Authors: Amy Gutman
“Fine. I . . . things are very different now.”
23
Melanie said simply, “I’m glad.” Because it was hard to imagine 24
any changes that wouldn’t have been for the better.
25
“I hope you don’t mind me calling.” On its face, the question 26
was deferential, but the tone belied the words. “I needed to talk 27
to someone. Someone who . . . knows about my past.”
28
There was a pause, as if Laura were thinking. Then she spoke 29
again.
30
“I go by a different name now. It’s Callie, Callie Thayer. Thayer 31
is my ex-husband’s last name, and I just kept using it. I live in —
32
well, it doesn’t really matter where, but no one knows who I am.
33
At least, that’s what I thought. I work at a small liberal arts col-34
lege, in alumni affairs. My life has been very quiet. I went back to 35 S
school and I . . . But I don’t need to tell you all that. The reason 36 R
I’m calling is this letter I got. It started with a letter. Someone left 1 0 8
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it in my door, and I realized . . . I realized they knew. At first, I 1
was really upset, but then I sort of calmed down. I figured that at 2
worst it was blackmail, and it might even be a prank. You know, 3
some kid on the Internet who managed to track me down.
4
“Then last Sunday we had this Easter egg hunt. It’s an annual 5
neighborhood thing. I’d hidden one of the baskets in this drain-6
pipe by our house. But by the time my daughter found it, someone 7
had switched the contents. I’d filled the basket with chocolate 8
eggs, those little ones wrapped in foil. But when my daughter 9
found it, they’d been replaced with this pink plastic egg. When 10
you opened the egg, twisted it open, inside there was a watch.
11
“Right away I knew something was wrong. I just didn’t know 12
what. Then later, I was looking at
The Vanishing Man
— Diane 13
Massey’s book — and in the picture on the back she’s wearing 14
it — the watch my daughter found. I called her publisher’s office 15
last week and told them they needed to find her. Then, yesterday 16
I read the paper . . .”
17
The flow of words trailed off.
18
“Yes?” Melanie prodded. She felt both confused and wary. A 19
letter. A watch. A plastic egg. It sounded totally crazy.
20
“Well, Diane was killed, you know. Last week. Up on an island 21
in Maine.”
22
“Diane Massey was murdered?” Melanie sat up straighter. Sud-23
denly, the profusion of words came sharply into focus. Briefly, she 24
wondered if it were true. Wouldn’t she have heard? But then she’d 25
been working around the clock. She’d barely scanned the papers.
26
Melanie signed on to the Internet and pulled up the
New York
27
Times
website. She typed in a search for Diane Massey’s name.
28
Two articles popped up.
29
“She was strangled,” Callie said. A pause. “The killer used a 30
black stocking.”
31
For a moment, Melanie’s pulse beat faster. “Have you called 32
the police?” she asked.
33
“No,” said Callie. “No, I can’t.” She sounded almost fright-34
ened.
S 35
“Why not?” It was the obvious question.
R 36
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“My daughter,” Callie said. “I . . . I don’t want her to know 2
about this. If I went to the police, the publicity . . . I’ve kept my 3
past a secret here. I need to keep it that way.”
4
“How old is your daughter?” Melanie asked.
5
“Ten,” Callie answered.
6
It didn’t make sense,
Melanie thought,
not to go to the police.
She 7
was about to argue with Laura, but then she stopped herself. Before 8
embarking on this line of discussion, she wanted more information.
9
“What makes you think that the watch was Diane’s?” As she 10
spoke, Melanie realized that this was far from the only thing in 11
doubt. The only facts she knew for sure were those she’d read on 12
the
Times
website. Laura had been telling the truth when she said 13
Diane was murdered. As for the Easter basket story, the verdict 14
was still out.
15
“It’s exactly the same as in the picture. But it’s not just the 16
watch. It’s everything. The timing. The letter I got.”
17
“And this letter, what did it say?”
18
“Didn’t I tell you that?” Callie sounded dazed.
19
“No, you just told me that you got a letter. That someone left 20
it at your door.”
21
“It said ‘Happy Anniversary, Rosamund. I haven’t forgotten 22
you.’ Rosamund — that’s what Steven used to call me. This stu-23
pid joke we had. Because I loved red roses. He used to buy them 24
for me.”
25
Melanie had reached for her calendar to check tomorrow’s 26
schedule. Now her hand dropped to the desk. “Happy Anniver-27
sary?”
28
“Right. That was the message. It was dated April fifth.”
29
“April fifth,” Melanie repeated. The room felt suddenly cold.
30
“The date of the execution.” Callie’s voice was flat.
31
In a flash, it all came clear. She thought of Frank’s bemused de-32
nials when she blamed him for the letter. Her ex-husband had 33
been telling the truth. He hadn’t sent the note.
34
Melanie’s head was spinning now. She had to get off the phone.
35 S
“I’m terribly sorry, but I have a meeting. Could I get back to 36 R
you this afternoon?”
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“When?” Callie asked.
1
“Later. Before the end of the day.”
2
“I . . . well, okay.” Callie was reluctant to let things drop, but 3
she didn’t have an option.
4
Melanie had almost put down the phone when she thought of 5
one last question.
6
“Laura?”
7
“Yes.”
8
She was still there.
9
“Why did you call
me
?”
10
Callie hesitated. “Well . . . I knew that I could trust your judg-11
ment. And then, there was the privilege.”
12
“The privilege?” Melanie didn’t follow.
13
“I knew that whatever I told you, you had to keep it confiden-14
tial.”
15
Melanie’s body tensed. The attorney-client privilege, that’s 16
what Laura meant. The sacred rule prohibiting disclosure of a 17
client’s secrets. But Laura wasn’t her client, was she? She’d called 18
up out of the blue. With a sinking feeling, Melanie saw she was in 19
much deeper than she’d realized.
20
21
The Harwich & Young library was on the sixty-third floor. It was 22
the realm of junior associates, and Melanie had rarely been there.
23
When she arrived at the firm four-plus years ago, she’d already 24
been fairly senior, handing out research assignments herself rather 25
than slogging through them. It was a little after seven by the time 26
she got there, and darkness had already fallen. Far below, the 27
teeming city was a sparkling sea of lights, visual compensation for 28
the tedium of the junior associate’s life.
29
“Need some help?” A night-shift librarian looked up from her 30
terminal.
31
Melanie smiled at the owl-like woman. “No, thanks,” she said.
32
The reading room was a hushed enclave of polished mahogany.
33
Desk lamps burned in the private carrels, where several young 34
lawyers worked. A fresh-faced blonde in a gray pantsuit had S 35
kicked off a Gucci pump. She was avidly reading and taking R 36
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notes, jouncing a manicured foot. Melanie had a disconcerting 2
sense of looking at her younger self. She had a sudden impulse to 3
warn her, to say,
It’s not too late.
The thought took her by surprise, 4
and she wondered where it had come from. After all, she loved 5
her job. Her job wasn’t the problem.
6
Cutting her eyes away, Melanie entered the stacks. As she 7
roamed the aisles, scanning the shelves, she felt conspicuous.
8
She sensed the younger lawyers looking at her, wondering why 9
she was here. She could have done the research on her office PC, 10
paid for the Westlaw research. But then there would have been a 11
record, something she didn’t want.
12
She finally located the CPLR, a compilation of New York laws.
13
She found the volume she needed and took it to a carrel. She 14
read through the statute once quickly, then turned to the com-15
mentary: “The attorney-client privilege is perhaps the oldest of 16
the common law evidentiary privileges, and New York courts 17
continue to draw heavily upon common law developments . . .”
18
She scanned a list of case summaries, looking for relevant law.
19
What professional obligation did she have to Laura? That was the 20
basic question. At this point, Laura wasn’t a client, but she didn’t 21
think that mattered. Prospective clients, as best she recalled, fell 22
within the scope of privilege. But was Laura even a prospective 23
client? Had she called seeking legal advice? Maybe this was more 24
a situation of a friend calling on a friend.
25
But even as she tested the analogy, she knew it didn’t ring true.
26
When they’d talked on the phone this morning, Laura had 27
been quite clear: Her call had been premised on the belief that 28
what she’d said would be kept confidential. A rule popped into 29
Melanie’s mind from some long-ago ethics class.
If someone rea-30
sonably thinks they’re a client, the attorney-client privilege attaches.
31
She didn’t remember the name of the case, but the rule was clear 32
in her mind. The point was, you had to be careful. And always, 33
until now, she had been. At parties, on plane trips, talking to 34
friends, she’d been meticulous.
Of course, I can’t give you legal ad-35 S
vice. I’m not speaking as your attorney . . .
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Melanie scribbled down a few citations, then got up to find the 1
books. Back at her carrel, she started to read, fast, without taking 2
notes. She was doing what she did best: examining a legal issue.
3
Taking stock of its strengths and weaknesses, finding the chink in 4
the wall. Beneath the surface calm, though, she was frustrated, al-5
most angry. Not with Laura. No. She was angry with herself. She, 6
who was always so careful, had let Laura catch her off guard. It 7
would have been so easy to say, “I can’t give you legal advice.”
8
At best, her situation was murky, which left her with just two 9
options: She could talk to Laura and try to explain that there’d 10
been a misunderstanding. The second option, even less appeal-11
ing, was to go to the partnership. She could present the matter to 12
the Ethics Committee, seek guidance on how to proceed. But the 13
thought of going to those three men was difficult to stomach. She 14
could already see their bland faces, the subtle calculation. The 15
very fact that she was there before them would be proof that she’d 16
screwed up. Partnership elections were just weeks away. Was it 17
really worth the risk? At this point, she should be bringing in 18
paying clients, not creating trouble.
19
By the time Melanie finished reading, almost an hour had 20
passed. She was supposed to meet Paul at nine at a restaurant 21
down the street. But picturing him, the evening ahead, she felt 22
her resistance growing.
23
She pulled her cell phone from her purse and went out into the 24
hallway.
25
“Hi, honey,” she said when Paul came on the line. “Listen, I’m 26
really sorry, but I have to work late tonight. The client . . . well, 27
you know how it is. They want a draft of the brief tomorrow. I 28
thought we’d have another day.”
29
Muffled voices on the other end, Paul sounding authoritative.
30
“Right, put them in the blue folders. We decided that last night.”
31
Then he was back on the phone. “Sorry. What were you saying?”
32
She repeated the story one more time, her voice artificially 33
bright. She waited for him to notice, but he seemed preoccupied.
34
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “We’re pretty busy here too.”