"Let me approach the question differently," continued Venable. "Dr. Wallace, every physician is required to take the Hippocratic Oath, is that not so?"

"Yes."

"And part of that oath is"—the prosecutor read from a paper in his hand—" 'that I shall abstain from every act of mischief or corruption'?"

"Yes."

"Was there anything Dr. Taylor did in the past that made you believe she was capable of breaking her Hippocratic Oath?"

"Objection."

"Overruled."

"Yes, there was."

"Please explain what it was."

"We had a patient who Dr. Taylor decided needed a blood transfusion. His family refused to grant permission."

"And what happened?"

"Dr. Taylor went ahead and gave the patient the transfusion anyway." "Is that legal?"

"Absolutely not. Not without a court order." "And then what did Dr. Taylor do?" "She obtained the court order afterward, and changed the date on it."

"So she performed an illegal act, and falsified the hospital records to cover it up?"

"That is correct."

Alan Penn glanced over at Paige, furious. What the hell else has she kept from me? he wondered.

If the spectators were searching for any telltale sign of emotion on Paige Taylor's face, they were disappointed.

Cold as ice, the foreman of the jury was thinking.

Gus Venable turned to the bench. "Your honor, as you know, one of the witnesses I had hoped to call is Dr. Lawrence Barker. Unfortunately, he is still suffering from the effects of a stroke and is unable to be in this courtroom to testify. Instead I will now question some of the hospital staff who have worked with Dr. Barker."

Penn stood up. "I object. I don't see the relevance. Dr. Barker is not here, nor is Dr. Barker on trial here. If. . ."

Venable interrupted. "Your honor, I assure you that my line of questioning is very relevant to the testimony we have just heard. It also has to do with the defendant's competency as a doctor."

Judge Young said skeptically, "We'll see. This is a courtroom, not a river. I won't stand for any fishing expeditions. You may call your witnesses."

"Thank you."

Gus Venable turned to the bailiff. "I would like to call Dr. Matthew Peterson."

An elegant-looking man in his sixties approached the witness box. He was sworn in, and when he took his seat, Gus Venable said, "Dr. Peterson, how long have you worked at Embarcadero County Hospital?"

"Eight years."

"And what is your specialty?"

"I'm a cardiac surgeon."

"And during the years you've been at Embarcadero County Hospital, did you ever have occasion to work with Dr. Lawrence Barker?"

"Oh, yes. Many times."

"What was your opinion of him?"

"The same as everyone else's. Aside, possibly, from DeBakey and Cooley, Dr. Barker is the best heart surgeon in the world."

"Were you present in the operating room on the morning that Dr. Taylor operated on a patient named ..." He pretended to consult a slip of paper. "... Lance Kelly?"

The witness's tone changed. "Yes, I was there." "Would you describe what happened that morning?" Dr. Peterson said reluctantly, "Well, things started

to go wrong. We began losing the patient." "When you say 'losing the patient . . . ' " "His heart stopped. We were trying to bring him back, and ..."

"Had Dr. Barker been sent for?"

"Yes."

"And did he come into the operating room while the operation was going on?"

"Toward the end. Yes. But it was too late to do anything. We were unable to revive the patient."

"And did Dr. Barker say anything to Dr. Taylor at that time?"

"Well, we were all pretty upset, and ..."

"I asked you if Dr. Barker said anything to Dr. Taylor."

"Yes."

"And what did Dr. Barker say?"

There was a pause, and in the middle of the pause, there was a crack of thunder outside, like the voice of God. A moment later, the storm broke, nailing raindrops to the roof of the courthouse.

"Dr. Barker said, 'You killed him.' "

The spectators were in an uproar. Judge Young slammed her gavel down. "That's enough! Do you people live in caves? One more outburst like that and you'll all be standing outside in the rain."

Gus Venable waited for the noise to die down. In the hushed silence he said, "Are you sure that's what Dr. Barker said to Dr. Taylor? 'You killed him'?"

"Yes."

"And you have testified that Dr. Barker was a man whose medical opinion was valued?"

"Oh, yes."

"Thank you. That's all, doctor." He turned to Alan Penn. '' Your witness.''

Penn rose and approached the witness box.

"Dr. Peterson, I've never watched an operation, but I imagine there's enormous tension, especially when it's something as serious as a heart operation."

"There's a great deal of tension."

"At a time like that, how many people are in the room? Three or four?"

"Oh, no. Always half a dozen or more."

"Really?"

"Yes. There are usually two surgeons, one assisting, sometimes two anesthesiologists, a scrub nurse, and at least one circulating nurse."

"I see. Then there must be a lot of noise and excitement going on. People calling out instructions and so on."

"Yes."

"And I understand that it's a common practice for music to be playing during an operation."

"It is."

"When Dr. Barker came in and saw that Lance Kelly was dying, that probably added to the confusion."

"Well, everybody was pretty busy trying to save the patient."

"Making a lot of noise?"

"There was plenty of noise, yes."

"And yet, in all that confusion and noise, and over the music, you could hear Dr. Barker say that Dr. Taylor had killed the patient. With all that excitement, you could have been wrong, couldn't you?"

"No, sir. I could not be wrong."

"What makes you so sure?"

Dr. Peterson sighed. "Because I was standing right next to Dr. Barker when he said it."

There was no graceful way out.

"No more questions."

The case was falling apart, and there was nothing he could do about it. It was about to get worse.

Denise Berry took the witness stand.

"You're a nurse at Embarcadero County Hospital?"

"Yes."

"How long have you worked there?"

"Five years."

"During that time, did you ever hear any conversations between Dr. Taylor and Dr. Barker?"

"Sure. Lots of times."

"Can you repeat some of them?"

Nurse Berry looked at Dr. Taylor and hesitated. "Well, Dr. Barker could be very sharp ..."

"I didn't ask you that, Nurse Berry. I asked you to tell us some specific things you heard him say to Dr. Taylor."

There was a long pause. "Well, one time he said she was incompetent, and ..."

Gus Venable put on a show of surprise. "You heard Dr. Barker say that Dr. Taylor was incompetent?"

"Yes, sir. But he was always ..."

"What other comments did you hear him make about Dr. Taylor?"

The witness was reluctant to speak. "I really can't remember."

"Miss Berry, you're under oath."

"Well, once I heard him say ..." The rest of the sentence was a mumble.

"We can't hear you. Speak up, please. You heard him say what?"

"He said he ... he wouldn't let Dr. Taylor operate on his dog."

There was a collective gasp frorn the courtroom.

"But I'm sure he only meant ..."

"I think we can all assume that Dr. Barker meant what he said."

All eyes were fixed on Paige Taylor.

The prosecutor's case against Paige seemed overwhelming. Yet Alan Penn had the reputation of being a master magician in the courtroom. Now it was his turn to present the defendant's case. Could he pull another rabbit out of his hat?

Paige Taylor was on the witness stand, being questioned by Alan Penn. This was the moment everyone had been waiting for.

"John Cronin was a patient of yours, Dr. Taylor?"

"Yes, he was."

"And what were your feelings toward him?" "I liked him. He knew how ill he was, but he was very courageous. He had surgery for a cardiac tumor." "You performed the heart surgery?"

"Yes."

"And what did you find during the operation?" "When we opened up his chest, we found that he had melanoma that had metastasized."

"In other words, cancer that had spread throughout

his body."

"Yes. It had metastasized throughout the lymph glands."

"Meaning that there was no hope for him? No heroic measures that could bring him back to health?"

"None."

"John Cronin was put on life-support systems?"

"That's correct."

"Dr. Taylor, did you deliberately administer a fatal dose of insulin to end John Cronin's life?"

"I did."

There was a sudden buzz in the courtroom.

She's really a cool one, Gus Venable thought. She makes it sound as though she gave him a cup of tea.

"Would you tell the jury why you ended John Cronin's life?"

"Because he asked me to. He begged me to. He sent for me in the middle of the night, in terrible pain. The medications we were giving him were no longer working." Her voice was steady. "He said he didn't warn to suffer anymore. His death was only a few days away He pleaded with me to end it for him. I did."

"Doctor, did you have any reluctance to let him die? Any feelings of guilt?"

Dr. Paige Taylor shook her head. "No. If you could have seen . . . There was simply no point to letting him go on suffering.'

"How did you administer the insulin?"

"I injected it into his IV."

"And did that cause him any additional pain?"

"No. He simply drifted off to sleep."

Gus Venable was on his feet. "Objection! I think the defendant means he drifted off to his death! I—"