by Amy Gutman
she’d stuffed away — hairs, fibers, something like that — what 13
would it really show? Just that she’d had some contact with Thorpe.
14
How could she prove that the contact was sexual in nature? Or 15
that it had been without her consent? Then there was the fact that 16
she’d waited so long. She hadn’t reported Thorpe’s attack at the 17
time it occurred or even the following day.
18
Kate slowly put down the phone receiver as her mind continued 19
to work. So many points that she hadn’t considered. For one thing, 20
there was Chuck Thorpe himself. It would be her word against his.
21
Thorpe would have his own story, and it wasn’t hard to imagine 22
how that story might go. He’d claim she’d made the whole thing 23
up. Or maybe that she’d led him on, that she’d invited him to her 24
office for a private talk and tried to seduce him there. In that case, 25
her failure to report the attack would add credence to Thorpe’s 26
story. As would the very recklessness of his actions. The whole sce-27
nario just seemed so far-fetched. Why would Thorpe risk attacking 28
her in her office, a place where anyone might appear? Of course, 29
she knew the answer: Chuck Thorpe was a psychopath. But why 30
should Carter Mills believe her?
31
Jennifer appeared in the doorway, carrying a huge stack of mail.
32
She looked at Kate, then did a double take.
33
“Are you okay?” she asked.
34 sh
“Sure,” said Kate. “I’m fine.”
35 re
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Jennifer put the mail in Kate’s in-box. “D’you want me to get 2
you something? Aspirin maybe, or coffee?”
3
“No, really,” said Kate. “I’m okay. I’m just feeling a little tired.”
4
Jennifer eyed her doubtfully. “Let me know if you change your 5
mind.” She was heading back to her station when she turned to look 6
back at Kate. “There was something wrong with your office lights. I 7
called downstairs. They fixed them right before you got here.”
8
“Thanks,” Kate said. “Thanks for taking care of that.”
9
Jennifer closed the door behind her.
10
Kate sat unmoving, staring blankly ahead. Her thoughts contin-11
ued to churn. Her mind returned to Carmen Rodriguez’s words the 12
day after Madeleine’s death. “All they cared about was the money.
13
They forced her to work with him. And look what happened. ” If Made-14
leine had been pressured to work with Thorpe, that pressure must 15
have come from Carter Mills. But she shouldn’t make too much of 16
this. There was still no reason to think that Mills knew about 17
Thorpe’s violent streak.
18
Violent.
19
The word seemed so neat and contained compared to the real-20
ity of what she’d been through. Again, Kate felt Thorpe’s hands on 21
her body, his wet, heavy breath. She picked up the receiver. With-22
out pausing to think, she dialed Mills’s extension.
23
“He’s not in yet, Kate,” Clara said. Kate could hear the sound of 24
typing in the background. “Would you like to leave a message?”
25
“Could you just tell him I need to see him? And that . . . it’s im-26
portant.”
27
After hanging up, Kate felt depleted. She’d finally gotten up the 28
nerve to speak with Mills, and he wasn’t even there. But at least 29
she’d left the message. That was the important thing. Now she just 30
had to wait.
31
She turned to the mountain of mail that Jennifer had left for 32
her. Hard to believe that this much had piled up during just one 33
day away from the office. Lethargically, she sorted through the first ort 34
few envelopes. A mass mailing about CLE courses. A solicitation reg 35
for Legal Services.
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A few minutes later, Kate picked up the phone again, this time 1
to call Andrea. After a few rings, she heard a click as the call went 2
into voice mail. She listened to the first few words of Andrea’s mes-3
sage, then hung up the receiver. She was feeling a little hurt.
4
While Andrea obviously didn’t know what had happened, she must 5
know Kate had been out sick. Why hadn’t she called to check in?
6
A rap on the door interrupted Kate’s thoughts. Before she could 7
answer, Peyton Winslow stuck his head through the doorway, his 8
pale eyes distracted behind red-rimmed glasses. He looked like a 9
fashion-crazed owl. “The Thorpe complaint is supposed to be 10
served today. When will you have the rest of that memo?”
11
Today. The irony took her breath away. “I’ll have it to you by to-12
morrow.” Kate didn’t mention her one-day absence, a tacit bow to 13
the Samson equation of physical illness with a failure of will.
14
“The sooner the better,” Peyton said. He was already edging out 15
the door. “We’ve got a meeting tomorrow afternoon with Holden 16
and Thorpe.” The words trailed behind him as he strode down the 17
hall.
18
A meeting with Holden and Thorpe. Just last week, the prospect 19
would have filled her with elation, a sense that she had arrived.
20
But today, just the sound of Thorpe’s name made her feel physi-21
cally ill.
22
Kate’s hand was trembling when she reached for the next piece 23
of mail. It slipped out of her grasp and fell to the floor. As she 24
leaned over to pick it up, she noticed a glint of metal on the carpet 25
underneath her desk. A lost earring, perhaps? Kate knelt down on 26
her hands and knees and picked up the small gold object. A flat 27
disk with crenellated edges surrounding an ornate monogram.
28
Kate stared at it blankly for several seconds before realizing that it 29
was a cuff link. A man’s cuff link. Looking more closely, she made 30
out an ornate letter T, then a C.
31
Chuck Thorpe.
32
Kate dropped the cuff link to her desk as if she’d been burned. It 33
must have fallen off Monday night while they struggled. Evidence, 34 sh
concrete evidence, that Chuck Thorpe had been in her office. It 35 re
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1
wasn’t much, but it was something. She tried to think what to do.
2
Grabbing a white office envelope, she stuck the cuff link inside.
3
After sealing the envelope’s flap, she stashed it in her top left 4
drawer. There was a small key in the drawer’s pencil tray. She 5
lo
cked the drawer and put the key in the change compartment of 6
her billfold. Then, still trembling, she returned her attention to 7
the mail.
8
An hour or so later, she was almost halfway through when she 9
came upon a large white envelope. Aside from her name, typed on 10
a blank white label, there were no markings at all. Turning over 11
the packet, Kate saw that the flap was secured with a red wax seal 12
bearing the impress of the letter M. Curious, she studied the seal 13
for several seconds, her previous concerns forgotten. Then, careful 14
not to break the seal, she ran a letter opener under the flap and 15
reached into the envelope. From inside she pulled out two 81⁄2 by 16
11 pieces of plain white cardboard. Between them was a black-17
and-white photograph. A picture of a lovely dark-haired woman 18
somewhere in her early twenties. Kate stared at the photograph, 19
mesmerized. It was a picture of Madeleine Waters.
20
She was standing on the stairs of a low brick building, maybe a 21
walk-up apartment. She was dressed in bell bottoms and platform 22
shoes, smiling flirtatiously. With one hand, she pushed back a stray 23
strand of hair. With the other, she reached toward the camera. The 24
gesture was ambiguous, both welcoming and remote. Again, Kate 25
looked at the envelope, searching for some explanation. There was 26
no postage stamp, no postmark. It must have come from inside the 27
firm. She turned back to the picture, searching the image for clues.
28
The longer Kate examined the print, the more her confusion 29
deepened. As she studied the figure more closely, she saw her ini-30
tial mistake. While this woman resembled Madeleine, there were 31
obvious differences, too. The face was broader, flatter. The eyes 32
were more widely set. And the clothing was early seventies, well 33
before Madeleine’s time. Madeleine would have been quite young ort 34
back then, probably still in grade school.
reg 35
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And yet . . . what of the red letter M?
1
The ring of her phone interrupted these thoughts. Carter Mills 2
would see her now.
3
Quickly, Kate tried to shift gears. Gathering up a notepad and 4
pen, she rehearsed what she’d planned to say. I was returning to my 5
office, a little after ten on Monday night . . .
6
She was almost out of her office when she turned to look back at 7
her desk. She stared at the photograph for a second or two, then 8
walked over and picked it up. She held it in her hand for another 9
few seconds, uncertain about what to do. Then, with sudden deci-10
sion, she put it back in the red-sealed envelope and added the 11
packet to the pile in her arms. Once outside her office, Kate 12
stopped by Jennifer’s station. “If anyone calls, I’ll be in Carter 13
Mills’s office.” Then she turned and headed for the stairs.
14
15
16
Light sifted in through venetian blinds, patterning Carter Mills’s 17
face. He held the envelope in one hand, studying the red wax seal.
18
Then he looked back at Kate.
19
“When did you receive this?” he asked.
20
“Either yesterday or early today,” Kate said. “I’m really not quite 21
sure.”
22
“I see.”
23
“The photograph is inside.” Kate was anxious to wind this up, to 24
move on to the subject of Thorpe.
25
“It’s a picture of a woman,” Kate said. “Someone who looks a lot 26
like Madeleine Waters. I have no idea why it was left with me. But 27
I thought you should probably see it.”
28
Carefully, like a scientist handling a specimen, Mills reached 29
into the envelope and pulled out the cardboard liners. With two 30
fingers, he removed the top piece and placed it off to the side. From 31
the slick photographic paper, the dark-haired woman smiled up at 32
him, her strangely expressive hand reaching outward. Welcoming.
33
Pushing away.
34 sh
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Mills looked back at Kate, his eyebrows raised. “You really think 2
that this woman looks like Madeleine Waters?” he said.
3
Kate wasn’t sure what to say. The resemblance was so striking.
4
She hadn’t considered that Mills might not see it. “I . . . yes, yes I 5
do,” she said. But the question opened a wedge of doubt. Could the 6
pressure of the past few days be affecting her judgment? She’d 7
made the connection so quickly: between the picture and the let-8
ter M seal, she’d immediately jumped to conclusions. But of course 9
the letter M stood for many things other than Madeleine.
10
Mills, for example.
11
Or McCarty.
12
Or what about Martin, as in Martin Drescher? She felt giddy, 13
lightheaded, as the names piled up.
14
Linda Morris.
15
Douglas Macauley.
16
Or even Michael . . .
17
Her head was swimming, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
18
Mills was studying the picture. “I just don’t see it,” he finally 19
said. “The mouth maybe, but aside from that . . .” He raised a dis-20
missive hand.
21
“Well . . .,” Kate didn’t know what to say.
22
“Do you have any idea where it came from?”
23
“No. None.”
24
Mills’s eyes returned to the picture. Again, Kate noticed the bars 25
of light that flickered across his face. The venetian blinds almost 26
made it appear as if he were inside a cell.
27
Hands folded, Mills leaned forward. “You know, Kate, there’s a 28
lot of gossip flying around now. It’s not helpful. Not helpful to the 29
police investigation, not helpful to the firm. Have you talked to 30
anyone else about this photograph, about the resemblance you see 31
to Madeleine?”
32
“No.” Kate felt a flutter of relief, as though she’d finally done 33
something right. Then, without warning, relief gave way to resent-ort 34
ment. All she’d thought about for the last two days was protecting reg 35
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2 0 1
rush of feeling took her by surprise. She’d had no idea it had been 1
there waiting, just beneath the surface of her thoughts.
2
But Mills was talking again. “Please keep it that way,” he said.
3
“I’
m sure you understand the importance of keeping rumors to a 4
minimum. There’s only so much we can do to keep people from 5
speculating. But we need to do what we can.”
6
We. Even now, Kate felt the seductive lure of inclusion. We. The 7
attorneys of Samson & Mills. She could feel the resentment ebb.
8
“Of course,” Kate said. “I won’t say a word.”
9
“If anything else unusual happens, please come to me immedi-10
ately.”
11
Kate looked at Mills, confused. “But if the photo doesn’t even 12
look like Madeleine —”
13
Mills interrupted, impatient. “No, Kate, I don’t see a resem-14
blance. But obviously you do. And that concerns me. In a situation 15
like this, it’s impossible to be too careful.”
16
There was an unaccustomed edge to Mills’s voice. Still Kate 17
found herself pressing ahead. “Do you think I should talk to the po-18
lice then?”
19
“Absolutely not,” Mills said. “I’ll handle all communications 20
with the NYPD.”
21
His displeasure seemed almost tangible. Kate felt heat rise up 22
through her face. “Of course,” she said. It was an effort to keep her 23
voice level.
24
“I’m sorry, Kate,” Mills said, his voice softening ever so slightly.
25
“I don’t mean to be harsh. But it’s imperative that we keep a tight 26
rein over all outside communications.”
27
“I understand,” Kate said. She took a deep breath. This was 28
hardly the atmosphere in which she wanted to discuss Chuck 29
Thorpe, but she didn’t have any choice. She’d already waited too 30
long. Heart lurching against her ribcage, she tentatively embarked 31
on the speech she’d prepared. “There’s something else I need to 32
discuss with you. It’s about Chuck Thorpe. On Monday night —”
33
“I’m sorry, Kate, but this will have to wait. I have something im-34 sh
portant to take care of.”
35 re
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1
Kate stared at him, disbelieving. Her script didn’t allow for this 2
response. “But this is really urgent,” she stammered. “It will only 3
take a few minutes, and I need —”
4
“I’ll speak with you as soon as I can,” Mills said. His voice was 5
pleasant but firm. “Check with Clara. She knows my schedule. I 6