Free Equivocal Death by Amy Gutman Page A

she’d counted the 22
    hours till her return. What was so great about having time on your 23
    hands? Better to be busy and productive.
    24
    “You were by yourself?”
    25
    “I wouldn’t put it that way.” Kate could tell she sounded defen-26
    sive, the residue from her dinner with Tara. “There were ten of us 27
    on the boat. I shared a cabin with another woman. A French trans-28
    lator. I had plenty of company.”
    29
    She quickly changed the subject. “So how about you? How were 30
    the holidays?”
    31
    Justin rolled his eyes. “The usual pandemonium at home. But 32
    good. Delia’s already planning for college, can you believe it? Only 33
    thirteen and she’s got her heart set on Brown.”
    34 sh
    35 re

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    A M Y G U T M A N
    1
    “I love your family.” Kate had met Justin’s parents and younger 2
    sister the week of their law school graduation. Justin’s father was a 3
    history professor; his mother, a child psychologist. Kate, who had 4
    toyed with the idea of majoring in psych before settling on English 5
    lit, was fascinated by Sarah Daniels’s stories about the children she 6
    counseled in southeast Washington D.C. “What’s your mom up to 7
    these days?”
    8
    “Busy as usual. She just finished this book about adoption she’s 9
    been writing for about a hundred years. So she’s a little burned out.
    10
    But happy.”
    11
    “That’s so cool. When will it be out?”
    12
    “Hmm, let’s see. We’re talking about an academic press here.
    13
    Probably in about 2010.”
    14
    Kate laughed. “You know, I really admire your mother. But I’d 15
    never have the patience for that sort of thing. What I like about 16
    law is, you write a brief and then, boom, you either win or lose. I 17
    mean it’s not immediate, but you don’t have to wait forever.”
    18
    “Ah yes,” Justin mused. “Yet another reason to love the law.”
    19
    “Speaking of the law, what happened at S&M while I was 20
    gone?”
    21
    “It’s been pretty slow. I’ve been more or less full time on the 22
    Haber-Tech antitrust case. The document production has been a 23
    nightmare. Last week I came in on Monday morning and didn’t 24
    leave until eight o’clock Wednesday night. It got to be sort of sur-25
    real. The sun goes up. The sun goes down. The sun goes up. The 26
    sun goes down. The only sleep I got was a half hour Tuesday night, 27
    hidden under my desk. It’s the only way to get those goddamn 28
    lights to go out. The least little flutter of detectible movement, and 29
    on they go.”
    30
    Kate laughed. “You want to hear something funny?” she said.
    31
    “When I first started work at Samson, I assumed that the lights 32
    went on when you entered your office because the lighting mecha-33
    nism somehow sensed the weight of your body on the floor.”
    ort 34
    Justin hooted. “Now let me get this straight. The floors were pre-reg 35

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    E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
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    cisely calibrated to reflect the weight of all the furniture, books, and 1
    other stuff in the office and could somehow figure out just when a 2
    certain hundred-and-ten-pound associate crossed the threshold?”
    3
    “I didn’t exactly think it through, ” Kate said. “Anyway, sorry 4
    you’ve been stuck at work so much.”
    5
    Justin shrugged, his shoulders moving easily beneath his dark 6
    suit jacket. “Hey, I’ve got no complaints. You want to work at a top 7
    firm, you’ve got to put in the hours.”
    8
    He sipped his vodka and tonic. “So what’s new with the Thorpe 9
    case?”
    10
    “I’m just putting together a research memo,” Kate said. “Sexual 11
    harassment law is still so murky. You’ve got to be really careful.
    12
    Cases decided last year are totally out of date. There is one thing I 13
    wanted to ask you, though —”
    14
    “Hold that thought,” Justin said. “I’ve got to get something to 15
    eat.” He gestured to