Equivocal Death (43 page)

all.”

29

“I see.” A dull pounding was beginning in her ears. Kate knew 30

that she should ask about the Danbury case, to display some inter-31

est, but she just couldn’t bring herself to care.

32

“The Danbury case is cutting-edge stuff, Kate.” Bosch’s voice 33

held an edge of reproach. “It’ll give you great experience. Much ort 34

broader training than you’d get with Carter. Sexual harassment reg 35

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law may be hot, but it’s not where the bulk of our work is. Anti-1

trust, on the other hand —”

2

Antitrust.
Not only was she being bumped from Carter Mills to 3

Dave Bosch — from the firm’s most powerful partner to one of its 4

most junior — but they were going to bury her in some endless 5

commercial regulatory dispute. Endless mountains of documents to 6

be reviewed in windowless conference rooms. Endless pages of in-7

terrogatories. And why? What was behind it all? There was only 8

one thing Kate knew for sure: this was no simple staffing shift.

9

“— is at the heart of our practice. Samson & Mills has the 10

largest —”

11

“Excuse me,” Kate said, cutting off Bosch in midsentence. “But 12

I need to catch up with someone.” She barely noticed Bosch’s as-13

tonished expression as she made a beeline toward Peyton Winslow.

14

Peyton was standing in line at the buffet. His cool smile gave no 15

sign that he knew what had happened. But of course that could 16

just be an act. She didn’t trust anyone now.

17

“Hello, Kate. Feeling better?”

18

“Excuse me?”

19

“Are you feeling better? You had that doctor’s appointment.”

20

“Oh. Yeah. I’m fine.” Kate rushed ahead, urgency overriding cir-21

cumspection. “Listen, have you seen Carter? I really need to talk to 22

him.”

23

Peyton eyed her warily. He could tell that something was up.

24

“He’s probably still down in his office. I know he had some work to 25

get through.”

26

w

27

Before Carter Mills could respond, the office door swung open to 28

reveal a single visitor.

29

“May I help you?” Mills said.

30

“I need to speak with you, Carter.” The voice was surprisingly 31

assured.

32

Mills raised a dismissive hand. “You’ll need to make an appoint-33

ment. I’m afraid that I’m busy now.”

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A M Y G U T M A N

1

“But I’m not, Carter,” the intruder said, turning to close and 2

lock the office door. “I’m not busy at all. In fact, I’ve been waiting 3

a long time for this conversation.”

4

Mills stared at the intruder. With a sudden movement, he 5

reached for the phone.

6

“Sorry, but I can’t let you do that.” And Carter watched, with 7

rising disbelief, as the intruder drew from his pocket a silver-plated 8

gun with an ivory grip. Stunned, Mills stared at the revolver.
It
9

couldn’t be the same one, it couldn’t.

10

It was then that he saw the gloves.

11

Quickly Mills rose to his feet, but the intruder was even faster.

12

He was there by Mills’s side, the gun aimed straight at Mills’s head.

13

“Carter, I sure would appreciate it if you’d take a seat. Makes me 14

a little nervous to see you fidgeting like that.”

15

Mills sat.

16

“Now then, Carter, we’ll have to take one more precaution.”

17

With the gun still pointing at Mills’s head, the intruder edged a few 18

steps back. “What I can assure you,” the intruder continued, “is 19

that this won’t hurt a bit.”

20

Mills gagged as something soft was thrust in his mouth, then 21

twisted several times around his head. He tried to rise out of the 22

chair, but the intruder jacked back an arm, forcing him down in his 23

seat. Before Mills knew what was happening, his hands were bound 24

tightly behind him.

25

“Not bad at all,” the intruder said. Once again, he stood facing 26

Mills. “For someone with not much experience. I’d say we’re ready 27

to have our little talk.”

28

Mills’s eyes darted furiously around the room, as if seeking a 29

means of escape.

30

The intruder, however, was calm. “Of course, you’re at some-31

thing of a disadvantage, as far as conversation goes. But that’s okay, 32

Carter. That’s okay. Because I have enough to say for both of us.”

33

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ort 34

Alone in the brightly lit corridor, Kate walked toward Carter reg 35

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her heart thudded anxiously. Her footseps slowed, then stopped as 1

she paused for a moment to prepare. Smoothing the front of her 2

dress, Kate noticed her glasses seemed smudged.

3

She’d just finished polishing the lenses, when something caught 4

her eye. A blur, a sudden movement, down at the end of the hall.

5

Kate’s heart seemed to liquefy. Two words slammed into her brain: 6

Chuck Thorpe.
Quickly, she jammed on her glasses. Trembling, she 7

gazed ahead. The scene almost pulsed with stillness. No one, noth-8

ing, was there. Leaning against a bank of secretarial stations, Kate 9

waited for her pulse to slow. Then, squaring her shoulders, she pro-10

ceeded toward Mills’s open door.

11

An open door.

12

Once more, Kate stopped, her heart beating faster again. Had 13

the door been open earlier? Before she took her glasses off? Not so 14

far as she remembered. But again, she couldn’t be sure.

15

Cautiously, Kate entered the reception area. Nothing unusual 16

here. Clara’s desk was cleared for the weekend. A blue cardigan 17

sweater hung over the back of her chair. The door to Mills’s private 18

office was closed, but light shone out from beneath. Kate knocked 19

softly three times. Then again with more determination. Still, she 20

got no response.

21

Maybe he was tied up on the phone. Kate pressed an ear to the 22

door, trying to make out some sound. For an uncertain moment, 23

she considered leaving. But she’d already come so far. And she 24

couldn’t keep putting this off. She’d just crack open the door, let 25

him know that she was waiting outside.

26

She put her hand to the doorknob. The handle turned under her 27

grasp. Then the walls were rushing toward her. Something was ter-28

ribly wrong. She wasn’t sure what she was looking at, but she knew 29

that she couldn’t breathe.

30

Red. Red everywhere.

31

Blood.

32

And Carter Mills. Seated at his desk. Slumped to one side in the 33

chair.

34 sh

She couldn’t see his face, only blood.

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And clutched in his hand, something small and shiny.

2

A gun.

3

Slowly, Kate began to edge back. Time didn’t exist anymore.

4

She felt as if she’d stumbled onto a film set. Or into someone else’s 5

dream. Her mouth opened wide in a silent cry.

6

And then, she began to scream.

7

w

8

Kate stared at Detective Cathy Valencia’s vermilion mouth, open-9

ing and closing in a rhythmic staccato. It reminded her of folded 10

origami toys she’d played with as a child, inserting thumb and fore-11

finger to make the paper open and shut.

12

“Ms. Paine?”

13

“I’m sorry. Could you repeat the question?”

14

“I just want you to tell me exactly what happened, from the time 15

you left the party until Detective Glaser got here.”

16

They were sitting in Colin Barfield’s office. Glaser, the first de-17

tective on the scene, was seated at Valencia’s left. Kate was dimly 18

aware of a cluster of figures on the other side of the room. Barfield.

19

Martin Drescher. Bruce Stroesser. The power brokers of Samson & 20

Mills.

21

“I left the party sometime after eight. Around eight-fifteen or 22

eight-thirty. I’d been trying to catch up with Carter for the past 23

couple of days about . . . about a few different things. I thought I’d 24

see him at the cocktail party, but he wasn’t there. Then another as-25

sociate I work with — Peyton Winslow — said Carter was in his 26

office. That’s why I went up.”

27

“And then?” Valencia’s voice was gently prodding.

28

“When I got to the outside office, I saw a light under Carter’s 29

door. I knocked but no one answered. I thought maybe Carter was 30

on the phone, so I cracked open the door a little. And that’s when 31

I saw . . . what had happened. I didn’t touch anything. I just sort of 32

backed out of the room. Then I called Building Security.”

33

Kate was surprised by how detached she felt. She could be de-ort 34

scribing a painting, or a scene in a play. She pulled her cape tight reg 35

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around her. Someone had brought it down from where she’d left it 1

upstairs. The softness was soothing. But the color . . .

2

Again, she saw the shattered remains of Carter Mills’s head, the 3

crimson torrent that had drenched his shirt.

4

“Ms. Paine? Are you all right? Would you like some more tea?”

5

Kate realized she was clutching at the arms of her chair. “No,”

6

she said, forcing her hands to unclench. “I’m fine now. I just felt a 7

little dizzy.”

8

Valencia went back to asking questions. Kate responded as if by 9

rote, her mind still riveted on what she’d seen.

10

“Do you . . . have any idea who killed him?” Kate said.

11

Valencia and Glaser exchanged glances.

12

“What?” Kate said.

13

Then she heard a cough. Colin Barfield, standing at the head of 14

the Samson contingent, moved a few steps toward her.

15

“This wasn’t a murder,” Barfield said. “It was . . . some kind of 16

accident. We’re in the process of piecing it all together.” The other 17

partners nodded, as if echoing Barfield’s words. Kate stared at the 18

impassive faces.
An accident.
But that was impossible. Why would 19

Mills have had a gun in his office?

20

“But how . . .” Kate’s voice trailed off, as the implication hit 21

home.

22

Carter Mills, they were saying, had killed himself.

23

w

24

Music pounded in his ears; water pounded against his skin. Awash 25

in this sea of sound and sensation, he rejoiced in the opera’s final 26

chorus. Wer glücklich ist wie wir, dem ziemt nur eins: schweigen 27

und tanzen!
There is only one thing fitting for those happy as we: to be
28

silent and dance!
Jumping out of the shower, he grabbed a clean 29

white towel and vigorously rubbed himself down. Then, still 30

naked, he strode into the loft’s main room, the place from where 31

the music came.

32

Schweigen und tanzen!

33

Richard Strauss’s
Elektra.

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He’d discovered this opera only last week. But he’d instantly 2

known it was perfect.

3

Except for the flicker of candles, the room was dark. He wanted 4

to scream, to moan, to bellow his news through the streets. But, 5

just as the music said, he had to be silent. To be silent and dance.

6

On a sudden impulse, he flung his arms outward, then collapsed 7

down. The movements felt strange but right. Over and over, he 8

continued the thrashing motions, moving in a large, slow circle 9

around the room. A ritual celebration.

10

When the CD ended, he pushed Play again. Then he stood in 11

the center of the room, uncertain what to do next. Water still 12

dripped from his hair, running in rivulets down his neck and back.

13

Turning to look behind, he could see a trail of wet footprints lead-14

ing from the bathroom to where he stood. If he squinted, he could 15

pretend it was marked in blood.

16

Now that he’d stopped moving, he noticed how cold the loft 17

was. But he didn’t feel like getting dressed. He wanted no artificial 18

barriers between himself and this point in time.

19

Across from his desk, he’d set up a sort of altar. Above a sea of 20

glimmering candles, her eyes followed his every move. He stared at 21