Equivocal Death (16 page)

6

“You got any idea what she did later that day? After she left your 7

office.”

8

“I know she had an eight o’clock dinner downtown. With a 9

client. We had a meeting with him the next day. He complained 10

that she hadn’t shown up at the restaurant. That was the first indi-11

cation that something was wrong. Though at the time, I just as-12

sumed that there’d been some sort of misunderstanding. That one 13

of them had gotten the time wrong.”

14

“The client’s name?”

15

“Chuck Thorpe. He runs a magazine.”

16

“I know who he is,” Glaser said. “You got a number for him?”

17

“You can get that from my secretary,” Mills said.

18

“Let’s just take care of that now.”

19

Mills hesitated a moment. Beneath the matter-of-fact ex-20

change, a subtle power play was under way, a battle over who 21

would control the flow of information. But this one wasn’t worth 22

fighting. Mills buzzed Clara.

23

After jotting down Thorpe’s number, Glaser scanned his notes 24

before moving on with his questions.

25

“Ms. Waters have a boyfriend that you know of?”

26

“I don’t think there was anyone special. She’d been dating vari-27

ous people. And she’d been spending some time with Thorpe. I 28

don’t know where that stood. From time to time, I’d see her with a 29

date at firm functions. The faces changed over the years. I don’t re-30

call ever seeing her with someone more than a couple times.”

31

“Any other names come to mind?”

32

“I’m afraid not.”

33

“What about enemies? Anyone have a grievance against her?

34 sh

We’re looking for motive here.”

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“If you mean someone who would want her dead, I can’t imagine.

2

Of course, she’d had her share of run-ins with people over the years.

3

Samson & Mills is an intense place. I’m sure there were associates 4

who felt she worked them too hard or didn’t treat them fairly. Pre-5

dictably, there was some controversy when she was elected partner.

6

There always is. But nothing that would lead to murder.”

7

“Anyone especially upset by that?”

8

“Well, there’s Martin Drescher. Another partner here. He was 9

strongly opposed to Madeleine’s election. But that wasn’t about 10

Madeleine. It was about me. Martin and I have a long history. He 11

ran against me for managing partner. Madeleine was my protégée.

12

He was trying to get back at me through her.”

13

Glaser scribbled another note. “What about rivalries among Ms.

14

Waters’s peers? This place must be pretty competitive.”

15

Mills gave a cool smile. “You could say that. This year, we’ll hire 16

over a hundred first-year associates from the best law schools in the 17

country. Of those, only a few — four or five — will still be here in 18

eight years, the point at which they’d be considered for partner-19

ship. One or two of them may actually be elected.”

20

“So someone who hung around for that many years and didn’t 21

make partner might be pretty upset?”

22

“Our senior associates are all remarkable lawyers, Detective.

23

Most can write their own tickets when they leave Samson & Mills.

24

They go on to stellar careers.”

25

“But perhaps not the careers they’d have chosen,” Glaser said.

26

Without waiting for Mills’s response, he went on. “What about the 27

year Ms. Waters became partner? Were some of her colleagues 28

passed over?”

29

“Of course. Five or six that year, if I recall correctly. A larger 30

than average group. Madeleine was the only one elected.”

31

“I’d like to get those names. We’ll also need a list of all the cases 32

Ms. Waters was working on, along with the names of clients and 33

anyone else she worked with.”

ort 34

“Fine.” Mills glanced pointedly at his watch, but Glaser didn’t reg 35

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8 9

take the hint. “Who kept track of Ms. Waters’s schedule? She got 1

a secretary?”

2

“Yes, of course. Carmen. Carmen Rodriguez. She’s worked for 3

Madeleine for years.”

4

“We’re gonna need to talk to her. We’ll also wanna look at Ms.

5

Waters’s calendar, Palm Pilot, address books, that sort of thing.

6

Anything that can help us trace her movements, figure out what 7

she was doing, who she was with last night. The secretary in today?”

8

“I’ll see.” Mills buzzed Clara in the outside office. “Check and 9

see if Carmen is in yet. Ask her to come to my office.”

10

Mills turned back to Glaser. It was becoming a strain, this keep-11

ing up of pretenses. He wondered if his feelings showed. But what 12

did it really matter? They could hardly consider him a suspect. And 13

even if they did, his alibi was ironclad.

14

“What can you tell us about Ms. Waters’s friends? Who would 15

she have confided in if something was on her mind?”

16

Mills shook his head. “You know, I don’t think Madeleine had 17

close friends. Don’t get me wrong. She was a marvelous woman.

18

But she didn’t really open up to people.”

19

“So you wouldn’t necessarily have known if something was 20

bothering her?” Mills could tell Glaser was taking everything in.

21

The woman, too. He’d already forgotten her name. Almost forgot-22

ten she was there. Now he sensed her watching him.

23

“Actually, I believe that I would have. Not that Madeleine 24

would have told me outright. But, you see, I knew her very well. I 25

would have sensed that something was wrong.”

26

Mills waited for a follow-up question.
Listen to the question.

27

Never volunteer information.
It was the first instruction he gave 28

clients preparing for deposition or trial, a basic rule of engagement.

29

But rules were made to be broken. The most important thing was 30

to seem candid. As if he had nothing to hide.

31

Leaning forward slightly, Mills folded his hands. “I hired 32

Madeleine out of Columbia Law School. That would be ten or 33

twelve years ago now. There weren’t many women here then. Not 34 sh

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that we’re doing as well as we’d like on that score, but it’s far bet-2

ter than in the past.”

3

That last comment was aimed at the woman detective, an effort 4

to reel her in, and Mills shot a quick glance in her direction. But 5

she was taking notes on a steno pad, and he couldn’t gauge her re-6

action. He moved on without missing a beat.

7

“Anyway, I knew right away that she had what it took. It wasn’t 8

just her intelligence, though God knows she had that, it was some-9

thing more. Madeleine was someone who thrived on extremes.

10

That’s the kind of lawyer who does well here.”

11

“And since then?” Glaser asked.

12

“We worked closely together for a number of years. I guess you’d 13

say I was her mentor. In addition we had a . . . romantic relation-14

ship that ended some years ago. It ended quite amicably, by mutual 15

consent. We remained friends. In fact, we’d recently started work 16

on a case together.”

17

“I see,” said Glaser, his tone noncommittal. “That must have 18

been a little touchy, working together like that. Would have been 19

hard on me, I think. Though what do I know? I’ve been married 20

going on twenty years.”

21

Glaser’s tone was bland, but Mills sensed something beneath the 22

surface. But before he could be sure, Glaser was moving on. “Ms.

23

Waters ever been married?” he asked.

24

“Yes, once. Years ago, when she first started work here. It didn’t 25

last long, though. Maybe a year or two.”

26

“You know the guy’s name?”

27

“I don’t remember offhand. He’s a photographer. Last I recall, he 28

lived somewhere out on the Island. But that was years ago.”

29

“Why’d they split up?”

30

Mills smiled. “The demands placed on young associates here are 31

extraordinary,” he said. “I’m afraid a lot of early marriages break up 32

as a result. Madeleine didn’t talk much about her ex-husband. But 33

from what I understand it was the usual reasons. He wanted her to ort 34

work less. They fought. Things went downhill from there.”

reg 35

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“And you took up with Ms. Waters before or after her divorce?”

1

“It may have been before the actual divorce. But the marriage 2

was already over.”

3

“Did they stay in touch, Ms. Waters and her ex-husband?”

4

“No. At least not that I know of.”

5

“You have any idea who Ms. Waters’s beneficiaries are? Who 6

stands to inherit?”

7

“Not offhand,” Mills said. “But a copy of her will is probably on 8

file with our Trusts and Estates Department. They generally handle 9

that sort of thing for partners.”

10

There was a buzz on Mills’s phone. He punched on the speaker-11

phone.

12

“Carmen Rodriguez is here.”

13

Mills gave Glaser an inquiring look.

14

“Great,” Glaser said. “We’re ready to talk to her now.”

15

w

16

9:03 a.m. Kate huddled over her second cup of sludgy Samson & 17

Mills coffee — the East Coast’s answer to Exxon Valdez — punch-18

ing in Andrea’s extension for what felt like the hundredth time. As 19

the phone rang, Kate rested her chin in her hand, and closed her 20

eyes. Andrea was an early riser, usually at her desk by eight. What 21

could be keeping her? The voice mail recording had just engaged —

22

“I’m sorry, the person that you’re calling, Andrea Lee, is not avail-23

able” — when Kate heard footsteps outside her office. The door flew 24

open and Andrea herself appeared, still wrapped in her winter coat.

25

“Jesus Christ, Kate, did you hear?” Andrea asked breathlessly. Her 26

usual poise was gone. She wore the same expression of disbelieving 27

shock as every other Samson employee Kate had seen that morning.

28

“
Where have you been?
” Kate asked. She could hear the sharp-29

ness in her voice. “I’ve been trying to call you since last night.”

30

Shaking her head, Andrea collapsed into one of two chairs fac-31

ing Kate’s desk and pulled off her coat. When she spoke, her voice 32

was shaky. “I was feeling a little sick when I got home last night, 33

like I was coming down with something, and I . . . I decided to turn 34 sh

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in early. Brent’s out of town on business. In Chicago. After I talked 2

to him, I just unplugged the phone. I didn’t know a thing until I 3

turned on the radio this morning.”

4

“Some night you picked to go AWOL.” As the words emerged, 5

Kate realized that she’d been scared. Scared that the same name-6

less, faceless menace that had so abruptly ended Madeleine’s life 7

had somehow caught up with Andrea, too.

8

“Has there been any statement from the firm yet?” Andrea 9

asked, her voice subdued. “I haven’t been to my office.”

10

Kate picked up a single sheet of paper from her desk. “This was 11

in my box when I got in this morning. A memo from Carter Mills.

12

It doesn’t say a whole lot. The firm regrets the tragic death of 13

Madeleine Waters, extends its sympathy to her family. Refer any 14

media inquiries to Carter Mills. Yada, yada, yada.”

15

“Can I see?”

16

Kate passed her the sheet. Andrea skimmed the memo’s two 17

short paragraphs, then handed it back without comment.

18

“Do they know any of the details?” Andrea asked after a brief 19

hesitation.

20

Kate looked up at her, surprised. “Didn’t you see the morning 21

papers?”

22

Andrea shook her head. Wordlessly, Kate reached for her brief-23

case. She pulled out the folded stack of papers and passed them 24

across her desk. As Andrea read the headlines, her eyes widened.

25

“My God,” she said softly. “How awful.” Moments later she roughly 26

pushed the papers back toward Kate. “I’ve read enough for now,”

27

she said.

28

The two friends sat for a time in silence.

29

“I really can’t take this in,” Andrea said finally. “This just isn’t 30