Equivocal Death (5 page)

of the smiling sphinx. A winged creature with the head of a 15

woman.

16

Madeleine had stood up and was walking away from her desk, 17

toward a floor-to-ceiling bookcase across the room. Kate turned to 18

watch as she scanned the shelves briefly, then pulled out a large 19

paperback. Heading back to her desk, Madeleine handed the vol-20

ume to Kate.

21

“You might want to take a look at this,” she said. “For back-22

ground. Historical interest.”

23

Kate glanced at the book.
Sexual Harassment of Working Women
24

by Catharine A. MacKinnon. She was momentarily dumbfounded.

25

Catharine MacKinnon was probably the nation’s most well known 26

feminist legal scholar. She’d also been a prime mover in the anti-27

pornography movement, one of its earliest and most vigilant ac-28

tivists. Hardly inspirational reading for a lawyer defending Chuck 29

Thorpe.

30

“I read some of MacKinnon’s work in law school,” Kate said, try-31

ing to muster an air of detachment while she figured out where this 32

was leading. “It’s interesting, but . . . doesn’t she say that sexual re-33

lations between men and women are never consensual?”

ort 34

“Something like that.” Madeleine smiled. She did not seem in-reg 35

clined to continue.

9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 25

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

2 5

In the silence that followed, Kate’s eyes scanned the room. As a 1

general rule, partners’ suites were dense with signs of their private 2

lives — family photos, mementos from past victories, children’s 3

artwork. However, this human detritus was notably absent from 4

Madeleine’s office. Hanging on the back wall was a single abstract 5

oil — a vibrant composition of blues, greens, and orange. If they 6

shared nothing else, Madeleine and Carter seemed to share a taste 7

for the modern. Though since Madeleine was younger and a 8

woman, Kate found her choices less surprising. Was it Madeleine 9

who’d shaped Mills’s taste?

10

Aside from the painting, the only other item on the ivory walls 11

was a black-and-white photograph behind Madeleine’s desk. A 12

rugged coastline, waves cresting against huge rocks. Kate found 13

herself staring at the image. She sensed Madeleine watching her.

14

“That’s a wonderful picture,” Kate said. She wasn’t sure what to 15

say next.

16

Madeleine’s face softened as she turned to look at the picture.

17

“A good friend of mine took that many years ago,” she said. “I’ve 18

always had it with me.” Then she looked back at Kate.

19

“How long have you been at Samson & Mills?”

20

The question caught Kate off guard. “Just over a year, I guess.”

21

Abruptly, Madeleine stood up. As if she’d reached some sort of 22

decision. Circling her desk, she came up alongside Kate’s chair.

23

Leaning forward, she grasped her shoulder. “You need to be very 24

careful.” Her green eyes glittered. Her fingers dug into Kate’s flesh.

25

“There are things —”

26

Again, the phone rang. After a brief hesitation, Madeleine re-27

leased Kate’s shoulder and went back to her desk.

28

“Yes, Carter?” This time, Kate could hear nothing from the 29

other end of the line. Madeleine’s head was bowed. Kate couldn’t 30

make out her expression. She felt a sharp tingling sensation on her 31

skin where Madeleine’s hand had been.

32

Moments later, the call was over. Madeleine seemed once again 33

preoccupied as she pulled open a drawer and began to rifle through 34 sh

its contents. When she spoke, she didn’t look up. “There’s some-35 re

9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 26

2 6

A M Y G U T M A N

1

thing I need to take care of,” she said. “We’ll have to finish this 2

later.”

3

w

4

1 p.m. It was time. He’d put it off as long as he could. Any further 5

delay and he might not reach her. Of course, he’d logged on to 6

Samson’s computer network to check Madeleine’s calendar. That 7

was a daily practice. Click in. Click out. He knew she was in for 8

the afternoon. Conference call on some boring Micro-Net matter 9

at three. A new client prospect at four.

10

He picked up the phone, punched in her number.

11

Breathe in, breathe out. Everything will be fine.

12

“Madeleine Waters’s office. How may I help you?” He recog-13

nized the voice of Carmen Rodriguez, Madeleine’s secretary.
So far
14

so good.

15

“I’m calling from Chuck Thorpe’s office. Mr. Thorpe has had a 16

slight change of schedule. He’d appreciate it if Ms. Waters could 17

meet him an hour earlier than planned. At seven instead of eight.”

18

Good. Take control. Remind her that you’re the client. You set the
19

terms.

20

“Just one moment. Let me check with Ms. Waters.” He heard 21

the click of the hold button. And then the interminable wait.

22

Say yes, say yes, say yes.

23

Finally, another click. Carmen Rodriguez was back. “That will 24

be fine. Ms. Waters will meet Mr. Thorpe at seven o’clock at Or-25

mond.”

26

“Thank you. Mr. Thorpe very much appreciates the accommo-27

dation.”

28

“You’re quite welcome.”

29

Yes.

30

w

31

Kate leaned against the doorway of Andrea Lee’s office, waiting 32

for her phone call to be over. Kate could barely make out the top 33

of Andrea’s sleek black hair, bobbing rhythmically behind the ort 34

stacks of
Federal Reporters
and Westlaw printouts piled high on her reg 35

desk. But her emphatic tones were unmistakable.

9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 27

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

2 7

“This is outrageous,” Andrea declaimed. “We’re absolutely enti-1

tled to see the customer service files. If we don’t have them by to-2

morrow, we’re filing a motion to compel.”

3

Kate grinned at the familiar scene. Born in Hong Kong and 4

raised in New York, Andrea was a one-woman rebuttal to the myth 5

of the retiring Asian woman. They’d met as summer associates and 6

bonded during their first year of work when they both ended up on 7

a nightmarish document review on one of Martin Drescher’s cases.

8

As the two most junior lawyers on the team, Kate and Andrea had 9

put in more than their share of all-nighters, drinking gallons of cof-10

fee and sending out for endless amounts of sushi, pizza, and Chi-11

nese food. Both of them had billed upward of ninety hours a week 12

during that insane six months. They’d also become fast friends.

13

Now, as if sensing Kate’s presence, Andrea glanced up. Her eyes 14

widened, and a broad smile broke across her face. Signaling to Kate 15

to wait, she returned to her caller.

16

“I think we’ve said about all there is to say, Tim.” Andrea’s fea-17

tures once again reflected an icy intransigence. “We know your po-18

sition. Now you know ours. I have a meeting.”

19

As she slammed down the phone, and jumped up to hug Kate, 20

the familiar grin reclaimed her face. Kate returned the smile, 21

amused by her friend’s seamless shifts from power lawyer to gal pal.

22

She wondered if she did the same thing herself.

23

“You look great!” said Andrea, releasing Kate from a quick em-24

brace. “Can’t wait to hear about the Caribbean. Ready for lunch?”

25

“Yep.” Kate glanced around the sunlit room. Except for the 26

view — Andrea’s windows faced directly west, looking over the 27

Hudson River — their offices were identical. But while Kate’s 28

walls were bare except for her Harvard diploma, Andrea’s were 29

covered with colorful posters of the far-flung places that she loved 30

to visit. Kate saw that a raging Chilean river now occupied the 31

place of honor to the right of Andrea’s desk.

32

“The Futaleufu,” Andrea beamed. “Some of the best white wa-33

ter in the world. We’re going in February. It’ll be summer down 34 sh

there.”

35 re

9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 28

2 8

A M Y G U T M A N

1

“We” referred to Andrea and her husband, Brent, an investment 2

banker. While both held high-powered corporate jobs, they were 3

perennially broke due to their endless appetite for wilderness adven-4

ture. Andrea made no secret of why she stayed at Samson: money 5

pure and simple. Money to travel and pay off her law school loans.

6

“Better you than me,” said Kate. “From the looks of things, I’d 7

stay afloat three minutes tops.”

8

“Foolish girl. You’d love it if you’d give it a try.” Andrea grabbed 9

her purse. “Shall we?”

10

11

12

The noise level in the cafeteria had already reached a steady din by 13

the time Andrea and Kate, lunch trays in hand, headed toward a 14

corner table. It was the usual scene. Tables of slick-haired young 15

men, ties tossed over their shoulders. A few scattered clusters of 16

women, mainly secretaries and other support staffers.

17

“Return to GQ Central,” Kate whispered to Andrea, who re-18

sponded with a short laugh.

19

“How
do
you explain the shortage of females at this firm?” Kate 20

asked, after they had settled into their chairs. “There must be five 21

men for every woman. What was the count for last summer’s asso-22

ciate class? More than sixty guys and only eight of us, right?”

23

“Well, it’s a little like this at any white-shoe firm,” said Andrea.

24

Her eyes narrowed as she studied a colorful concoction of rice noo-25

dles and bean sprouts that she’d spooned off the salad bar. Samson’s 26

latest foray into Asian cuisine. “
We
don’t eat this cold — why 27

would
you?
” she muttered. “Why do they even bother? Each dish is 28

more preposterous than the last.”

29

“Kitchen diversity. So you’re practically the only Asian associ-30

ate. At least the cooking can be pluralistic.”

31

“Good point.” Andrea shoved the salad aside and picked up her 32

cheeseburger. “Who needs noodles anyway? You want to know 33

what I really think?”

ort 34

“About
noodles?
”

reg 35

“No, about the woman thing. It’s to keep costs down. Samson 9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 29

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

2 9

offers great maternity benefits. Four months of paid leave. Looks 1

great when the firm gets written up in
American Law.
Very progres-2

sive. Very PC. But what would happen if half the associates were 3

actually
taking
it? Need I say more?”

4

“Hmm. Isn’t that just a little bit cynical?”

5

Andrea raised her eyebrows in mock horror. “Oh my God, how 6

can you
say
such things about me?” She popped a french fry into 7

her mouth.

8

“Then again,” Kate said, “you could have a point.” She turned 9

to her own cheeseburger, took a large bite, and chewed. “Did you 10

get away at all over the holidays?”

11

“Nope. I’m saving up all my vacation for February. I’ve put in for 12

three weeks,” Andrea said absently. She was looking over Kate’s 13

shoulder. “When
is
that girl going to get married?”

14

“What are you talking about?”

15

“Behind you. Angela Taylor. She’s showing off that ring again.

16

It’s her sole topic of conversation. That and
Ally McBeal.
”

17

Kate craned her neck to look at Angela Taylor. She was wearing 18

a sleek navy suit that set off her preppie good looks. Her left hand 19

was extended for appraisal by another young lawyer of similar type 20

and vintage. “I don’t get it,” Kate said. “She went to law school at 21

Yale. Clerked in the Southern District. It’s strange, isn’t it?”

22

“Not really,” said Andrea. “Just because you’re smart doesn’t 23

mean you can’t be superficial. Angela Taylor has it all. Hey, speak-24

ing of weddings, guess who else is getting hitched.”

25

“Who?”

26

“Susan Deveraux.”

27

Kate stared at Andrea. Susan Deveraux was a senior associate 28

and one of a handful of Samson attorneys known to be openly gay.

29

She was a fixture at on-campus recruitment events, where even the 30

most competitive law students sometimes clung to vestiges of an 31

early idealism, demanding that firms show diversity in their hiring 32

practices.

33

“You mean she’s . . . marrying a woman?” Kate asked.

34 sh

“Nope. A guy. A lawyer for Dewhurst Securities.”