Judge Florian bared his teeth-then became aware of what he had done. "We'll take a ten-minute break," he said.
In a corner of the hallway Dennis wiped a little sweat from his forehead. He said to Mickey Karp, "What do you think?"
"You're making enemies."
"Do you think the jury will see that too?"
"The judge can pull the rug out from under you."
"At his peril."
"Ray's going to fight you as hard as he ever fought anybody in his life."
"I'm counting on it," Dennis said.
After the break, Dr. Shepard testified that Nurse Beatrice Henderson had given flu shots to hundreds of patients over a period of years, that on other occasions she had administered intravenous injections, and that she was highly skilled at her work.
"Do you know what Versed is, Doctor?"
"It's a sedative."
"Do you know what Pentothal is?"
"An anesthetic."
"And potassium chloride? What is that?"
"A chemical generally used to correct an imbalance of potassium in a patient."
"In what dosage is it generally administered?"
"Relatively small. Two or three cubic centimeters."
"Why is it not given in larger doses?"
"In large doses it becomes a deadly poison."
"Would the defendant, as a skilled nurse, be able to administer those three items-the sedative, the anesthetic, and that poison-to a person? Does she have the necessary skills to give those three injections?"
"She could easily do that," Dr. Shepard said.
"Pass the witness," Ray Bond concluded.
Dennis stood but stayed where he was at the defense table, with Bibsy on one side and Scott and Mickey Karp on the other. Only in the movies and in TV courtroom scenes, for the benefit of camera angles and melodrama, did lawyers move close to the witness chair and invade that sacrosanct territory. In real trials it required permission from the judge, and the permission was given only for a valid reason, such as the examination of a document.
"Dr. Shepard," Dennis began, "have you personally ever given a patient an injection of potassium chloride?"
"Yes, but not recently."
"I didn't ask you when you gave it, Doctor. Please try to answer just what I ask you. Can you do that?"
"Yes, of course."
"Have you ever administered what you would call a large and deadly dose of potassium chloride to a patient?"
"Of course not," Dr. Shepard said, frowning.
"Why not?"
"Because I told you, it's a deadly poison. It kills you."
"Did you ever see Nurse Beatrice Henderson administer such a lethal dose of potassium chloride to a patient?"
"No."
"Have you ever seen such a lethal dose of potassium chloride administered to a human being by anyone?"
"No. Definitely not."
"But you know how it would be done, don't you?"
"Well, it's an intravenous injection-goes into a vein-and you just inject it the way you inject any large dose of anything intravenously."
"But you've never seen it done."
"No."
"So your knowledge of how it's done is only theoretical, isn't it, Doctor?"
"Objection," Ray Bond snapped. "He's badgering this witness."
"Your Honor," Dennis said, "I'm trying to get at the truth and to find out what the witness means."
"Objection sustained," the judge said. "You don't have to answer the question, Doctor. Rephrase, Mr. Conway."
"That won't be necessary, Your Honor. Thank you." Dennis turned back to the doctor. "Sir, considering that you yourself have never administered a lethal dose of potassium chloride to a patient, and by your own admission you've never seen it done by anyone else-you cannot say, beyond doubt, that Beatrice Henderson is now capable of administering such an injection, can you?"
"Well..."
"I repeat, Doctor-beyond doubt."
"Well, not beyond any doubt. But she was a nurse. She knew how to give injections. It's not so difficult. It's not like an operation or anything."
"Do you have reason to believe that she knew how to give lethal injections?"
The doctor stared at him. "I don't know how to answer that question," he said.
"Try yes or no," Dennis said.
"Would you repeat it?"
"Do you know for a fact that Beatrice Henderson, a retired nurse and midwife, knew how to administer lethal injections?"
"Not exactly, the way you put it," the doctor said. "I just assume she would."
"Is that an answer," Dennis asked, "leaning toward yes, or is it an answer leaning toward no? Which, Dr. Shepard?"
"If you insist, it's leaning toward yes. She knew."
"But with a little push, a little tap perhaps, it could lean toward no?"
"Objection!"
"Sustained."
"No further questions." Dennis sat down.
Chapter 20.
Bubo Virginianus
MORRIS GREEN WAS a first-rate cardiologist who had moved with his family from Miami to Aspen. Under questioning by Ray Bond he testified that Bibsy Henderson was his patient, and that for the sake of her blocked coronary arteries and history of variant angina he had prescribed a daily regimen of Ismo, Cardizem, enteric aspirin, and magnesium with vitamin B6.
"And did you also recommend that she carry nitroglycerin with her at all times?"
"Yes, I did."
"Do you have the defendant's case file here with you in court?"
"I do."
"Referring to that file, Dr. Green, can you tell the jury when you last wrote a prescription for Mrs. Henderson for nitroglycerin?"
"On June 17,1994. About ten months ago."
Bond then elicited from Dr. Green a concise explanation of the tendency of nitroglycerin pills to disintegrate over a period of time, and thus the need for renewed prescriptions every twelve to eighteen months.
Dennis asked no questions.
Next came a registered pharmacist, Margaret Easter, from the City Market pharmacy in Carbondale. She produced a computer-generated printout of her pharmacy's records and testified that Beatrice Henderson had filled her nitroglycerin prescriptions at City Market for more than five years, and the last such batch of pills had been given to her on June 17,1994.
"That's ten months ago, more or less?"
"Yes sir."
Never one to neglect what he perceived as an opportunity to strike two blows where one would do, Ray Bond queried Ms. Easter about the disintegration time of nitroglycerin pills-particularly the brand called Nitrostat. She repeated what Dr. Green had said.
This time Dennis took the opportunity to cross-examine.
"Ms. Easter, am I correct that Nitrostat is sold by Parke-Davis, a pharmaceutical supply division of the Warner-Lambert Company?" Margaret Easter turned a little pink. "I think so, but I'm not a hundred percent sure."
"Would it refresh your memory if I showed you a bottle of the pills?" Dennis held one up in his hand: a tiny bottle an inch and a half long and about half an inch in diameter.
"No, you don't have to do that," Easter said. "You're right."
"And the pills are manufactured in Morris Plains, New Jersey, isn't that correct?"
"I believe so."
"And sold in pharmacies throughout the United States?"
"Yes."
"In Florida, and New York, and California, and Texas, and Alaska, as well as in Colorado, wouldn't you say?"
"I'm sure that's true."
"And all those states have different climates, don't they?"
She thought a moment. "I think they do, yes."
"Well, does Colorado have the same climate as Texas?"
"No, certainly not."
"But Parke-Davis sells the same bottle of Nitrostat in Houston as it does in Carbondale, doesn't it?"
"Yes, it does. Yes, certainly."
"Have you ever been to Houston?"
"I was born and brought up there," Easter said, as Dennis knew she would.
"What's the climate like?"