Equivocal Death
Page 20
anything that he was doing. Do you have any reason to doubt 21
that?”
22
Linda Morris licked her lips again. Then she reached into her 23
purse and pulled out a tub of cherry lip balm, which she thought-24
fully uncapped before rubbing a glob onto her lips.
25
“Well,” she said, “I guess not. No.” Her voice, light and breathy, 26
seemed to come from high in her throat.
27
Mills gave an emphatic nod, as if approving what Morris had 28
said. He seemed to be enjoying himself. “Thank you, Ms. Morris.
29
Now, from what I understand, Ms. Friedman and Mr. Thorpe had 30
a warm and friendly personal relationship. There was a lot of 31
horseplay, that sort of thing. But all of it was in good fun. Ms.
32
Friedman gave as good as she got. Isn’t that right?”
33
“Okay.” Linda Morris was staring at her lap. With her right hand 34 sh
she fiddled with her necklace.
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“Ms. Morris.” Mills’s voice was edged with reproach. “What do 2
you mean, ‘okay?’ ”
3
Linda Morris looked up. For a moment Kate thought she saw a 4
glimmer of hostility in the woman’s eyes, but it quickly faded.
5
“I mean that they got along good — Stephanie and Chuck,” she 6
said in the same childlike voice. “I mean that they didn’t have 7
conflicts or anything.”
8
“Thank you, Ms. Morris.” Carter Mills was once again the con-9
vivial master of ceremonies. “Now, Ms. Morris, I want to show you 10
a complaint prepared for this case. That’s the document in which 11
Ms. Friedman sets forth her allegations. I want you to read it 12
through, then tell me if there’s any truth to Ms. Friedman’s claims.
13
We’ve marked the important parts in yellow.”
14
Linda Morris took hold of the draft complaint with a limp white 15
hand. Bowing her head, she began to read. When she turned the 16
last page, she looked up.
17
“No,” she said. “None of it’s true, so far as I know.”
18
“So Stephanie Friedman never told you about any of the things 19
that she’s claiming in there?” Mills said.
20
“No.” Linda Morris again fingered the cross around her neck.
21
Her voice was low; her eyes again focused on her lap.
22
“And you’re sure of that? You’ve taken time to read the com-23
plaint?”
24
“Yes.” Linda Morris studied her knees.
25
Something’s not right, Kate thought. She definitely knows more than 26
what she’s saying. And the complaint, could she really have read it so 27
quickly?
28
“And if this sort of activity had been occurring, would you have 29
expected Ms. Friedman to confide in you about it?” Mills pressed.
30
“Oh, yes,” Linda Morris said. “We told each other everything.
31
About boyfriends, problems at the office — when we felt too much 32
stuff was getting dumped on us instead of the other girls. She defi-33
nitely would have told me.”
ort 34
The words emerged in a quick staccato, as if Morris were read-reg 35
ing from a script.
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Troubled, Kate glanced toward Mills, trying to catch his eye.
1
But, turning to the next page of his notes, he was already moving on.
2
w
3
The movie theater was a mob scene by the time Kate arrived. The 4
crowd was typical of New York these days, especially the once-5
funky West Side, where gleaming new high-rises seemed to pop up 6
overnight and designer baby carriages complete with designer 7
moms and babies blocked the narrow aisles of neighborhood stores.
8
With its soaring ceilings and vast open spaces, the Sony Imax the-9
ater felt more like an elaborate hotel than somewhere to see a 10
movie.
11
Kate glanced at her watch: 6:55. She was five minutes early. Al-12
ready, she regretted her decision to come. If the idea of a date —
13
any date — wasn’t bad enough, this was a blind date, the very 14
worst. Two complete strangers trying to make small talk while de-15
ciding if they might want to have sex. She thought longingly of 16
law school, when she and Michael used to spend long evenings on 17
the couch, rubbing each other’s feet and reading.
18
But Michael was marrying someone else.
19
Pushing these thoughts from her mind, Kate elbowed her way 20
through the crowd to the foot of the box office line, where she’d 21
agreed to meet Douglas Macauley. She had only the vaguest idea of 22
what he looked like. Brown hair, brown eyes, medium height. Tara 23
claimed he was cute, but he sounded totally nondescript. She’d 24
told him to look for her cape — bright red; you can’t miss it.
25
“The 7:45 showing of Cold Justice is sold out,” a female voice an-26
nounced over the multiplex’s loudspeaker system. “Tickets remain 27
for 9:45, 11, and 11:40.”
28
Damn. That was the movie they’d planned to see. Kate had 29
picked it earlier that day as the most innocuous of the selections.
30
A legal thriller with a PG rating. High on explosions, low on sex.
31
She was weighing the remaining options when she felt a tap on her 32
shoulder.
33
“Kate?” She spun around to face a pleasant-looking guy in a 34 sh
brown leather jacket and jeans. He smiled at her and Kate found 35 re
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herself smiling back. While there was nothing remarkable about 2
Douglas Macauley, he was definitely appealing, with warm eyes 3
and a bemused smile.
4
He touched her elbow. “You can get out of line. I got the tick-5
ets.”
6
Kate slipped under the velvet cords that roped off the ticket 7
holders’ line. “It’s a good thing you got them,” she said. “The 7:45
8
show’s sold out.”
9
“Oh, I didn’t get tickets for 7:45,” Douglas said. “That’s been 10
sold out for hours. They’re for 9:45.”
11
As quickly as she’d warmed to him, the glimmer faded. How 12
could Douglas simply assume that she’d go along with this change 13
of plans? “I thought that we —”
14
“Oh, don’t worry,” Douglas said airily. “We’re not going to the 15
9:45. We’re going to the 7:45.�
��
16
“What —”
17
“Don’t worry, I’ve never been kept out of a movie. Never. ”
18
“But —”
19
“Come.”
20
Douglas steered Kate through the crowd to the soaring escalator 21
bank. Once they’d reached the second floor, Douglas moved easily 22
through the crowd, his hand still at Kate’s elbow. There was some-23
thing pleasant about letting someone else be in charge for a 24
change, and she let herself drift along beside him.
25
Moments later, Douglas was handing over the tickets to a freck-26
led young woman standing guard. She glanced at the tickets briefly 27
before looking up again.
28
“These tickets are for the 9:45 show,” she said. “We’re not seat-29
ing for that show yet.”
30
Douglas was a picture of polite confusion. “But —” he looked at 31
the tickets as if he’d never seen them before. “That’s not right.
32
We’re going to the 7:45 show.”
33
“The 7:45 show is sold out,” the woman patiently responded.
ort 34
“But I got these tickets much earlier today.”
reg 35
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The woman looked at the tickets. “It says here that you bought 1
them at 6:30.”
2
Kate focused on the floor, trying not to laugh. She quickly edged 3
away from the entrance, with Douglas trailing in her wake. “This 4
has never happened to me before,” he said in plaintive tones. “It’s 5
an outrage. ”
6
To her surprise, Kate was enjoying herself. After the high se-7
riousness of her day at Samson, there was something appealing 8
about playing cloak-and-dagger games over movie tickets. She was 9
amused by Douglas’s good-humored bravado. With a pang, she re-10
membered that life, small things in life, could be fun. Suddenly the 11
prospect of spending a few hours with Douglas didn’t seem all that 12
bad.
13
“We could just get something to eat,” she ventured.
14
“Absolutely not.” Douglas’s face was set in mock-determination.
15
“We are going to that movie.”
16
Back on the main floor, Douglas returned to the ticket line. His 17
eyes scanned the illuminated timetable posted above the ticket 18
counter. On reaching the ticket sales desk, he proffered the once-19
spurned Cold Justice tickets.
20
“These tickets are for 9:45, but we can’t stay that late. We need 21
to exchange them for two 8:30 tickets for Gunslinger. ”
22
Kate frowned. “But I don’t want to see —”
23
“Don’t worry.” Douglas pocketed the new tickets and grabbed 24
her hand. She tensed at his touch and then relaxed as he pulled 25
her back toward the escalator. He was probably just in a hurry.
26
Upstairs again, they handed over the tickets and easily made it 27
through. Now they were standing on the edge of a vast concession 28
area that led to the individual theaters. “We made it,” Douglas said 29
gleefully. But as he scanned the marquee lights above the various 30
theater doors, his smile began to fade.
31
“I don’t get it,” he muttered. “Something is wrong. Something is 32
very wrong.” He approached an usher. “Cold Justice? ” he asked in 33
hopeful tones.
34 sh
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“Downstairs. Lower level.”
2
Douglas and Kate exchanged blank stares. Then Kate started to 3
laugh.
4
“She told us that they weren’t seating for the 7:45. What she 5
didn’t tell us is that it’s downstairs. ”
6
They were back on the run. “This is what we’ll do,” said 7
Douglas, as they again descended the escalator. “We’ll tell the guy 8
downstairs that we need to go catch some friends who are going to 9
Cold Justice. That it’s an emergency.”
10
“Right. A movie emergency. That’ll work. Why don’t you just tell 11
him that the popcorn popper is broken upstairs? Or that they’ve 12
run out of your favorite snack treat. Or that you just want to see 13
what it looks like downstairs.”
14
Douglas looked reflective. “The popcorn thing isn’t bad . . .”
15
Reaching the main floor, they raced to the escalator leading to 16
the lower level. Kate hung back as Douglas pled their case. “It will 17
only take a minute. We’ll be right back, ” he assured the blank-faced 18
kid who stood guard.
19
“No.”
20
“No? ” Douglas’s eyes widened. “But can’t we just — we just 21
need to —”
22
The line was getting longer, but Douglas stayed put. For a mo-23
ment the attendant seemed confused. “Well . . . , okay. Just as long 24
as you’ll be right back. ”
25
Unbelievable, Kate thought. Douglas gave her a surreptitious 26
thumbs-up sign.
27
7:35. They took the steps on the downward escalator two at a 28
time from the main floor to the lower level. The Cold Justice mar-29
quee was straight ahead. They slipped into the packed theater just 30
as an action-film preview began. The few empty seats were scat-31
tered singles.
32
“We’ll have to split up,” Douglas whispered. “I’ll meet you after 33
the show. Why don’t you take that seat up to the left? That looks ort 34
like the best one.”
reg 35
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A brief flicker of compunction passed over Kate. What if the 1
rightful owners of these seats arrived and found no place to sit? At 2
the same time, there was something fun about this minor trans-3
gression, so alien to her by-the-book life. Kate headed for the 4
empty seat.
5
“Hey, Kate —” Douglas called softly. She turned, made out the 6
engaging grin, the warm brown eyes.
7
“What did I tell you? I’ve never been kept out of a movie.”
8
w
9
It was Friday night, just before midnight. He was seated alone in 10
the brightly lit pastry shop. Around him couples chattered over 11
dessert and coffee. He tried to ignore them, to block out their grat-12
ing laughter.
13
On his plate was the flaky confection known as sfogliatella. He 14
picked it up and bit down. The crisp top layers gave way, and he 15
tasted the sweet cheese inside. He ch
ewed slowly, with concentra-16
tion, focusing on the texture, the flavor. And then he waited. It 17
was one of his few good memories, this thing that he used to love.
18
She’d brought them to him as a special treat. When he was a good 19
boy. It had flashed into his mind last night, a picture of her watch-20
ing him eat, her face suffused with love. She had been, was still in 21
his mind, the most beautiful woman in the world.
22
He was sitting in front of a window. Outside, he saw people 23
rushing past, hurrying toward light and warmth. And beyond 24
them, across the street, was the place where it all began. He stud-25
ied the square brick structure. Only four stories tall. That always 26
surprised him. It seemed so much larger in his mind. His eyes wan-27
dered toward the top floor, to three dark windows on the right. He 28
wondered who lived there now. Did they know what had hap-29
pened there? Or were they utterly oblivious, concerned only with 30
their own small lives?
31
“D’you mind if we sit here?” A woman was pointing to two 32
empty chairs. She was fat as a pig, with curly bronze hair. Her date 33
stood behind her, a pimply geek with a ridiculously large hooked 34 sh
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nose. Both of them were disgusting. But the shop was filling up. He 2
didn’t really have a choice. Grunting an assent, he tried to edge 3
closer toward the wall. Then his eyes returned to the building.
4
“And then, when I was ten, we moved to Scarsdale.” The fat girl 5
was nattering on. “I had this imaginary friend named Lulu. I was 6
sure that we’d left her behind. I was driving my mother crazy. Fi-7
nally, she drove me back into the city one day. She parked outside 8
the building where we used to live, and went inside. When she 9
came out, she said Lulu was with her. And you know what? I be-10
lieved her. After that everything was okay.”
11
It was a stupid story, he thought. Still, when he heard things like 12
that, he was amazed at what others remembered. Childhood 13
games. The names of teachers. The type of sandwich they’d eaten 14
for lunch. While for him, whole years were blank. For the first 15
decade of his life, he had only a handful of memories. The pastry 16
he was eating now. The scene of her death. His old friend Ricky, 17
holding out a small flask. It’s cool, man. But you gotta drink it fast.
18
But that was all in the past. Before he’d come up with the plan.