Equivocal Death (14 page)

16

Kate could hear the agitation in her voice as the words tumbled 17

out hot and fast.

18

“Whad . . . Whad’re you talking about?”

19

Struggling to stem the flow of words, Kate tried to recount the 20

facts she’d just heard. A lawyer’s recital. Everything she could re-21

call. The mental discipline soothed her, and by the time she fin-22

ished, her voice had steadied. She was very tired.

23

“Are . . . you sure?” Justin asked. He still sounded groggy, as if he 24

didn’t quite get what she was saying.

25

“Of course I’m sure, Justin,” Kate snapped. “Do you think I’d 26

make up something like this?”

27

“No, I know. I just . . . I was sleeping.” He sounded dumb-28

founded, as if the act of speech were newly discovered.

29

“Look, I’m sorry to wake you like this,” Kate said. “It’s just that 30

I’m so freaked out. And . . . and I thought you’d want to know.”

31

“Madeleine . . . I mean, I worked with her.” Justin said. Now 32

there was a subtle change in his voice, as if her words were finally 33

sinking in. “I don’t see how this . . . Listen, Kate, can you hold on 34 sh

for a second?”

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A M Y G U T M A N

1

Kate heard some rustling, the snap of a light. Then Justin was 2

back on the phone, this time sounding almost alert.

3

“D’you think they could have . . . gotten it
wrong
or something?

4

On TV, I mean?”

5

She gave it a moment’s thought. “I guess it’s possible, but it 6

doesn’t seem very likely. Do you think they’d go with a story this 7

big if they weren’t sure? Besides, they had her picture.”

8

“Oh.” Kate could hear Justin’s breathing. “How . . . how was she 9

killed?”

10

“I don’t know,” Kate said. She felt deflated, as if she’d failed 11

to complete some important assignment. “I’m not sure that they 12

said. Does that seem right? That they wouldn’t say anything about 13

it?”

14

“Don’t know. Did they say if there’d been an arrest? Do they 15

know who did it?”

16

“No. I mean, not so far as I know. It didn’t sound that way. The 17

guy on the news — he was some sort of detective, I think — said 18

they were keeping their options open.” She shivered. “It sounds 19

like something you’d tell an investment adviser.”

20

There was a beep on Kate’s line. Call waiting. “Justin — I’ve got 21

another call. One second.”

22

It was Peyton Winslow.

23

“Kate. Have you heard the news?”

24

“Yes, just a few minutes ago. It’s horrible. Listen, Peyton. I’m on 25

another call. Give me a second.”

26

She returned to Justin. “I’ve got to go. I’ve got Peyton Winslow 27

on the line.”

28

“Just hang in there.” Justin’s voice was gentle. “I’ll see you to-29

morrow.”

30

As she clicked back to Peyton, Kate curled up on her couch.

31

“Kate? I just wanted to be sure you’d heard about Madeleine.” In 32

the background she could hear the muffled cadences of the televi-33

sion news mingled with strains of music. Something classical, slow ort 34

and melodious.

reg 35

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E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H

7 7

“I can’t believe it.” The old cliché, but somehow it was all that 1

came to mind.

2

“I know,” Peyton said. His voice was soft, the clipped British in-3

tonations less noticeable than usual.

4

“That’s why she wasn’t at the meeting today,” Kate said. “Why 5

didn’t we realize that something might be wrong? Why didn’t we 6

do something?”

7

“There’s nothing we could have done, Kate,” Peyton’s voice re-8

mained calm. “She was already dead. It happened sometime last 9

night.”

10

Sometime last night.
While she ate dinner with Tara, played chess 11

with Justin. Sometime during those hours — while she was laugh-12

ing, talking, arguing with her friends — Madeleine Waters had 13

been murdered. Justin was right: it just didn’t seem possible.

14

“How do you know?”

15

“What?”

16

“When it happened. How do you know when it happened?”

17

“It was on the TV news.”

18

“Oh. I didn’t hear that part.” From the back of the couch, Kate 19

pulled a blanket and wrapped it around her legs. On the one hand, 20

it was a relief to know that there wasn’t anything she could have 21

done. There was no reason to feel guilty. On the other, it was ap-22

palling to know how powerless they all had been. She would have 23

liked to think that, if they had known, if they had somehow 24

guessed, then Madeleine could have been saved.

25

“There’s no way we could have known,” Peyton said, as if read-26

ing her thoughts. “This isn’t the sort of thing that anyone thinks 27

will happen.”

28

“I . . . I know.”

29

“The next few weeks are going to be rough. It’s going to be im-30

portant to stay focused.”

31

“Focused?” Kate felt as if she must have missed something. Stay 32

focused on what?

33

Over the phone, Kate could hear Peyton take a deep breath.

34 sh

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A M Y G U T M A N

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“Look, Kate. Until Madeleine’s killer is apprehended, her death is 2

going to be the major concern for everyone at the firm. It will be 3

up to us to keep things on track with the Thorpe case. The firm’s 4

going to be counting on us. And I’m going to be counting on you.”

5

At that moment, Kate caught on:
His partnership, that’s what this
6

was about.
Peyton’s instinct for self-promotion took her breath 7

away. No wonder he’d advanced so quickly. Beneath the dry wit, 8

beneath the patrician veneer, was an ambition that never wavered.

9

“Right,” Kate said, careful to keep her tone neutral. She liked 10

Peyton, she really did, but she still found his attitude chilling. Was 11

this what it took to make partner?

12

Peyton continued, oblivious to her thoughts. “Hard as this is, we 13

have to think about what needs to get done. We can’t bring 14

Madeleine back. The greatest tribute we can pay to her memory is 15

to keep doing the firm’s work.”

16

Peyton paused for a moment, as if waiting for Kate to respond.

17

When she didn’t answer, he moved on. “So . . . how’s the memo?”

18

The memo?
A partner had just been killed, and Peyton was ask-19

ing her about a
memo?
The conversation seemed more and more 20

surreal.

21

“It’s . . . it’s fine. I’ve already pulled most of the cases.”

22

Five minutes later, when Kate finally hung up the phone, she sat 23

for a moment unmoving. Through the windows, she could hear the 24

rain. It was coming down harder now. The news had moved on to 25

sports. Kate grabbed her remote from the coffee table and flipped 26

through the other channels, searching for further word. But there 27

was nothing. A few minutes later, she turned off the television.

28

Then she got up and went to the kitchen, where she dumped out 29

the dregs of her now-lukewarm coffee before rinsing out the mug.

30

All that caffeine had made her jittery. She decided to make some 31

herbal tea.

32

Standing at the stove, waiting for the water to boil, she tried 33

to imagine Madeleine’s final hours. But her mind was blank.

ort 34

Now that she’d begun to absorb the news, she realized how little reg 35

she knew. How had Madeleine died? Was she shot? Strangled?

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E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H

7 9

Stabbed? The reporter had used the term “brutal murder” — that 1

tabloid journalist’s cliché — but what did it mean? Who was re-2

sponsible? And why? Was Madeleine killed by a stranger, a vic-3

tim of random violence? Or had there been some personal 4

motive?

5

As the kettle began to whistle, Kate automatically picked it up 6

and poured the water into her mug, dropping in a mint-chamomile 7

tea bag. A sense of anxiety engulfed her, heavy and inert. She care-8

fully checked the gas. Off. Checked the front door. Locked.

9

Checked the blinds. Down. There was nothing to worry about.

10

She was safe, absolutely secure in this upscale building behind 11

layer upon layer of doormen and locks. Still, she could feel her 12

heart pounding.

13

Kate forced herself back to her chair, where she stared blankly at 14

the stack of legal opinions on her desk. It felt like hours since she’d 15

left off reading. In fact, it had been less than an hour. Her mind 16

darted from thought to thought.
Andrea.
She should call Andrea 17

to be sure that she knew. She picked up the receiver and dialed.

18

The phone rang once, twice, three times, in Andrea’s East Side 19

apartment, before the answering machine engaged. Kate hung up 20

without leaving a message. It was late; maybe Andrea was sleeping.

21

She tried once more, hoping her friend would wake up, but again 22

she got the machine.

23

If only she had someone to talk to.

24

She thought about calling Justin back. But what did she have to 25

say? All she really wanted was the sound of a friendly voice, the 26

feeling that she was not alone. She was overcome by a sense of des-27

olation. Suddenly, she missed her parents, missed them with a des-28

perate fervor. The mother she’d loved, the father she’d barely 29

known. With a sigh, she went back to her chair and sat down. She 30

looked at her watch: Ten minutes before midnight. The Supreme 31

Court’s
Meritor
case remained folded open, just as she’d left it on 32

her desk.

33

Placing her mug on a ceramic coaster, Kate began to read.

34 sh

w

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1

It was raining, waves of crystal beads hammering against his win-2

dows. Inside, he felt safe, content.

3

He was glad to be alone. There was a lot to think about.

4

Finally, he could relax, glory in the knowledge of his first suc-5

cess.

6

Madeleine Waters was dead. Because of him.

7

He felt a renewed sense of power. For a time, he’d worried about 8

overreaching. Worried that he was foolish to make changes when 9

success was so very close. That was when mistakes were made.

10

But he was an artist. Artists worked with the materials at hand.

11

Madeleine’s appearance had been a stroke of fortune. He’d been 12

right to make use of her. Contemplating his plan, he’d never 13

thought anything was lacking. But he’d been wrong. Without 14

Madeleine, his work would have been incomplete. And now, now 15

it was perfect.

16

Yet something was nagging at him. In the restaurant last night, 17

Madeleine had said that he was crazy.

18

Crazy.

19

A silly word. A child’s word.

20

He’d tried to shrug it off. Just one small word, tossed off in the 21

heat of battle. It was nothing, nothing at all. Silly to let this bother 22

him, to prevent him from enjoying this moment. And even if it 23

were true, what did it really matter? He was, after all, an artist.

24

Artists were often mad. It was part of what made them great. Part 25

of what distinguished them.

26

Still, the word grated on his mind.

27

A flash of lightning ripped the sky in two.

28

Twice, he paced the length of his apartment, trying to calm him-29

self. Then he had a new idea. Crossing the room again, he slid 30

open the door of a large storage closet filled with neatly stacked 31

boxes. He rapidly reviewed the printed labels. The container he 32

needed was second from the top. Standing on a chair, he reached 33

up and pulled it down.

ort 34

Back on the floor, he used a Swiss Army knife to slice open the reg 35

sealed top. The box was filled with books. He removed them one 9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 81

E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H

8 1

by one until he found what he was looking for.
Criminal Law and Its
1

Processes: Cases and Materials.

2

He turned to the Index. Insanity. There were more than a dozen 3

entries. But it was the classic definition that he was looking for —

4

the seminal M’Naghten rule. The standard handed down by the 5

House of Lords after the attempted murder of Sir Robert Peel. The 6