"But you were, in fact, able to calculate the time of death, were you not?"

"Fairly precisely, I would say."

"More precisely than if she hadn't been immersed in hot water?" Clearly, Abrams and Strout had rehearsed this moment.

"Yes, sir. Slightly more so. She died between about eleven forty-five and twelve forty-five the night before."

"Thank you, Doctor." Abrams then went over to what was usually the evidence table in the center of the courtroom, although today there was very little on it. He picked up the wine bottle that Strout had referred to earlier. It was distinctive enough to be recognizable: The label said it had held Edna Valley Chardonnay. Abrams had it entered as People's One, then handed it to Strout on the stand. "Do you recognize this bottle, People's One, Doctor?"

"I do."

"When did you first see it?"

"Inspector Juhle brought it to the morgue."

"At his request, did you compare it to the injury on the victim to determine if it could have caused that injury?" In this most clinical of settings, Caryn was "the victim," and would be until the prosecutor used her name in front of a jury to humanize her at trial.

"I did."

"What did you find?"

"It was a perfect fit."

"Could you explain that further?"

"Sure. Earlier, I had shaved the hair from the scalp to expose the fracture, which was pronounced and clearly defined. I compared it to the shape of the bottle and concluded that the bottle could definitely have caused the fracture."

"But Doctor, couldn't any bottle of this size and shape have caused an identical injury?"

"Of course. Any object could have caused the injury. But it would have had to have been the size and shape of this bottle."

"Doctor, was the blow to the victim's head enough to render her unconscious?"

"Yes. Certainly enough to stun her for some period of time, perhaps enough to knock her out."

"So the blow itself didn't kill her?"

"No. As I said, the cause of death was drowning. There was water in her lungs. She was definitely breathing when she went underwater." "Thank you." Abrams turned to Gina. "Your witness," he said.

Gina took what she hoped was an invisible deep breath, pushed her chair back, and got to her feet. Her legs, much to her relief, felt strong. (Dismas Hardy had cautioned her to watch out about standing up too fast or moving too far away from her table before she felt her sea legs come in under her.) Wasting no time, she walked to the center of the courtroom. "Good morning, Doctor. Did you say that the blow from the bottle to the victim's head rendered her unconscious?"

"No. Not exactly. I said it could have."

"It could have. But not necessarily did?"

"No, not necessarily."

"Was the blow hard enough to fracture the skull, Doctor?"

"Yes."

"Doctor, how long before being submerged in the water did Ms. Dryden sustain this injury?" "I don't know."

"Well, wasn't that fracture associated with the bloody wound on the scalp?"

"Yes, it was."

"And would that injury have bled after she sustained it?"

"Yes."

"Now, typically, when you have a bloody injury, you can see by the clotting and scabbing how long the victim survived after the injury, isn't that true?"

Strout threw a glance over to Abrams. Neither of them was smiling now. "In some instances."

"Well, what you mean, Doctor, by 'some instances,' is that if there had been significant scabbing, an injury like this could have been sustained hours, or even days, before the drowning, isn't that so?"

"No. I don't think days. If able to do so, the victim would have sought medical attention after receiving this injury."

"But certainly hours? Correct? Because this body was submerged in water, any evidence of clotting or scabbing would have washed away, right?"

"Correct."

"So for all you know, Caryn Dryden could have sustained this injury hours before she was submerged in water. Isn't that the truth?" "That would be accurate."

"Now also, Doctor, you can't say that she was struck with the bottle, as opposed to striking the bottle with her head. Correct? Let me be clear. You don't know if someone hit her with the bottle or if she stumbled and fell and hit her head on the bottle."

"I'm not sure that's a likely scenario. We're talking about an awful lot of force here."

"Are we, Doctor? This injury was in front of her ear, was it not? Right at one of the thinner parts of the skull?"

"Yes."

"So, Doctor, it is true, is it not, that you cannot rule out the possibility that Ms. Dryden, for example walking on a slippery floor, full of alcohol and Vicodin, stumbled and hit her head on a bottle of wine that she was carrying?"

"Well, no, I can't absolutely rule that out."

"And by the way, Doctor, when you say the blow was enough to render her unconscious, I think you've already said it would not necessarily have done so."

"True."

"So having inflicted this injury on herself, she could have recovered from being stunned and thrown the bottle and the broken glass she was carrying into the trash compactor, true?"

"I can't absolutely rule that out."

"Well, Doctor, when you say you can't absolutely rule it out, what you're saying is that you can't rule it out. Correct?" "That is correct. I can't rule it out."

"All right. Leaving the fracture and the bottle for the moment, let me ask you what, if anything, you found on the victim's body that indicated someone had pushed her under the water?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Other bruises, finger marks on her shoulders? Tissue under her fingernails? Other signs of a struggle?" "No. There were none of those."

"So, is it not entirely consistent with the medical evidence that Ms. Dryden could have injured herself and, not realizing the extent of the injury, got into the hot tub, passed out, and drowned?"

"Well, counsel, I think anybody with this kind of an injury would have sought medical attention after a very short period of time if they were able to do so. It would have been a very painful injury."

"Doctor, what is Vicodin?"

"It is a prescription drug."

"And isn't that precisely the sort of prescription drug that a person might take if they'd just suffered a very painful injury?"

"Yes."

"Thank you." Although she knew exactly what her next question would be, Gina paused for the judge's benefit, consciously frowning as though she were confused. Most uncharacteristically, Strout was showing small signs of discomfort. Shifting in the chair, straightening his rimless bifocals, adjusting his collar. He was so nearly always infallible, and considered so, that this type of minute questioning was a rare occurrence. And clearly an unwelcome one.

If she were in front of a jury, Gina would have slowed down even more at this point. She wouldn't have wanted to stack her own credibility against the kindly and obviously very knowledgeable older gentleman. But here she had no such concerns. Even though she believed that Caryn Dryden had been murdered, she needed to nail down the fact that the testimony of San Francisco's medical examiner in no way proved that point. "All right, Doctor," she said, "moving along to the question of the victim's sobriety at the time of her death, you've testified that her blood alcohol level was point one one, is that true?"

"Yes."

"And this level is considered legally drunk in California?"

"Yes."

"In fact, isn't the legally drunk standard actually quite a bit lower, at point zero eight?" "That's true."

"So Caryn Dryden wasn't just drunk, was she? She was smashed." "Objection!"

Gina knew this was coming from Gerry Abrams even before she'd finished saying her last words, and was frustrated that she'd allowed herself to get carried away and say them. She didn't want anything to get in the way of her flow, her rhythm.