by Amy Gutman
25
“And she resigned ten months ago?”
26
“Yeah.”
27
“Any contact with her since then?”
28
“Nope.”
29
“Good. What sort of work did she do?”
30
“She did, you know, what assistants do. Typing, filing, phones.
31
That sort of thing.”
32
“Attractive?”
33
Thorpe snorted. “She thinks so.”
34 sh
“She claims” — Mills scanned his notes — “that you regularly 35 re
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demanded that she discuss her sex life with you, and that you re-2
counted your own . . . assignations.”
3
“Assignations. Christ. What century is this? Look, Mr. Mills, I’m 4
sure you’re a very fine lawyer, but you don’t have the slightest idea 5
how to run my magazine. Did I ask Stephanie who she was fucking?
6
Sure I did. Did I ask her what he did to her? What got her excited?
7
Sure. And did that turn me on? Absolutely.
8
“But you know why I asked those questions, Mr. Mills? Because 9
that’s the sort of magazine I run. It’s a sex magazine, Mr. Mills, in 10
case you haven’t noticed. Sure we write about politics, culture, all 11
that shit — just because a guy likes to look at tits doesn’t mean he’s 12
stupid. But the bottom line is sex. I go to my staff for ideas.
13
Stephanie knew what she was getting into when she took the job.
14
What’d she expect, Good Housekeeping? ”
15
Kate struggled to keep her mind focused on the facts, to separate 16
her visceral reaction to Chuck Thorpe from the argument he was 17
making.
18
Mills smiled. If he shared Kate’s distaste, it didn’t show. “This is 19
actually quite helpful, Chuck — and please, call me Carter. You 20
see, without focusing too much on the law at this point, it’s signif-21
icant that she didn’t complain. To prevail in this suit, she’d have to 22
convince a jury that your conduct was unwelcome. But from what 23
you’re telling me, she never told you — or anyone else you know 24
of — that she had a problem with it.”
25
“A problem? Stephanie? Don’t make me laugh. She’d have had a 26
better chance of offending me than I would have of offending her.
27
Compared to Stephanie, I’m a puritan.”
28
“So she had an active sex life?”
29
“You could say that.”
30
“Do you remember any names?”
31
“Some guy named Bob, I think. She talked about him a lot.
32
That’s really all I remember specifically.” There was a tray of past-33
ries in the middle of the conference table. Thorpe reached for a ort 34
tiny cheese Danish and tossed it into his mouth.
reg 35
“If you think of anything else, be sure to tell me,” Carter Mills 9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 67
E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
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said. “Also — and I’m sure that Richard has gone over this with 1
you — don’t speak to anyone about this case. Anyone you talk to 2
could become a witness.”
3
“Got it.”
4
Kate noted that Richard Epstein wasn’t saying much. Relations 5
between Samson and in-house attorneys could get thorny at times, 6
with the corporate guys — they were almost always guys — resent-7
ing what they perceived as Samson’s high-handedness in managing 8
farmed-out cases. Often, the in-house lawyers seemed to see Sam-9
son’s involvement as an implicit rebuke, an implication that they 10
were not capable of handling complex legal matters on their own.
11
But having dealt with Samson for over a decade, Epstein must 12
have made his peace with the arrangement.
13
“Friedman claims that you required her to have sexual relations 14
with Ron Fogarty as a condition to keeping her job,” Carter Mills 15
continued. “I understand that Fogarty’s a friend of yours?”
16
“That’s bullshit,” Thorpe said, spitting out the words. “I could 17
hardly keep Stephanie away from Ron. It got to be embarrassing.
18
She was all over the guy every time he came to my office. I said, 19
‘Stephanie, enough’s enough. He knows you’re interested. We all 20
know you’re interested. Now you gotta be cool. Let events take 21
their course.’ You ask me, that’s probably why Stephanie’s pulling 22
this shit. To get back at Ron.”
23
Kate tried to suppress her growing aversion, to listen without 24
making judgments. She glanced sidewise at Peyton, whose eyes 25
were on Thorpe, a sympathetic smile affixed to his mouth. No sign 26
of inner conflict there. That’s how she wanted to be. That’s how 27
she would be, purely focused and objective.
28
“I assume that Fogarty will back this up?” Carter Mills said.
29
“That he rejected Friedman’s advances?”
30
“Absolutely.”
31
Carter Mills again referred to his notes. “Moving on, Friedman 32
claims that you required her to wear sexually provocative outfits, 33
and that you made sexually explicit comments about her appear-34 sh
ance.”
35 re
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“I didn’t force Stephanie to dress the way she dressed. That’s just 2
how she came to work. Hell, she would’ve had a problem if I’d 3
made her dress like a normal secretary. I might have told her that 4
she looked good or something. I really don’t remember. Except I 5
know that I didn’t say what she says I said. She’s flattering herself.”
6
“Fine,” Mills said. “The next allegations have to do with physi-7
cal contact. She claims that you fondled her, kissed her.”
8
“Hey, Stephie and I were friends, at least I thought that we were.
9
It was just horseplay.”
10
“Did she ever tell you that anything you did bothered her? Ask 11
you to stop?”
12
“No way.”
13
“I don’t suppose the magazine has any formal sexual harassment 14
policy?” Under ordinary circumstances, Kate thought, this would 15
have been among the first questions asked. Here, however, the pos-16
sibility was so farfetched that she could see why Mills had slipped 17
it in obliquely. Starting out with questions about office policy 18
would only have further alienated Thorpe. Again, she was im-19
pressed with Mills’s finely calibrated attunement to the hu
man 20
equation. It was, she realized, the ultimate source of his power.
21
When Thorpe responded with an exasperated shake of his head, 22
Mills moved on without comment.
23
“Who were her friends at the office?”
24
“Well, I don’t know about friends. She had lunch sometimes 25
with Linda Morris and Melissa Lyle.”
26
“And they are?”
27
“Secretaries. Linda works for Brian Keck, the managing editor.
28
Melissa works for Oliver Leary, the deputy editor. She does over-29
flow work for me, too. Like when there was too much for Stephie 30
to handle.”
31
“Who’s doing your secretarial work now?”
32
“Depends. Some days, I just work with Melissa and Linda. If 33
there’s a lot going on, I call in a temp.”
ort 34
Epstein looked alarmed. “Temps? I didn’t know that, Chuck. We reg 35
need to talk about that. We don’t need any more potential wit-9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 69
E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
6 9
nesses than we already have. Especially third-party witnesses we 1
don’t control.”
2
Thorpe rolled his eyes. “Sorry, folks. Just trying to run my mag-3
azine.”
4
“Actually, Chuck, it’s not your magazine,” Epstein snapped. “It 5
used to be, but you sold it. Remember? It belongs to WideWorld 6
now. To WideWorld’s stockholders.”
7
Holden spun around in his chair, his gray eyes flashing. “Hey 8
Richard, that’s no way to talk to Chuck. We’ll work this out.”
9
Epstein seemed about to respond but instead returned to his 10
notes.
11
Mills cut in. “I think the first order of business is to nail poten-12
tial witnesses to their stories. No point in worrying about whether 13
the accounts are going to change if we go to trial. We’ll start by 14
getting affidavits from Friedman’s coworkers. From what you’ve 15
said, Chuck, I assume that they’ll be cooperative.”
16
Thorpe nodded.
17
“In addition to getting witness statements,” Mills continued, 18
“we need to get any information that we can about Friedman’s 19
personal life. Lovers, drug use, any history or sign of mental ill-20
ness — that’s the sort of information we want. Anything that 21
could show —”
22
“That she’s a little nutty and a little slutty. Right?” Thorpe 23
grinned.
24
Holden grinned back and winked at Thorpe. Epstein stared at 25
the opposite wall, rhythmically tapping the floor with a black 26
leather shoe.
27
Mills paused, his lips turned up slightly in a benign smile.
28
“You’re going to want to watch it with the wisecracks, Chuck,” he 29
said lightly. “You too, Jed.”
30
Jed Holden looked chastened. “Sorry, Carter. You’re absolutely 31
right.” Thorpe smirked and said nothing.
32
Epstein looked up. “Gentlemen, I’m sorry to raise an unpleasant 33
issue, but I want to put myself on record.
34 sh
“I believe that WideWorld and Mr. Thorpe have divergent in-35 re
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terests. I think the idea of joint representation under these cir-2
cumstances is extremely ill-advised. Simply put, I just don’t see 3
how Samson & Mills can effectively represent both Chuck Thorpe 4
and WideWorld Media.”
5
Holden glared at Epstein. “Richard, we’ve already discussed 6
this,” he said. The icy tone revealed a fixity of purpose at odds with 7
his low-key demeanor.
8
“Yes. And I’m afraid that we disagree.” Epstein’s voice was flat.
9
Kate glanced over at Mills, who showed no reaction. It was pre-10
cisely the point that Madeleine had made on Monday. She waited 11
for Mills’s response. But before he could speak, Thorpe broke in.
12
“What the hell’s wrong with you, Epstein?” Thorpe’s voice was 13
laced with fury. “Don’t try to tell me this isn’t personal. Every step 14
of the way, you’ve —”
15
“You can think whatever you like, Chuck,” Epstein interrupted.
16
“That’s entirely your concern. But I have ethical obligations to this 17
corporation. Ethical obligations. Not something you’d know a 18
whole lot about.”
19
“There’s not a goddamn thing wrong with that schedule,”
20
Thorpe shot back. “You didn’t ask for a list of every single god-21
damn stupid threat that any idiot ever made against Catch. There 22
aren’t enough trees in the world for that list. What you wanted —
23
and what you got — is a list of pending and foreseeable litigation 24
with a material adverse effect on my income statement. That’s what 25
MAE stands for, in case you’ve forgotten. Material adverse effect. I 26
had no idea that Stephanie was going to pursue this thing like she 27
has. Surprised the hell out of me. Still does. To be honest, I 28
thought it was sort of a joke, just a way to get my attention.”
29
“Well, I guess she got your attention,” Epstein said dryly.
30
Mills intervened. “Jed and I’ve discussed this,” he said, directing 31
his words to Epstein. “I understand your concerns, but I don’t share 32
them.”
33
So that’s that, Kate thought. But why had Madeleine been so ort 34
convinced of the truth of what Epstein was saying?
reg 35
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Epstein opened his mouth as if he were about to speak, then 1
clamped it shut. Mills turned to Thorpe.
2
“Of course, if you want to retain a personal lawyer, Chuck, 3
you’re certainly free to do that.”
4
“Whatever.” Thorpe yawned. He seemed to have lost interest in 5
the conversation, and his eyes drifted across the table. Kate could 6
feel his gaze slipping over her. Almost reflexively, she crossed her 7
arms. Was she imagining it, or did a triumphant smile flash across 8
Thorpe’s face? Before she could be sure, his eyes moved on. The 9
tension seemed to have left his body, as if his anger had played out.
10
“Now where, oh where, could Miss Madeleine be?” Chuck 11
Thorpe asked the room at large.
12
w
13
It was almost eleven that night by the time Kate got home. Flip-14
ping on an overhead light, she glanced around her apartment. In 15
Manhattan, they called this a “luxury” one-bedroom, though just 16
/>
what the luxury consisted of remained unclear. White stucco ceil-17
ings, worn parquet floors, a windowless galley kitchen, and a tiny 18
bathroom. Large sliding windows looked out on an adjacent build-19
ing. Still, the apartment had its advantages. Simply put, it was 20
clean and safe. After three years in ramshackle Cambridge apart-21
ments, Kate had opted for modern convenience over charm. The 22
building had a doorman — pretty much a necessity, given her 23
round-the-clock schedule — and it was less than two blocks from 24
the subway. It was quiet, another New York anomaly. And it was 25
only — only — $2,500 a month. Faced with a rental market 26
tighter than at any time since the booming eighties, she’d snapped 27
it up.
28
She still had some work to do. Dropping her coat and briefcase 29
on the couch, Kate made her way toward the kitchen. Coffee. That 30
was what she needed. She opened the freezer and pulled out some 31
Gold Coast Blend — her favorite Starbucks mix — and dumped it 32
in the Braun coffeemaker. Good thing those machines were built 33
to last. Hers was certainly doing overtime. She was a little hungry, 34 sh
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too. Opening the refrigerator door, she gazed inside. Slim pickings.
2
Half a loaf of Zabar’s semolina bread purchased God knows when.
3
A hunk of cheddar cheese, its rind chalky with age. A few jars 4
of jam. Pickles, chutney, Dijon mustard, organic peanut butter.
5
She finally settled on peanut butter and saltines, one of her law 6
school mainstays for late-night snacks. She did her best to spread 7
the peanut butter, still stiff from the cold. Then, munching on 8
the crackers, she wandered off to her bedroom for a change of 9
clothes.
10
The rich smell of brewing coffee drifted in from the kitchen, and 11
Kate felt her spirits lift. Sometimes it really didn’t take much. She 12
was rummaging through a dresser drawer, trying to locate her fa-13
vorite ratty and ultrasoft Harvard Law School sweatshirt, when the 14
telephone rang. Tara, she thought immediately. Damn, I forgot to 15
call her. But when she picked up the receiver, the voice was male 16
and unfamiliar.
17
“May I speak to Kate Paine?”
18
“Speaking.” Holding the receiver under her chin, Kate pulled 19
out a pair of tattered black leggings, acquired several years back at 20
the Gap. Just the thing.
21