Equivocal Death (19 page)

at Columbia. An appointment with a personal trainer from the 31

Madison Square Club. Then she came to January 5, the day Mad-32

eleine was killed. A single penciled notation. Dinner with Chuck 33

Thorpe. Ormond. 8 p.m. Kate stared at the entry as Thorpe’s face 34 sh

rose up in her mind. She recalled the smile he’d flashed her across 35 re

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the conference table, rife with animal cunning. She thought of 2

Carmen Rodriguez’s bitter words.
Made her have dinner with him and
3

God knows what else.
Was it just a coincidence that Madeleine had 4

dinner plans with Thorpe on the same night that she was killed?

5

On Wednesday, Thorpe had seemed truly angry, furious that he’d 6

been stood up. But could the whole thing have been an act?

7

Kate examined another few pages. Appointments that Mad-8

eleine would never keep. She found herself thinking about a 9

childhood friend. Julia, that was her name, had come up with the 10

concept of a death day. “Just like each year you have a birthday.

11

Each year, there’s the day that someday you’ll die. You just don’t 12

know what that day is.” That was back in the fifth grade. But the 13

idea had exerted a morbid fascination, and Kate had never forgot-14

ten it.

15

The notations for the days after Madeleine’s death were few and 16

far between. On January 24, she’d planned to have dinner with 17

SH. Kate paused for a moment, but the initials didn’t strike a bell.

18

On the following Thursday, she’d scheduled dinner with MD. Mar-19

tin Drescher? Turning back, Kate glanced at the days preceding 20

Madeleine’s death. Two dinners with MD, within a few days of 21

each other.

22

A sharp knock on the half-open office door. Before Kate could 23

respond, Carmen Rodriguez stormed into the room. From her rapid 24

breathing, Kate could tell that Carmen was upset.

25

“Martin Drescher was in Madeleine’s office when I got back.”

26

Carmen glared at Kate.

27

Kate raised her hands, in a show of helplessness. “Look, I’m 28

really sorry, but he just kicked me out. There wasn’t anything I 29

could do. When I talk to Carter, I’ll tell him it wasn’t your fault.”

30

Carmen’s features relaxed slightly. “When he left, he took a 31

file,” she said, her voice calmer than at first. “I tried to stop him. I 32

told him that Carter wanted everything accounted for. Everything 33

left like it was. But he ignored me. He wouldn’t even tell me what ort 34

he took.”

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“Oh, great.” Kate rubbed her forehead. She could really use a 1

massage. Then, looking back at Carmen, she tried to muster a 2

smile. “Thanks for telling me. I’ll definitely let Carter know.”

3

“Okay, then.” Carmen left the room.

4

Kate looked back at the book on her desk. She quickly flipped 5

through the address portion of the date book — entirely free of en-6

tries — and then the memo and budget sections. Again, nothing.

7

Her review complete, Kate snapped closed the leather flap and 8

stowed the book in the top right-hand drawer of her desk.

9

Next came the cassette. Because the tape was unlabeled, she 10

couldn’t tell which side was first. Kate turned to a portable tape 11

player on the window ledge behind her desk. She opened the cas-12

sette compartment, flipped out a Cranberries tape, and snapped in 13

Madeleine’s tape. Then she pressed Play.

14

She’d just begun an ineffectual search for the case belonging to 15

the Cranberries cassette — why were those little plastic boxes so 16

hard to keep track of? — when a male voice broke the room’s si-17

lence. Turning up the sound she could just make out the muffled 18

end of a sentence, “— good time.” Then a woman’s voice, still 19

fainter and hard to understand. Kate caught the words “end of my 20

rope” and “can’t make me” — the last phrase uttered in a defiant 21

tone. And then the male voice again: “You think Ron can’t get any 22

girl he wants? You should be flattered.”

23

With a start, Kate realized that the male voice belonged to 24

Chuck Thorpe. She lowered her ear closer to the cassette player.

25

The woman’s response was incomprehensible, though there was no 26

mistaking her agitation. The next words that Kate could make out 27

were Thorpe’s. “I’m counting on you, baby. If you get my drift.”

28

This pronouncement was followed by footsteps and the sound of a 29

slamming door. A moment later, Kate heard a muffled click. Then 30

she was left with dead air.

31

She listened for a few moments more before fast forwarding to 32

see if the recording resumed. There didn’t seem to be anything 33

more. Kate turned off the recorder. What she seemed to have 34 sh

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stumbled on was a recording of Chuck Thorpe putting the screws 2

on someone. Could it be Madeleine? But even with the fuzziness of 3

the recording, she’d detected a nasal twang to the woman’s voice, 4

nothing like Madeleine’s uninflected speech. Besides, Kate simply 5

couldn’t imagine Madeleine subjecting herself to this sort of abuse.

6

No, it must be someone vulnerable to Thorpe, someone over 7

whom he exercised power.

8

Kate rewound the tape and played it back.
You think Ron can’t get
9

any girl he wants? You should be flattered.
Ron. She recognized the 10

name from the draft complaint. Ron Fogarty. The music executive 11

who had figured in Friedman’s allegations. Essentially, she’d 12

claimed that Thorpe had acted as Fogarty’s pimp, coercing female 13

employees to have sex with him. Could the woman on the tape be 14

Stephanie Friedman? Or one of the other women?

15

It seemed to fit.

16

Revulsion flooded over Kate, and she had to struggle to stay 17

clearheaded. “
You’re a lawyer,
” she told herself. “
Lawyers defend
18

their clients.
” Besides, she didn’t know anything for sure yet.

19

Only one thing was clear: if the recording was what it sounded 20

like, it could be disastrous to Thorpe’s defense. Within weeks, 21

Stephanie Friedman’s lawyers would be starting discovery. If this 22

cassette fell within the scope of their requests — as it undoubtedly 23

would — the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure would require that 24

Samson hand it over. No one would relish the prospect of trial 25

with this sort of ammunition in an opponent’s hands.

26

Where in the hell was Carter Mills?

27

As if on cue, the telephone rang. Kate grabbed the receiver but 28

instead of Mills’s sonorous tones, she heard a woman’s unfamiliar 29

voice.

30

“Ms. Paine? I’m Cathy Valencia, a detective with the New York 31

Police Department. I’m calling about our investigation of Mad-32

eleine Waters’s death. I understand that you were working with 33

Ms. Waters at the time she died.”

ort 34

“I . . . I’d just started.”

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“Right. I have a few questions for you. Would now be a conven-1

ient time?”

2

Kate froze. She’d expected this moment to come, but she’d as-3

sumed she’d have time to prepare. To plan what she wanted to say.

4

“Ms. Paine?”

5

“Yes.” Kate was thinking quickly. “I’m not sure that now is such 6

a good time. I’m in the middle of —”

7

“It won’t take long,” Valencia said smoothly.

8

“Well . . . , okay.” Kate didn’t know what else to say.

9

“Thank you, Ms. Paine. I’ll be right on up.”

10

11

12

Kate ejected the cassette and stuck it in her desk along with 13

Madeleine’s Filofax. Closing the drawer, she heard a knock. “Come 14

in,” she called. The door swung open.

15

Looking up, Kate saw two people. One, an athletically built 16

Hispanic woman, she assumed to be Detective Valencia. The other 17

was Dave Bosch, one of Samson’s newest litigation partners.

18

Bosch, a wiry figure in his mid-thirties, had done a two-year stint 19

in the U.S. Attorney’s office before returning to Samson & Mills.

20

“I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced,” Bosch said, ex-21

tending a thin, dry hand. “I’m Dave Bosch. And this” — he ges-22

tured to the woman beside him — “is Cathy Valencia. Detective 23

Valencia is with the police department. She’d like to ask you a few 24

questions about Madeleine Waters.”

25

“Of course,” Kate said. As Valencia reached out her hand, Kate 26

glimpsed the policewoman’s neat manicure, nails filed square and 27

coated in a clear polish. Kate felt a twinge of embarrassment at her 28

own bitten nails and quickly released the handshake.

29

Valencia was simply dressed in a navy blue pants suit with brass 30

buttons. She had an attractive face, with clear olive skin, wide-set 31

brown eyes, and a generous mouth. Her thick dark hair was pulled 32

back with a clip. She had an air of confident directness.

33

“Shall we sit down?” Bosch said.

34 sh

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Kate returned to her desk, while Bosch and Valencia settled into 2

the two chairs facing her. While Bosch’s presence had caught Kate 3

off guard, it wasn’t hard to figure out why he was here. The last 4

thing the firm’s partners wanted was to have employees privately 5

venting grievances and crackpot theories to the NYPD. And while 6

ultimately no one could stop them, a partner’s presence could be a 7

strong deterrent, reminding them who signed their paychecks.

8

“I won’t take too much of your time,” Valencia said. She pulled 9

a steno pad from the outside compartment of a brown leather purse 10

and quickly elicited the basics — Kate’s address, phone numbers, 11

length of employment — before moving on to the subject of Mad-12

eleine.

13

“I understand that you had a meeting with Ms. Waters the day 14

she was killed. Can you describe that meeting for me?”

15

Kate paused, wondering how forthcoming she should be. She 16

thought of the cassette tape and date book now stashed in her 17

desk. She was in an awkward position, having removed these items 18

despite Mills’s instructions to leave everything just as it was. Be-19

sides, did Valencia even know that she’d been asked to catalogue 20

Madeleine’s office? Did she know about Madeleine’s aborted date 21

with Chuck Thorpe? And if not, was she the one to raise these 22

points? In the end, Kate decided to answer only the questions that 23

were asked. She could always elaborate later.

24

“The meeting concerned a case I’d just been assigned to,” Kate 25

began. “Madeleine wanted to talk to me about a research project.

26

Basically, I just updated her on how it was going. She . . . she gave 27

me a book to read, something to do with the case. We didn’t meet 28

very long. She had to cut it short. The managing partner called 29

and needed to see her.”

30

“That would be Carter Mills?”

31

“Yes.”

32

Valencia jotted a note. “Did anything strike you as unusual? Did 33

Ms. Waters seem upset or out of sorts at all?”

ort 34

Memories flowed through Kate’s mind: Madeleine and Carter’s reg 35

sharp words the previous day over the conflict-of-interest issue.

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And then on Tuesday, Madeleine’s glittering eyes, the strange 1

warning spoken just before her death.
You need to be very careful.

2

But she needed to keep her feet on the ground, to be ruled by rea-3

son not emotion. Unsettling as these exchanges were, she had no 4

logical reason to think they were linked to Madeleine’s murder.

5

“She seemed fine,” Kate said carefully. “I mean, I’d never met 6

with her before, so I can’t make any comparisons. But from what I 7

could tell, everything was fine.”

8

“Did she seem at all anxious, upset?”

9

“Not that I noticed. Maybe a little tired, but that’s all I remem-10

ber.”

11

“Is there anything that you’ve seen or heard that you think 12

could be related to Ms. Waters’s murder? Anything that might give 13

us some insight into who might have wanted her dead?”

14

Fleetingly, Kate thought of the hours she’d just spent in 15