Free Equivocal Death by Amy Gutman Page B

the adjacent bar where a snack table was al-16
    ways set up. “Want something? Some chips?”
    17
    “No thanks,” Kate said. “I’m still full from dinner.”
    18
    “Back in a second.”
    19
    Kate watched Justin cross the room. She had to admit that An-20
    drea had a point. Guys like Justin didn’t come along every day. And 21
    beyond that, she’d be hard-pressed to find someone more compat-22
    ible. They shared the same values, liked the same books and 23
    movies, laughed at the same jokes. They also shared a history, not 24
    just the law school years but Samson & Mills as well. Still, she’d 25
    meant what she said at lunch. Justin was almost like a brother, the 26
    brother she’d never had. He’d seen her at her worst, red-eyed and 27
    tearful, lethargic and morose. He’d brought her food and maga-28
    zines when she didn’t want to leave her apartment and listened to 29
    her endless disquisitions on Michael’s betrayal. Even if she were in 30
    the market for a boyfriend, she just couldn’t picture Justin in that 31
    role. Didn’t romance require an element of mystery?
    32
    And then Justin was back, balancing a plate heaped with chips, 33
    pretzels, and other snacks.
    34 sh
    35 re

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    5 2
    A M Y G U T M A N
    1
    “Are you really going to eat all that?” Kate asked.
    2
    “No time for dinner,” Justin said. He picked up a Ritz cracker, 3
    piled high with processed cheese spread, and stared at it apprais-4
    ingly. “I really don’t get the food here. Some of the other school 5
    clubs have really good spreads — fruit, water biscuits, Brie. This 6
    stuff looks like it was recycled from a fifties dorm party.”
    7
    “Well, this is the Harvard Club,” Kate said, taking a potato chip 8
    from Justin’s plate. “Maybe it’s a bow to tradition.”
    9
    Justin raised a skeptical eyebrow. “The tradition of Cheez Whiz? ”
    10
    he asked.
    11
    Kate shrugged. “Hey, are you up for a game of chess?”
    12
    “Why not?”
    13
    Kate reached back behind her chair, where a velvet curtain con-14
    cealed a set of built-in shelves. From the bottom shelf, she pulled 15
    out a plastic box of chess pieces.
    16
    “Black?” she asked, snapping off the lid to the box.
    17
    “Of course.”
    18
    Justin pushed his plate to the table’s corner so they could set up 19
    their pieces on the inlaid chessboard.
    20
    Playing chess at the Harvard Club was one of Kate’s favorite 21
    ways to spend an evening. It was Justin who’d first suggested it dur-22
    ing one of their early visits. At first, Kate demurred; she hadn’t 23
    played since junior high. But after Justin persuaded her to try, she’d 24
    been surprised at how quickly the moves came back.
    25
    Justin had already made off with both of Kate’s knights and one 26
    of her rooks by the time she remembered what she’d meant to ask.
    27
    “You’ve worked with Madeleine Waters, right?”
    28
    “Huh?” Justin was giving the chessboard his full attention.
    29
    “Madeleine Waters. Haven’t you worked with her?”
    30
    “Sure,” Justin didn’t look up. “On the Titan Pharmaceuticals ar-31
    bitration. Right after I started at the firm. It was Martin Drescher’s 32
    case. She was the junior partner.”
    33
    “Drescher,” Kate said. She rolled her eyes.
    ort 34
    Justin moved a pawn one square forward and looked up.
    reg 35

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    E Q U I V O C A L D E A T H
    5 3
    “He’s not so bad. The way I look at it, it’s the same thing with 1
    any partner. You just have to know how to handle them.”
    2
    Incredible. That made two associates leaping to Drescher’s de-3
    fense. Andrea at lunch and now Justin. Were they drugging Sam-4
    son’s water supply, creating Stepford associates along with billable 5
    hours? But, brushing these thoughts aside, she forced herself to stay 6
    on track. “So, what did you think of Madeleine?”
    7
    “You know all the history, right? The whole