by Amy Gutman
tablished at the entrance. Kate took her place in line, scanning the 9
sea of faces, searching for people she knew.
10
“Name?” The square-jawed guard didn’t look at her as he spoke.
11
“Kate Paine. I’m a lawyer here.”
12
Briefly, the guard’s eyes dropped to a list in his hand.
13
“Picture ID?”
14
Kate reached into her purse for her billfold. Pulling out her dri-15
ver’s license, she caught sight of her photograph. She was struck by 16
how young she looked. The picture was just a few years old, but she 17 sh
looked like a different person.
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It was still early, before nine, and Kate was alone in the elevator.
2
But when she reached her office, Justin was already there. Seated 3
at Jennifer’s secretarial station, he was poring over a newspaper.
4
Catching sight of Kate, he began to talk.
5
“It doesn’t sound like they have any idea.”
6
Kate unlocked her office door. Justin followed her inside. Kate 7
went behind her desk to pull up the shades. Justin slid into a chair.
8
“You look tired,” he said, as Kate settled into her chair.
9
“I didn’t sleep too well.”
10
Justin looked back at the paper, now resting on his lap. “I can’t 11
believe they don’t have any suspects. I mean, it happened right 12
here. Don’t they know who was in the building?”
13
Kate shrugged. If she didn’t actually say anything, it didn’t feel 14
as much like lying. She glanced down at a firm memo that had 15
been slipped under her door.
16
17
The partners of Samson & Mills regret to inform you that J. Carter 18
Mills, the firm’s managing partner, was found dead in his office Satur-19
day night. The cause of death was a gunshot wound.
20
All firm personnel are reminded that contacts with the media on this 21
and all other subjects related to Samson & Mills are strictly prohibited.
22
All media inquiries should be referred to Martin Drescher, who will 23
serve as the firm’s interim managing partner.
24
25
The memo continued for several more paragraphs, a brief dis-26
course on Carter Mills’s professional achievements, but Kate was 27
too stunned to read on.
28
“Martin Drescher? They’re handing over Carter’s job to his 29
archrival?”
30
“I know,” Justin said. “It’s crazy. Alice in Wonderland.”
31
Kate didn’t say anything. She was thinking about what must 32
have happened. Suicide, whatever the provocation, was not the 33
act of a team player. A postmortem punishment was being im-ort 34
posed.
reg 35
“Kate? Are you okay?”
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“Yeah, just a little preoccupied. Listen, would you mind if I 1
catch up with you later? I have to make a phone call now.”
2
Justin jumped to his feet. “Sure. Call me when you’re done.”
3
Kate waited until Justin had closed the door. Then, picking up 4
the telephone receiver, she dialed Martin Drescher’s extension.
5
w
6
Sam Howell poured another cup of coffee and headed back to the 7
living room. He sank into a chair and retrieved the newspaper he’d 8
left folded open on its arm. Once more, he read the report, promi-9
nently featured on the front page of the Metro section. LEGAL
10
STAR SHOT DEAD IN OFFICE. He must have read the article 11
half a dozen times. Now he began again. Nothing could bring 12
Madeleine back to life. But at least Mills had paid for her death.
13
w
14
“And you’re sure that it was Chuck Thorpe speaking?”
15
“Absolutely,” Kate said.
16
“And the woman?” Drescher persisted. “What makes you think 17
it was the plaintiff?”
18
“Some of the details were the same. I don’t remember exactly.
19
But they were talking about Ron Fogarty. The complaint alleges 20
that Thorpe forced Steph — the plaintiff — to have sex with Fog-21
arty. When I listened to the tape, the pieces seemed to fit to-22
gether.”
23
Kate eyed Drescher from across his desk. He wasn’t looking good 24
this morning. His face was a shiny, mottled red, and he seemed to 25
be short of breath. But at least he was paying attention. He’d lis-26
tened without interruption as Kate described Thorpe’s attack 27
along with her subsequent discovery that the cassette tape was 28
missing from her drawer. With a grunt, Drescher raised a mug to 29
his lips — a little hair of the dog? — and then leaned back in his 30
chair.
31
“So, Ms. Paine, you’re suggesting that Chuck Thorpe took this 32
cassette from your desk? Is that what you’re telling me?”
33
Kate looked at him, surprised. She’d hardly expected to be chal-34 sh
lenged on this point. If there was one thing she thought she knew, 35 re
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1
it was that Drescher loathed Thorpe and already considered him a 2
suspect in Madeleine’s death. He’d said as much to Carter Mills the 3
night she’d overheard them argue. The night she’d been trapped 4
beneath the very desk at which Martin Drescher now sat.
5
“It’s the only explanation I can think of,” she said.
6
“And how do you think Thorpe knew where to find the tape?”
7
Because Carter must have told him. Though I’m not sure why. “I 8
have no idea,” she said. “But the fact is that he did.”
9
“I see.” Drescher continued to study her. His eyes, slightly 10
bloodshot, moved from her face down her body. Kate flushed. Her 11
black knit skirt wasn’t short by office standards. But when she sat 12
down, it edged up over her knees. As she tugged at the hem, Martin 13
Drescher smiled.
14
“Ms. Paine, I’m sure you know these are very serious allega-15
tions.”
16
“Yes. I realize that.”
17
“And there aren’t any witnesses?”
18
“No actual witnesses. But Maintenance can confirm that some-19
thing was wrong with my lights. Maybe even that they’d been tam-20
pered with.”
21
“But no witnesses.” This time, it was not a question.
22
/> “I . . . that’s right.” Kate was about to say that it had been late, 23
that everyone else had gone home. But that would have been a 24
mistake. Never try to explain. It was a cardinal rule for Samson as-25
sociates, part of the firm’s quasi-military ethic. Just answer the 26
question.
27
“And have you spoken to anyone else about this?”
28
“No. No one.”
29
Drescher loosened his tie. “Ms. Paine, I’m sure you know that 30
Samson & Mills is at a crisis point. I’m going to be frank. Our re-31
sources are stretched to the limit. I can’t promise that we’ll address 32
this right away. But you have my word that, at the first opportunity, 33
we’ll fully investigate your claims. Can you live with that?”
ort 34
Did she have any choice? “I . . . yes, I guess so.”
reg 35
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“In the meantime, I’d suggest that you take some time off. At 1
least a week or two. With full pay, of course.”
2
“Thank you. I . . . I’ll think about it.”
3
“If you need any professional assistance, I’m sure we can arrange 4
for that.”
5
Professional assistance. It took Kate a moment to realize that he 6
meant psychiatric help. Again, she flushed. “I don’t think so,” she 7
said.
8
“Now, can I count on you to keep this matter to yourself for the 9
time being, until we’ve had a chance to address it?” Drescher’s 10
voice had turned gentle, almost cajoling.
11
“Yes, of course.” The response was automatic. Kate had mentally 12
moved on to the next item on her agenda. Taking a deep breath, 13
she began. “There is one other thing I wanted to mention. It’s 14
about Madeleine Waters.”
15
Drescher’s head inclined to one side. He was still leaning back 16
in his chair. But Kate sensed a subtle tensing of his muscles. Like a 17
tomcat waiting to spring.
18
“In light of what happened to me, I think that Chuck Thorpe 19
should be considered a suspect in Madeleine’s death. If he isn’t al-20
ready, I mean.”
21
Drescher raised his eyebrows. “Ms. Paine, groping a female law-22
yer, however inappropriate, is hardly comparable to murder.”
23
Kate felt her skin glow hot. She’d played by the rules. She’d kept 24
their secrets, gone through the proper channels. And where had it 25
gotten her? Never try to explain. Well, fuck that. Right now, she was 26
going to explain. And Martin Drescher was going to listen.
27
“Perhaps I wasn’t clear,” Kate said. Her heart beat hard in her 28
chest, a caged animal trying to get out. “Chuck Thorpe didn’t just 29
grope me, as you put it. He staged an attack. He ambushed me.
30
When I walked into my office Monday night, I was grabbed by a 31
stranger, forced up against the wall, and sexually assaulted. I —”
32
Kate broke off, overwhelmed by a flood of feeling. For a terrible 33
moment, she thought she was going to cry. She sat silently for a 34 sh
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1
moment, her hands curled around the edge of her chair. She wasn’t 2
going to break down. Not here. Not in front of Martin Drescher.
3
Drescher shifted in his seat, a smile playing on his lips. He 4
seemed to be enjoying himself. Kate felt a futile surge of rage.
5
“Ms. Paine, I might as well relieve you of your concerns about 6
Chuck Thorpe. The things that you allege are, of course, repre-7
hensible and will be investigated. But Chuck Thorpe did not kill 8
Madeleine Waters. What I’m about to tell you will soon be public 9
knowledge. But I’d appreciate it if you’d keep it confidential until 10
then.”
11
Almost imperceptibly, Kate nodded. Something in Drescher’s 12
expression told her that she didn’t want to hear what he was going 13
to say. She had an irrational desire to stop him. To walk out of the 14
room. To put her fingers in her ears and talk loudly to herself as she 15
had as a very small child, trying to shut out the frightening sounds 16
of her parents arguing. Instead, she sat unmoving in her chair, a 17
prisoner waiting to be sentenced.
18
“Carter Mills, as you know, killed himself,” Drescher said.
19
“What you don’t know, what we only just learned this morning, is 20
that the gun he used was the same gun used to kill Madeleine Wa-21
ters.”
22
Drescher gave Kate a meaningful look. Feeling his eyes on her, 23
she willed herself to stay calm. Her face felt frozen solid, her fea-24
tures carved in ice. But behind the veneer, her brain was scream-25
ing. It can’t be true. It can’t be. At the same time, she knew that it 26
was. If Carter’s suicide weapon was the gun used to kill Madeleine, 27
then he must have killed Madeleine, too. A Latin phrase leapt into 28
her mind, a rule of evidence she’d learned in school. Res ipsa 29
loquitur. The thing speaks for itself. No wonder Drescher seemed 30
so smug.
31
Unless . . .
32
A saving question flashed through Kate’s mind: Why should she 33
believe Martin Drescher? He could be making this up. Or at least ex-ort 34
aggerating. Perhaps it was just the same type of gun, and Drescher reg 35
was racing to conclusions. She felt a seed of hope taking root. A 9858_02_153-356_r6jm.qxd 9/28/00 3:59 PM Page 267
E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
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subtle easing of tension. The fact was she didn’t know anything for 1
sure. Except that she’d heard enough.
2
“Well, I guess that’s everything.” Standing up from her chair, 3
Kate carefully smoothed down her skirt. Now that she was on her 4
feet, it came almost to her knees. Then, without saying good-bye, 5
she turned and walked from the room.
6
7
8
Back in her office, Kate still felt rattled, disturbed by her talk with 9
Drescher. Her brief bout of hopefulness had faded, and she could 10
feel depression setting in. While she didn’t know that Drescher 11
was telling the truth, she couldn’t prove that he wasn’t. The mere 12
possibility that what he’d said was true was too upsetting to con-13
sider. She felt angry at Drescher, angry at herself, angry at the situ-14
ation. She decided to do some filing. Maybe the process of ordering 15
her office would help bring order to her mind.
16
For some time, Kate worked steadily on autopilot. She could feel 17
herself calming down. Then she found herself gazing at a thin stack 18
of papers held togeth
er with a binder clip. A set of WideWorld Me-19
dia’s legal bills. What was it doing here? With a start, she realized 20
what she was looking at. The bills from Madeleine’s file. These 21
were the photocopies she’d made the night she was trapped under 22
Drescher’s desk. She’d meant to tell Carter Mills that Drescher had 23
taken the file. But with everything that had happened, the whole 24
thing had slipped her mind.
25
Unsure of what to do next, she glanced over the top sheet in the 26
stack. A bill for June 1996. And at the bottom of the page, a sig-27
nature. J. Carter Mills. She stared at the sheet a minute then 28
flipped to the next page. Another bill. Kate was about to put the 29
stack aside, when she noticed that the page bore the same date as 30
the previous bill. But the amount at the bottom was different. Kate 31
flipped back to the first page, checking to be sure she’d read it right.
32
June 1996. A bill for $87,000. Then back to the next page. June 33
1996, definitely the same date. But this time the bill was much 34 sh
higher, totaling $108,750.
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Strange. She placed the first two sheets side by side. Then she 2
turned to the next page. July 1996. A bill for $94,000. And after 3
that, another bill for the same month. But here the billed amount 4
had jumped to $117,500. Quickly, Kate paged forward, examining 5
the bills one by one. There was a full year’s worth of bills in the 6
stack, each one in duplicate. And in each case, the second bill was 7
larger than the first.
8
Much larger, in fact.
9
Like an animal sensing a distant storm, Kate felt herself growing 10
uneasy. Again, she looked at the two June bills lying side by side on 11
her desk. Line by line, she compared them. For the most part, the 12
two bills matched. Legal services. Travel. Research. The dollar 13
amounts were the same.
14
Then she came to a single entry. Special Services. $21,750.
15
Glancing back to the first bill, Kate saw no sign of this category.
16
She moved ahead to the two July bills. Again, the charges tal-17
lied perfectly. Except for a single entry.
18
Special Services. $23,500.
19
Kate didn’t want to think what she was thinking. But she 20
couldn’t help herself. She reached for a calculator and punched in 21
a couple of numbers. Then, flipping to the next set of bills, she re-22