by Amy Gutman
she failed to detect any sound, she cracked open the door and 24
peered into the reception area. The coast was clear. She rapidly 25
crossed the room before halting at the door to the corridor. Again, 26
she paused before slowly opening the door and looking out. The 27
corridor was deserted. After several long moments, she slipped into 28
the hallway and walked quickly to the photocopy machine located 29
in the same position as the copiers on each of the other office 30
floors.
31
Checking the settings on the copy machine, she could feel her 32
pulse slowing down. She was out of immediate danger. Should any-33
one see her, they would just assume she had work to do. She de-34 sh
cided not to risk the automatic feed. The added speed was not 35 re
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A M Y G U T M A N
1
worth the risk of a copy malfunction that could leave pages crum-2
pled and ragged. The file was slim — under thirty pages — and she 3
was done in less than five minutes.
4
Heading back to Drescher’s office, Kate took a deep breath. The 5
last thing she wanted to do was to return to the scene of her nar-6
row escape. But she had no choice. Back inside Drescher’s office, 7
she carefully replaced the file before taking a final look at the room 8
to be sure that she’d left no trace. As her eyes passed over the of-9
fice furnishings, Kate’s eye was drawn to a shiny spot where 10
Drescher had splashed his drink. Curious, she crossed the room, 11
touched a finger to the spot and licked. Scotch.
12
No doubt about it now. Martin Drescher was drinking again.
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
ort 34
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Friday, January 8
1
2
Another gray morning, fiercely cold, with the threat of snow 3
hanging in the air like the shadow of an upraised hand. But as she 4
joined the other commuters filing down the narrow stairway to the 5
Seventy-ninth Street subway platform, Kate was oblivious to her 6
surroundings. Her body, flooded with adrenaline last night, seemed 7
suspended in a dreamlike calm.
8
As commuters swarmed around her, Kate unfolded the Daily 9
Press and reread a short follow-up report on Madeleine’s murder.
10
No new leads, just something to fill up space, to feed an audience 11
hungry for detail. The centerpiece of the brief article was further 12
speculation by a criminology expert, who warned that this killing 13
could be the first in a series. “The high level of violence to the 14
body suggests that this is someone who will kill again,” he told the 15
reporter. There was no suggestion that Madeleine’s death was any-16
thing other than the work of a psychopathic stranger. No sugges-17 sh
tion that she’d known her attacker. The omission further added to 18 re
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Kate’s sense of dislocation, as if what she’d overheard last night 2
had been some sort of hallucination.
3
When the train finally screeched into the station, Kate had to 4
cram herself into the packed subway car. Stuck next to the door, 5
she tried to sink into herself. Carter had intimated that someone at 6
the firm could be connected to Madeleine’s death. Who else more 7
likely to know her plans? Though, to be fair, any number of people 8
might have known about her date with Thorpe. A psycho cab 9
driver who’d listened in on a cell-phone call. A doorman obsessed 10
with a beautiful tenant. Improbable as they might sound, such 11
things could happen. Kate thought of the unsuspecting women 12
who ran into serial killer Ted Bundy, never imagining that they 13
would be that one-in-a-million victim.
14
Yes, the more she thought about it, the harder it was to believe 15
that someone at Samson & Mills had caused Madeleine’s death.
16
The brutally savaged body, sexually assaulted and dumped — it 17
just wasn’t a Samson & Mills kind of murder. Not that there was a 18
Samson & Mills kind of murder, but if there was, this definitely 19
wouldn’t be it. Whoever had killed Madeleine had been crazy, out 20
of his mind. A disorganized killer, that’s how the newspaper’s expert 21
had described him. Likely to be delusional, an underachiever. Not 22
the description that came to mind when you thought of Samson & 23
Mills.
24
Immersed in her thoughts, Kate almost missed her stop. Lunging 25
for the door, she just made it out. She headed down a concrete tun-26
nel toward the exit.
27
By the time Kate reached her office, Jennifer was already at her 28
station, reading a paperback novel. At the sound of Kate’s arrival, 29
Jennifer looked up, her glossy curls cascading down her shoulders.
30
“ ’Morning,” Jennifer said brightly. “You here late last night?”
31
“You could say that,” Kate said dryly.
32
Jennifer put a marker in her book and followed Kate into her of-33
fice. “I put your mail on your chair,” she said, gesturing to a neatly ort 34
arranged stack. “You got anything else for me to do?”
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E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
1 3 1
consistent. Though Jennifer often had her hands full, the past few 1
months had been slow.
2
“Not yet,” Kate said. “I’m doing a lot of research. But stay tuned, 3
it won’t be long.”
4
Jennifer lingered in the doorway. “It’s really awful about 5
Madeleine Waters.”
6
“Horrible,” Kate agreed. “You know, I’d just started working for 7
her.”
8
“I know,” said Jennifer, wrinkling her pretty forehead. “This 9
must be terrible for you.”
10
Jennifer was about to leave when Kate had a sudden thought.
11
While associates were out of the partnership loop, secretaries at 12
Samson & Mills had their own networks. Working intimately with 13
the partners, they had access to many of their secrets. Of course, 14
Jennifer herself didn’t work for any partners. But she certainly had 15
friends who did.
16
“So, tell me, what have you heard?” Kate asked.
17
“You mean, about the murder?”
/> 18
“Yeah, I was so tied up yesterday, that I didn’t hear much. Is any-19
one talking about suspects?”
20
Jennifer looked uneasy. She stepped back into Kate’s office and 21
closed the door. “You mean, like Carter Mills?” she whispered.
22
Kate tried to appear nonchalant. “What about Carter Mills?”
23
Jennifer bit her lip. “Oh, it’s just talk, you know how things 24
are . . .”
25
“What are people saying?”
26
“Well, there’s a rumor — I mean it’s obviously totally ridicu-27
lous — but some people are saying that Carter Mills might 28
have . . . might have had something to do with it. Because . . . you 29
know . . . she broke up with him. I mean, I don’t believe it for a 30
second. But Carm —” Jennifer bit her lip. In identifying Carmen 31
as her source, she’d obviously said more than she intended.
32
The notion that Carter Mills could be involved with Made-33
leine’s death was so ludicrous that Kate almost smiled. Still it 34 sh
didn’t really surprise her that Carmen considered him a suspect.
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1
From their conversation yesterday, Kate already knew that Car-2
men blamed the firm for Madeleine’s death. And who more em-3
bodied the firm than Carter Mills? But she was struck by something 4
else Jennifer had said. She broke up with him. Of course, there was 5
no way of knowing whether this was true either. Still, it was a tan-6
talizing hint, the closest she’d ever come to specifics about the 7
partners’ rumored affair.
8
“Was Carter Mills even with Madeleine that night?” Kate asked.
9
Ridiculous as the rumor was, she had an urge to clear his name.
10
“No,” Jennifer admitted. “He was at some dinner with clients 11
uptown. At least, that’s what Clara said, and I guess she’d know.
12
He doesn’t make a move without telling her. It’s just stupid gossip.
13
I shouldn’t even have mentioned it.”
14
“People can be really crazy, can’t they?” Kate tried to keep her 15
voice light.
16
Jennifer seemed to relax a little. “I’ll say.”
17
“By the way, do you have any idea how Madeleine got along 18
with the other partners she worked with?” Kate didn’t want to tar-19
get Martin Drescher directly. Though that was certainly where her 20
thoughts were heading.
21
“I haven’t heard anything, but I could ask around.” Kate could 22
tell that Jennifer liked the idea of being on a quest for information.
23
Jennifer was energetic, a go-getter. Schlocky novels were a poor 24
substitute for real-life intrigue.
25
“If you feel like it,” Kate said casually. “I sort of wonder what her 26
life was like.”
27
28
29
Being with Carter Mills was a little like dating a movie star. Stand-30
ing beside him, waiting for the elevator door to open, Kate noticed 31
a scrawny first-year associate eyeing her enviously, his narrow lips 32
pressed together. Kate tried to derive some pleasure from her prize 33
position. Instead, she felt only a mild queasiness somewhere deep ort 34
in her stomach.
reg 35
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Outside, they proceeded to a black Lincoln Town Car. As they 1
crossed the sidewalk, Kate glanced sideways at Mills, whose 2
sculpted features were focused in thought. She felt a rush of admi-3
ration. Even in silence, he was somehow more vibrant than other 4
people. There was something timeless about him. Ignore the mod-5
ern dress, and he could have commanded armies in ancient 6
Greece, steered a frigate toward a New World. Kate felt his pres-7
ence as a sort of weight, anchoring her to reality in a way that her 8
own body could not.
9
When they reached the car, Mills seemed to come back to him-10
self. “What a lovely cape,” he said, flashing Kate a smile as she slid 11
across the car’s leather-upholstered seats.
12
“Oh . . . , thank you,” Kate said. The comment had caught her 13
off guard. It was almost becoming a pattern with Mills, the sudden 14
interjection of the personal followed by an equally sudden return 15
to the status quo. She wasn’t sure how to respond. Should she an-16
swer in kind, prolong the moment, or was it better to let it pass?
17
But Mills made the decision for her.
18
“You won’t need to do much today besides take notes.” The car 19
was swinging west across town, in the direction of WideWorld’s 20
headquarters. “I’ll be interviewing Linda Morris. She should be a 21
strong witness for us. She was Friedman’s closest friend at the mag-22
azine. Ate lunch with her several times a week. They had similar 23
jobs. Friedman was Chuck Thorpe’s secretary. Morris was secretary 24
to the managing editor, a guy named Brian Keck. They were con-25
stantly in and out of each other’s offices. And yet Morris says she 26
never once heard Friedman complain about Chuck Thorpe. Not 27
once.”
28
Kate could hear the relish in Mills’s voice. “That sounds great,”
29
said Kate. “If Stephanie Friedman didn’t even complain to her best 30
friend, what jury’s going to believe that she confronted Thorpe to 31
his face? She’ll never be able to show that Thorpe’s behavior was 32
unwelcome. And if she can’t do that, there goes her sexual harass-33
ment claim.”
34 sh
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Mills smiled. “Exactly.”
2
“What about other employees?” Kate asked.
3
“Everyone else is on board. Morris was our one wild card.”
4
The car was pulling up outside the WideWorld complex, a mas-5
sive limestone edifice that towered over the surrounding buildings.
6
“Why are we doing the interview at WideWorld instead of at Sam-7
son?” Kate asked curiously. “Is that customary?”
8
Carter Mills tapped his chin with an index finger. “Customary,”
9
he mused. “I suppose you could say that. With the added advantage 10
of reminding Ms. Morris just who pays her salary. She’s not just 11
dealing with Chuck Thorpe anymore. This is a whole new ball 12
game. ”
13
14
15
Carter Mills had commandeered the general counsel’s office for 16
this interview, but Richard Epstein was
nowhere to be found. Mills 17
had assumed Epstein’s desk, an off-white French Provincial repro-18
duction. Kate sat to Mills’s left on a small pink-and-gold loveseat, 19
while Linda Morris sat facing them. The delicate furnishings 20
seemed strangely at odds with both Epstein’s ascetic demeanor and 21
the work to be done today.
22
“Thank you so much for coming,” said Mills, gracing Linda 23
Morris with a friendly smile. The appreciation in his voice seemed 24
real, as if she were doing them a favor. As if she’d really had a 25
choice.
26
“Ms. Paine” — Mills gestured toward Kate while keeping his 27
eyes trained on Morris — “is an associate with my firm and will be 28
taking a few notes during our meeting today. As long as you don’t 29
mind, of course.”
30
Linda Morris shrugged. She was a thin, pale figure, heavily made 31
up, with jutting conical breasts and long black hair. She wore an 32
aqua blouse of some shiny synthetic material, and the hands that 33
emerged from its sleeves were capped with blood-red nails. Around ort 34
her neck dangled a slender gold chain and tiny cross, an improb-reg 35
able accent to the outfit.
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Mills began the meeting. “Ms. Morris, I assume you’re aware of 1
the general nature of Ms. Friedman’s claims.”
2
Linda Morris nodded, licking her crimson lips. The kohl liner 3
around her deep-set eyes gave her a scraggly, nearsighted look.
4
She seemed nervous. It occurred to Kate that the seating arrange-5
ment — she and Mills seated opposite Morris, two against one —
6
was reminiscent of a police interrogation. But perhaps that was the 7
point.
8
Mills leaned back in his chair. He seemed expectant, as if he had 9
all the time in the world. “As you know, Ms. Friedman is claiming 10
that Chuck Thorpe sexually harassed her. Now, it’s important to 11
understand one thing. Under the law, sexual harassment occurs 12
only when behavior is unwelcome, when the person claiming ha-13
rassment has made it clear that she wanted the behavior to stop.
14
Do you follow me?”
15
“Uh huh.”
16
Mills studied Linda Morris before moving on, as if giving her 17
time to absorb his point. “Now, from what I’ve heard, Ms. Fried-18
man never once told Mr. Thorpe that she felt he was doing any-19
thing wrong. She never once told him that she objected to 20