The Namedropper (29 page)

‘Bob has had to go to persuade Alyce to show up,' announced Beckwith. ‘She called him last night, saying her doctor was prepared to appear today and say the strain would be too much for her to be in court.'

‘I don't want to be kept here another day,' protested Abrahams, at once. I should have been back in New York today; my diary's shot to hell!'

‘You will be back tonight,' promised Beckwith. ‘We can go on in her absence, with the judge's agreement; she's not part of my application. But Bob thinks Pullinger would consider it a spoilt girl's cop-out and I agree. I don't want to lose whatever we might have gained yesterday.' He looked at Abrahams. ‘We've managed to get print-outs of Chapman's medical journal papers you talked about last night, back at the hotel. They could turn out to be very useful.'

‘When will we know if Alyce is going to show up?' asked Jordan.

‘Bob's going to call from his cellphone.' The lawyer looked very directly at Jordan, as if expecting him to say more, but Jordan didn't.

‘You think I could safely make a late afternoon reservation back to New York?' asked the doctor.

‘Maybe wait a while: give ourselves an hour in court to see how things go.'

They rode unspeaking to the Raleigh courthouse, using the same entry route as the previous day through connected city buildings. Jordan looked intently through the windows as they walked, but failed to detect any photographic ambush.

Beckwith's cellphone went as they were ascending the inner steps leading up to their assigned court. The lawyer hunched briefly over it, his back to the flow of people up and down the stairs. Turning back to Jordan, he said. ‘Alyce is coming. So's her doctor.'

Alyce looked visibly ill, walking falteringly but unaided and in total contrast to the striding confidence that Jordan remembered from her entry into the Carlyle hotel just a few days earlier. There was no make-up at all and the plain black dress, devoid of any jewellery, accentuated the pallor of her face. Again she ignored everyone, including Jordan, but when she reached her adjacent table she turned back for the reassurance of her doctor's presence. The man was about the same age as Alyce, bespectacled and blond haired. He'd taken a seat directly behind her, nodding in reassurance at her look. Reid did not go directly to sit beside Alyce but continued on to the court clerk, gesturing as he talked to the blond newcomer. The clerk, in turn, had a whispered conversation with Pullinger after the judge's arrival and Pullinger said at once, ‘Mr Reid?'

‘I should explain, your honour, that with your honour's agreement the man sitting directly behind my client is Dr Walter Harding, the medical director of the Bellamy Foundation hospital here in Raleigh,' introduced the lawyer. ‘Mrs Appleton is in court today with great difficulty, brought on by the strain of this matter. Dr Harding is prepared to testify before you, should your honour require it, as to Mrs Appleton's physical condition. He is also prepared to remain in court, with your agreement, to ensure Mrs Appleton's condition does not deteriorate further.'

The frowning judge looked invitingly to where Bartle and Wolfson sat. Bartle came at once to his feet and said, ‘It is
regrettable that Mrs Appleton is feeling such strain but I would remind the court that distress and strain are inevitable consequences of proceedings such as these which have not, in this case, actually begun yet. And that we hope Mrs Appleton recovers sufficiently to avoid any serious disruption or delay.'

‘Sentiments with which I fully concur,' said Wolfson, rising as Bartle sat.

‘As do I,' said Pullinger. ‘And with which I am sure you also agree, Mr Reid?'

‘Absolutely, your honour. And thank you for the court's understanding.'

Jordan was close enough to his own lawyer to hear Beckwith whisper, ‘Shit!'

‘Still on the subject of delay, I trust we are ready to proceed on the matter of medical submissions?' asked the judge, going back to the two opposing lawyers.

This time they both rose together, each holding a bundle of papers separated by various tags. ‘These are redrawn medical reports prepared overnight by Drs Chapman and Lewell, upon which my fellow attorney, Mr Wolfson, would also like to address the court,' announced Bartle.

Jordan was conscious of a movement from Beckwith, close beside him, but there was no whispered conversation.

Pullinger allowed some silence to build up in the court before saying, ‘Mr Beckwith?'

‘My expert witness, Dr Abrahams – at some professional and personal inconvenience – has remained here in Raleigh to assist your court, your honour,' opened Beckwith, as he stood. ‘I very sincerely hope that he will not be detained beyond today. I equally hope that we will be able, expertly and professionally, to examine these new submissions, by recalling Dr Abrahams to the stand to give this court the benefit of his expertise. I would also respectfully ask, pending whatsoever is to emerge from the statements this court has yet to hear from the attorneys representing Alfred Appleton and Leanne Jefferies, that their respective expert medical witnesses can be called to the stand to be examined on oath upon their resubmitted findings.'

There was immediate and obvious movement between the two now identified venerealogists, culminating with Chapman groping forward to attract Bartle's attention. The attorney half turned towards the gesture but shrugged it off. Instead he rose to say, ‘Your honour, I hope already to have indicated an apology to your court, for a totally inadvertent misunderstanding which I am quite satisfied I can explain to your honour without any further need to protract what is, after all, a subsidiary matter to the main purpose of this court.'

‘Your honour!' erupted Beckwith, before Pullinger could respond and by so doing coming close to being over-theatrical. ‘I am going to refrain from making the most obvious comments upon what has just been said to your court. Mr Bartle and Mr Wolfson have their expert witnesses behind them in this court! What earthly reason is there for those expert witnesses
not
being called to be questioned about their original findings, which could have substantial import upon my application before you today and which I in no way consider subsidiary?'

‘A question I would be interested in having answered for me,' commented Pullinger. ‘Can you help me, Mr Bartle?'

It was not Appleton's attorney who responded but that of Leanne Jefferies. To fresh movement behind both opposing lawyers, the bewhiskered Wolfson said, ‘Your honour, I wish to assure this court that my expert witness, Dr Jane Lewell, is at your court's disposal.'

‘As is mine,' tightly conceded Bartle.

The skeletal Pullinger let the court subside into foot-shuffling, throat-clearing near silence, his vulture-eyed concentration unbroken upon the right of his court. Eventually he said, ‘Mr Bartle?'

‘Your honour?' responded Appleton's attorney, forced to his feet again.

‘I do not consider that you satisfactorily responded to my invitation. I no longer offer that invitation, but it will remain on record and most certainly in my mind and I would like you, Mr Bartle, and you, Mr Wolfson, both to bear that very much in mind as this matter proceeds, to whatever its end. Do you, Mr Bartle, fully understand what I am saying?'

‘I do, your honour,' said Bartle. ‘And in the light of your honour's comments I withdraw my request to make a statement to the court.'

‘Mr Wolfson?'

‘I do, your honour. And I also withdraw the suggestion of my making a preliminary statement.'

‘Distribute to the relevant parties the newly provided material,' the judge ordered his clerk. ‘There will be a recess of fifteen minutes to provide an opportunity to study that material.'

‘Dr Abrahams,' opened Beckwith. ‘Will you tell this court what is indicated in the medical reports upon Alfred Appleton and Ms Leanne Jefferies that have only this day, less than an hour ago, been submitted?'

The venerealogist shifted on the witness stand. ‘Both Alfred Appleton and Ms Leanne Jefferies have been successfully treated for Chlamydia trachomatis.'

‘What is a chlamydia microimmunofluorescence test?'

‘That which is carried out to establish the presence of chlamydia antibodies following the infection of cervicitis in woman and urethritis in men.'

‘Cervicitis in women and urethritis in men are conditions caused by a chlamydia infection, are they not?'

‘Yes.'

‘Do the medical reports of Drs Chapman and Lewell show that Alfred Appleton suffered urethritis and Ms Lleanne Jefferies suffered cervicitis?'

‘Yes.'

‘What is antichlamydia IgG?'

‘The antibody found in the blood of sexually active adults in response to the infection and which may be detected after successful treatment.'

‘Do the reports of Drs Chapman and Lewell show that Alfred Appleton and Ms Leanne Jefferies had antichlamydia IgG in their blood at the time of their examination by Drs Chapman and Lewell?'

‘Yes.'

‘Could there be the slightest doubt about that?'

‘Not according to what I have been shown today.'

‘Could it have been produced by another complaint or infection?'

‘The microimmunifluoscence test is remarkably sensitive and specific. It is medically recognized to be accurate in ninety-nine percent of woman and between eighty to ninety percent of men.'

‘Your honour!' protested Bartle, rising. ‘The fact that my client suffered chlamydia is not contested.'

‘Nor is it on behalf of my client,' said Wolfson, in support.

‘But it was not admitted to this court until an hour ago!' insisted Beckwith, who had not sat during the interjection. ‘I would ask you to find, your honour, that this court be allowed the fullest opportunity to explore this matter, including how and why it was withheld from this court until this later hour.'

‘It was not withheld!' refused Bartle.

‘It was most certainly not supplied, which is a requirement of such pre-hearing exchanges,' came back Beckwith.

‘You will proceed, Mr Beckwith, hopefully without any further interruptions, in the hope of this court discovering the truth of the matter,' ruled Pullinger.

‘The court has already learned of your outstanding qualifications in your particular profession field, Dr Abrahams,' picked up Beckwith. ‘As I understand it, there is no formularized presentation for reports such as these we are discussing. Is that right?'

‘That is so.'

‘Did you subject the appropriate samples you took from my client to a microimmunofluorescence test?'

‘Of course.'

‘Which was negative?'

‘As I said in evidence yesterday.'

‘Had that microimmunofluorescene test proved positive and produced antichlamydia IgG antibodies, would you have omitted that finding from the report you submitted to this court?'

There was shuffling from the lawyers' tables on the right of the court but before either Bartle or Wolfson could rise, Pullinger impatiently made a waving down motion with his hand.

The venerealogist still did not answer and Beckwith said, ‘Dr Abrahams?'

‘As we have already established, there is no formularized style of presentation.'

‘That wasn't my question, doctor. Please answer it.'

‘No. Of course I would have included it in my report.'

‘Why?'

Abrahams' irritation at the question came out in a snort, which he tried to turn into a cough, looking directly from the witness stand at Dr Chapman. ‘Because the whole purpose of such reports is to establish whether or not there is – or has been – an infection!'

‘Thank you,' said Beckwith, abruptly sitting.

And said it again to the judge's invitation to continue his submission when the court reconvened after the luncheon adjournment that Pullinger ordered at the conclusion of Abrahams' evidence, with the agreement that the venerealogist should be released to return to New York.

‘Your honour!' interrupted Bartle, jerking to his feet. ‘I would once more respectfully invite your honour to accept, with the apologies I have already expressed and would reiterate, my explanation for this most unfortunate misunderstanding, this oversight, and not further delay the progress of this case by calling Dr Chapman.'

‘An application that I also most earnestly request with Dr Lewell,' said Wolfson, bobbing up as Bartle sat, as if both lawyers were performing vaudeville, if not theatre.

‘Why “most earnestly”, Mr Wolfson?' demanded Pullinger.

Leanne's lawyer looked blankly to the raised bench, initially appearing not to understand the question. The confusion increased when he did understand. ‘I meant … maybe a mistake on my part, your honour. I meant my client and I are anxious not to impede the progress of the court now that this medical difficulty has been resolved.'

‘I do not for a moment find that what you refer to as “this medical difficulty” has been resolved to my satisfaction,' refused Pullinger. ‘Having been found – exposed – to be so lamentably wanting, are you, Mr Wolfson, or you, Mr Bartle, seeking to bulldoze this court to bury those failings?'

Both Bartle and Wolfson were standing now and their replies – ‘under no circumstance whatsoever, your honour' – came practically in unison. Beside him Beckwith created another battalion of exclamation marks on his yellow legal pad, taking Jordan's mind back to their adjournment lunch in the court cafeteria, at which Alyce, her doctor and Reid had not appeared. To Jordan's insistence there, a euphoric Beckwith had gauged the chances of getting his dismissal at seventy-five percent. So surprised had Jordan been by the estimate that his initial, unconsidered thought had been that if he were discharged he could, within days, be back in England, the nightmare relegated to the place of bad dreams. Until a question hurried him back to reality. What, he asked himself, about Alfred Jerome Appleton and the personal promise he'd made to himself: what Alyce had in France called tit for tat? The fact that if he were discharged he wouldn't be penalized for hundreds of thousands – millions even – didn't come into any calculation. The bill would still be huge, here in America and in England. And he didn't intend spending as little as a single bent penny of his own money in payment or settlement for anything. Appleton would, though. Jordan was more implacably determined than ever to recover everything and more – far more – for the upheaval the man had caused. So he wouldn't be returning to London whatever the outcome of today's hearing. Only when Alyce abruptly turned towards him did Jordan realize that throughout his reflection he had been looking at her. She frowned, questioningly. Jordan looked hurriedly away.