The Divine Appointment (12 page)

“Mr. Faulkner, you may proceed.”

Eli took the medical examiner’s report from Tag and, rather than stand behind the podium, eased around to the front of the table and began his questioning of Dr. Stephenson. It was like leading a horse to water.

“Dr. Stephenson, how long have you been with the medical examiner’s office?”

Dr. Stephenson smiled slightly and removed his glasses. “I’ve been with the medical examiner’s office for over thirty years, and chief of the office the last fifteen.”

“And in those thirty years, Dr. Stephenson, you were trained to fully examine every part of a body that has been a victim of homicide, is that correct?”

“Of course it’s correct, Counselor.” Dr. Stephenson’s voice was agitated but forceful. “We do a very thorough job.”

“And before you finalize your report on this or any other homicide, you make certain that every part of your report is absolutely accurate? That every part will stand up under the scrutiny of the best medical experts that an enterprising defense attorney like myself might hire? Isn’t that right, Dr. Stephenson?”

Dr. Stephenson smiled even more broadly. “Mr. Faulkner, in thirty years I haven’t had one of my reports refuted for any reason. If I put it in my report, you can bet money on it being accurate.”

“Good, Dr. Stephenson. That’s good, and that’s what I thought your answer would be. If you will, Dr. Stephenson, please turn to page three of your report.” Eli waited while Dr. Stephenson replaced his glasses on his nose and located page three as directed.

“On line twelve on page three, Dr. Stephenson, what does that say?”

“That her blood was positive for human chorionic gonadotropin, commonly referred to as HCG.” Dr. Stephenson peered over his glasses at Eli.

“What does that mean?”

“It means she was pregnant.”

Eli eyed Randy. He could tell from the look on Randy’s face that he already knew what Eli had just discovered but was uninterested. The information wasn’t important to Randy. The fetus was likely too young to support a prosecution for another death.

Eli then looked at Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell and immediately recognized that this was the first time they’d heard their daughter was pregnant.

He also heard the reporters in the gallery flipping pages in their notebooks, trying to scribble down every word.

“Can you tell me from this test how long she had been pregnant?” Eli asked Dr. Stephenson.

“My office didn’t test the value or level of HCG. We were only concerned with whether her blood tested positive or negative for HCG. When it came back positive, we opened the uterus and measured the fetus.”

“And were you able to determine the gestational age of the fetus by measuring it?”

“I can’t be precise, but my best estimate is that the fetus was about twelve weeks old.”

“Those are all the questions I have for Dr. Stephenson,” Eli concluded and headed for his seat. As he rounded the end of the table, he noticed Tag again. His earlier arrogance had changed to something different. Momentarily he looked inquisitive. As Eli returned to his chair, Tag lifted his chin with an air of resolve.

“What is it?” Eli whispered.

Tag’s gaze was focused. He spoke in a low but unwavering voice. “I can’t be the father,” he told Eli again.

Just then Judge Blackwood spoke. “Dr. Stephenson, you’re excused.”

After Dr. Stephenson left the courtroom, Judge Blackwood turned to Randy. “Call your next witness,” he directed.

“Those are all the witnesses we’re calling today, Your Honor.”

Judge Blackwood then eyed Eli. “Any witnesses, Mr. Faulkner?”

Eli faced Judge Blackwood. He knew that Randy had carried his burden of proving probable cause and that he wasn’t going to get the murder charge against Tag dismissed. There was no need to give Randy free discovery by calling any witnesses to testify.

“No witnesses,” Eli replied. He then rested his back against his chair as he waited for Judge Blackwood’s ruling.

“The court finds that the state has demonstrated sufficient probable cause for the case against Dr. Grissom to continue,” Judge Blackwood stated. “That doesn’t mean Dr. Grissom will ultimately be found guilty of any crime but simply means that the state has sufficient evidence to present to a jury regarding Dr. Grissom’s involvement with the death of Jessica Caldwell. The court also finds that Dr. Grissom should continue to remain free on bail pending the trial of this case. Mr. Dickerson and Mr. Faulkner, my office will be in touch with you in the next several days to schedule a trial. With that, the court will stand adjourned.” Judge Blackwood banged his gavel and stood.

“All rise,” the bailiff said as Judge Blackwood left his bench and disappeared through the door to his chambers. “Court is now adjourned,” she concluded.

The reporters in the gallery immediately began to clamor for Eli and the others to answer questions. Eli grabbed Tag by the arm and led him through the horde of reporters. Anna fell in line as well, and Jill brought up the rear of the quartet. Randy Dickerson stayed behind and answered as many questions as the reporters had.

As soon as Eli and the other three exited the courtroom, two Davidson County sheriff’s deputies appeared and directed them toward the building’s back entrance. It was used often by litigants who desired an escape from the building without having to battle the media.

“Mr. Faulkner,” one of the deputies said, “if you’ll have someone bring a car to the portico at the rear of the building, we can get the four of you out through the back door.”

Eli removed his car keys from his pocket and gave them to Jill. He motioned for her to do as the deputy had suggested, and she left the group to retrieve Eli’s car.

“You can wait in here until she gets back.” The deputy pointed to a conference room at the end of the hall.

Eli, Tag, and Anna entered the room, and Eli placed his briefcase on the table. The deputy closed the door behind them.

“You’re pretty confident that you can’t be the father of Ms. Caldwell’s child,” Eli directed at Tag. “But when I met with you at your house the other day, you told me that you had been intimate with Ms. Caldwell.”

“We had been,” Tag admitted without looking at his wife.

The admission was in a conquering, bragging tone. Eli glanced at Anna and noticed a stiff upper lip as she peered straight ahead, not looking at either Eli or Tag.

“Then how can you be so confident?” Eli demanded.

Tag glanced at Anna, who returned the glance.

Was that an inquisitive look on Anna’s face?
Eli wondered.

After a couple of seconds of eerie silence, Tag responded, “Because I’m sterile.”

The Oval Office, the White House, Washington DC

“Am I interrupting?” Porter asked as the president’s secretary admitted him to the room. It was just before noon on Thursday.

“I was just finishing.” President Wallace closed his tattered Bible and slid it into the top-left-hand drawer of his desk. “A few minutes with God every day does wonders for the soul, Porter.”

“I agree, sir.”

“Come in and sit down.” President Wallace waved for Porter to come farther into the room. “What’s on your mind?”

Porter sat in a leather chair near the front of the president’s desk. “I thought we should talk more about the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Judge Shelton.”

“I trust everything is still on track with Senator Proctor’s office.”

“Everything is still on track. I spoke with Cooper Harrington yesterday afternoon, and he confirmed that they are lining up enough votes for Judge Shelton.”

“Good. Sounds like everything is going according to plan, then.”

“Everything except Stella Hanover.”

President Wallace noticed the anxiety on Porter’s face. Stella Hanover made Porter nervous.

“Stella Hanover? Why am I not surprised? She gave us quite a fight during the election because of my position on abortion. What is she up to?”

“Rumor is that she made an appearance at Senator Proctor’s office on Monday and gave him an earful over Judge Shelton’s nomination.”

“But you’ve talked to Cooper and our deal with Proctor is still in place, right?”

“That’s right, but I’m worried about Stella. She’s tenacious and will do anything she can to derail the confirmation. She has demanded a meeting with every senator who was supported by her organization in the last two elections. I’ve also heard that she has hired a team of private investigators to uncover everything they can possibly find on Judge Shelton.”

President Wallace reclined in his chair and thoughtfully considered the ceiling. He rubbed his chin with his right hand. “We may need to get the committee hearings moved up so he can be confirmed before Stella’s people have time to do any damage. I’m confident, based on our own investigations, they won’t find anything on Judge Shelton, but there’s no reason to make any mistakes at this point.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I talked to Cooper about that yesterday. He said the earliest the committee could begin is the last week of this month. But they’ll have to adjourn for the Fourth of July. Several committee members will be traveling to their home states for parades and other events where they can be seen by their constituents.”

“I’d hate for them to miss a baby-kissing opportunity,” President Wallace said sarcastically.

Porter chuckled politely. “If things go well, we could get to a vote on the Senate floor before the August recess. But any delays will put the vote into September.”

“Let’s get everything arranged to make it easy on the committee. We need to have the vote before the recess.”

“I agree,” Porter replied. “I’ll continue to work on it.”

“How’s Judge Shelton performing in the mock committee hearings?”

“He’s doing great. He can quote the Ginsburg rule with ease—no hints, no forecasts, no previews.”

En route to Jackson, Tennessee

They had been driving for fifteen minutes, and Jill could no longer tolerate the silence. Eli hadn’t said good-bye to either Tag or Anna when they’d deposited them at their waiting car in the parking lot near the courthouse. And he hadn’t said a word to her since then either. His lips were pressed together and his jaw was flexing rapidly. Jill now wished she had remained in the driver’s seat after she retrieved the car. But Eli had insisted—
demanded
—and she had moved to the passenger seat. She could see anger in his body language. He even gripped the steering wheel with both hands so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

She had seen that look before. Not often, but she had seen it. The last time she recalled seeing it was when a client had lied to him. Jill could tell that Eli was mad and the gears in his brain were grinding.

“Okay,” Jill said. “What’s wrong?”

When Eli shook his head, she knew she’d have to drag it out of him. But she had to be careful. He was her boss, and she didn’t need his anger directed at her.

Delicately, she prodded further. “Obviously something happened while I was gone to get the car. What was it?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” The words barely escaped through his clenched teeth.

“Well, are we still working on this case or not?”

When Eli finally exhaled deeply, Jill knew he wouldn’t stop talking until he had told her everything. She twisted her head and studied the side of his face.

Eli continued to watch the interstate ahead as he spoke. “Do you remember when Anna came to the office and I decided to take this case?”

“Sure. I remember.”

“What did I say was one of the reasons I agreed to represent Tag?”

“Because Anna was pregnant and didn’t want her child to grow up without a father.”

Eli relaxed his death grip on the steering wheel and made an emphatic up-and-down motion with his right hand. “Exactly!”

“And?”

“And today I found out that it is impossible for Tag to be the father.” The volume of Eli’s voice escalated through his statement.

Jill stared at Eli and then through the front windshield. She tucked her sleek black hair behind her ears and looked back at Eli again. She was confused. She sat quietly for several seconds as Eli steered the car into the left-hand lane and sped past a semitruck and trailer. She didn’t know what to say and her brow furrowed.

“I don’t understand,” she finally admitted.

“When the coroner said that Jessica Caldwell was twelve weeks pregnant, Tag was confident it couldn’t be his. I confronted him about it while you were getting the car because I knew their relationship had been physical. But when I questioned him, Tag told me he’s sterile.”

“Sterile? If he’s sterile, how can Anna be pregnant?”

“That’s what I asked.”

“And they said what?”

“They said nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing. Neither of them explained how Anna could be pregnant and Tag could be sterile. I saw an odd look on Anna’s face after Tag said he was sterile, but I can’t decide if it meant he was lying or if she was surprised he told me that. Maybe both.”

“If he really is sterile, then obviously someone else is the father of Anna’s baby.”

“I questioned Anna about an affair, and she denied it. I couldn’t tell for sure from the look on either of their faces whether she was lying or not. And Tag didn’t say anything.”

Eli loosened his necktie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. He stretched his head from side to side and front to back as if he were trying to release the tension in his neck.

“Does Anna look pregnant to you?” he asked.

“Not really, now that you mention it. Has she told you when the baby is expected?”

“When I was at their house the last week of May, she said something about the due date being a little over six months away, but that’s all.”

“I don’t know anything about being pregnant,” Jill admitted. “But I think it’s possible to be nearly three months pregnant and for it to not be very noticeable.”

Eli ran his hand through his hair in anguish. “I guess you’re right. But I still don’t like being lied to.”

Jill knew that Tag’s revelation was only part of the thoughts spinning in Eli’s mind. The other part had to be the formulation of a plan. “What are you going to do?”

“I threatened to withdraw from the case. When I first met with Tag, I told him that I needed to know everything, and he assured me he would tell me everything. I reminded him of that again this morning…but still no explanation.”

“Are you going to withdraw?”

“I doubt Judge Blackwood will let me out this far into the case. We’ve already had the preliminary, and the trial will be scheduled in a couple of months.”

“This certainly puts a new light on things, doesn’t it?”

“It certainly does.” He frowned. “And to think that I premised my agreement to represent Tag on a lie.”

The Hart Building, Washington DC

“I talked to Porter McIntosh earlier today,” Cooper Harrington said as he entered Senator Proctor’s office. The Senate was finished for the day, and Senator Proctor was enjoying his pipe and a glass of Scotch.

“What did he want this time?” Senator Proctor was tired of hearing from Porter McIntosh. The man always seemed to need something, and that irritated the senator. He held the pipe in his right hand with his teeth clenched around the mouthpiece. Tiny puffs of smoke rose from the pipe’s wooden bowl as he spoke.

Cooper stood and rested his hands on the back of a chair across the desk from Senator Proctor. “The president wants us to move the committee hearings up. They’re worried about Stella.”

“Stella?” Senator Proctor chuckled. “Did you tell Porter that we’re not worried about Stella?”

“I did, but President Wallace wants a vote on the Senate floor before the August recess.”

Senator Proctor took a sip from his glass of Scotch, leaned back in his chair, and resumed smoking his pipe. What a waste of time the conversation was. The president was kidding himself if he thought confirmation could be rushed.

“That may be difficult. Some of the senators may want to pacify Stella by delaying the vote until after the recess. She can be pretty…what’s the word I’m looking for?”

“Ruthless?”

“Yeah, that’s it. She can be ruthless.”

“I know,” Cooper replied. “She made herself very clear the other day.”

“Walk the idea around with some of the Senate leadership and see what their thoughts are about moving the hearings up.”

Avenue of the Americas, New York City

“Move the hearings up?” Stella said when Valerie Marcom gave her the news. “They can’t move the hearings up. Who ever heard of that? I’ve heard of them being delayed before but never moved up.”

“That’s the word I got from one of my friends who works with the Judiciary Committee. Cooper Harrington is floating the idea around with the Senate leadership and the Judiciary Committee members to see if anyone is opposed. He’s telling them that Senator Proctor wants an up-or-down vote in the Senate on Judge Shelton before the August recess.”