry, folks. Just trying to run my mag-3

azine.”

4

“Actually, Chuck, it’s not your magazine,” Epstein snapped. “It 5

used to be, but you sold it. Remember? It belongs to WideWorld 6

now. To WideWorld’s stockholders.”

7

Holden spun around in his chair, his gray eyes flashing. “Hey 8

Richard, that’s no way to talk to Chuck. We’ll work this out.”

9

Epstein seemed about to respond but instead returned to his 10

notes.

11

Mills cut in. “I think the first order of business is to nail poten-12

tial witnesses to their stories. No point in worrying about whether 13

the accounts are going to change if we go to trial. We’ll start by 14

getting affidavits from Friedman’s coworkers. From what you’ve 15

said, Chuck, I assume that they’ll be cooperative.”

16

Thorpe nodded.

17

“In addition to getting witness statements,” Mills continued, 18

“we need to get any information that we can about Friedman’s 19

personal life. Lovers, drug use, any history or sign of mental ill-20

ness — that’s the sort of information we want. Anything that 21

could show —”

22

“That she’s a little nutty and a little slutty. Right?” Thorpe 23

grinned.

24

Holden grinned back and winked at Thorpe. Epstein stared at 25

the opposite wall, rhythmically tapping the floor with a black 26

leather shoe.

27

Mills paused, his lips turned up slightly in a benign smile.

28

“You’re going to want to watch it with the wisecracks, Chuck,” he 29

said lightly. “You too, Jed.”

30

Jed Holden looked chastened. “Sorry, Carter. You’re absolutely 31

right.” Thorpe smirked and said nothing.

32

Epstein looked up. “Gentlemen, I’m sorry to raise an unpleasant 33

issue, but I want to put myself on record.

34 sh

“I believe that WideWorld and Mr. Thorpe have divergent in-35 re