Equivocal Death (37 page)

could —”

20

“It’s hard to say. Things are really hectic right now. Why don’t I 21

give you a call?”

22

“Okay. Sure.”

23

Kate could hear the doubt in his voice. She moved quickly to 24

end the conversation. “Listen, I have to take another call. But I’ll 25

talk to you soon.”
Liar.
“Take care.”

26

Kate hung up the telephone receiver. She was suddenly starved.

27

She ripped the rest of the plastic off her sandwich and took a large 28

bite. As she chewed, she stared out the window. She hadn’t 29

planned to turn down Douglas’s invitation, hadn’t planned what to 30

say when he called. But now that it was done, she felt relieved. As 31

if she’d crossed something off a to-do list.

32

Kate made quick work of her sandwich, then turned her atten-33

tion to work. To the memo she still owed Peyton. The law of sex-ort 34

ual harassment.

reg 35

Are you really going to keep on doing this? Defending a murderer?

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The man who practically raped you?
For a moment, emotions welled 1

up inside, but she quickly reined them in. After all, this was her 2

job. The memo still had to get done. She wasn’t doing this for 3

Thorpe. She was doing it for Samson & Mills. She was doing it for 4

herself,
to protect her own career. She’d lost so much already; she 5

couldn’t lose this as well. Without her work, who would she be?

6

There was Thorpe the client, and Thorpe the man. She had to 7

keep the two things separate.

8

Pulling open her top right-hand drawer, Kate reached for a pen.

9

She was shutting the drawer when it struck her that something was 10

wrong.
The cassette tape from Madeleine’s office.
She was sure that 11

she’d put it here. But now it was nowhere in sight. Kate yanked the 12

drawer open wide and quickly searched its contents. Then, de-13

feated, she closed the drawer and slumped down in her chair.

14

How could she have lost the tape?
It just wasn’t possible. She’d put 15

the tape there; she knew it. But could she possibly be confused?

16

Perhaps she’d put the tape in her left-hand drawer, along with 17

Thorpe’s engraved cuff link. She dug the key from her purse and 18

quickly unlocked the drawer. The cuff link was still there, safe in the 19

envelope where she’d left it. But there was no sign of the cassette.

20

Biting her lip, Kate closed and locked the drawer. It made no 21

sense. How could something as solid as a cassette tape just vanish 22

into thin air? And how would she explain its disappearance to 23

Mills? Her job could be on the line.

24

For long moments, she sat immobile, her thoughts churning 25

hopelessly. Then, with a jerk, she sat up straight. She knew exactly 26

where the tape had gone.

27

Chuck Thorpe.

28

w

29

Only three days to go.

30

Nervously, like a caged animal, he paced the loft’s confines.

31

Then he forced himself back to his desk, sat down. He’d been over 32

the plan hundreds of times just in the past week alone. And now 33

he’d begin again. Step by step. Point by point. Preparation was 34 sh

everything.

35 re

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His desk was clear except for the gun. The same gun he’d used 2

to kill Madeleine. The gun he’d use Saturday night. He picked it 3

up, felt its weight in his hand. A lovely object, a piece of art.

4

Silver-plated, with an ivory grip. He’d gone to great trouble to get 5

it back. Subjected himself to great risk. But in the end, it had all 6

been worth it. The gun was part of the plan.

7

January 16.

8

The same day that
she
had died.

9

While his plan had shifted over the years, the date had never 10

changed. It fell on a Saturday this year. At first, that had seemed a 11

tremendous problem, an obstacle he might not surmount. Then, in 12

a stroke of fortune, Samson had come to his aid. The firm’s annual 13

cocktail party had been rescheduled. Thanks to Madeleine’s death.

14

Funny, how things had worked out.

15

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ort 34

reg 35

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Thursday, January 14

1

2

10:05 a.m. Kate had just arrived at work. As soon as she reached 3

her desk, she picked up the phone and dialed. Andrea picked up 4

right away.

5

“Where were you yesterday?” Kate demanded.

6

“Out sick. Flu.”

7

“I tried to reach you all day.”

8

“I had the phone unplugged. So I could sleep.” Andrea sounded 9

distracted.

10

“Are things okay?” Kate said. “You’re feeling better and all?”

11

“Oh, yeah. It was just a twenty-four-hour bug.” Andrea had put 12

her on speakerphone. Kate could hear the rustling of papers. “Lis-13

ten, I really have to get going. I had a bunch of documents dumped 14

on me this morning. They have to go out by five.”

15

“How about a quick break for lunch?”

16

“Sorry. Not with these boxes staring me in the face.”

17 sh

18 re

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“Well . . . , call me when you come up for air. I really want to 2

talk to you about a couple of things.”

3

“Yeah, sure.”

4

Before Kate could reply, the phone went dead. For a moment, 5

she stared at the receiver, too surprised to do anything else. Work-6

related crises were a way of life at Samson & Mills, hardly an ex-7

cuse for freezing out friends. It was almost as if Andrea was angry.

8

But how could that be? They’d hardly seen each other since Mad-9

eleine’s memorial service, when everything had been just fine.

10

Briefly, Kate thought about calling back but decided to put it off.

11

Andrea was busy now. She’d wait until the end of the day.

12

Kate turned to the papers on her desk. Luckily for her, the 13

Thorpe complaint still hadn’t come in. If it had, Peyton would be 14

screaming for the memo. Now, she’d have time for one more pass.

15

She was just typing in a few last edits when the phone rang. Jen-16

nifer picked up the call. Seconds later, Kate’s intercom buzzed.

17

“It’s Peyton,” Jennifer whispered, as if he might somehow over-18

hear. “Do you want to take it?”

19

“Perfect timing,” Kate said. Finally something was going right.

20

“Go ahead and put him through.”

21

“I’ve got the memo for you,” she said, before Peyton could start 22

in. “How many copies do you need?”

23

“One to me and one to files,” Peyton said. “But I need mine 24

right away.”

25

“I’ll have Jennifer bring it up.”

26

“The meeting’s at two,” Peyton continued, “in Carter’s confer-27

ence room.”

28

Kate felt her stomach lurch.
Just relax and try to enjoy it.
Pictur-29

ing Chuck Thorpe across a conference table, she felt physically 30

sick. No, she just couldn’t do it, not before she’d talked to Mills.

31

“I . . . I’m not going to be able to make it.”

32

“Come again?” Peyton sounded nonplussed.

33

“I have a doctor’s appointment that . . . that I’d forgotten about.”

ort 34

“I see.” Peyton was clearly astonished. Nothing but an act of reg 35

God would have caused him to miss this meeting.

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“Is it something you could reschedule?” His voice was inscru-1

tably polite. “It’s rather an important meeting. You know, Holden 2

and all.”

3

“No, I . . . I can’t,” Kate said miserably. Three words that a Sam-4

son associate must never utter. However arduous the task, however 5

unreasonable the deadline, you were supposed to accept it and 6

smile.

7

“Let’s see, then.” Peyton’s voice was solicitous, the sort of tone 8

one might use in addressing someone very old or sick.
Not
the sort 9

of tone generally used with subordinates at Samson & Mills.

10

Maybe he thought she was dying.

11

“D’you think you could get me the memo before you leave? That 12

would be a big help.”

13

“Sure. I’ll send it right up.”

14

After hanging up the phone, Kate page-checked a copy of the 15

memo before buzzing Jennifer. “Could you come in here for a sec-16

ond? I need you to make two copies of a memo and take them to 17

Peyton Winslow.”
I need you to.
A locution common among senior 18

associates, one that Kate had always despised. It so clearly defined 19

the other person as a means to your ends. And here she was using 20

it herself.

21

But Jennifer didn’t seem to notice. “There’s something I need to 22

tell you,” she said. There was a note of conspiracy in her voice.

23

“Okay, but first get two copies of this to Peyton,” Kate said, pass-24

ing Jennifer the memo. “He needs them right away.”

25

Jennifer disappeared through the door.

26

Kate looked at her watch. It was almost noon. It occurred to her 27

that if Mills hadn’t reached her yet, he probably wouldn’t be call-28

ing until after the WideWorld meeting. She felt a growing frustra-29

tion, a sense of helplessness. She hadn’t even had a chance to tell 30

Mills about the assault, let alone about Thorpe’s theft of the cas-31

sette. And now she had a new set of worries. Would Thorpe use her 32

absence from today’s meeting to launch a preemptive strike? Or 33

perhaps he’d already spoken to Mills, already moved to discredit her.

34 sh

Then, for the first time, a chilling thought crossed her mind.

35 re

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How had Thorpe known about the tape?
Could Thorpe have stum-2

bled on the drawer by chance? A lucky coincidence? No, it was too 3

far-fetched. There was only one explanation that made sense. The 4

information must have come from Mills.

5

Kate put a hand to her mouth. Her mind throbbed, as if on 6

emergency alert. Then, gradually, her pulse rate slowed as rational 7

thought resumed. Mills was a zealous lawyer, but he was also an 8

honest one. He’d never collude with Thorpe, not on something 9

like this. Just because Mills had told Thorpe about the tape didn’t 10

mean he was in on Thorpe’s scheme. Thorpe was, after all, the 11

client. Why shouldn’t Mills tell him about the tape? To the con-12

trary, it would have been strange had he
not
brought it up.

13

Jennifer appeared in the doorway.

14

“Did you get the memo to Peyton?”

15

“Did I?” Jennifer laughed. “He practically tore it out of my hand.

16

You’d have thought it was
Playboy
or something.”

17

Or
Catch,
Kate thought.

18

“So do you have a second?” Jennifer asked.

19

“Um, sure,” Kate said, trying not to let her reluctance show.

20

“What’s up?”

21

Jennifer stepped inside and shut the door. Her eyes were bright.

22

“I’ve got some information for you,” she said proudly. “About 23

Martin Drescher, I mean.”

24

Kate looked at her, confused. She wasn’t sure what Jennifer 25

meant.

26

“You know,” Jennifer prodded. “About Drescher and Madeleine 27

Waters.”

28

“Oh, right!” It seemed ages since she’d encouraged Jennifer to 29

engage in this girl detective act. Chuck Thorpe’s attack had pretty 30

much wiped out other concerns. But Jennifer seemed so excited, so 31

eager to relate her findings.

32

“So what did you learn?” Kate asked, trying to look like she 33

cared.

ort 34

“You won’t believe this,” Jennifer said. “But people are saying reg 35

that Madeleine Waters and Drescher had an
affair.
”

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Madeleine Waters and Martin Drescher? Kate looked at Jen-1

nifer, dumbstruck. “I don’t believe it. You’re kidding.”

2

“Nope. It ended about six months ago. When Madeleine found 3