by Amy Gutman
of paper, balled it up in her hand, and tossed it toward the trash 23
can in the corner. On the next blank sheet of paper, she drew two 24
lines, this time creating three equal columns. The first two she 25
again labeled “Pro” and “Con.” The third she labeled “Inconclu-26
sive.”
27
Still holding the pen, Valencia thought through what she knew 28
about Carter Mills’s death. First, there was the issue of motive. If 29
Mills had, in fact, killed Madeleine Waters, that certainly might 30
explain why he’d killed himself, whether due to remorse or fear of 31
discovery. And if those weren’t sufficient motives, there were the 32
billing improprieties that Drescher had brought to their attention.
33
Valencia briefly noted these facts under “Pro” and then sat back in 34 sh
her chair.
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What else did she know about Mills’s last days? He’d certainly 2
seemed preoccupied. But that could have been a normal reaction 3
to a colleague’s death. Especially when that colleague was a former 4
lover. Under the column labeled “Inconclusive,” Valencia wrote 5
“Demeanor/Mood.” Then there was the typed suicide note, with 6
its vague allusions to failure and despair. The typed note had been 7
a red flag. Was it possible that someone else had typed the note, 8
that the words had been the work of Mills’s killer? She couldn’t dis-9
miss that thought. Still, she didn’t have any proof. Another point 10
under “Inconclusive.”
11
The physical evidence, what there was of it, also provided little 12
guidance. While Mills’s fingerprints were all over the gun, gunshot 13
residue tests on his hands had all come up negative. Still, this was 14
far from uncommon. While the presence of residue would have 15
been proof that Mills fired the gun, its absence didn’t mean that he 16
hadn’t. It simply left open the possibility that someone other than 17
Mills had pulled the trigger. The fact that the gun had been found 18
on Mills’s desk was similarly unhelpful. If the gun had been found 19
clutched tightly in Mills’s hand, this “cadaveric spasm” would have 20
proved his wound was self-inflicted. But this was a rare phenome-21
non; some cops even claimed that it didn’t exist. Again, she 22
couldn’t draw any conclusions.
23
Absorbed in the problem before her, Valencia had almost for-24
gotten her cocoa. She raised the mug to her lips, but now it was 25
only lukewarm. Lifting the sleeping Mr. P. from her lap, she stood 26
up and returned him to the chair. The cat raised his head from a 27
haze of sleep and blinked a few times before again curling up in a 28
ball. Valencia stuck her mug in the microwave and punched in two 29
minutes.
30
Waiting for the cocoa to reheat, Valencia had an idea. She 31
walked to the living room and headed for the bookcase under the 32
stairs. Its shelves held a motley assortment of volumes. Paperback 33
bestsellers and criminology texts crammed in with books on cook-ort 34
ing and home improvement. It took a little time to find what she reg 35
was looking for. Practical Homicide Investigation: Tactics, Procedures, 9858_02_153-356_r6jm.qxd 9/28/00 3:59 PM Page 311
E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
3 1 1
and Forensic Techniques. She pulled down the stout blue book and 1
carried it back to the kitchen.
2
After retrieving her now-hot cocoa, Valencia gave Mr. P a 3
gentle nudge. He opened a languorous eye and then, with a re-4
proachful look, hopped down from the chair and slunk from the 5
room, bound for more peaceful environs. Back in the chair, still 6
warm from Mr. P., Valencia turned to the index and looked for 7
“Suicide.” Beneath this entry was a column of type, investigative 8
checklist . . . investigative considerations . . . background infor-9
mation . . . equivocal death.
10
Equivocal death. That was what she was looking for. Valencia 11
took down a few more page numbers and then turned to the first of 12
the references. The words, highlighted in yellow during some past 13
perusal, jumped out at her from the page. “Equivocal death inves-14
tigations are those inquiries that are open to interpretation. . . .”
15
For some time she continued to read. Then, looking up, she 16
thought back in time. Carter Mills’s blood-drenched office, the 17
shattered remains of his body. The Samson partners, circling their 18
wagons, tight-lipped as the members of a street gang. The shell-19
shocked young lawyer who’d discovered the scene.
20
And, Valencia realized, it wasn’t just Carter Mills’s death that 21
had her unnerved. Her uneasiness extended beyond that, back to 22
the Waters murder. There, too, the facts didn’t add up. There were 23
loose ends, missing pieces. And Carter Mills’s supposed suicide had 24
done nothing to clear them up. First, there was the fact that Wa-25
ters’s body had been moved from the actual crime scene, dumped 26
where it was sure to be discovered. Someone had taken the trou-27
ble — and risk — of leaving the body in plain view. Why? What 28
possible reason would Mills have had for wanting Madeleine’s 29
body found?
30
The fact that the body was left in plain view; it had to be by de-31
sign. The expert-for-hire quoted in the local paper knew the value 32
of a sound bite. But in labeling Madeleine’s killer disorganized, 33
he’d jumped to conclusions far too quickly. Whoever killed Made-34 sh
leine Waters had managed to escape undetected. Had managed to 35 re
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A M Y G U T M A N
1
transport and dump the body, all without arousing suspicion. Even 2
the spread-eagled display of the body reflected an effort to control.
3
And most telling of all, perhaps, the killer had concocted the tele-4
phone scheme that lured Madeleine to her death. He’d known of 5
her scheduled dinner with Thorpe and called to reschedule it. In 6
essence, he’d set a trap. Such actions required planning, a patient 7
attention to detail. They were hardly the work of a disorganized 8
killer, someone veering toward insanity.
9
True, there had been some basis for the expert’s comments. The 10
lack of semen at the scene. The random postmortem stab wounds 11
to the face and breast. The candle in the victim’s vagina. Such acts 12
were generally committed by disorganized types. By a perp unable 13
to complete the sexual act, filled with uncontrollable rage. But 14
these elements could have been designed to mislead; it had cer-15
tainly happened before. An organized offender could stage a crime 16
scene, mimic a disorganized perp. While detectives searched for a 17
> psychotic loner, someone barely functional, the real killer got on 18
with his life. He might be a model citizen, a family man. No one 19
would ever guess.
20
Carter Mills’s alibi was solid, but not until after eight. It would 21
have been tight, but not impossible. At least, that’s what she’d 22
been telling herself. Possible and yet . . . was it likely? She couldn’t 23
seem to get a grip. As a rule, homicide detectives relied on the the-24
ory of transfer and exchange, the notion that a perp leaves traces 25
at the scene. And that the scene, in turn, leaves it marks on him.
26
But here they’d come up dry. No fingerprints. No foreign hairs. No 27
semen. And lab reports indicated that the only blood was the vic-28
tim’s. Perhaps these dead ends partly explained why she and Glaser 29
had given in. That and pressure from the mayor. Mills’s suicide had 30
come as a stroke of luck, letting them both off the hook.
31
But the fact was, before Mills died, she’d thought they were get-32
ting somewhere. They’d finally gotten their hands on a copy of 33
Waters’s will. A document that bequeathed all earthly possessions ort 34
to her former husband, Sam Howell. Not a little surprising in light reg 35
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E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
3 1 3
of Howell’s claim that he hadn’t seen his ex-wife in years. They’d 1
been on the verge of asking Howell to take a polygraph test. Of 2
course, that plan had gone out the window with news of Carter 3
Mills’s death.
4
But thoughts she’d banished from consciousness still haunted 5
her sleep each night. Now, wide awake at 4 a.m., the questions 6
rang in her mind.
7
What was the story with Howell?
8
Had they written him off too soon?
9
w
10
In the morning, Kate again washed her kitchen floor, now cleaner 11
than it had been since she’d moved in. Her apartment and her life 12
seemed to bear an inverse relation, the former becoming ever more 13
orderly as the latter veered out of control. She’d just squeezed out 14
the mop when she heard the phone ring. Once, twice, three times, 15
before the answering machine engaged. From the next room, she 16
could hear a male voice, vaguely familiar from the distance. Was it 17
Douglas Macauley, perhaps? She didn’t much care right now.
18
She was still reeling from yesterday’s meeting with Drescher, 19
still didn’t understand what had happened. Even with his hatred of 20
Mills, how could Drescher be so cavalier? How could he ignore the 21
fact that a killer might still be at large? It didn’t make any sense.
22
Unless . . .
23
Kate froze in her tracks. What if Drescher himself was involved?
24
He’d certainly had access to Madeleine’s schedule. And who had 25
more to gain than Martin Drescher from Carter Mills’s untimely 26
death? As for Madeleine, there was no shortage of possible mo-27
tives. Perhaps a love affair gone wrong, if she believed what Jen-28
nifer had said. Or something to do with the WideWorld bills that 29
had been stored in Madeleine’s desk. It was even possible that 30
Drescher had planned the whole thing, killed Madeleine to set up 31
Mills.
32
Kate thought back to the night of Mills’s death, trying to re-33
member when she’d last seen Drescher. He’d definitely been at the 34 sh
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cocktail party, but she couldn’t be quite sure when. It would have 2
been easy enough for him to slip away. Could Drescher have killed 3
his rival and then returned unnoticed?
4
On the heels of this disturbing question came another chilling 5
thought. Her meeting yesterday with Drescher. She’d told him 6
everything. And if he’d been the lone blurred figure, the shadow 7
she’d seen in the hall? How could she not be a threat? Kate leaned 8
the mop against the kitchen wall, her mouth gone dry as paper. Af-9
ter quickly wiping off her hands, she went to find her purse. Stuffed 10
in her billfold was Valencia’s number, copied down from the card 11
she’d been given. Ignoring the flashing message light, Kate picked 12
up the phone and dialed.
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
ort 34
reg 35
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Wednesday, January 27
1
2
2 p.m. Cathy Valencia chewed on the end of a ballpoint pen and 3
thought about what to do next. She’d been trading calls with Kate 4
Paine since yesterday afternoon and still hadn’t been able to reach 5
her. It was almost as if Kate was avoiding her. But that didn’t make 6
any sense. Kate, after all, had called her.
7
Kate had asked to be called at home. Normally, Valencia would 8
have respected the request. But something in the young lawyer’s 9
voice made Valencia eager to reach her. She’d waited long enough.
10
Besides, if she used her private cell phone, only Kate would know 11
who had called.
12
“Kate Paine’s office.” The woman who answered the phone had 13
a soft, ebullient voice with a hint of Brooklyn at the edges.
14
“Is she in?” Valencia tried to sound casual, as if she were a per-15
sonal friend.
16
“No, I don’t expect her today.”
17 sh
“D’you have any idea when I could reach her?”
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A M Y G U T M A N
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“I couldn’t really say. But I’d be happy to take a message. She’ll 2
definitely be checking in with me today.”
3
“That’s okay. I’ll try back later.” Valencia was about to hang up, 4
when the young woman spoke again.
5
“If you don’t reach her today, I’m pretty sure she’ll be in by four 6
tomorrow. She has an appointment then.”
7
w
8
Arriving home that night, Kate felt like she was floating. She’d fi-9
nally taken Tara’s suggestion and spent the day at the Peninsula 10
Spa, where she’d been rubbed, wrapped, and pounded into a grate-11
ful torpor. But one look at the phone was enough to douse her good 12
spirits. The message light was flashing. While she was out, five calls 13
/> had come in.
14
In the end, it wasn’t so bad. Three calls were from Cathy Valen-15
cia, who seemed pretty anxious to reach her. A message from Tara.
16
Another from Sam Howell. “I’ve been thinking about you, Kate.
17
Just wondering how you’re doing. I don’t know what your sched-18
ule’s like, but I’ll be in the city this weekend. If you have time, I’d 19
like to see you.”
20
Howell’s call came as a surprise. Their encounters had been so 21
strange. Her frantic flight from his home in Sag Harbor. The 22
abrupt conclusion of their recent talk. She hadn’t gotten back to 23
him even though she’d said she would. Tomorrow she’d call both 24
Sam and Tara. Valencia, however, she should try right now.
25
But even as she reached for the phone, a part of her seemed to 26
pull back. Her day at the spa had relaxed her, done wonders for her 27
mood. Would it be so wrong to prolong it? All the things that had 28
seemed so pressing now seemed as if they could wait. That shadow 29
outside Mills’s office. Could she really be sure what she’d seen?
30
What had her so convinced that the movement was a human be-31
ing?
32
Slowly, Kate lowered her hand. She’d put off the call to Valencia, 33
return it tomorrow as well. For now, she’d just check her e-mail.
ort 34
And then, she’d climb into bed.
reg 35
“You’ve got mail. ” Glancing through her new e-mail messages, 9858_02_153-356_r6jm.qxd 9/28/00 3:59 PM Page 317
E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
3 1 7
Kate pressed a hand to her mouth. There it was. Another commu-1
nication from Adam0116. Her spa-induced calm was instantly 2
gone, replaced by a sense of foreboding. Her heart lurched against 3
her sternum, a cold fist lodged in her chest. She clicked on the 4
message line.
5
I have important information about a subject that interests you. I’m 6
sure you know what I mean. If you’d like to know more, meet me to-7
morrow at the Royalton Hotel at 9 P.M.
8
Kate stared at the lines as if hypnotized. The Royalton Hotel. A 9
popular watering hole for glitterati types, it was just down from the 10
Harvard Club.
11
I have important information about a subject that interests you.
12
Of course, she shouldn’t agree to the meeting. It was absurd, 13
maybe dangerous.
14
Still, she stared at the screen.