Equivocal Death (20 page)

Madeleine’s office. Of the calendar entry showing Madeleine’s 16

planned dinner with Chuck Thorpe. Of Drescher’s impassioned 17

search of Madeleine’s desk. She could feel David Bosch watching 18

her.

19

“No,” Kate said. “Nothing at all.”

20

“Is there anything you think I should know? Anything I haven’t 21

touched on that you think might be important?”

22

Kate shook her head, careful not to betray her uneasiness. Was 23

she wrong not to mention the issues on her mind? Right now, she 24

couldn’t be sure.

25

“Is it necessarily someone she knew?” Kate said. “I’d been as-26

suming it must have been random.”

27

Valencia sidestepped the question. “We have to consider all the 28

possibilities,” she said.

29

Then the policewoman was closing her notebook and stuffing it 30

back into her purse. When she stood up Kate noticed that her navy 31

pants were free of wrinkles. Reaching across Kate’s desk, Valencia 32

handed her a card. “Here’s where you can reach me,” she said. “In 33

case you think of anything else.”

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Picking up her fork, Cathy Valencia surveyed her large salad: ice-2

berg lettuce, hard wedges of pale pink tomato, a few strips of green 3

pepper. A squeeze of lemon in place of dressing. Across the table, 4

Mike Glaser was wolfing down a platter of spaghetti and meatballs.

5

“That the family size?” Valencia asked. They were seated in a 6

booth at the bustling Friendly Diner. Just two blocks from Samson 7

& Mills, it felt like a different world.

8

Glaser gave his bark of a laugh. “Hey, nobody’s making you 9

starve yourself. Get yourself a real lunch. How you gonna get 10

through the afternoon on that rabbit food?”

11

He had a point. The morning had been hectic, and the rest of 12

the day was shaping up to be at least as crazy. But that couldn’t stop 13

Glaser from enjoying his lunch. This was a man who liked food.

14

Not that it showed. Glaser could eat anything in sight without 15

gaining an ounce. His moonlike face was deceptive; from the neck 16

down he had the body of a twenty-five-year-old. Valencia bet he 17

didn’t weigh a pound more than he had some twenty years back, 18

when he got out of the Police Academy. She, however, had only to 19

look at a piece of pastry in order to gain five pounds. Come to 20

think of it, she’d probably put on at least that much just watching 21

Glaser eat today.

22

Valencia’s eyes followed Glaser’s movements as he spooled up 23

another forkful of pasta. A veteran detective with the Manhattan 24

South Homicide Task Force, Glaser was the best investigator she’d 25

encountered in her two-plus years as a homicide detective in the 26

thirteenth precinct. They’d worked together once before on a con-27

tract killing. At first, Glaser had struck Valencia as a traditional 28

guy, someone who’d question whether women should be cops at 29

all, let alone homicide detectives. But she’d been wrong. With five 30

daughters and an outspoken working wife, Glaser was more of a 31

feminist than she was. She’d been amazed at how well their styles 32

meshed. When she’d been assigned to the Waters case, Valencia 33

had immediately called Manhattan South to ask for Glaser’s assis-ort 34

tance.

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Glaser looked up from his plate. “So where do we stand?” he 1

asked.

2

“Pretty much where we did when we split up this morning.”

3

Early in the day, there’d been a brief surge of exhilaration. From 4

Waters’s secretary — who, Valencia wryly thought, was the only 5

other dark-skinned person she’d seen all day — they’d learned 6

about a male caller who’d rescheduled Waters’s date with Chuck 7

Thorpe. It had been a huge break, evidence that the murder had 8

been planned by someone with access to Waters’s schedule. But 9

from there the trail had cooled. The call had come from a stolen 10

cell phone whose owner, one Mr. Philip Schneider, came complete 11

with an alibi. Except for what he’d seen on the news, he’d never 12

heard of Madeleine Waters. Of course, they’d follow up on the 13

lead. But Valencia wasn’t holding her breath.

14

So far, what they knew was this: Waters had been picked up by 15

her car service at six-thirty sharp. About twenty-five minutes later, 16

she’d been deposited at Ormond. Valencia had spoken to the 17

restaurant’s maître d’, who recognized Madeleine from a snapshot.

18

“Great-looking woman,” he said. “Was she some sort of a model?”

19

Yet hard as Valencia pressed, he couldn’t add anything more. He 20

didn’t remember if Waters had been alone or if there’d been some-21

one waiting to meet her. He did confirm that there were two sepa-22

rate reservations in the name of Thorpe, the first for a C. Thorpe 23

at seven, the second for a Chuck Thorpe at eight. Both reserva-24

tions were for two.

25

The waitress who’d handled the seven o’clock table was equally 26

vague in her responses. “It was real busy that night, you know?”

27

She did remember a couple who’d left around seven, shortly after 28

arriving. The woman had been sick, she thought. But that was all 29

she could offer. Looking at a snapshot of Madeleine, she wasn’t 30

even sure that this was the woman she’d seen. And she could give 31

no description at all of the man. “Could this be the guy?” Valencia 32

asked, showing her a picture of Chuck Thorpe. The waitress had 33

stared at it, undecided. “Maybe,” she said. “He does look familiar.

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But I really couldn’t be sure.” Valencia had put in calls to other 2

diners who’d been seated in the vicinity that night, but she wasn’t 3

too optimistic. In her experience, fashionable New Yorkers had lit-4

tle interest in anyone of noncelebrity status. Other than them-5

selves, that is.

6

While she’d been busy at Ormond, Glaser had met up with 7

Thorpe. Valencia had half-hoped that Thorpe might prove to be a 8

viable suspect. She’d had a preexisting dislike for the man, based 9

on what she’d heard on the news. But Thorpe had been at a staff 10

meeting until quarter of eight, throwing a screaming fit. That 11

didn’t rule him out, of course. He could have hired someone to do 12

the job. Still, her instincts told her that they hadn’t yet found the 13

culprit.

14

“So what next?” Valencia said.

15

“That’s not really up to us, is it?” There was an edge to Glaser’s 16

voice. He was ticked off that they hadn’t gotten access to the vic-17

tim’s office yet.

18

“We’ll get in tomorrow,” Valencia said. “Mills said they need to 19

go through her papers. They have to think about clients and all.”

20

It was a pattern they’d fallen into, one of them assuming a low-key 21

posture when the other was blowing off steam.

22

“Yeah, well maybe they should think about the fact that a 23

woman is dead. Maybe they should give that some thought.”

24

“It’s not worth the hassle, getting a warrant.” Valencia pushed 25

away her half-eaten salad. She’d have a candy bar this afternoon 26

for sure. “Why get them all riled up? Besides, whatever they want 27

to do to that office, they’ve already had time to do it.”

28

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Glaser said.

29

“We told them to leave everything in place, just as she left it.

30

That’s really all we can do.”

31

“Yeah,” Glaser said again. He glanced wistfully at his empty 32

plate as if looking for another meatball.

33

“I didn’t get much from that associate I talked to after you left,”

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Valencia said. “She was one of the last people at the firm to see the reg 35

vic. But she said it was all just business. Nothing unusual.”

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“They still got that Bosch jerk following you around?”

1

“What do you think?”

2

Glaser shook his head. “Piece of work, that guy. Think he works 3

at being a prick or was he born like that?”

4

Valencia ignored the comment. “I gave her my card. In case she 5

wants to talk to me alone.”

6

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be burning up the phone lines.” Glaser’s 7

voice was heavily sarcastic. “Still nothing from the lab?”

8

“I checked back with Bartlett this afternoon,” Valencia said.

9

“They just don’t have much to work with. No semen at the scene.

10

No blood except for the vic’s. No saliva. Nothing useful from the 11

swabs and smears. Whoever he was, he cleaned up good.”

12

“So we’re still pretty much at ground zero.”

13

“I’ve got more interviews lined up for this afternoon. Some of 14

the other lawyers she worked with. How about you? Any word on 15

the ex-husband?”

16

“Tracked him down this morning. His name’s Sam Howell.

17

Lives in Sag Harbor. He was having dinner with friends in Bridge-18

hampton the night she was killed.”

19

“The alibi checks out?” Valencia asked.

20

“For what that’s worth.”

21

“How did he describe the relationship?”

22

“Says Mills broke up the marriage. After that he and Madeleine 23

didn’t talk for years. But they’d recently gotten back in touch. She 24

wrote him a letter last month. He’s sending us a copy by overnight 25

mail. Claims it shows she was scared of Mills.”

26

“Scared? Of Mills?” Valencia was suddenly alert.

27

Glaser shook his head. “It just doesn’t sit right with me. The job 28

was too messy for someone like Mills. And think about it. Howell 29

was jilted. Mills stole the woman he loved. How rational d’you ex-30

pect him to be?”

31

“But we’re getting the letter?”

32

“We’re getting the letter.” Glaser stretched back, arching his 33

arms overhead and then sat up again. “You ask me, I think we 34 sh

should focus on the law firm. Clients, partners, anyone she worked 35 re

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with. Hell, they’re the only ones who saw her enough to get pissed 2

off. You saw her apartment. It was like a hotel suite. Immaculate.

3

Nothing in the refrigerator.”

4

Valencia rubbed her upper lip. She noticed the beginnings of a 5

hangnail and made a mental note to trim it once she got home.

6

She found herself thinking about the sleek young woman she’d in-7

terviewed right before lunch. Kate Paine, that was her name. Ele-8

gant clothes, luxurious office, and yet Valencia had sensed a 9

certain sadness.

10

“I feel sort of sorry for the lawyers over there. The young ones, I 11

mean,” Valencia said.

12

Glaser shot her a strange look. “Sorry for them? What are 13

you talking about? I’ll bet those kids make double what we do.

14

Maybe more. And right after they leave school. They get to a 15

place like that, they’ve got it made. No one’s forcing them to work 16

there. You want the big bucks, you gotta put in the hours. That’s the 17

trade-off.”

18

Valencia picked up a fork and toyed with the remains of her 19

salad. Somewhere behind her, in the kitchen perhaps, a glass shat-20

tered on the floor.

21

“She has the same name as me,” Valencia said.

22

“Huh?”

23

“The lawyer I talked to before lunch. Her name’s Kate. That’s 24

short for Catherine. She spells it with a ‘K,’ though.”

25

“Um.” Glaser made no effort to conceal his lack of interest. He 26

wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up. “You ’bout ready, 27

Cath?” he said.

28

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29

It was almost one. Kate was waiting for Mills to call her back.

30

With Carmen’s help she’d managed to restore Madeleine’s Filofax 31

to its proper place, but she hadn’t mentioned the cassette. It re-32

mained stashed in her desk, waiting for Mills’s review.

33

Jennifer popped her head in the door. “Want anything from up-ort 34

stairs?”

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Kate realized she’d forgotten lunch. She was about to ask Jen-9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 115

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nifer to get her some food when the phone began to ring. From the 1

LCD display she saw it was Mills.

2

“No thanks,” Kate said hastily.