Equivocal Death (21 page)

3

Jennifer left the room.

4

“Hi, Carter,” Kate said. Just two short words but already she 5

sounded anxious. “I found something in Madeleine’s office that I 6

think you should know about. It’s a cassette tape. A recording of 7

Chuck Thorpe laying into some woman. Maybe Stephanie Fried-8

man. I think you should hear it.”

9

There was a rustling sound and then a click, as Mills turned off 10

the speakerphone and picked up the receiver. “What is it, exactly?”

11

Kate glanced at her notes. “The recording’s fuzzy. It’s hard to 12

make out all the words. But at one point, Thorpe says, ‘You think 13

Ron can’t get any girl he wants? You should be flattered.’ It sounds 14

like he’s talking about Ron Fogarty. In the complaint it’s alleged 15

that —”

16

“Right,” Mills said, cutting off the explanation. “What else?”

17

“Well . . . , at the end, Thorpe says, ‘I’m counting on you, baby.

18

If you get my drift.’ ” The words felt peculiar in her mouth.

19

“Anything else?”

20

“That’s pretty much it,” Kate said. “The rest of the tape’s blank.”

21

“I see,” Mills said. He sounded thoughtful, disinterested. “Well, 22

it’s hard to know what it means. This was in Madeleine’s desk?”

23

“Right. In a file drawer.”

24

There was a long pause. “I wouldn’t worry too much about this,”

25

Mills said finally. “From what you’re telling me, there’s not a whole 26

lot there. But you’re right. I should hear it. Ask Clara to set up a 27

time.”

28

“Okay,” Kate said, making an effort to conceal her surprise.
Not
29

a whole lot there.
What did Mills hear, or fail to hear? What was she 30

missing?

31

“There’s one more thing. I was just getting started in Made-32

leine’s office when Martin Drescher showed up and told me to stop.

33

He seemed . . . really upset for some reason.”

34 sh

Mills exhaled audibly. “I just got off the phone with Martin,” he 35 re

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A M Y G U T M A N

1

said. “Listen, why don’t you hold off for now? Martin seems to want 2

a partner to handle the job. Personally, I don’t see the point. But 3

it’s not worth a fight. I’ll see if we can bring in Dave Bosch.”

4

“Dave Bosch. He was just in my office,” Kate said. “A detective 5

wanted to ask me a few questions about Madeleine. He sat in on 6

the interview.”

7

“Right, right,” Mills said. “I meant to tell you they’d be by. The 8

investigators are talking to everyone who had recent dealings with 9

Madeleine. It all went smoothly?”

10

“I was happy to help. Not that I could really . . .” Kate let the 11

sentence trail off.

12

“We do appreciate it. Anything else?” Mills’s voice was once 13

again distant. Kate could tell he was eager to end the conversation.

14

“No, that’s all,” she said hurriedly.

15

“Good,” Mills said. “Oh, Kate, there is one more thing. I’ll need 16

you at WideWorld tomorrow for a witness interview. A woman by 17

the name of Morris.”

18

“She was a friend of Steph — of Friedman’s?”

19

“Right. Arrange for a car. The meeting is set for two. Thanks so 20

much.”

21

Before Kate could respond, she heard a click. Carter Mills had 22

hung up the phone.

23

24

25

The phone rang just before four. Josie was on time today. Waiting 26

for the girl to make it upstairs, Kate rehearsed in her mind what 27

she’d say. She had to appear sympathetic; that was the important 28

thing. Already, she felt slightly uncomfortable with the role she’d 29

agreed to take on. The beneficent white adviser to a young black 30

girl who faced challenges she couldn’t imagine. Her own privileges 31

seemed almost ludicrous, embarrassing in their profusion. What 32

did she know about Josie’s life? Why should Josie listen to her?

33

Still, she wanted to help. And to do that, she needed some an-ort 34

swers.

reg 35

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A timid knock on the door. “Come in,” Kate called.

1

The door opened, but Josie stayed put. In her black North Face 2

parka and baggy jeans, she hovered at the threshold as if hoping to 3

be dismissed. Her eyes shifted to Kate’s for a short moment and 4

then returned to the floor.

5

“Josie!” Kate’s voice was artificially cheerful. “Come on in, have 6

a seat.” Josie edged into the office and looked around briefly before 7

dropping into a chair.

8

“How about a chocolate chip cookie?” Kate asked.

9

Josie shrugged. “Okay.”

10

Kate handed Josie a large cellophane-wrapped cookie acquired 11

earlier in the day at the firm cafeteria. “Something to drink?”

12

“I guess . . . maybe a Diet Coke.”

13

As Kate headed down the hallway, she thought about the con-14

trast between the Josie who faced her today and the Josie of just a 15

few months back. When they’d first started meeting, Josie could 16

barely contain her excitement at being at Samson & Mills. It was, 17

she’d confided to Kate, like something on TV, and she’d made 18

breathless inquiries about every aspect of the place. Where Kate 19

ate lunch. Who made the coffee. Where the secretaries had gone 20

to school.

21

“You could work somewhere like this,” Kate had told her. “And 22

not as a secretary, either. In ten years, you could be doing what I’m 23

doing. Although I should warn you, it’s not as glamorous as it 24

looks.”

25

Josie had given her a skeptical look, as if doubtful that Kate’s life 26

could be less than perfect, doubtful that she could ever dream of 27

holding Kate’s job. Kate hoped that both ideas would grow on her 28

with time.

29

Back from the vending machine, Kate handed Josie her drink 30

and sat down next to her. It seemed less formal than speaking from 31

behind a desk.

32

“How were your holidays?” Kate asked.

33

“Okay.” Josie’s eyes focused on her cookie.

34 sh

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Kate bit her lip. “Josie, I can tell that something’s wrong,” she 2

said. “What is it?”

3

“Nothing’s wrong.” Josie didn’t look up.

4

Kate tried another tactic. “You missed our last meeting before 5

the holidays,” she said, making her voice as gentle as possible.

6

“Were you sick?”

7

“No,” said Josie. Her voice was low.

8

Kate looked at her questioningly. “Were you —”

9

“It was my mom,” Josie interrupted. “My mom’s been a little sick 10

so I’ve been helping out with the other kids. That’s all.” Kate knew 11

that Josie had two much younger siblings, eight-year-old Freddy 12

and five-year-old Shari. She’d never mentioned her father, and 13

Kate hadn’t asked.

14

“I’m really sorry to hear that,” Kate said. “Is she all right now?”

15

“She’s . . . she’s better. She’s going to be okay,” Josie said.

16

“I’m glad that she’s better,” Kate said. “But what about you? You 17

look really
tired.
”

18

“A little,” Josie said grudgingly. “Freddy had bad dreams last 19

night, and he kept waking me up. The kids are just at that age.”

20

“I know you’ve got a lot going on,” Kate said. “But I don’t want 21

you to shortchange yourself. You have so much potential. Your 22

PSAT scores were really strong. I know that you can get into a 23

good college. I can help you get there. There are scholarships, 24

grants — all sorts of things. But I can’t help you if you’re not here.

25

I know that your family’s important, but you’re important, too. Do 26

you understand what I’m saying?”

27

For a moment, Kate thought she detected a spark in Josie’s eyes.

28

Then Josie looked down again, kicking her feet against the bottom 29

rung of her chair. “I guess so,” she mumbled. She didn’t sound con-30

vinced.

31

“I want you to promise me that you’ll do everything you can to 32

make our meetings,” Kate said. She took a deep breath. “Some-33

thing really bad happened last night. I found out that one of the ort 34

partners I work for here was killed, murdered. But I still wanted to reg 35

meet with you today, because I know it’s important.”

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“Someone that works here was
murdered?
” Josie said. The rhyth-1

mic back-and-forth movement of her feet stopped, and she stared 2

at Kate wide-eyed.

3

“Yes. A lawyer. Her name was Madeleine Waters.”

4

“Man, I just can’t picture someone who works here being 5

killed,” Josie said, her voice softly awestruck.

6

Andrea had made the same point, in the same disbelieving tone.

7

That both Andrea and Josie could share this point of view was a 8

stark reminder of life’s unfairness. Josie lived in one of the city’s pub-9

lic housing projects. Kate suspected that by age sixteen Josie had 10

seen more violent death than she or Andrea would see in their life-11

times. Still, Josie shared their astonishment that Samson & Mills 12

could be touched in this way. She seemed to accept without ques-13

tion the fact that life accorded some people — Kate, for example —

14

protections that she herself had been denied at birth. Or perhaps it 15

was something else. Perhaps Josie’s response stemmed from a basic 16

human yearning. Perhaps everyone needed to believe that there 17

existed, somewhere, a place that was absolutely safe and secure. In-18

violate. To Josie, Samson & Mills had represented that place.

19

As it had to Kate herself, until last night.

20

“I’ll try to make it,” Josie said. “Sometimes it’s hard, though . . .”

21

Josie’s voice faded off.

22

Kate still felt uneasy, as if she’d failed to reach Josie in some ba-23

sic way. But she’d pushed enough for one day.

24

Kate smiled. “I guess that’s all I can ask,” she said. “That you try 25

as hard as you can.”

26

27

28

It was already after ten, and the firm had fallen silent. Kate looked 29

up from the legal opinion that had absorbed her attention for the 30

past half hour and wondered why she had no recollection at all of 31

what she’d read. It wasn’t uncommon for Samson & Mills to be in 32

full gear at this hour, with paralegals, secretaries, and attorneys in 33

a frenzy to meet some early-morning deadline. But not tonight.

34 sh

From the sound of things, she was alone.

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Kate leaned back in her chair, trying to decide whether to stick 2

around for another hour or to finish her reading at home. Home was 3

more comfortable but also more risky, with the seductions of sleep 4

looming all too accessibly in the foreground. Still, what was the 5

point? No one was around to appreciate her late-night industry.

6

She’d just decided to call it quits when a thought shot through 7

her mind. In all the excitement over the Thorpe cassette, she’d en-8

tirely forgotten about her talk with Carmen. She hadn’t said a 9

word to Mills about the file Drescher had taken from Madeleine’s 10

office.
Damn.

11

Of course it was too late now. Partners did not make a habit of 12

burning the midnight oil. Kate made a quick note in her desk cal-13

endar in capital letters — TALK TO CM ABOUT FILE — and 14

then sat back in her chair. For some reason, she was feeling guilty.

15

As if she should have stopped Martin Drescher. Though, really, 16

what could she have done? Drescher was a partner. She was a ju-17

nior associate. Still, Mills had trusted her to see that everything 18

was left as it was. Irrational though it was, she felt as though she’d 19

let him down.

20

For some time, the feeling bore down on her, a weight pressed 21

against her heart. Then she had a sudden idea. Drescher, like Mills, 22

was undoubtedly gone for the day. Why couldn’t she just slip into 23

his office, take a quick look around? It would take a few minutes at 24

most. Unless Drescher had taken the file with him, there was a 25

pretty good chance she’d find it on his desk. That way she’d at least 26

know what he’d taken and could pass on the information to Mills.

27

She wouldn’t really be doing anything wrong. Even if someone saw 28