Equivocal Death
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Harvard Club crest. Reaching over the sink, Kate took hold of the 22
mirror, strained to hoist it off the wall, But the frame wouldn’t 23
budge. It was firmly affixed on all sides.
24
Another immense blow to the door.
25
Kate renewed her cries. “Help!” Why wasn’t anyone coming?
26
At the top of the door, it seemed as if the hinges had started to 27
pull loose. But the door was solid, how could this be? Adrenaline 28
flooded Kate’s body.
29
Then her eyes lit on a small glass shelf, suspended over the sink.
30
In an instant, she’d swept off its contents. With both hands, she 31
grabbed and yanked.
32
With the next blow, Kate heard a cracking sound, and then frag-33
ments of wood flew by. Through a jagged break in the door, Kate ort 34
saw Justin’s hand, reaching, grasping the lock. Raising the glass reg 35
shelf high overhead, Kate pressed herself into the sink. As Justin 9858_02_153-356_r6jm.qxd 9/28/00 3:59 PM Page 339
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charged through the open door, Kate smashed the shelf down on 1
his head.
2
Blood gushed down Justin’s face; he let out a piercing cry. He 3
briefly staggered back before lunging toward her again. Then his 4
hands were around Kate’s neck, and he was squeezing tighter and 5
tighter. Kate made a futile jab at Justin with the glass fragment still 6
in her hand. He must have put down the gun. If she could only . . .
7
But her thoughts were growing dimmer. The glass fell to the floor.
8
As if from a very great distance, she heard it shatter below. Colors 9
exploded behind Kate’s eyes. Then everything started to fade.
10
A banging sound. Very close by. The pressure around her neck 11
slackened. Gasping for breath, Kate collapsed toward the sink, des-12
perately clawing for support. But before she could regain her bal-13
ance, Justin was on her again. As he wrestled her into a headlock, 14
cold metal bored into her scalp.
15
“Put down the gun. Now.” Through her own harsh breathing, 16
Kate heard the woman’s voice, just yards from where they stood.
17
Pleadingly, Kate looked at Justin. His pupils were twin black holes.
18
For a long moment, his eyes bored into hers. Kate felt as if she were 19
falling. Then something flickered in Justin’s eyes, some brief spark 20
of recognition. Wrenching his gaze from Kate, he took an unsteady 21
step back. Before Kate knew what was happening, he’d jammed 22
the gun in his mouth. An instant of total stillness.
23
Then the whole world seemed to explode.
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Friday, January 29
2
3
The phone message light was blinking as Kate walked into her of-4
fice. One week ago, in another lifetime, she would have immedi-5
ately responded to its call. Today, she let it go. It was a little before 6
one. She’d come by to pack up, to collect what she needed of her 7
personal effects. The rest would be sent home later. Tara had urged 8
her to put it off. After all, she was still reeling from the shock of last 9
night. Her arms and face were bruised, her body sore. She hadn’t 10
slept at all. Still, she had to come in today. She wanted to get it 11
over.
12
Expertly, Kate folded together a cardboard box, a task she’d 13
done hundreds of times before while preparing for hearings and 14
depositions. This time, however, she was packing up her own be-15
longings. She started in with books. Farnsworth on Contracts.
16
Tribe on Constitutional Law. Miller on Civil Procedure. These were ort 17
volumes from her personal library, acquired during her years in law reg 18
school. As she began to fill the box, Kate felt a wrenching nostal-9858_02_153-356_r6jm.qxd 9/28/00 3:59 PM Page 341
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gia. How hopeful she’d been when she bought these texts. They’d 1
seemed to hold the keys to a new life. She’d made it through Har-2
vard Law School. Made it to Samson & Mills. She’d fought so hard 3
every step of the way. Was this part of her life really over? It still 4
just wouldn’t sink in.
5
There was a sound at the door. Turning to look behind her, Kate 6
met Andrea’s eyes. For a moment they looked at each other. Then 7
Andrea broke the silence.
8
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “If I’d had any idea . . .”
9
Kate didn’t say anything. She was vaguely surprised to see An-10
drea, but that was all. Her emotions had been used up.
11
Andrea lingered in the doorway. “Can I come in?” she said. “I 12
really need to explain.”
13
Kate stood up and brushed off the legs of her blue jeans. “Yeah, 14
sure.” she said. “Have a seat if you can find one.”
15
Andrea moved a stack of dusty papers from a chair to the book-16
case and sat down. She was wearing a stylish brown pantsuit that 17
Kate had never seen before.
18
“I thought you were in Chile,” Kate said.
19
Andrea shook her head.
20
“So where were you?” Kate asked finally, curiosity kicking in.
21
Andrea studied her freshly manicured hands, as if they might 22
hold the answer. Then she looked back at Kate. “Madeleine’s 23
death really spooked me. At first, I thought I’d get over it. That it 24
would take me a week or so. But after the memorial service, I real-25
ized that wouldn’t happen. I needed to get away, to figure out what 26
was going on. That’s why I took time off.”
27
Kate looked at her, disbelieving. “Why didn’t you just tell me 28
that?”
29
“I don’t know.” Andrea looked up. “Now I can see how strange 30
it seems. But at the time . . . I didn’t want to talk about it. I just 31
needed to clear my head. Brent and I started talking about the fu-32
ture. Where we are now and where we want to be. I realized that I 33
wasn’t sure anymore that this was the place for me. And then I 34 sh
started to get paranoid. I kept thinking about Marcia Weygand.
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How, once they found out she was job hunting, they had her work-2
ing around the clock on all these crappy assignments. Then when 3
the holidays came, she didn’t even get her bonus. I just didn’t want 4
to risk something like that. Please. T
ry to understand.”
5
Kate looked at Andrea, a sense of sadness welling up inside her.
6
The fact was, she did sort of understand. She didn’t want to, but 7
she did. For all their late-night camaraderie, she and Andrea had 8
never really been close friends, not in the way she and Tara were.
9
What they’d been was allies, comrades in a hard-fought campaign.
10
Members of the same battalion. But intimate friends? What did 11
she really know about Andrea? A few biographical facts. Her tastes 12
in sushi and Chinese food. The fact that she liked to travel.
13
Andrea’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Your glasses,” she 14
said. “I’ve never seen you without them.”
15
Kate shrugged. “They’re somewhere at the Harvard Club, I 16
guess. I’m wearing contacts today.”
17
Andrea was still staring at her, a quizzical expression on her face.
18
“You remind me of someone,” she said.
19
Kate quickly changed the subject. “So, did you go away at all?”
20
she asked.
21
Andrea shook her head. “We just stayed put. I needed some 22
time to think. Brent and I both did, really. We did some research, 23
made some calls. We figured we have enough savings to travel for 24
six months or so. Maybe a year if we find work along the way.”
25
“So you’re actually doing it? You’re leaving Samson & Mills?”
26
“I gave notice today, actually. Next Friday’s my last day. Nor-27
mally, I’d have given more notice, but with everything going 28
on . . . , well, I figured they’d let it pass.”
29
“I would think so,” Kate said dryly.
30
Outside, the sky was a rich, deep blue. The Statue of Liberty 31
floated in the distant harbor.
32
“So how are you feeling?” Andrea said hesitantly. “I understand 33
if you don’t want to talk about it. I mean, Justin. God. You and he ort 34
were . . .”
reg 35
“Yes,” Kate said quickly. She didn’t want to hear what Andrea 9858_02_153-356_r6jm.qxd 9/28/00 3:59 PM Page 343
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would say next. She felt as if she might start to cry. “We were. But 1
I’m doing okay. I think it’s just going to take time. I still can’t really 2
believe what happened.”
3
“No,” Andrea said. “Neither can I.”
4
“It’s like things are never what you think they are. Here’s an-5
other weird thing. I’d been getting these e-mails. Someone claim-6
ing to have information about the firm. I’d actually made plans to 7
meet the sender. Last night at the Royalton. But you know who it 8
turned out to be ? Douglas Macauley. This practical joker guy I’d 9
gone out with once. I’d stopped returning his calls. Well, he talked 10
to my friend Tara — she’d fixed me up with him in the first 11
place — and figured out I was obsessed with what was happening 12
here. He came up with an invitation he thought I couldn’t refuse.”
13
Andrea’s eyes widened. “That seems a little extreme,” she said.
14
Kate gave a faint smile. “Yeah, well. That’s just the sort of guy 15
he is.”
16
Another long pause.
17
“So what will you do?” Andrea finally asked. “Have you had 18
time to make any plans?”
19
Kate twisted the ruby ring on her right forefinger. It had been 20
with her through everything. “I’m leaving as well,” she said.
21
“They’re giving me a leave of absence. But I can’t imagine coming 22
back.”
23
“Will you be okay for money?”
24
“Yeah, I don’t really have much student loan debt. Before my 25
mother died, she set up this trust. It pretty much covered my edu-26
cation. Living expenses, too. After school, I sort of forgot about it.
27
I get these statements from my mother’s brokerage house. But I 28
haven’t really paid much attention. Maybe it was a way of pre-29
tending she wasn’t really dead.” Again, Kate studied the ruby ring.
30
She remembered how excited she’d been when she unwrapped it 31
on her sixteenth birthday, how pleased her mother had been.
32
“Anyway, last night, I opened the most recent statement. And 33
there’s . . . there’s a lot of money there now. Enough to take care of 34 sh
me for a couple of years, at least.”
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Kate looked up. Andrea was staring at her, incredulous.
2
“What?” Kate said.
3
Andrea shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t . . . You mean 4
you were working here, and you didn’t have to? I mean, I just as-5
sumed you were here like I was, to pay off loans, to get a little cash 6
together. But if that wasn’t it, then why? ”
7
Kate gave her a rueful smile. “That’s one of the things I’ll have 8
to think about,” she said. The past seemed to swim through her 9
mind. Her campus interview with Carter Mills. The day she ar-10
rived at Samson. Late nights in the conference room with Andrea, 11
giggling over Chinese food and endless mountains of work.
12
Michael. Justin. The hopes and fears of a lifetime, all now to be re-13
examined.
14
Again, Kate looked out the window, at the blue of the water and 15
sky. This really was the end. She felt another surge of sadness.
16
“There’s an amazing view from this office,” she said.
17
From behind, she heard Andrea rise from her chair, come 18
around to stand behind her. “I’ll tell you a secret, Kate,” she said.
19
“It looks just the same from outside.”
20
21
22
Two hours later, the boxes packed, Kate waited for a porter to col-23
lect them. In the meantime, she checked her messages. Just two 24
calls. The first was from someone in personnel, calling to arrange 25
her exit interview. The second was from Peyton. “Hi, Kate. I 26
wanted to let you know that the Thorpe case settled today. Thanks 27
for all your good work. Oh, and sorry we’ll be losing you. Good 28
luck.”
29
Slowly, Kate hung up the phone. Thanks for all your good work.
30
So the Thorpe case was over. There was sure to be a story there.
31
Briefly, she wondered what had happened. Then she realized she 32
didn’t really care.
33
Only one thing left to be done. Kate stared at a thin white en-ort 34
velope, the sole object left on her desk. Without looking,
she knew reg 35
what was inside. The single gold cuff link from beneath her desk.
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A cuff link once worn by Chuck Thorpe. It wasn’t much in the way 1
of evidence. Still, it was a beginning. Again, she picked up the 2
phone.
3
“District attorney’s office.”
4
Kate took a deep breath. “I want to report a sexual assault, some-5
thing that happened to me. Can you tell me who I should talk to?”
6
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Saturday, January 30
2
3
Kate examined herself in the mirror. First the front, then the back 4
of her head. She turned to Hercules, beaming.
5
“I love it!” she said.
6
Hercules studied her appraisingly. “You said you wanted a change,”
7
he said. “I know I cut off more than you asked for, but it’s exactly what 8
I had in mind. I always thought short hair would suit you.”
9
Again, Kate looked in the mirror. Her hair, wispy around her 10
face, was short as a boy’s. And yet it didn’t look unfeminine. She 11
thought of the French word gamine. Of Audrey Hepburn. Winona 12
Ryder. Not that she looked like them. Or anyone for that matter.
13
The person she looked like was herself. For the first time that she 14
could remember.
15
“ You’re a genius,” she said to Hercules.
16
He lowered his head. “I know.”
ort 17
She was pulling on her coat, preparing to leave, when Hercules reg 18
edged up from the side.
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“I read in the papers about what happened,” he said. “I hope 1
you’re doing okay.”
2
“Yeah. Well. I guess it’ll take a while.”
3
“You know the last time you were here, I was worried. That was 4
right after —”
5
“I know,” Kate said.