by Amy Gutman
both WideWorld and Thorpe without a conflicts waiver from 20
WideWorld’s board?”
21
Mills looked at her, his face impassive. “No,” he said. “I would 22
not.”
23
The two partners locked eyes. Sensing the tension, Kate found 24
herself staring at her lap. There was something unsettling about 25
the scene. She was curious, of course — who wouldn’t be — but 26
also strangely disturbed. It was almost like she was very young 27
again, listening to her parents argue.
28
Seemingly oblivious to the younger lawyers, Madeleine pressed 29
ahead, her tone deceptively light. “You can’t ignore the fact that 30
WideWorld has potential claims against Thorpe. When Wide-31
World agreed to buy Catch, Chuck Thorpe was fully aware of Ms.
32
Friedman’s sexual harassment claims. He’d already been informed 33
that the EEOC would investigate. Yet he failed to disclose the po-34 sh
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2 0
A M Y G U T M A N
1
tential liability — something the stock purchase agreement clearly 2
obligated him to do. If there’s an adverse judgment in this case, 3
WideWorld may have to consider asserting claims against Thorpe.
4
WideWorld’s stockholders can’t be expected to foot the bill for 5
Thorpe’s —”
6
“We’ll talk about this later, Madeleine.” There was a warning 7
note to Mills’s voice.
8
Madeleine shrugged, and settled back in her seat. The same 9
faint smile Kate had noticed earlier again played on her lips.
10
Kate tried to make sense of the exchange. What Madeleine had 11
said seemed logical, obvious even. Samson’s duty was to its client, 12
WideWorld. You didn’t need to be a specialist in legal ethics to 13
know the dangers of dual representation in a situation like this.
14
But simply thinking this through felt somehow disloyal. After all, 15
Kate chided herself, without actually reading the purchase agree-16
ment, it was impossible to know anything for sure. And even if 17
Madeleine did have a point, why raise the issue like this — why 18
pick a fight with Mills in front of two associates? Only one thing 19
seemed clear: if Carter and Madeleine had ever been lovers, the af-20
fair had not ended well.
21
For a time, Mills seemed lost in thought. Then, he suddenly re-22
sumed command, as if the previous exchange simply hadn’t oc-23
curred. “That’s about it for today.” He was speaking directly to the 24
junior lawyers, as if Madeleine wasn’t there. “Madeleine will be 25
overseeing your work on this case. Of course, you’re free to come to 26
me with any questions.”
27
Surprised, Kate glanced across the room. Her eyes met 28
Madeleine’s. There was an appraising glint in the other woman’s 29
eyes. For a confused moment, Kate wondered if Madeleine had 30
been watching her. But before she could be sure, it was over.
31
Madeleine was studying her folded hands, and Carter Mills was 32
winding up the meeting. “I want a legal memo by the end of next 33
week. I’d like Kate to start in on that. If there aren’t any other ort 34
questions, I’ll see you all Wednesday afternoon.”
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E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
2 1
After the two associates left the room, Madeleine Waters re-1
mained seated on the leather couch. Still smiling, she studied 2
Mills. But when she spoke her voice was cold.
3
“I can see that the magic hasn’t faded.”
4
He returned the gaze but said nothing.
5
“In any case, that was quite a demonstration. Make them feel 6
like they’re part of your world. The quickest path to loyalty and de-7
votion. Not to mention endless billable hours. That’s what you 8
taught me, isn’t it? Well, congratulate yourself. It worked like a 9
charm. You could see it in their faces.”
10
Mills had assumed an air of calm detachment. “You see what you 11
want to see,” he said. “You always have.”
12
Madeleine paused, as if contemplating the next maneuver in 13
some delicate game of chance. “How comforting to find that noth-14
ing has changed,” she finally said. “It’s been quite a while since 15
we’ve worked together. Closely, that is. And you always wonder” —
16
and here she pronounced the words with odd emphasis — “if —
17
something — might — change. And then you realize that nothing 18
ever does.”
19
A smile flickered across Mills’s face.
20
“It sounds like you’ve got it all figured out, Madeleine. Let’s be 21
clear about this. Neither of us is happy with this arrangement. Un-22
fortunately, Thorpe has demanded that you work on this case. Ob-23
viously, we have no choice. You have no choice. I’m sure you 24
understand that.”
25
But Madeleine was barely listening. Her mind seemed to be 26
somewhere else. “That associate. Kate Paine. You hired her, didn’t 27
you? It’s because of you that she came to work here.”
28
Mills’s expression didn’t change. “I have no idea what you’re 29
talking about.”
30
And now it was Madeleine who was silent as her eyes roamed 31
Carter Mills’s face. Then, abruptly, she laughed. When she spoke 32
her voice was heavy with scorn.
33
“You’re so obvious, Carter. It would be fascinating if it weren’t so 34 sh
pathetic. Are you wondering how I knew? Just look at her. ”
35 re
Document Outline
PROLOGUE Nashville, Tennessee Eleven years ago
Wednesday, April 5
Thursday, April 6
Monday, April 10
Tuesday, April 11
Wednesday�Saturday, April 12�15
Sunday, April 16
Monday, April 17
Tuesday, April 18
Thursday, April 20
Sunday, April 23
Tuesday, April 25
Wednesday, April 26
Thursday, April 27
Friday, April 28
Monday, May 1
Tuesday, May 2
Thursday, May 4
Saturday, May 6
Monday, May 8
Saturday, May 13
Sunday�Monday, May 14�15
Tuesday, May 16
Wednesday, May 17
Thursday, May 18
Friday, May 19
Saturday, May 20
EPILOGUE Merritt, Massachusetts Wednesday, June 28
Author�s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Special eBook Feature: An Excerpt from Amy Gutman�s Equivocal Death
Equivocal Death
Wednesday, December 23
Monday, January 4