by Amy Gutman
her, a cleaning woman perhaps, she could simply explain that she 29
was looking for a document she needed. She wouldn’t even have to 30
lie. She just wouldn’t tell all of the truth.
31
Minutes later, Kate stepped out of the elevator onto the fifty-32
seventh floor. Just as she’d expected, she’d yet to see another per-33
son. The corridor was tomblike, office doors closed and locked.
ort 34
Kate stopped at the door to Drescher’s corner suite, and quickly reg 35
9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 121
E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
1 2 1
surveyed the scene. Still no one. She turned back to the door. The 1
knob turned easily in her grasp.
2
She stepped into Drescher’s reception area, closing the door be-3
hind her. The corner suites were all laid out according to the same 4
plan, and Kate knew that Drescher’s private office was behind the 5
closed door she was facing. It was probably locked tight, in which 6
case she’d just go back downstairs. But when she turned the knob, 7
the door swung open.
8
Quickly, she proceeded to Drescher’s desk. But except for a blot-9
ter, a telephone, and a paperweight, its polished wood surface was 10
empty. She’d planned to leave at this point, if the file wasn’t in 11
plain view. But now that she was here, something pushed her on.
12
She tried the top two desk drawers. Locked. The bottom two were 13
locked as well. She plopped into Drescher’s leather chair and con-14
sidered where to look next. Against the far wall, her eyes lit on a 15
bookcase with cupboards at the bottom, and she was instantly on 16
her feet again.
17
Back across the room, Kate opened the right cupboard door and 18
there, on top of a stack of papers, she saw a file folder labeled in the 19
neat printing she recognized from Madeleine’s date book: Billing 20
Records. Kate pulled out the contents of the file and rifled through 21
the slim stack of papers. Then she stopped, puzzled. What the file 22
seemed to contain was a collection of duplicate WideWorld bills 23
signed by Carter Mills. This sort of information was readily acces-24
sible from Accounting. So why had Drescher been so hot to get it 25
from Madeleine’s files? And what was it doing in Madeleine’s desk 26
in the first place?
27
Kate was just mulling over these questions when she heard the 28
sound of muffled voices from the reception area. Not the lilting 29
Spanish and Italian accents of the female cleaning crew, but low 30
men’s voices. One of which sounded like Drescher’s.
31
Kate felt her blood go cold. The possibility that Drescher him-32
self might return at this hour was something she hadn’t even con-33
sidered.
34 sh
35 re
9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 122
1 2 2
A M Y G U T M A N
1
In a flurry of activity, Kate closed the cupboard door, turned off 2
the light — thank God partners’ offices were spared the automatic 3
lighting system — and raced across the room. Pushing back the 4
chair, Kate squeezed herself into the cubbyhole space under 5
Drescher’s desk. She’d just pulled the desk chair back behind her 6
when she heard the door swing open. A wedge of light fell across 7
the room. Then a click and the whole room was bright as day.
8
“Have a seat.” She’d been right; the voice really was Martin 9
Drescher’s.
10
Kate heard the faint sound of bodies settling into upholstered 11
seats. As her brain sought to organize the information she’d re-12
ceived, Kate realized that she’d made a terrible choice. After all, 13
she might have been able to explain her simple presence in 14
Drescher’s office. Say, a file needing immediate attention that 15
someone in the managing clerk’s office had thought Drescher 16
might have. But how could she possibly explain her presence be-17
neath his desk? Her situation was ridiculous, absurd. If she’d seen it 18
in a movie, she would have rolled her eyes. Things like this didn’t 19
happen in real life. Certainly not in hers.
20
And yet, here she was.
21
Curled in a fetal position, her head smashed against the top of 22
the desk, her legs crushed against her chest, Kate desperately tried 23
to come up with a story. Then she felt a renewed burst of hopeless-24
ness.
25
Clutched in her right hand was Madeleine’s file.
26
“What the hell were you thinking, Martin? Why the hell did 27
you tell McCarty?” To her astonishment, Kate recognized that this 28
second voice, brusque and commanding, belonged to Carter Mills.
29
“I’ve told you.” Drescher’s voice was tense. “It didn’t come from 30
me. What would I have to gain?”
31
“Jesus, Martin. Who else could it have been? We’re the only lit-32
igators involved. You’re not suggesting that the leak came from 33
one of the corporate guys?”
ort 34
“I’m just saying that it wasn’t me,” Drescher said. “If you ask me, reg 35
9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 123
E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
1 2 3
this thing has your fingerprints all over it. You know what I think?
1
That you set this up to discredit me.”
2
Carter Mills snorted. “I won’t even respond to that. There’s no 3
question that the e-mail came from you. I had computer services 4
check it out. From you to Bill McCarty.”
5
Kate shifted slightly, careful not to make any noise. All of her 6
senses seemed heightened. The outline of her hand against her 7
knee seemed oddly distinct. The smell of dust and wood was over-8
powering. For one terrifying moment, she thought she might sneeze, 9
but she managed to hold it back.
10
“Let’s cut to the chase,” said Drescher. “What are we going to do 11
now?”
12
“There’s not a hell of a lot we can do,” Carter Mills said curtly.
13
“I took a poll this morning. Without Madeleine, we’re two votes 14
short. If we’d been able to handle this quietly as we agreed, we still 15
could’ve pulled it off. But McCarty’s on the warpath now, and he’s 16
rounding up support. As it stands, the rank and file have enough 17
votes to keep the lockstep draw in place for the foreseeable future.
18
And you can kiss Stroesser and the rest of his M&A gang good-19
bye. They’ll be out the door by the end of the year. Do you have 20
any idea what that means for this firm? Mergers and Acquisitions 21
brought in more than $40 million last year.”
22
Even in her panicked state, Kate found herself mesmerized by 23
the exchange. Fragments of conv
ersation, so inscrutable only mo-24
ments before, now fell into place. They were planning to do away 25
with lockstep compensation. Lockstep, as everyone knew, was a relic 26
of Samson’s patrician past. While associates received fixed salaries, 27
partners were paid from firm profits. Under the lockstep system, 28
partnership profits had always been based strictly on seniority, with 29
rainmakers getting no special treatment. While most New York 30
firms had discarded such systems in recent years, adopting “eat 31
what you kill” payment structures, Samson had shown no signs of 32
budging. The lockstep system had always been viewed as sacro-33
sanct, a safeguard against unseemly squabbling.
34 sh
35 re
9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 124
1 2 4
A M Y G U T M A N
1
Until now.
2
Kate’s mind raced ahead as she pictured the storm that would 3
ensue if the lockstep system were ditched. Millions of dollars 4
would be up for grabs. There would be big winners, such as Mills 5
and Drescher, and big losers, such as McCarty and other team play-6
ers who could never compete with the rainmaking kings. Bruce 7
Stroesser, the high-flying chief of M&A, must be threatening to 8
jump ship. No wonder Mills was upset. Losing Stroesser and his 9
clients to another firm would mean phenomenal losses for every-10
one, not to mention the publicity.
11
Suddenly things fell into place.
12
Bill McCarty’s stormy exit from Carter Mills’s office the day he’d 13
practically knocked her down.
14
McCarty’s insistent phone call to Madeleine Waters’s office.
15
Bill McCarty was in a fight for his professional life.
16
“For now, we’re going to sit tight,” said Mills. “The last thing we 17
need on top of Madeleine’s murder is some media explosion tied to 18
firm politics.”
19
“It’ll blow over,” said Drescher. “We’re not the first prominent 20
firm to have a partner murdered. Think of Cravath, with that part-21
ner killed in a sleazy motel by some black kid he’d hooked up with 22
for sex. That’s much worse than what we’re facing here. Remember 23
the publicity? That big article in the New Yorker a few years back.
24
People talked about it for weeks. But Cravath came out of it all just 25
fine.”
26
“There is one critical difference,” said Mills. “At Cravath, they 27
knew from the start who the killer was. And they knew it had 28
nothing to do with the law firm.”
29
“What are you saying?” Drescher said. A note of uncertainty 30
had entered his voice.
31
A pause. When Mills spoke, his voice was low and deliberate.
32
“The night Madeleine was killed, she was supposed to have dinner 33
with Chuck Thorpe at Ormond. Earlier that day, someone claim-ort 34
ing to be from Thorpe’s office called to reschedule for seven, an reg 35
hour earlier than they’d planned to meet.”
9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 125
E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
1 2 5
“So you’re saying she was set up?” Drescher sounded incredu-1
lous.
2
“I don’t really think it’s a coincidence, do you, Martin?
3
Madeleine shows up at the restaurant — we’ve checked the reser-4
vations, and she did make it there — and a few hours later she’s 5
dead.”
6
“What about Thorpe?”
7
“He got there at eight, waited half an hour or so, and then took 8
off.”
9
“He has an alibi?”
10
“Yes, Martin. He has an alibi. We spoke with the driver.” Mills’s 11
voice was cold.
12
“So, what’s your point?”
13
“That whoever killed Madeleine knew about her meeting with 14
Thorpe. And used it to ambush her.”
15
“My God.” Drescher was clearly stunned. “So you’re saying that 16
it could be someone here at the firm, someone with access to her 17
schedule.”
18
“We don’t know that, Martin.” Impatience was evident in 19
Mills’s voice. “We have no way of knowing who Madeleine told 20
about that meeting. Or who Thorpe told, for that matter. We don’t 21
have enough information to speculate.”
22
“But . . . it wasn’t random.”
23
An exasperated sigh from Mills. “No. I don’t think that it was 24
random. Do you?”
25
“Was it Thorpe? Is he the bastard who killed her?”
26
“Don’t be ridiculous. Thorpe has enough trouble on his hands.”
27
“But he’d be capable of it, the son of a bitch.”
28
“I didn’t say that, Martin.”
29
“Thorpe was after Madeleine, you know that as well as I do.
30
He’d been trying to get into her pants for months.”
31
“If that were a motive for murder, Madeleine would have been 32
dead a long time ago. And Chuck Thorpe wouldn’t be the only 33
suspect.”
34 sh
The two men continued to talk, but Kate had stopped following 35 re
9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 126
1 2 6
A M Y G U T M A N
1
their words. All her thoughts were centered on the astounding 2
thing she’d just heard. Madeleine’s killer wasn’t some random psy-3
chopath. He was someone who’d known her plans, someone who’d 4
tracked her movements.
5
By the time Kate regained her focus, Carter Mills was speaking 6
again. “— and on top of everything, we’re facing this mess with 7
McCarty. As I see it, Martin, that’s your baby. You got us into it, 8
and you can bloody well find a way out.”
9
“Don’t threaten me,” Drescher said sharply. “How many times 10
do I have to tell you. I had nothing to do with that leak.”
11
Kate heard the abrupt sound of a body rising. “This meeting’s 12
over,” said Mills. The words were followed by the thud of a closing 13
door. Then the room went silent.
14
In the dim light, Kate checked out her watch. Just after mid-15
night. She strained her ears for sounds inside the office. Had they 16
both left? Then she heard a heavy sigh, and her heart skipped a 17
beat.
18
She was alone with Martin Drescher.
19
As this realization hit, she heard the slow movement of foot-20
steps edging closer to the desk. Don’t let him find me, don’t let him 21
find me. Hands clenched, her head bowed against her knees, she 22
waited for Drescher’s shadow to fall across her hiding place,
for the 23
exclamation that would signal her discovery. But then the foot-24
steps stopped. To her left, Kate heard the soft squeak of a cabinet 25
opening, followed by the pop of a bottle being uncorked. The 26
splash of liquid tumbling against glass. Martin Drescher was pour-27
ing a drink. Seltzer? Somehow, she didn’t think so. After another 28
few moments, she heard the clink of glasses being restored, the 29
closing of the cabinet door.
30
And then, hardly daring to believe her ears, she heard what 31
sounded like preparations for departure. The rustle of fabric and 32
upholstery. The metallic snap of a briefcase latch. The click of a 33
light going off. Once again, the office door opened and closed.
ort 34
Kate waited in quivering silence, listening. Seconds later, she felt reg 35
the faint reverberation of the outer door. And then, again, silence.
9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 127
E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
1 2 7
Absolute silence. Kate eased her head out from under the desk and 1
scanned the darkened room, now bathed in the eerie glow of lights 2
from surrounding buildings. Empty. The office was empty. The re-3
lief that flooded over her was so intense that she thought she might 4
collapse. She grabbed hold of the desk to steady herself, painfully 5
straightening her legs. Both feet were asleep, and she thumped 6
them against the carpeted floor, trying to stop the tingling.
7
Think. Crossing the office, she checked to be sure the door was 8
locked. Good. Still, she needed to move fast. Who knew what 9
could happen next? A tape-recorded message that used to play in 10
the city’s taxis floated absurdly through her mind, a purring Cat-11
woman’s warning: Cats have nine lives, but you have only one. So 12
buckle up!
13
The file she had clutched in her hand for the past hour was 14
damp from perspiration. She was about to put it back in Drescher’s 15
cabinet when she hesitated. The file obviously had some signifi-16
cance that she’d yet to discern, a significance that must somehow 17
be related to the ongoing power struggle between Drescher and 18
Mills. Their relationship was certainly more complex than she’d 19
thought. But there was no mistaking the animosity that suffused 20
their dealings regardless of any temporary alliance. Of course, she 21
couldn’t just take the file. But what if she kept a copy?
22
Heart pounding, Kate pressed her ear to the office door. When 23