Equivocal Death
Page 46
I mean.”
34 sh
Justin was starting to pout. “No, Kate. That’s not what I’m say-35 re
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ing.” Again, he sighed. “Okay, I’ll tell you. This is how it hap-2
pened. Mama had to work to support us. She was very proud. My 3
father never knew that she was pregnant. She didn’t want him to 4
know. That’s what Elizabeth said. Anyway, after I was born, Mama 5
worked all the time. She stopped trying for acting jobs. She was go-6
ing to school, to be a nurse. And she was working in the diner.
7
Then, one night, she was coming home late. She’d just picked me 8
up down the street. Someone followed us in. He did things to her, 9
you know?”
10
“Yes,” Kate said, her mind moving sickeningly to Madeleine 11
Waters, on whom similar horrors had been visited.
12
“Then he found this gun that she’d had. It was an old gun, some-13
thing my father had given her years earlier to use for protection.
14
She’d been followed a lot, you know. It was a pretty rough neigh-15
borhood, where we lived. And she was so pretty. Beautiful, really.
16
That night, she must have managed to pull out the gun. She was 17
trying to protect herself. And me.”
18
Justin leaned toward Kate. She could feel his breath, warm and 19
faintly sweet, on her face. “Funny, isn’t it? The gun was supposed to 20
protect her. But instead, she ended up dead.”
21
Kate felt as if she’d stepped inside Justin’s mind. She could see 22
exactly what had happened. In some insane way, it had all started 23
to make sense. “You blamed Carter for her death,” she said. “And 24
that’s why you killed him.”
25
“That’s right,” Justin said, pleased. “That’s exactly why I did it.
26
To make up to her for what happened. If it weren’t for him, she’d 27
still be alive. Remember, Kate? How we talked about that in law 28
school. The problem of causation. Where can you fix legal blame?
29
Well, sometimes the law doesn’t go far enough. So someone else 30
has to step in to make things right. This time, that someone was 31
me. My father gave my mother the gun. It was because of him that 32
she lived in that crappy walk-up. Everything that happened to her 33
was because of him. He was the ‘but for’ cause of my mother’s ort 34
death, isn’t that what we called it in school? If it weren’t for him, reg 35
she’d be alive today. That’s why I had to destroy him.”
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3 3 3
Fleetingly, Kate wondered at Justin’s collapse, how every-1
thing — law and death and family ties — had been woven into 2
one delusion. How Justin’s breakdown was not without its own 3
weird logic.
4
“And Madeleine,” Kate said. “Why did you have to kill her?”
5
“That came later. After I got to Samson & Mills. When I saw 6
her, I knew right away. She looked like my mother, you know. I 7
knew that he’d tried to replace her. I could hardly stand to look at 8
her. But I forced myself. Even asked to work for her, remember?
9
Then it came to me, how she could be part of my plan. How I could 10
kill Madeleine and make it look like he had done it.”
11
“And the . . . the things you did to her? Why? Is it because that’s 12
what they did to your mother?”
13
Justin gave Kate an angry look. “Not exactly,” he said. “I didn’t 14
make Madeleine suffer. I killed her right off. Shot her through the 15
head while she was still unconscious. That’s not how it happened 16
with my mother. She was awake for all of it. She was awake and she 17
felt everything. Everything. ” A sheen of perspiration covered 18
Justin’s face. Veins bulged out from his neck. Fear bubbled up in-19
side, but Kate forced herself to keep going. At least if she kept 20
Justin talking, he couldn’t do anything else.
21
“The gun,” she said. “It was the same one used to kill your 22
mother. How did you manage to get hold of it?”
23
Justin seemed pleased by the question. He gave a modest shrug, 24
his mouth turned up in a small, tight smile. “It wasn’t really that 25
hard. I did some detective work, made some phone calls. The gun 26
was a valuable one, some sort of family heirloom. After the police 27
were done with it, my granddaddy James made sure he got it back.
28
Disgusting, isn’t it? That’s all he cared about. Getting back his stu-29
pid antique. By this time, though, old James had kicked the 30
bucket. So I called my father, pretended to be a collector. Turns out 31
he’d donated it to some historical museum. A small outfit near 32
Boston. Almost no security at all. During our last year of law 33
school, I made a little field trip. That’s when I got it back.”
34 sh
Justin paused for a moment, reflective. “I was worried about tak-35 re
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ing on Madeleine. Thought I might be going too far. But now I’m 2
glad I did it. The other things, too.”
3
“Other things?” Kate said faintly.
4
“Oh, nothing to speak of. Though I did have a lot of fun.” Justin 5
laughed. “This one thing I did. You’ll get a kick out of this. You 6
know how the firm compensates partners, the lockstep draw? Well, 7
there was this secret move to do away with it, to give bigger shares 8
to the rainmakers. I found this memo in Carter’s computer, ex-9
plaining everything. I forwarded the memo to McCarty. Made it 10
look like Drescher had sent it. Too bad I couldn’t see their reac-11
tions.”
12
The lockstep system. That, too, was Justin’s doing. He’d gotten 13
access to Carter’s files. Just as he had to her own. And probably 14
Madeleine’s as well. It explained so much. His vast store of knowl-15
edge about Samson & Mills. His knowledge of Madeleine. . . .
16
In the background, Justin gave another laugh. The sound 17
snapped Kate from her thoughts. The fear that had been weirdly 18
dormant now blasted through with new force. My God! She had to 19
do something, she had to get away. But what could she do? She 20
tested the bonds around her wrists and feet, but they were wound 21
tight. If she screamed, Justin would be on her instantly. Her only 22
hope was to make contact, to break through his fantasy world.
23
“Justin, you have to stop this. Please. Untie me. Let me go.” As 24
she spoke, Kate realized she was crying, hot tears pouring down her 25
cheeks. The irony crashed
in on her. For years now, she’d tried to 26
control her own life. Every decision she’d made, every step she’d 27
taken, had all been with that end in mind. And where had it led?
28
To this moment, where she lay bound and powerless, completely at 29
Justin’s mercy.
30
Justin’s eyes had gone back to the picture. “The moment I saw 31
you, I knew,” he said dreamily. “Do you remember, Kate? In the law 32
school commons? You were having lunch. A tuna sandwich on rye 33
and a Diet Coke. You looked just like her. I came over to your table.
ort 34
You asked me to sit down. After that, I knew we’d be together.”
reg 35
Desperately, Kate searched his face, seeking some spark of re-9858_02_153-356_r6jm.qxd 9/28/00 3:59 PM Page 335
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cognition. “But we were friends, Justin. Just friends. Always good 1
friends. Remember? I was going out with Michael. Michael and I 2
were going to be married.”
3
Justin had gone back to stroking her hair. “I had to put a stop to 4
that,” he said. “I’m sorry you had to suffer. But I had no choice.”
5
Kate felt a prickling beneath her clothes. “But Michael broke up 6
with me,” she said. Her voice was no more than a whisper.
7
Justin’s hand stopped moving. “Come on, Kate. Think,” he said 8
impatiently. “Who told you about Ingrid and Michael?”
9
All air seemed to drain from the room. No, it couldn’t be, it 10
couldn’t be. But her mind was already traveling back, back to the 11
day Justin told her he’d seen Michael kissing Ingrid. She hadn’t be-12
lieved it at first. Michael and Ingrid were simply friends, colleagues 13
on Law Review. There had to be some mistake. But Justin knew 14
what he’d seen. When she’d confronted Michael, he’d denied it 15
outright. But she’d kept at him day after day. Until, finally, a week 16
or so later, he’d simply walked away. And that had been the end.
17
“It was all so easy,” Justin mused. “After I’d gotten rid of 18
Michael, I just had to get you to Samson & Mills. And that almost 19
took care of itself.”
20
w
21
Valencia had already checked the dining rooms, the second-floor 22
library and reading room. Overstuffed chairs and stuffed shirts. The 23
Harvard Club was just what she’d expected. Except for one thing: 24
no sign of Kate Paine. She returned to the registration desk.
25
“I’m sorry, but no one by that name is staying here.”
26
Valencia sighed. “Okay, then. Thanks anyway.”
27
She headed for the cloakroom to collect her coat. She told her-28
self that she’d done everything she could, gone well beyond the 29
call of duty. Anyway, there was probably some explanation. Kate 30
had only been gone a couple of hours. Hardly a lengthy absence.
31
But somehow, the thought didn’t reassure her.
32
w
33
The minutes flowed into hours; the words poured out endlessly.
34 sh
Now Justin was talking about his childhood: the foster parents who 35 re
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beat him, the years of addiction, the escalating petty thefts. And 2
then the new life he’d embarked on as Justin Daniels. The perfect 3
son of perfect parents.
4
“I was such an ideal candidate for the Ivy League,” he said, nos-5
talgically. “Just think of the obstacles I’d overcome!”
6
Kate gazed at him without speaking. She’d tried everything now.
7
Nothing had worked. A childhood prayer floated up from the past, 8
the prayer she’d said before sleep. Keep me safe all through the night, 9
and wake me with the sunshine bright.
10
And then she had an idea. A long shot, but worth a try.
11
“Justin,” Kate said. “I really need to use the bathroom.” Her 12
heart was pounding so hard, she imagined that Justin must hear it.
13
“It’s been a long time,” she said. “And after all that water and 14
champagne . . .”
15
Frowning, Justin studied her face. She could read the suspicion 16
in his eyes. She’d almost given up hope when he abruptly stood up 17
from the bed. “All right, then,” he said. “But don’t try anything. I’ll 18
be right here waiting.” With the gun still pointing at her chest, 19
Justin cut through the bonds on her feet. Kate hoisted her legs over 20
the side of the bed and sat up. She slid awkwardly to the edge of 21
the mattress, her wrists still bound together. The blood coursed 22
down through her ankles and into her tingling feet. Just inches 23
away, she saw her glasses lying on the bedside table.
24
Well, at least this was a start. Standing on shaky legs, Kate 25
glanced toward a closed door across the room.
26
“Is that —”
27
“Yes,” said Justin. “It’s right through there.”
28
Kate took a couple more steps before turning back toward 29
Justin. “Uh, this is a little embarrassing.” She tried to sound girlish 30
and shy. “But do you think you could . . .” She raised her bound 31
hands a few inches. “I can’t . . . you know.”
32
Justin hesitated a moment, as if making up his mind. Then, with 33
a shrug, he stepped forward and cut through the tightly wound ort 34
bindings.
reg 35
She was free!
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It was all she could do not to rush for the door. But she managed to 1
control the impulse. Slowly she crossed the room. Turning to close 2
the door, she caught sight of Justin’s face.
3
A moment of frozen silence.
4
Then everything happened at once.
5
With a roar, Justin lunged forward. Kate slammed shut the door.
6
“Open up, Kate.” Justin’s voice shook with rage. The door shud-7
dered under his fists. But all of it came too late.
8
She’d already turned the lock.
9
w
10
As she emerged from the Harvard Club, Cathy Valencia almost 11
stumbled over the girl waiting on the sidewalk.
12
“Did you find her? Is she okay?”
13
The teenager from Kate Paine’s office. Josie, that was her name.
14
Valencia touched the girl’s shoulder. “She’s not in there. But I’m 15
sure she’s fine.”
16
Josie looked at her hard. “Something happened,” she said stub-17
bornly. “Otherwise, Kate would have been there today.”
>
18
Valencia was about to demur when she saw Josie’s fixed expres-19
sion. She decided to change her tactics. Maybe she could reassure 20
both Josie and herself. Intuition was one thing. Cops relied on it 21
all the time. But it had to have some basis in fact.
22
Reaching into her purse, Valencia pulled out her cell phone.
23
“For all we know, she’s already back at the office.”
24
By now, she knew the Samson number by heart. She dialed and 25
asked for Kate Paine’s office. Hello, this is the phone mail system. The 26
party you have reached — midway through the recording Valencia 27
ended the call.
28
Josie looked at her inquiringly. “Maybe she just went home,” Va-29
lencia said, trying to convey a calm she didn’t feel.
30
She had Kate’s home number on speed dial. But the answering 31
machine picked up.
32
Josie stared at the facade of the Harvard Club. “Maybe you 33
should check there again. Maybe you just didn’t see her.”
34 sh
Someone tapped Valencia’s shoulder. A worried middle-aged 35 re
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man. Then she realized who he was, the registration clerk from in-2
side. “I just got a call from upstairs,” he said. “Someone walking by 3
Room 512 — they just heard a woman scream. The guest’s name is 4
Robert Bernini. I think there’s a young lady with him.”
5
But Valencia was already gone, bounding toward the stairs in-6
side.
7
w
8
“Help! Help!” Kate screamed as loud as she could. But the walls 9
were thick. There were no windows. Her voice seemed to bounce 10
off the tiles.
11
A crashing thud and then a grunt.
12
The entire room seemed to shake. She realized that it must be 13
Justin, hurling his weight against the door. A short silence and 14
then another crash. But this time, Kate also heard a splintering of 15
wood, as if the door had started to give way. Trembling, she shrank 16
back toward the shower stall. But there was really nowhere to go.
17
Wildly, Kate searched for some way out, for something to pro-18
tect herself. Without her glasses she had to squint. But in the 19
blurry confines of the bathroom, she saw nothing that would serve 20
as a weapon. A sink. A mirror. A wastebasket imprinted with the 21