"The whole panel, that's who. That stupid son of a b.i.t.c.h, Ian, admitted to it."

"Don't worry so, Henry. Surely you can explain that away as a misstatement on his part. He can just say that he didn't understand the question and. . ."

"I've already done that with the panel but I can't keep up forever explaining away every b.o.n.e.r they pull. I've got to call Lyle back to testify again and the panel wants to hear from one of his faculty, Ann Biggot, and from Jimbo as well."

"What can I do to help you, Henry."

"Get on their a.s.ses, please, John. Those dilettantes in the medical school just made a very poor showing.

They weren't prepared or. . .would you believe, John, that Lyle couldn't even remember how many SmurFFs he was given and the dean contradicted a vital part of his testimony.

Both Ian and Randy stunk. Please, lower the boom on Lyle and the others slated to testify tomorrow. They have got to do their homework."

"I'll get right on it, Henry. Don't worry now. Just remember that we can keep everyone--reporters, local, state and federal-- out of our business simply by claiming academic privilege.

There is nothing we can't explain away. Nothing we can't make disappear if we need to."

"OK, John, and thanks."

"Right. Good evening, Henry."

Henry hung up the phone and stretched. Strange, he thought, sniffing the air experimentally, I don't smell anything cooking.

Wonder if we're going out for dinner. For that matter, I wonder where Kate is, haven't heard her moving around. Oh, well, she's probably in the back yard.

Resigning himself to the distinct possibility that he would have to get ready for another night out, he went in search of her.

The kitchen first, he decided. I'll grab something out of the refrigerator to eat and. . .what's this note on the table?

Henry started to read it and then sat down heavily in a nearby chair to finish reading. "Be d.a.m.ned," he breathed.

"She's left me."

THE HEARING - DAY 3

Chapter 23

The next morning, the panel members looked relaxed and confident.

Henry hoped there would be now more gaffes, especially since The Pope had gotten after them. He congratulated himself for thinking to ask. He knew from experience that The Pope could be very persuasive.

The first witness called by the panel was the university attorney, Mark Rogers. He entered the room, spoke to everyone there, addressing them by name, and took the seat indicated just across from Diana.

Mark would never be called handsome. He carried a bit too much weight in his face for that. He was, however, garrulous.

This part of his character endeared him to the administration that he served so well, since his long winded approach to any problem brought to him, bored most people to death before they got any answer.

This saved the administrators the problem of dealing with most complaints brought by faculty and staff. If the administrators wanted some legal answers, they contacted a real lawyer, usually Simon Murrain, from a high priced law firm in town.

Mark had never had any success as an attorney in the real world, but here in the cloistered world of academia, he flourished.

In the rapidly changing meaning of words, Mark knew which side of the b.u.t.ter the bread was on. He could lie or tell the truth with the same absolute conviction.

And now he was giving an ample demonstration of this to the panel.

He knew that he had been called in because Henry was terrified that the doc.u.ment examiner's evidence had been overturned by the defense testimony. He also knew that the three women on the panel were not disposed favorably to the a.n.a.lyst who had come to testify. Well, by golly, he thought, old Mark will put out the fire.

In answer to a simple question, Mark replied by starting from when he graduated from law school and tracing his entire career.

Along the way, he revealed, he had discovered these particular doc.u.ment examiners.

For all his verbosity, he was convincing. Henry was pleased.

After all, he was an attorney. Who would know better how courts and evidence worked than an attorney? Then too, Mark had been the one to send the 'suspect' evaluations to the a.n.a.lyst that he, himself, had recommended. Mark had ordered the material from Diana's personnel file, so he could attest to the legality of it.

Jane observed that the other members of the panel, immersed in his tale, seemingly failed to realize that he confirmed several interruptions in the chain of custody of the doc.u.ments he was referring to.

Most notable was when he was asked to identify the various packets of handwriting evidence that was marked as exhibits for this hearing.

He either, "hadn't reviewed them closely enough to determine. . ."

or claimed that he "honestly didn't recall who I received the note from (the note Lyle's friend had found 'strange')," as answers to direct questions from the panel.

Henry, hoping to create some clarity, put the finishing touches on the breaks in the chain of custody of the 'suspect' doc.u.ments that were being discussed. "Oh, the problem here must be because some of the packets have been separated apart."

Jane noticed that Mark also had only vague recollections as to when all these things took place. He prefaced every phrase with, "to the best of my recollection" or "at best I can recall,"

in proper attorney fashion, proving that he had, after all, gotten something out of law school.

Having agreed, with Henry's prompting, that he did remember getting five radiology SmurFFs from Lyle, two nursing nutrition SmurFFs from Jimbo, he was handed a note, referred to as 'Lyle's friend's strange note' by Henry and asked, "And did you also sent the doc.u.ment examiners this note?"

"This would appear to be the original note; the only thing that I have seen is a copy of this note. I don't believe until now I had actually seen an original."

Good Lord, thought Jane. Surely someone should question this.

The doc.u.ment examiner testified that ALL the 'suspect' doc.u.ments were originals and now Mark, the guy that sent them to the examiners, is saying he has only seen a copy.

He's vague and unsure of most everything he claims he was involved in and most of his evidence is what someone else told him or that he 'had a.s.sumed'. This was the kind of testimony that Henry had been so critical of when the defense witnesses were examined, calling it second hand information. Apparently, coming from the university attorney, it is considered to be all right, Jane commented to herself. At one point, with help from Henry, Mark brought forth information that Jane thought might be triple hearsay.

He said, "I remember now that Jimbo told me that Lyle told him that Lyle's friend had found the note."

Not a voice was raised in complaint from the panel.

And not from me either, thought Jane. I'm not sticking my neck out when a lawyer is testifying.

Henry appeared to be pleased. Mark had done well enough even though he had been a bit shaky on dates. Anyway, the panel didn't seem to notice. He had established handwriting a.n.a.lysis as nearly infallible--not by evidence, not by proof, but solely because he said so.

He was pleased when cross examination by Diana was continually broken into by the panel. As a result of this, the question of the dates when these things happened was never really established.

As things stood, Lyle, Randy and now Mark had all given conflicting dates concerning when these doc.u.ments were sent out for a.n.a.lysis, when each received them and what each received.

However, under tenacious questioning by Diana, Mark divulged that the 'strange' note, apparently sent as an afterthought, had only been looked at by the examiners the day before coming to testify.

That was why he had only seen a copy of it since the original was given to them on their arrival by Henry. Their opinion was not conclusive, but they thought it probable that Diana had printed it. They were wise to vacillate on this, Mark observed, since their supply of printing standards was very limited.

Because of the way Mark presented this, the panel was left with the impression that had there been enough standards, the doc.u.ment examiner would certainly have found that Diana had printed it.

An angry exchange occurred when Diana protested strongly that here was another piece of evidence that she was surprised with after being told that she had received all of it.

Henry smiled vacuously and said, "It was introduced yesterday."

"I never saw it."

"It was in the a.n.a.lyst's report for you to see."