Equivocal Death (45 page)

9

And they reminded us not to talk to the press.” Kate could tell that 10

Justin’s shock over Mills’s death was fast giving way to concern 11

about her own condition. “You shouldn’t be alone now, Kate. I’m 12

coming over.”

13

“No, really, I’m all right,” Kate said. “Tara slept over last night.

14

She’s still here.” It was bad enough deceiving Justin over the phone.

15

It would be worse to do it in person. Maybe by tomorrow morning 16

the news would be public, and she’d be free to drop the subterfuge.

17

“So what did the cops say?” Justin said. “They must at least have 18

a suspect.”

19

“I don’t know,” Kate said. “They didn’t say much, and I didn’t 20

ask. I was pretty out of it, I guess. Basically, they just asked me what 21

I’d seen, and I told them what I remembered. It wasn’t much. As 22

soon as I realized what I was looking at, I started to scream. I got 23

out of there and called Security.”

24

“It must be someone with a vendetta against the firm. And it’s 25

obviously someone with access. Jesus, the killer must have been in 26

the building last night at the same time we were all there.”

27

Kate was almost swept into Justin’s fervor. Until she reminded 28

herself.

29

Suicide.

30

Not murder, suicide.

31

“Justin, you know I’m feeling a little tired. I’m still sort of in 32

shock, I think. Can we talk in the morning?”

33

Justin was immediately contrite. “Sure. Sorry. This is the last 34 sh

thing you need right now. Are you sure I can’t bring you anything?”

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1

“Thanks, but I’m just going to lie low today. I’ll call you when I 2

get in tomorrow.”

3

When Kate hung up the phone, she saw that Tara was giving her 4

a dangerous look.

5

“What?” Kate asked. But she already knew.

6

“Please don’t tell me that you’re going to work tomorrow.”

7

“Why not?” As if she didn’t know.

8

“
Why not?
” Tara leaned forward, as if she wanted to take hold of 9

Kate’s shoulders and shake her. “Because the partner you worked 10

for just killed himself. Because you found the body. Because this is 11

the second person you work with who’s been killed this month.

12

How many more reasons do you need?”

13

“I’m okay,” Kate said. “I’ll feel better in the morning.”

14

And the strange thing was, she already did. Even as she spoke, 15

Kate felt herself growing lighter. Tomorrow morning, she’d get on 16

the subway and go to work, just like she always did. She pictured 17

her office at Samson & Mills: the neatly ordered books, the stacks 18

of documents, the Statue of Liberty rising from the Hudson River.

19

With everything that had happened, it was still where she wanted 20

to be. Her work was there. Her life was there. And there were 21

things that she needed to do.

22

Kate turned to Tara on the couch. “I have to go in tomorrow,”

23

she said. “I know you can’t understand. But it’s where I belong 24

right now.”

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

ort 34

reg 35

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Monday, January 18

1

2

If the press had been slow on the uptake, they were now making 3

up for lost time. The tabloids carried screaming headlines: SAM-4

SON SLAUGHTERHOUSE. MIDTOWN MAYHEM. Violent 5

death at Samson & Mills was becoming a full-time beat.

6

Emerging from the subway, Kate saw that crowds had gathered 7

around the Samson building. A security checkpoint had been es-8

tablished at the entrance. Kate took her place in line, scanning the 9

sea of faces, searching for people she knew.

10

“Name?” The square-jawed guard didn’t look at her as he spoke.

11

“Kate Paine. I’m a lawyer here.”

12

Briefly, the guard’s eyes dropped to a list in his hand.

13

“Picture ID?”

14

Kate reached into her purse for her billfold. Pulling out her dri-15

ver’s license, she caught sight of her photograph. She was struck by 16

how young she looked. The picture was just a few years old, but she 17 sh

looked like a different person.

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1

It was still early, before nine, and Kate was alone in the elevator.

2

But when she reached her office, Justin was already there. Seated 3

at Jennifer’s secretarial station, he was poring over a newspaper.

4

Catching sight of Kate, he began to talk.

5

“It doesn’t sound like they have any idea.”

6

Kate unlocked her office door. Justin followed her inside. Kate 7

went behind her desk to pull up the shades. Justin slid into a chair.

8

“You look tired,” he said, as Kate settled into her chair.

9

“I didn’t sleep too well.”

10

Justin looked back at the paper, now resting on his lap. “I can’t 11

believe they don’t have any suspects. I mean, it happened right 12

here. Don’t they know who was in the building?”

13

Kate shrugged. If she didn’t actually say anything, it didn’t feel 14

as much like lying. She glanced down at a firm memo that had 15

been slipped under her door.

16

17

The partners of Samson & Mills regret to inform you that J. Carter
18

Mills, the firm’s managing partner, was found dead in his office Satur-19

day night. The cause of death was a gunshot wound.

20

All firm personnel are reminded that contacts with the media on this
21

and all other subjects related to Samson & Mills are strictly prohibited.

22

All media inquiries should be referred to Martin Drescher, who will
23

serve as the firm’s interim managing partner.

24

25

The memo continued for several more paragraphs, a brief dis-26

course on Carter Mills’s professional achievements, but Kate was 27

too stunned to read on.

28

“
Martin Drescher?
They’re handing over Carter’s job to his 29

archrival?”

30

“I know,” Justin said. “It’s crazy. Alice in Wonderland.”

31

Kate didn’t say anything. She was thinking about what must 32

have happened. Suicide, whatever the provocation, was not the 33

act of a team player. A postmortem punishment was being im-ort 34

posed.

reg 35

“Kate? Are you okay?”

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

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“Yeah, just a little preoccupied. Listen, would you mind if I 1

catch up with you later? I have to make a phone call now.”

2

Justin jumped to his feet. “Sure. Call me when you’re done.”

3

Kate waited until Justin had closed the door. Then, picking up 4

the telephone receiver, she dialed Martin Drescher’s extension.

5

w

6

Sam Howell poured another cup of coffee and headed back to the 7

living room. He sank into a chair and retrieved the newspaper he’d 8

left folded open on its arm. Once more, he read the report, promi-9

nently featured on the front page of the Metro section. LEGAL

10

STAR SHOT DEAD IN OFFICE. He must have read the article 11

half a dozen times. Now he began again. Nothing could bring 12

Madeleine back to life. But at least Mills had paid for her death.

13

w

14

“And you’re sure that it was Chuck Thorpe speaking?”

15

“Absolutely,” Kate said.

16

“And the woman?” Drescher persisted. “What makes you think 17

it was the plaintiff?”

18

“Some of the details were the same. I don’t remember exactly.

19

But they were talking about Ron Fogarty. The complaint alleges 20

that Thorpe forced Steph — the plaintiff — to have sex with Fog-21

arty. When I listened to the tape, the pieces seemed to fit to-22

gether.”

23

Kate eyed Drescher from across his desk. He wasn’t looking good 24

this morning. His face was a shiny, mottled red, and he seemed to 25

be short of breath. But at least he was paying attention. He’d lis-26

tened without interruption as Kate described Thorpe’s attack 27

along with her subsequent discovery that the cassette tape was 28

missing from her drawer. With a grunt, Drescher raised a mug to 29

his lips — a little hair of the dog? — and then leaned back in his 30

chair.

31

“So, Ms. Paine, you’re suggesting that Chuck Thorpe took this 32

cassette from your desk? Is that what you’re telling me?”

33

Kate looked at him, surprised. She’d hardly expected to be chal-34 sh

lenged on this point. If there was one thing she thought she knew, 35 re

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A M Y G U T M A N

1

it was that Drescher loathed Thorpe and already considered him a 2

suspect in Madeleine’s death. He’d said as much to Carter Mills the 3

night she’d overheard them argue. The night she’d been trapped 4

beneath the very desk at which Martin Drescher now sat.

5

“It’s the only explanation I can think of,” she said.

6

“And how do you think Thorpe knew where to find the tape?”

7

Because Carter must have told him. Though I’m not sure why.
“I 8

have no idea,” she said. “But the fact is that he did.”

9

“I see.” Drescher continued to study her. His eyes, slightly 10

bloodshot, moved from her face down her body. Kate flushed. Her 11

black knit skirt wasn’t short by office standards. But when she sat 12

down, it edged up over her knees. As she tugged at the hem, Martin 13

Drescher smiled.

14

“Ms. Paine, I’m sure you know these are very serious allega-15

tions.”

16

“Yes. I realize that.”

17

“And there aren’t any witnesses?”

18

“No actual witnesses. But Maintenance can confirm that some-19

thing was wrong with my lights. Maybe even that they’d been tam-20

pered with.”

21

“But no witnesses.” This time, it was not a question.

22

“I . . . that’s right.” Kate was about to say that it had been late, 23

that everyone else had gone home. But that would have been a 24

mistake.
Never try to explain.
It was a cardinal rule for Samson as-25

sociates, part of the firm’s quasi-military ethic. Just answer the 26

question.

27

“And have you spoken to anyone else about this?”

28

“No. No one.”

29

Drescher loosened his tie. “Ms. Paine, I’m sure you know that 30

Samson & Mills is at a crisis point. I’m going to be frank. Our re-31

sources are stretched to the limit. I can’t promise that we’ll address 32

this right away. But you have my word that, at the first opportunity, 33

we’ll fully investigate your claims. Can you live with that?”

ort 34

Did she have any choice? “I . . . yes, I guess so.”

reg 35

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“In the meantime, I’d suggest that you take some time off. At 1

least a week or two. With full pay, of course.”

2

“Thank you. I . . . I’ll think about it.”

3

“If you need any professional assistance, I’m sure we can arrange 4

for that.”

5

Professional assistance.
It took Kate a moment to realize that he 6

meant psychiatric help. Again, she flushed. “I don’t think so,” she 7

said.

8

“Now, can I count on you to keep this matter to yourself for the 9

time being, until we’ve had a chance to address it?” Drescher’s 10

voice had turned gentle, almost cajoling.

11

“Yes, of course.” The response was automatic. Kate had mentally 12

moved on to the next item on her agenda. Taking a deep breath, 13

she began. “There is one other thing I wanted to mention. It’s 14

about Madeleine Waters.”

15

Drescher’s head inclined to one side. He was still leaning back 16

in his chair. But Kate sensed a subtle tensing of his muscles. Like a 17

tomcat waiting to spring.

18

“In light of what happened to me, I think that Chuck Thorpe 19

should be considered a suspect in Madeleine’s death. If he isn’t al-20

ready, I mean.”

21

Drescher raised his eyebrows. “Ms. Paine, groping a female law-22

yer, however inappropriate, is hardly comparable to murder.”

23

Kate felt her skin glow hot. She’d played by the rules. She’d kept 24

their secrets, gone through the proper channels. And where had it 25