Equivocal Death (15 page)

genesis of the modern insanity defense.

7

Again he flipped through the book, until he found the famous 8

case, then scanned it for the definition. There. He’d found it.

9

Neatly underlined in red: “to establish a defence on the ground of 10

insanity, it must be clearly proved that, at the time of the commit-11

ting of the act, the party accused was labouring under such a defect 12

of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and 13

quality of the act he was doing; or, if he did know it, that he did not 14

know he was doing what was wrong.”

15

The language was difficult to follow. He went over it several 16

times, reading the words out loud. So. Had he known the
nature
17

and quality of the act he was doing?

18

Certainly.

19

He had murdered Madeleine Waters. In cold blood. For a pur-20

pose of his own.

21

Under that first definition, he was certainly not insane.

22

But the second part of the rule required further thought: Had he 23

known that he was doing wrong?

24

He folded his legs beneath him and gazed out the window at the 25

driving rain.

26

Doing wrong.
It all depended on your point of view. Of course, 27

he knew that murder was prohibited by law. But was it wrong?

28

That was a different question. Madeleine’s murder had been the 29

crowning touch. A fitting prologue for the plan’s unfolding.

30

No, he could not, did not, believe that it was wrong.

31

A wave of displeasure passed through him, as if he’d lost an im-32

portant debate.

33

But he refused to give in. Impatiently he flipped ahead. There 34 sh

must be something else, an interpretation that would prove him 35 re

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A M Y G U T M A N

1

right. Prove that he was no less sane than Madeleine herself had 2

been.

3

State v. Crenshaw.
This was it, the case he’d been looking for. As 4

his eyes passed down the page, he began to smile. He read the 5

words slowly, relishing what they said. It was interesting what had 6

happened here. A man believed his new wife to be unfaithful. And 7

so, during their honeymoon, he’d killed her. Stabbed her twenty-8

four times. Sitting back on his heels, he tried to imagine the scene.

9

The terrified young wife, watching her husband change from lover 10

to enemy. How much blood there must have been!

11

As much, perhaps, as when he killed Madeleine Waters. . . .

12

After a dreamy moment, his eyes moved back to the text. Now 13

this Crenshaw fellow had tried to mount an insanity defense. Had 14

argued that since God condoned the murder of an adulterous wife, 15

he’d had no knowledge of a moral wrong. But the court had refused 16

to accept this logic. Crenshaw had known that murder was barred 17

by law. And that, the court said, was enough.

18

A much better rule. More in accord with reason, with common 19

sense.

20

And under the
Crenshaw
rule, he, too, would be considered sane.

21

Slowly, he felt the tension ease from his neck and back, felt the 22

vertebrae unclench. Of course, he had no intention of being 23

charged, no intention of ever being caught. Still, it was comforting 24

to know. It would be humiliating to be thought crazy. Humiliating 25

and unfair.

26

Replacing the book in its carton, he stood up and stretched his 27

legs. It was getting late, but he wasn’t the least bit tired. Already, 28

he was moving on. To the final act of the drama. The final step in 29

his plan.

30

January 16. A Saturday. Just ten days from tonight.

31

For years now, he’d marked this day, created rituals to acknowl-32

edge its passing.

33

But now the time of waiting was over. His fantasies would be-ort 34

come real. He was finally taking action.

reg 35

And the circle would be complete.

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1

Thursday, January 7

2

3

Darkness everywhere. At first, Kate didn’t know where she was.

4

The room was hot and dry. Beneath a weight of bedding, a layer of 5

perspiration drenched her chest. Something was wrong, but what?

6

Then, as she turned her head to one side, everything flooded back.

7

She was at home, in her New York apartment.

8

And Madeleine Waters was dead.

9

Kate lay still for a moment, letting the knowledge sink in. Then 10

she kicked off the blankets and swung her legs to the floor. The 11

fluorescent numbers on her bedside clock read 6:48 a.m. She’d 12

slept about six hours. The alarm was set for 7:30. She turned it off, 13

flipped on a lamp, and clambered out of bed.

14

The
Times
had already arrived, and Kate quickly scanned its 15

contents. The brief news item about Madeleine was short and to 16

the point. Nothing she didn’t already know. She’d have to go to 17 sh

the newsstand. The tabloids would certainly have more.

18 re

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A M Y G U T M A N

1

Kate moved quickly around the apartment, eager to get out the 2

door. No need to make coffee, she’d go by Starbucks after picking 3

up the daily papers. She took a five-minute shower then slipped on 4

a loose gray jersey dress and black tights. A long strand of cultured 5

pearls, a black scarf, and black suede shoes completed the ensem-6

ble. It was an outfit she kept on reserve for days when she couldn’t 7

deal with the constrictions of a suit. Slightly funky but still suitable 8

for office wear. She clipped her hair back with a black suede-9

covered barrette — she didn’t have the time to wash and dry it —

10

grabbed her red cape and black leather gloves and was out the front 11

door of her apartment.

12

A bitterly cold day. No snow yet, but a leaden sky loomed over-13

head. The sidewalks glistened with ice, the residue of last night’s 14

downpour. Carefully picking her way, Kate headed for the nearest 15

newsstand, one block over to Broadway and two blocks down to 16

Seventy-ninth Street. The bold-faced headlines jumped out at her 17

from a distance. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: MEGA-LAWYER

18

FOUND DEAD IN SEX SLAYING. She bought copies of the 19

city’s two tabloids and walked quickly toward the Starbucks at 20

Eighty-first Street.

21

Once inside, she didn’t bother to stand in line. Instead, she im-22

mediately grabbed a stool at the counter that ran along the store’s 23

plate-glass front and spread out the
Daily Press.
The front page fea-24

tured the same studio portrait of Madeleine that was broadcast on 25

TV. Flipping through the ink-smudged pages, Kate found what she 26

was looking for. The dogged tabloid press had managed to dig up 27

information to supplement the brief report on the late-night news.

28

Had, in fact, managed to interview the unemployed mechanic who 29

had found and reported the body. Madeleine’s body. “Worst thing 30

I ever seen in my life,” he’d told a reporter. “I could barely tell it 31

was a woman, there was so much blood all over. The lady was 32

stripped naked, with some sort of object — looked like a candle —

33

sticking out from her lower parts. Her face and chest was all cut up.

ort 34

Looked like someone took a cleaver to her.”

reg 35

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

8 5

through her. Still, she kept reading. Investigators had refused all 1

comment on the eyewitness account. But a criminal psychology 2

expert had been more forthcoming. “From the description, this 3

sounds like the work of a disorganized offender,” he concluded.

4

“The insertion of an object into the vaginal cavity, the extreme as-5

sault to the face — these are all hallmarks of disorganized killers.

6

This type of less intelligent criminal is most often a young male be-7

tween the ages of seventeen and twenty-five, an underachiever 8

with no close friends. He’s likely to be delusional.”

9

Lifting her eyes, Kate gazed out the window at the well-heeled 10

Manhattanites streaming toward the subway entrance, oblivious to 11

the nightmare underside of city life. Two days ago, Madeleine had 12

been just like them, rushing on to the next appointment, the next 13

meal. And now she was dead. It was a terrifying reminder of what 14

could happen when you started taking safety for granted. Thanks 15

to the city’s declining crime rate, Kate gave little thought to the 16

dangers around her. But the fact that murder was rare didn’t mean 17

that it never happened. Thinking of her own tendency to jump on 18

the subway regardless of the hour, Kate told herself she’d be more 19

careful. There was no reason to take foolish risks. Yes, that was it, 20

she’d take more taxis. Kate felt her muscles relax. There was some-21

thing reassuring about the thought.

22

A practical step she could take to protect herself.

23

w

24

Carter Mills composed his features in an expression of weighty 25

sorrow as he accepted condolences from Mike Glaser, one of two 26

NYPD detectives now seated in his office. The other was a woman, 27

Hispanic. Her name was Cathy Valencia. As Glaser spoke, Mills’s 28

eyes briefly, almost imperceptibly, flickered over Valencia, before 29

shifting to the grandfather clock behind her. It seemed to be run-30

ning slow. He made a mental note to look up that clock expert he’d 31

read about in the
Times.
Clara would remember the name.

32

Glaser flipped open a notebook. He appeared to be in his early 33

forties, with thinning brown hair and frank blue eyes. He had one 34 sh

of those disarmingly guileless faces that often hide a keen intelli-35 re

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A M Y G U T M A N

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gence. Like a good trial lawyer, he’d use his appearance to effect.

2

Mills knew better than to underestimate him.

3

“Mr. Mills, like I said before, we’re gonna need to get into Ms.

4

Waters’s office. The longer you put us off, the harder it is for us to 5

do our job.”

6

Mills concealed his growing annoyance. “We’re moving as 7

quickly as possible, Detective. Once we’ve determined that confi-8

dential client information won’t be at risk, you’ll have full access.”

9

“So when are we talking about?”

10

“Later today. Sometime this afternoon.”

11

Glaser frowned. Mills could tell he wasn’t happy with the delay.

12

But short of going for a warrant, which in itself would take some 13

time, there really wasn’t much the detective could do.

14

“I assume you understand the importance of leaving everything 15

just as it was.” Glaser’s voice was hard.

16

“Of course, Detective. You have my word.”

17

“D’you think we could at least get a snapshot of the room? I’ve 18

got a camera with me.”

19

“I’ll get back to you on that, Detective.”

20

Glaser seemed poised for another push, but in the end he let the 21

subject drop. “You got any idea at all who could have done this, 22

Mr. Mills?”

23

Mills raised his hands for a moment before placing them flat on 24

his desk. “Absolutely not,” he said. “This came as a total shock. I 25

can’t imagine anyone less likely than Madeleine to be a murder 26

victim. Especially this sort of thing. Horrible. I can only think that 27

it was some terrible stroke of misfortune.”

28

“You worked directly with Ms. Waters?”

29

“Yes.”

30

“When was the last time you saw her?”

31

“That would have been Tuesday morning. The day she was 32

killed. She came to my office to discuss a new case. It was a short 33

meeting. Only about twenty minutes. We’re both busy people. We ort 34

pretty much stuck to business.”

reg 35

“Anything unusual about her? Did she seem worried, upset?”

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

8 7

“No, Detective. Believe me, I’ve thought about it. But there was 1

absolutely no sign that anything was wrong.”

2

“Anyone else at the meeting, or was it just the two of you?”

3

“We were alone.”

4

Nodding, Glaser settled back in his chair. As if to say they were 5

just getting started. In rapid-fire fashion, the questions resumed.