Burden of Proof Page 20

  Adrian held open the rear door. “Shouldn’t take much longer.”

  Gina asked, “What you told the judge, does that mean we might win?”

  “I wanted to place my stated aim in the court’s record. For the moment, that’s all I can say for certain.” Adrian motioned for Gary to join them. As they left the courtroom, he said, “We might be able to formally request a buyback. But only if we can first prove criminal negligence.”

  Sonya stared down the empty corridor. “But a buyback would mean we’d have to come up with the money, correct?”

  “Their original investment of seven million dollars,” Adrian confirmed. “Plus interest.”

  Ethan offered, “I might be able to help with that.”

  “First things first.” Adrian kept his hand lightly resting on Sonya’s shoulder. “For now, we need to focus on getting those animals off our backs.”

  “So . . . I have to testify again.”

  Adrian patted her shoulder. “Sweetheart, I wish you could have seen yourself up there.”

  “I forgot where I was for a while. Then it all snapped back into focus, and I was terrified all over again.”

  “You were a pro.” Adrian turned to Gina. “All right if you take over from here and the two of you go grab a bite somewhere?”

  “If you think that’s best.” She stepped up beside Sonya.

  “Gary and I need to put our heads together,” Adrian went on. “I need to see how his new intel might fit into the dance. And I want Ethan with us in case he comes up with another idea.”

  “Part of one, anyway,” Ethan corrected.

  Sonya asked, “Why can’t we hear?”

  “Because if his new information is good—”

  “It’s better than good,” Gary said. He imitated Tony the Tiger. “It’s grrreat.”

  “—it may help if you hear it first on the stand. Your reaction can influence the judge’s.” When Sonya did not object further, Adrian asked Gary, “You mind buying the three of us drinks and sandwiches from the diner?”

  “No problem.”

  “We’ll grab my car and meet you out front.” He was already heading for the stairs. “Fast as you can.”

  Adrian pulled into Lavern Street and parked where they could look out over the park and the sparkling Saint Johns River. Gary handed out sandwiches and Cokes.

  Adrian unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite. “First, tell us where you vanished off to.”

  “Bahamas.” To Ethan, “You’ll be seeing that on my expense report.”

  The meat and relish fragrances defied the air conditioner’s wash. “That’s what the money is for.”

  “Hold it right there,” Adrian said. “Did your trip involve offering bribes?”

  When Gary hesitated, Adrian shook his head. “No, no, as an officer of the legal system I can’t be party to that.”

  Gary looked to Ethan. “So . . .”

  Ethan suggested, “You tell me in strictest confidence. All I tell Adrian is what we’ve learned. Not how we got here.”

  Adrian took a thoughtful bite, then opened his door and stepped into the sunlight.

  Ethan said, “Go ahead.”

  Gary watched Adrian. “Beryl Aldain.”

  “The lady spook.”

  “She’s more than that. She’s an officer of the Bahamian trust group.”

  Ethan knocked on his window. When Adrian glanced over, he gestured and shouted, “Get in.”

  “We can’t use this,” Adrian said.

  “It’s solid intel,” Gary protested.

  “I don’t disagree. But I’m telling you we can’t reveal that we know this. Not in court.”

  Ethan said, “Explain why in terms we might understand.”

  “Opposing counsel will demand to know how we learned this, which would require Gary to be sworn in as witness. Either Gary perjures himself, which I can’t allow, or he tells them how he bribed an island attorney—”

  “Secretary.”

  “I didn’t hear that. He paid money for confidential information. Which, just so we’re clear, is deemed classified by both governments. The US Congress is going to change the relevant code, and soon. But for the moment, the law is against us. Officers of a Bahamian trust may legally remain invisible.” Adrian sipped from his drink. “If I divulge this knowledge, Jimmy Carstairs will shout his objection, and Durnin will have no choice but to throw our case out of court.”

  Gary bundled up his trash. “Sorry.”

  “No, no, don’t misunderstand me. What Ethan has told me in strictest confidence is crucial information.”

  “Just not in court,” Ethan said.

  “The question is,” Adrian asked, “how can we legally bring this information to light and place it in the court record?”

  Gary said, “So, you’re saying I did good?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Adrian started the car. “But what Ethan told me is absolutely explosive. An officer of Cemitrex and board member of the Bahamian parent-trust would rather resign than give testimony. Why? To my mind it suggests that Beryl Aldain has remained viscerally connected to Cemitrex. Perhaps she’s also a full-time employee of the nation’s most secretive military lab. Which means . . .”

  When Adrian went silent, Ethan pressed, “It means what?”

  His brother turned off the motor and just sat there, staring blindly at the sunlit river.

  “Earth to Adrian.”

  “Something you said back in the garage.”

  “About going on the attack?”

  Adrian bobbed his head from side to side. “That other thing. About looking at their acquisition from the standpoint of a totally different motive.”

  “And?”

  “Something Sonya told me—it must have been a year ago or longer. They started killing their test subjects.”

  Gary’s head jerked around. “You mean, they murdered patients and didn’t let on?”

  Adrian’s gaze sharpened. “Of course not, you dodo. What do you take my wife for?”

  “As of twenty seconds ago, I have no idea.”

  “They were lab animals, you idiot. And she didn’t murder them. They died.”

  Ethan asked, “From what?”

  Adrian restarted the car and backed from the space. “That’s exactly what I need to ask Sonya.” He accelerated into traffic. “Jimmy Carstairs is about to have himself a very bad day.”

  CHAPTER

  FORTY-TWO

  When the judge seated himself, his first words were, “Mr. Barrett, you may proceed.”

  Jimmy Carstairs remained standing. “If it please the court.”

  “What is it now, sir?”

  “Your Honor, I respectfully request an adjournment until tomorrow.”

  Durnin took a two-fisted grip on the gavel. “And why, pray tell, would I consider giving up a perfectly fine afternoon session?”

  Carstairs began clearing his throat again. Only now it was between every second or third word, as if the act of speaking at all had become a terrible strain. “Your Honor, I have been instructed by my clients that a matter of utmost urgency has arisen.”

  “Have you.”

  “Yes, Your Honor. They assure me all the required information in regard to opposing counsel’s queries will be supplied tomorrow. Next week at the very latest.”

  “Is that so.” The judge turned to Adrian. “What do you have to say to that, Mr. Barrett?”

  “This only confirms my worst suspicions, Your Honor.”

  “Explain.”

  “Given what has come to light, I suspect Cemitrex’s Washington lawyers are scrambling to block this inquiry from uncovering their dark and dirty secrets.”

  “Your Honor, I protest in the strongest possible terms.” Yet even now there was an absence of real force, as if Jimmy Carstairs had become an actor already removed from the stage. “That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.”

  “All right, enough.” Judge Durnin’s voice had grown plac
id. “Mr. Carstairs, your motion is denied. Mr. Barrett, you may recall your witness to the stand.”

  “We were speaking,” Adrian began, “of control. And what this means to your patients.”

  Sonya appeared considerably calmer. She had made it to the witness stand on her own, and now she sat with her hands together in her lap, her gaze locked on Adrian. Alert. Ready. “As I said, when we offer the patient a risk-free method of alleviating their pain from at least half of the attacks, fear becomes less of a burden. It stops triggering more attacks.”

  Adrian stood behind his table, keeping the carpeted distance between himself and the three people at the front of the chamber—Judge Durnin, the court reporter, and Sonya. “What happens when the frequencies don’t work?”

  “They use the prescription drugs, of course. But these attacks happen less frequently, remember. Which means the risk of damaging side effects—”

  Carstairs lumbered to his feet. “Your Honor, we have gone over and over this.”

  “Not in this form, Your Honor.” Adrian studied the other attorney, as if confused by his opponent’s lack of heat. “Not with the facts I am about to uncover.”

  “Overruled. Proceed.”

  Adrian returned his attention to Sonya. “The alleviation of chronic pain was not your only direction of research. Was it?”

  Sonya’s nervousness returned. “Of course it was.”

  Adrian went not just silent but utterly still. Ethan had the brief sensation that his brother had become poised at the edge of a cliff, gathering himself, readying for the dive.

  “But there was a second direction you took,” Adrian said.

  “Briefly. It was a mistake. A terrible one.” Each word added to Sonya’s tension. “Why on earth do you want to talk about my failures?”

  Judge Durnin’s voice had gone as soft as Adrian’s. “Witness will restrict herself to answering counsel’s questions.”

  Adrian said, “What else did your lab seek to develop?”

  “Develop is the wrong word. We tried to apply our research to a second chronic condition. Briefly. We failed.”

  “When was this?”

  “We finally gave up hope five and a half months ago.”

  “That timing is crucial, don’t you agree?”

  Carstairs did not rise. “Your Honor, please.”

  “If you wish to make an objection, Mr. Carstairs, you may do so.”

  “Leading the witness. Asking for her to infer a conclusion.”

  Durnin gave him another tight inspection but merely replied, “Sustained.”

  Adrian asked, “When did Cemitrex announce their intention to acquire your company?”

  “Five and a half . . .” Sonya released a tight breath.

  “Yes? When precisely did they inform you of their intentions?”

  “Five and a half months ago.” Her voice had gone very soft.

  “We’ll come back to the timing in just a moment. First I ask you to explain to the court what you were studying.” When Sonya did not respond, Adrian picked up his notebook and slowly shifted to the podium, drawing silent emphasis to what came next. “Explain to the court about this second application.”

  “Failed application,” she softly corrected. “We sought to apply frequency modulation of brain-wave activity to epileptic seizures.”

  “Can you give us a bit more detailed information?” Adrian gave an actor’s smile. “In terms we might hopefully be able to follow.”

  “Epilepsy is a condition in which repeated bursts of electrical activity in the brain cause bodily seizures.” Sonya did not return his smile. Her gaze was hollowed by memories. Her voice was a mere shadow of the determined researcher Ethan had known before. “Some of the main causes of epilepsy include low oxygen during birth, head injuries, brain tumors, certain genetic disorders such as tuberous sclerosis, and brain infections like meningitis or encephalitis.”

  “But you did not succeed, is that correct?”

  “That is too mild a term. We failed spectacularly. In some cases, we actually made the seizures worse.”

  “And in others?”

  “We stopped the subjects’ hearts.”

  “You killed your subjects?”

  “Stone dead.”

  “We’re not talking about human patients, mind you.”

  “No. This was one reason why we chose to at least try to help epileptic sufferers. Seizures can readily be induced in laboratory conditions, either through electrodes or by creating a chemical imbalance in the brain.”

  Adrian wrote in his notebook. He turned the page and continued writing.

  Finally the judge demanded, “Are you through with this witness, Mr. Barrett?”

  “Not quite, Your Honor.”

  “Then stop wasting the court’s time and get on with it.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor.” Adrian lifted his notepad from the podium. “Permission to approach the witness.”

  “Granted.”

  He lifted his podium, crossed the carpeted expanse, and planted himself directly in front of the judge’s dais. “Can you tell us why your experiments failed here, yet you were able to help sufferers of chronic pain?”

  “We think we know.” It was just the two of them again, resuming a conversation they must have had a hundred times before. One that caused Sonya very real distress. “Chronic pain and epileptic seizures have several factors in common. Most importantly, they both impact a number of different areas of the brain simultaneously. But with seizures in adults, the key area appears to be the mesial part of the temporal lobe. This lies directly adjacent to the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla oblongata.”

  “And this is important because . . .”

  “Those three regions control all the body’s unconscious functions. Namely respiration, digestion, and the heart.”

  “So when you identified the correct frequency for that particular lab subject and applied it to the patient’s brain . . .”

  “In seventy-six percent of the patients, we completely halted all core bodily functions. Heart and breathing stopped instantaneously.”

  “But that is not all that happened . . .” Adrian stopped as Carstairs rose to his feet.

  “Yes, Mr. Carstairs?”

  “Once again, Your Honor, I must respectfully request an adjournment.”

  “Asked and answered.”

  “Your Honor, the situation surrounding this case has now changed.” Carstairs had an oily sheen to his features. His forehead had become a fractured mirror for the overhead lights. “My clients have instructed me that certain lines may not be crossed. I am required to inform the court that this case has now entered restricted territory.”

  Ethan noticed then that his brother was not watching Carstairs. Instead, Adrian rested his right hand on the railing that surrounded the witness box and focused fully on his wife. Sonya started to reach for him, her features creased with a deep pain and something more. A realization, a new level of understanding. They both looked so very sad. Resigned. As if their worst fears had just been realized. Sonya did not quite touch her husband’s hand. But Ethan had the distinct impression that the bond was complete just the same.

  The silent communication was not lost on the judge. Durnin’s gaze shifted from Carstairs to Adrian to Sonya. “Restricted in what way?”

  “May the record show that I have formally requested an adjournment, Your Honor.” Carstairs wiped his face as he bent over his table and lifted what Ethan could see was a handwritten sheet. “You will be notified by a senior official in the Department of Justice that the case must be shifted to federal court.”

  “In case the facts have escaped you, Mr. Carstairs, no one in Washington has the power to redirect actions taken inside my courtroom . . .” Durnin stopped when Adrian turned so that his sad smile was directed at the judge. “Yes, Mr. Barrett? You have something that might illuminate this situation?”

  “Perhaps, Your Honor. I respectfully request a meeting in chambers.”

 
; CHAPTER

  FORTY-THREE

  Ethan knew what happened next because Adrian shared the events with them over dinner. At the time, it felt like a sudden vacuum had swept in and overtaken the courtroom. Sonya was ushered off the witness stand by the security guard. Everyone stood. Judge Durnin filed out, followed by the court reporter and Adrian. Carstairs hesitated a long moment, then signaled for his two staffers to remain where they were. The young attorneys drifted slowly back into their chairs. Ethan had no idea whether their confusion was due to what had just happened or by their boss not wanting them along for the ride.

  As soon as they entered the judge’s chambers, Carstairs started talking a mile a minute. “This notification from Washington is actually a positive development, Your Honor. It will take us quite a while to identify someone within the group’s senior executives who carries the same level of authority and insider knowledge as the absent Ms. Aldain. This shift to federal court saves Your Honor a considerable amount of otherwise wasted time.”

  The court reporter plunked herself down in a hard-backed chair by the door and hastened to keep up with Carstairs’s speech. Judge Durnin took his time rounding the desk and settling into his chair. All the while, he held his dark gaze on Adrian, who had taken up station by the side window. Adrian stared at the sky and the gathering afternoon clouds, nodding in time to Carstairs’s words, as if everything he heard confirmed his reason for this meeting.

  When Carstairs paused for breath, the judge said, “There are two incorrect elements to your statement, Mr. Carstairs. First, there is nothing positive about your informing me that a Washington bureaucrat, no matter how high up the food chain, might presume to remove a case from my courtroom.”

  “Your Honor—”

  “I’m not finished. And secondly, you were the one who kept telling the court that this acquisition is a matter of utmost urgency.” He glanced at Adrian as if expecting him to pounce on this opportunity. But Adrian merely continued to inspect the world beyond the courtroom. “If time is of such crucial importance to your clients, they will be able to produce someone who can illuminate this situation without delay.”