Equivocal Death (23 page)

beat.

18

She was alone with Martin Drescher.

19

As this realization hit, she heard the slow movement of foot-20

steps edging closer to the desk.
Don’t let him find me, don’t let him
21

find me.
Hands clenched, her head bowed against her knees, she 22

waited for Drescher’s shadow to fall across her hiding place, for the 23

exclamation that would signal her discovery. But then the foot-24

steps stopped. To her left, Kate heard the soft squeak of a cabinet 25

opening, followed by the pop of a bottle being uncorked. The 26

splash of liquid tumbling against glass. Martin Drescher was pour-27

ing a drink. Seltzer? Somehow, she didn’t think so. After another 28

few moments, she heard the clink of glasses being restored, the 29

closing of the cabinet door.

30

And then, hardly daring to believe her ears, she heard what 31

sounded like preparations for departure. The rustle of fabric and 32

upholstery. The metallic snap of a briefcase latch. The click of a 33

light going off. Once again, the office door opened and closed.

ort 34

Kate waited in quivering silence, listening. Seconds later, she felt reg 35

the faint reverberation of the outer door. And then, again, silence.

9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 127

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

1 2 7

Absolute silence. Kate eased her head out from under the desk and 1

scanned the darkened room, now bathed in the eerie glow of lights 2

from surrounding buildings. Empty. The office was empty. The re-3

lief that flooded over her was so intense that she thought she might 4

collapse. She grabbed hold of the desk to steady herself, painfully 5

straightening her legs. Both feet were asleep, and she thumped 6

them against the carpeted floor, trying to stop the tingling.

7

Think.
Crossing the office, she checked to be sure the door was 8

locked. Good. Still, she needed to move fast. Who knew what 9

could happen next? A tape-recorded message that used to play in 10

the city’s taxis floated absurdly through her mind, a purring Cat-11

woman’s warning:
Cats have nine lives, but you have only one. So
12

buckle up!

13

The file she had clutched in her hand for the past hour was 14

damp from perspiration. She was about to put it back in Drescher’s 15

cabinet when she hesitated. The file obviously had some signifi-16

cance that she’d yet to discern, a significance that must somehow 17

be related to the ongoing power struggle between Drescher and 18

Mills. Their relationship was certainly more complex than she’d 19

thought. But there was no mistaking the animosity that suffused 20

their dealings regardless of any temporary alliance. Of course, she 21

couldn’t just take the file. But what if she kept a copy?

22

Heart pounding, Kate pressed her ear to the office door. When 23

she failed to detect any sound, she cracked open the door and 24

peered into the reception area. The coast was clear. She rapidly 25

crossed the room before halting at the door to the corridor. Again, 26

she paused before slowly opening the door and looking out. The 27

corridor was deserted. After several long moments, she slipped into 28

the hallway and walked quickly to the photocopy machine located 29

in the same position as the copiers on each of the other office 30

floors.

31

Checking the settings on the copy machine, she could feel her 32

pulse slowing down. She was out of immediate danger. Should any-33

one see her, they would just assume she had work to do. She de-34 sh

cided not to risk the automatic feed. The added speed was not 35 re

9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 128

1 2 8

A M Y G U T M A N

1

worth the risk of a copy malfunction that could leave pages crum-2

pled and ragged. The file was slim — under thirty pages — and she 3

was done in less than five minutes.

4

Heading back to Drescher’s office, Kate took a deep breath. The 5

last thing she wanted to do was to return to the scene of her nar-6

row escape. But she had no choice. Back inside Drescher’s office, 7

she carefully replaced the file before taking a final look at the room 8

to be sure that she’d left no trace. As her eyes passed over the of-9

fice furnishings, Kate’s eye was drawn to a shiny spot where 10

Drescher had splashed his drink. Curious, she crossed the room, 11

touched a finger to the spot and licked. Scotch.

12

No doubt about it now. Martin Drescher was drinking again.

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

9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 129

Friday, January 8

1

2

Another gray morning, fiercely cold, with the threat of snow 3

hanging in the air like the shadow of an upraised hand. But as she 4

joined the other commuters filing down the narrow stairway to the 5

Seventy-ninth Street subway platform, Kate was oblivious to her 6

surroundings. Her body, flooded with adrenaline last night, seemed 7

suspended in a dreamlike calm.

8

As commuters swarmed around her, Kate unfolded the
Daily
9

Press
and reread a short follow-up report on Madeleine’s murder.

10

No new leads, just something to fill up space, to feed an audience 11

hungry for detail. The centerpiece of the brief article was further 12

speculation by a criminology expert, who warned that this killing 13

could be the first in a series. “The high level of violence to the 14

body suggests that this is someone who will kill again,” he told the 15

reporter. There was no suggestion that Madeleine’s death was any-16

thing other than the work of a psychopathic stranger. No sugges-17 sh

tion that she’d known her attacker. The omission further added to 18 re

9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 130

1 3 0

A M Y G U T M A N

1

Kate’s sense of dislocation, as if what she’d overheard last night 2

had been some sort of hallucination.

3

When the train finally screeched into the station, Kate had to 4

cram herself into the packed subway car. Stuck next to the door, 5

she tried to sink into herself. Carter had intimated that someone at 6

the firm could be connected to Madeleine’s death. Who else more 7

likely to know her plans? Though, to be fair, any number of people 8

might have known about her date with Thorpe. A psycho cab 9

driver who’d listened in on a cell-phone call. A doorman obsessed 10

with a beautiful tenant. Improbable as they might sound, such 11

things could happen. Kate thought of the unsuspecting women 12

who ran into serial killer Ted Bundy, never imagining that they 13

would be that one-in-a-million victim.

14

Yes, the more she thought about it, the harder it was to believe 15

that someone at Samson & Mills had caused Madeleine’s death.

16

The brutally savaged body, sexually assaulted and dumped — it 17

just wasn’t a Samson & Mills kind of murder. Not that there
was
a 18

Samson & Mills kind of murder, but if there was, this definitely 19

wouldn’t be it. Whoever had killed Madeleine had been crazy, out 20

of his mind.
A disorganized killer,
that’s how the newspaper’s expert 21

had described him. Likely to be delusional, an underachiever. Not 22

the description that came to mind when you thought of Samson & 23

Mills.

24

Immersed in her thoughts, Kate almost missed her stop. Lunging 25

for the door, she just made it out. She headed down a concrete tun-26

nel toward the exit.

27

By the time Kate reached her office, Jennifer was already at her 28

station, reading a paperback novel. At the sound of Kate’s arrival, 29

Jennifer looked up, her glossy curls cascading down her shoulders.

30

“ ’Morning,” Jennifer said brightly. “You here late last night?”

31

“You could say that,” Kate said dryly.

32

Jennifer put a marker in her book and followed Kate into her of-33

fice. “I put your mail on your chair,” she said, gesturing to a neatly ort 34

arranged stack. “You got anything else for me to do?”

reg 35

While the pace at Samson could be ferocious, work was never 9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 131

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

1 3 1

consistent. Though Jennifer often had her hands full, the past few 1

months had been slow.

2

“Not yet,” Kate said. “I’m doing a lot of research. But stay tuned, 3

it won’t be long.”

4

Jennifer lingered in the doorway. “It’s really awful about 5

Madeleine Waters.”

6

“Horrible,” Kate agreed. “You know, I’d just started working for 7

her.”

8

“I know,” said Jennifer, wrinkling her pretty forehead. “This 9

must be terrible for you.”

10

Jennifer was about to leave when Kate had a sudden thought.

11

While associates were out of the partnership loop, secretaries at 12

Samson & Mills had their own networks. Working intimately with 13

the partners, they had access to many of their secrets. Of course, 14

Jennifer herself didn’t work for any partners. But she certainly had 15

friends who did.

16

“So, tell me, what have you heard?” Kate asked.

17

“You mean, about the murder?”

18

“Yeah, I was so tied up yesterday, that I didn’t hear much. Is any-19

one talking about suspects?”

20

Jennifer looked uneasy. She stepped back into Kate’s office and 21

closed the door. “You mean, like Carter Mills?” she whispered.

22

Kate tried to appear nonchalant. “What about Carter Mills?”

23

Jennifer bit her lip. “Oh, it’s just talk, you know how things 24

are . . .”

25

“What are people saying?”

26

“Well, there’s a rumor — I mean it’s obviously totally ridicu-27

lous — but some people are saying that Carter Mills might 28

have . . . might have had something to do with it. Because . . . you 29

know . . . she broke up with him. I mean, I don’t believe it for a 30

second. But Carm —” Jennifer bit her lip. In identifying Carmen 31

as her source, she’d obviously said more than she intended.

32

The notion that Carter Mills could be involved with Made-33

leine’s death was so ludicrous that Kate almost smiled. Still it 34 sh

didn’t really surprise her that Carmen considered him a suspect.

35 re

9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 132

1 3 2

A M Y G U T M A N

1

From their conversation yesterday, Kate already knew that Car-2

men blamed the firm for Madeleine’s death. And who more em-3

bodied the firm than Carter Mills? But she was struck by something 4

else Jennifer had said.
She broke up with him.
Of course, there was 5

no way of knowing whether this was true either. Still, it was a tan-6

talizing hint, the closest she’d ever come to specifics about the 7

partners’ rumored affair.

8

“Was Carter Mills even with Madeleine that night?” Kate asked.

9

Ridiculous as the rumor was, she had an urge to clear his name.

10

“No,” Jennifer admitted. “He was at some dinner with clients 11

uptown. At least, that’s what Clara said, and I guess she’d know.

12

He doesn’t make a move without telling her. It’s just stupid gossip.

13

I shouldn’t even have mentioned it.”

14

“People can be really crazy, can’t they?” Kate tried to keep her 15

voice light.

16

Jennifer seemed to relax a little. “I’ll say.”

17

“By the way, do you have any idea how Madeleine got along 18

with the other partners she worked with?” Kate didn’t want to tar-19

get Martin Drescher directly. Though that was certainly where her 20

thoughts were heading.

21

“I haven’t heard anything, but I could ask around.” Kate could 22

tell that Jennifer liked the idea of being on a quest for information.

23

Jennifer was energetic, a go-getter. Schlocky novels were a poor 24

substitute for real-life intrigue.

25

“If you feel like it,” Kate said casually. “I sort of wonder what her 26

life was like.”

27

28

29

Being with Carter Mills was a little like dating a movie star. Stand-30

ing beside him, waiting for the elevator door to open, Kate noticed 31

a scrawny first-year associate eyeing her enviously, his narrow lips 32

pressed together. Kate tried to derive some pleasure from her prize 33

position. Instead, she felt only a mild queasiness somewhere deep ort 34

in her stomach.

reg 35

9858_01_003-152_r5hb.qxd 9/28/00 3:57 PM Page 133