Equivocal Death (24 page)

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

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Outside, they proceeded to a black Lincoln Town Car. As they 1

crossed the sidewalk, Kate glanced sideways at Mills, whose 2

sculpted features were focused in thought. She felt a rush of admi-3

ration. Even in silence, he was somehow more vibrant than other 4

people. There was something timeless about him. Ignore the mod-5

ern dress, and he could have commanded armies in ancient 6

Greece, steered a frigate toward a New World. Kate felt his pres-7

ence as a sort of weight, anchoring her to reality in a way that her 8

own body could not.

9

When they reached the car, Mills seemed to come back to him-10

self. “What a lovely cape,” he said, flashing Kate a smile as she slid 11

across the car’s leather-upholstered seats.

12

“Oh . . . , thank you,” Kate said. The comment had caught her 13

off guard. It was almost becoming a pattern with Mills, the sudden 14

interjection of the personal followed by an equally sudden return 15

to the status quo. She wasn’t sure how to respond. Should she an-16

swer in kind, prolong the moment, or was it better to let it pass?

17

But Mills made the decision for her.

18

“You won’t need to do much today besides take notes.” The car 19

was swinging west across town, in the direction of WideWorld’s 20

headquarters. “I’ll be interviewing Linda Morris. She should be a 21

strong witness for us. She was Friedman’s closest friend at the mag-22

azine. Ate lunch with her several times a week. They had similar 23

jobs. Friedman was Chuck Thorpe’s secretary. Morris was secretary 24

to the managing editor, a guy named Brian Keck. They were con-25

stantly in and out of each other’s offices. And yet Morris says she 26

never once heard Friedman complain about Chuck Thorpe. Not 27

once.”

28

Kate could hear the relish in Mills’s voice. “That sounds great,”

29

said Kate. “If Stephanie Friedman didn’t even complain to her best 30

friend, what jury’s going to believe that she confronted Thorpe to 31

his face? She’ll never be able to show that Thorpe’s behavior was 32

unwelcome. And if she can’t do that, there goes her sexual harass-33

ment claim.”

34 sh

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Mills smiled. “Exactly.”

2

“What about other employees?” Kate asked.

3

“Everyone else is on board. Morris was our one wild card.”

4

The car was pulling up outside the WideWorld complex, a mas-5

sive limestone edifice that towered over the surrounding buildings.

6

“Why are we doing the interview at WideWorld instead of at Sam-7

son?” Kate asked curiously. “Is that customary?”

8

Carter Mills tapped his chin with an index finger. “Customary,”

9

he mused. “I suppose you could say that. With the added advantage 10

of reminding Ms. Morris just who pays her salary. She’s not just 11

dealing with Chuck Thorpe anymore. This is a whole new ball 12

game. ”

13

14

15

Carter Mills had commandeered the general counsel’s office for 16

this interview, but Richard Epstein was nowhere to be found. Mills 17

had assumed Epstein’s desk, an off-white French Provincial repro-18

duction. Kate sat to Mills’s left on a small pink-and-gold loveseat, 19

while Linda Morris sat facing them. The delicate furnishings 20

seemed strangely at odds with both Epstein’s ascetic demeanor and 21

the work to be done today.

22

“Thank you so much for coming,” said Mills, gracing Linda 23

Morris with a friendly smile. The appreciation in his voice seemed 24

real, as if she were doing them a favor. As if she’d really had a 25

choice.

26

“Ms. Paine” — Mills gestured toward Kate while keeping his 27

eyes trained on Morris — “is an associate with my firm and will be 28

taking a few notes during our meeting today. As long as you don’t 29

mind, of course.”

30

Linda Morris shrugged. She was a thin, pale figure, heavily made 31

up, with jutting conical breasts and long black hair. She wore an 32

aqua blouse of some shiny synthetic material, and the hands that 33

emerged from its sleeves were capped with blood-red nails. Around ort 34

her neck dangled a slender gold chain and tiny cross, an improb-reg 35

able accent to the outfit.

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Mills began the meeting. “Ms. Morris, I assume you’re aware of 1

the general nature of Ms. Friedman’s claims.”

2

Linda Morris nodded, licking her crimson lips. The kohl liner 3

around her deep-set eyes gave her a scraggly, nearsighted look.

4

She seemed nervous. It occurred to Kate that the seating arrange-5

ment — she and Mills seated opposite Morris, two against one —

6

was reminiscent of a police interrogation. But perhaps that was the 7

point.

8

Mills leaned back in his chair. He seemed expectant, as if he had 9

all the time in the world. “As you know, Ms. Friedman is claiming 10

that Chuck Thorpe sexually harassed her. Now, it’s important to 11

understand one thing. Under the law, sexual harassment occurs 12

only when behavior is unwelcome, when the person claiming ha-13

rassment has made it clear that she wanted the behavior to stop.

14

Do you follow me?”

15

“Uh huh.”

16

Mills studied Linda Morris before moving on, as if giving her 17

time to absorb his point. “Now, from what I’ve heard, Ms. Fried-18

man never once told Mr. Thorpe that she felt he was doing any-19

thing wrong. She never once told him that she objected to 20

anything that he was doing. Do you have any reason to doubt 21

that?”

22

Linda Morris licked her lips again. Then she reached into her 23

purse and pulled out a tub of cherry lip balm, which she thought-24

fully uncapped before rubbing a glob onto her lips.

25

“Well,” she said, “I guess not. No.” Her voice, light and breathy, 26

seemed to come from high in her throat.

27

Mills gave an emphatic nod, as if approving what Morris had 28

said. He seemed to be enjoying himself. “Thank you, Ms. Morris.

29

Now, from what I understand, Ms. Friedman and Mr. Thorpe had 30

a warm and friendly personal relationship. There was a lot of 31

horseplay, that sort of thing. But all of it was in good fun. Ms.

32

Friedman gave as good as she got. Isn’t that right?”

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“Okay.” Linda Morris was staring at her lap. With her right hand 34 sh

she fiddled with her necklace.

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“Ms. Morris.” Mills’s voice was edged with reproach. “What do 2

you mean,
‘okay?’
”

3

Linda Morris looked up. For a moment Kate thought she saw a 4

glimmer of hostility in the woman’s eyes, but it quickly faded.

5

“I mean that they got along good — Stephanie and Chuck,” she 6

said in the same childlike voice. “I mean that they didn’t have 7

conflicts or anything.”

8

“Thank you, Ms. Morris.” Carter Mills was once again the con-9

vivial master of ceremonies. “Now, Ms. Morris, I want to show you 10

a complaint prepared for this case. That’s the document in which 11

Ms. Friedman sets forth her allegations. I want you to read it 12

through, then tell me if there’s any truth to Ms. Friedman’s claims.

13

We’ve marked the important parts in yellow.”

14

Linda Morris took hold of the draft complaint with a limp white 15

hand. Bowing her head, she began to read. When she turned the 16

last page, she looked up.

17

“No,” she said. “None of it’s true, so far as I know.”

18

“So Stephanie Friedman never told you about any of the things 19

that she’s claiming in there?” Mills said.

20

“No.” Linda Morris again fingered the cross around her neck.

21

Her voice was low; her eyes again focused on her lap.

22

“And you’re sure of that? You’ve taken time to read the com-23

plaint?”

24

“Yes.” Linda Morris studied her knees.

25

Something’s not right,
Kate thought.
She definitely knows more than
26

what she’s saying. And the complaint, could she really have read it so
27

quickly?

28

“And if this sort of activity
had
been occurring, would you have 29

expected Ms. Friedman to confide in you about it?” Mills pressed.

30

“Oh, yes,” Linda Morris said. “We told each other everything.

31

About boyfriends, problems at the office — when we felt too much 32

stuff was getting dumped on us instead of the other girls. She defi-33

nitely would have told me.”

ort 34

The words emerged in a quick staccato, as if Morris were read-reg 35

ing from a script.

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Troubled, Kate glanced toward Mills, trying to catch his eye.

1

But, turning to the next page of his notes, he was already moving on.

2

w

3

The movie theater was a mob scene by the time Kate arrived. The 4

crowd was typical of New York these days, especially the once-5

funky West Side, where gleaming new high-rises seemed to pop up 6

overnight and designer baby carriages complete with designer 7

moms and babies blocked the narrow aisles of neighborhood stores.

8

With its soaring ceilings and vast open spaces, the Sony Imax the-9

ater felt more like an elaborate hotel than somewhere to see a 10

movie.

11

Kate glanced at her watch: 6:55. She was five minutes early. Al-12

ready, she regretted her decision to come. If the idea of a date —

13

any date — wasn’t bad enough, this was a
blind date,
the very 14

worst. Two complete strangers trying to make small talk while de-15

ciding if they might want to have sex. She thought longingly of 16

law school, when she and Michael used to spend long evenings on 17

the couch, rubbing each other’s feet and reading.

18

But Michael was marrying someone else.

19

Pushing these thoughts from her mind, Kate elbowed her way 20

through the crowd to the foot of the box office line, where she’d 21

agreed to meet Douglas Macauley. She had only the vaguest idea of 22

what he looked like. Brown hair, brown eyes, medium height. Tara 23

claimed he was cute, but he sounded totally nondescript. She’d 24

told him to look for her cape — bright red; you can’t miss it.

25

“The 7:45 showing of
Cold Justice
is sold out,” a female voice an-26

nounced over the multiplex’s loudspeaker system. “Tickets remain 27

for 9:45, 11, and 11:40.”

28

Damn.
That was the movie they’d planned to see. Kate had 29

picked it earlier that day as the most innocuous of the selections.

30

A legal thriller with a PG rating. High on explosions, low on sex.

31

She was weighing the remaining options when she felt a tap on her 32

shoulder.

33

“Kate?” She spun around to face a pleasant-looking guy in a 34 sh

brown leather jacket and jeans. He smiled at her and Kate found 35 re

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herself smiling back. While there was nothing remarkable about 2

Douglas Macauley, he was definitely appealing, with warm eyes 3

and a bemused smile.

4

He touched her elbow. “You can get out of line. I got the tick-5

ets.”

6

Kate slipped under the velvet cords that roped off the ticket 7

holders’ line. “It’s a good thing you got them,” she said. “The 7:45

8

show’s sold out.”

9

“Oh, I didn’t get tickets for 7:45,” Douglas said. “That’s been 10

sold out for hours. They’re for 9:45.”

11

As quickly as she’d warmed to him, the glimmer faded. How 12

could Douglas simply
assume
that she’d go along with this change 13

of plans? “I thought that we —”

14

“Oh, don’t worry,” Douglas said airily. “We’re not
going
to the 15

9:45. We’re going to the 7:45.”

16

“What —”

17

“Don’t worry, I’ve
never
been kept out of a movie.
Never.
”

18

“But —”

19

“Come.”

20

Douglas steered Kate through the crowd to the soaring escalator 21

bank. Once they’d reached the second floor, Douglas moved easily 22

through the crowd, his hand still at Kate’s elbow. There was some-23

thing pleasant about letting someone else be in charge for a 24

change, and she let herself drift along beside him.