"We'll come back to the signing protocol in a bit. Does this consent address the living lens procedure in particular and mention any statistics on success/failure rates?"

"No and no."

"You said 'most' of the patient records you saw. Does this have something to do with the signing protocol you mentioned?"

"Yes. Not long after I began working at the clinic I observed first-hand that the doctors would not always obtain a consent prior to surgery. One time in particular, one of the doctors obtained the signature of a patient under the influence of twilight anesthesia after I pointed out his oversight."

"Can a person physically sign his name while under this twilight anesthesia?"

"Yes."

Jeanette sensed the unease in the courtroom. People were wondering what they'd done under the influence of anesthesia.

"Is that doctor in the courtroom today?" Evan looked directly at Rutherford.

"No. Dr. Randolph's dead."

Evan nodded. He walked over to the plaintiff's table. Monique pulled something out and showed it to him.

To Jeanette, it seemed that the people in the courtroom were holding their breath. All eyes were on Evan. They were waiting to see what he would pull out of the hat next. He had them in the palm of his hand.

"Ms. LaFleur, did you go to Dr. Rutherford with your concerns?"

"I went to him about the consents. He was most upset and told me he would speak to Dr. Randolph. Later, a new consent was created, and I saw to it that all patients signed it at the acceptance of the patient into the study."

"I'm handing you what is marked as Plaintiff's Exhibit 30. Is this the new consent?"

"Yes."

"Does it contain statistics about the success/failure rate of the Living Lens

procedure?"

"No. It does explain in detail the risks of the procedure, but classifies them as minimal."

Evan proffered the exhibit to be entered into the record. After making another

trip to the court reporter's table, he returned to the witness stand and leaned

on the wood barrier.

"Didn't it bother you that the new and improved consent failed to list specific statistics about the procedure's success rate and merely classified them as minimal?"

"No. Because at that time I hadn't yet finished the database. I assumed the stats I'd seen were accurate and that the risks were minimal."

"You trusted Dr. Rutherford's say-so on the risks?"

"Yes. At that time, I did. Everyone did."

"Aha." Evan's deep baritone whisper carried far beyond the front of the courtroom.

"Your Honor!"

"Take your seat, Mr. Dubois." The judge ordered, then turned to Evan.

"Counsel, I suggest you keep your editorial noises to yourself, please."

"Yes, your Honor. I apologize."

The jury was eating this up, Jeanette realized. Evan was playing to them -- and

to the press.

"When you found the discrepancy between the billing records and the patient records," Evan continued, "did you take that to Rutherford?"

"Yes. He told me the people who'd held the job prior to me were inept. He

thanked me for getting on top of things. Told me I was doing a good job."

"What did you do then?"

"I tried to reconstruct the missing patient files."

"How could you do that?"

"Well, I remembered Dr. Payton had made some comments that she and Dr.

Warren were seeing some of the living lens patients in their clinic at the university. So I asked her about them."

"And is that when you found out about the failures?"

"Yes."

"Was Lynn Barrios one of those failures?"

"Yes."

"Were there others?"

"Yes. Dr. Payton offered to spread the word to other eye physicians seeing

living lens failures. They would approach their patients to see if they would be willing to come forward with their stories."

"And did they?"

"Yes."

"You have those stories?"

"Yes. I felt I needed to document the actual results of the procedure."

"Why did you feel the need to document the actual results?"

"To get the project shut down. I didn't want anymore patients endangered.

Plus, there was more going on than just further harm to patients."

"What else was going on that you felt the need to go on a one-woman

campaign to get the project shut down?"

"Your honor, I object. Plaintiff's counsel seems to be heading away from the medical issues in this case and looking to propose some sort of conspiracy theory involving my client."

Evan turned and pointed a finger at Dubois. "I didn't propose any such thing.

You just did."

The judge sighed loudly. He pushed his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose.

"Mr. Devereaux, it does seem that you are tripping off the path here of medical malpractice and reckless endangerment of one Lynn Barrios. Please keep your questions on the applicable issues in this case. If there is a conspiracy theory, it is not for this court to rule on it. Objection sustained."

"Yes, your Honor." Evan turned to Jeanette and smiled. "I have no further questions for this witness."

The judge checked his watch. "Mr. Dubois, your witness."

"I would like to reserve the right to cross-examine this witness later, your Honor, after my case-in-chief."

"Highly irregular, Mr. Dubois. You have any objections, Mr. Devereaux?"

"No, your Honor, just so long as I may reserve my right for rebuttal."

"Granted. You may step down, Ms. LaFleur. Please keep yourself available. And please do not discuss your testimony with anyone until after Mr. Dubois cross-examines you."

Jeanette nodded and stepped out of the witness box. The eyes of the entire courtroom followed her back to her seat.

"Since the hour is quite close to the lunchtime, we'll recess now and resume at one o'clock. Court dismissed."

The judge rose and with him the court.

Back at the plaintiff's table, Evan turned to Lynn and patted her shoulder. Then he turned to Jeanette. "You did a wonderful job up there. The jury was impressed."

"The press were writing like crazy about the missing sixty percent of files," Tony said.

Evan grinned. "Well, I figure we are at least assured of a full house at our post-trial press conference. Especially after Dubois slipped up and classified my attempt to wander off the path as proposing a conspiracy. I expected him to object. Then I would have given the hint. He saved me the effort."

"But it wasn't allowed in."

Jeanette was confused -- or maybe she wasn't processing because she was bone-tired.

"No, and it shouldn't have been. It isn't relevant to the case at hand. But I wanted the press to hear whatever I could get in after Dubois objected. As I said, he played right into my hands. There is a conspiracy, and we'll lay out the facts for that in the press conference."

"What facts?" Tony asked.

"Evan is going to give them the documentation from the Eye Bank about the donor tissue and SRP tissue," Jeanette said. "With the copies of the billing records, the press will have a starting place to investigate the money angle. We're also hoping DEA and Customs will be ready to share some of the information that Scott found in Brazil about One World and its connections to Rutherford."

Jeanette choked back the tears that welled in her eyes at the thought of Scott and his sacrifice. She'd made it this far. She refused to be weak now.