Michael Palmer - Natural Causes

"Mr. Mallon, please don't threaten me," Matt countered. It seemed to Sarah he was purposely exaggerating his Mississippi drawl. "You saddled this mule months ago in the shop of a sick old man. Now you and your stable of experts had better be ready to ride it yourselves."

In the corner of the room, the stenographer dispassionately whispered into the hooded microphone of a tape recorder at the same time she was tapping out the exchange on her machine. Arnold Hayden, seated to Matt's right, nodded that Matt's response was appropriate and necessary. Across from Hayden, Jeremy Mallon's associate countered by whispering something in Mallon's ear. Sarah managed a furtive glance across at Peter, but saw only an emotionless mask. Circles within circles within circles. The whole affair would have been incredibly fascinating to her, had not her livelihood and way of life been at stake.

The morning had begun contentiously an hour before the actual deposition. Mallon flatly refused to allow his client, Lisa Grayson, to have her blood drawn or, in fact, to be contacted by Matt, Sarah, Rosa Suarez, or anyone else who did not clear such contact with him. Matt had kept his cool and had stopped short of indicting the Ayurvedic Herbal Weight Loss System. But it was clear to Sarah that before this session was through, Peter's remarkable gold mine would come under attack.

Arnold Hayden had been with them from the outset of the day. Sarah was pleasantly surprised to realize that her initial impression of the man as being far more legal form than substance was way off base. He had a practical and theoretical acumen that Matt clearly found useful, and a calming manner that helped keep her inside her skin. Now, in combat, his presence and bearing seemed to add credibility and force to Matt's examination.

There was also the matter of Hayden's helping out should Matt's compromised objectivity become manifest in any way. Unwilling to give up either Sarah or her case, Matt had asked for his assistance with that in mind. And although he had not spelled out to Hayden the extent of his and Sarah's evolving relationship, she suspected the hospital attorney had some idea.

"Okay, now, Mr. Ettinger," Matt said, "getting back to the issue at hand. Would you mind telling us your definition of what a healer is?"

For almost an hour and a half, Matt asked, rephrased, and asked again questions designed more to fill in blanks and set tone than to get at any major legal point. The strategy he, Sarah, and Hayden had agreed upon was to try to get Peter to acknowledge that Sarah's method of prescribing and dispensing herbs was, in fact, no different from his own. Once made, the point would essentially transform Peter into an expert witness for them. They would then begin to dissect the connection between Ettinger, the Xanadu Ayurvedic Weight Loss System, and Pramod Singh.

"When I get to that point," Matt said, "I'm just going to wing it." He dangled his Egyptian amulet. "I mean, what chance does he have against two thousand years of black magic?"

At the ninety-minute mark, they took a break, during which Mallon had one of his secretaries serve coffee.

"Hey, Matt, maybe you should switch cups with Jeremy," Sarah whispered. "There's no telling what he might have put in yours."

"Nonsense," Matt drawled. "He's about as intimidated by me as a hungry mountain lion would be by the Easter bunny. The last thing he'd want to do at this point is to bump me off. I'm too much fun to play with. But right about now I'm going to start tightening the screws on his expert. The measure of how effective I am will be how loudly and how often Mallon objects to my questions. Arnold, do you have any suggestions?"

"None, really," Hayden said. "Except that I think it's time to pin down some things about this Dr. Singh. So far, I'm impressed by the way you've handled matters."

"Thanks. That's kind of you to say-especially considering that I haven't done any damage whatsoever."

"What you've been throwing are body blows," the older lawyer replied. "No one really pays much attention to them, but they set up the head shots. You're doing just fine." He patted Matt encouragingly on the shoulder as the session resumed.

"Okay, Mr. Ettinger," Matt began, "I'd like to spend some time talking about this Ayurvedic Herbal Weight Loss System of yours."

"Why?" Mallon asked.

"You're the one who brought this man in as an expert," Matt said. "I'm just trying to document his qualifications."

"Peter, I don't see where this line of questioning is relevant. If you don't care to answer the questions, I don't see any reason why you should."

"Offhand I can think of two reasons, Mr. Ettinger," Matt said with calm force. "First of all, if you refuse, I promise you that I'll be in front of a judge before this day is done, bringing a motion to compel you to answer. And second"-he looked first at Sarah and then at Mallon, before deliberately leveling his gaze again on Peter-"second, I have good reason to believe-hell no, I have proof-that just as Lisa Grayson took Sarah Baldwin's herbal preparation before her ill-fated delivery, so did she take your Herbal Weight Loss product as well!"

"But-"

"I said proof."

"Wait!" Mallon snapped. "Peter, hold it. Don't respond. Mr. Daniels, I don't intend to bite at that worm. But since what you are alleging is news to me, I would like to speak with Mr. Ettinger in private before we continue."

"Take your time," Matt said.

Arnold Hayden turned his face away from Mallon and brought his fist up to the side of his jaw. Matt's timing and delivery had been perfect. His first head shot had landed squarely.

Sarah watched as her former lover unfolded his reedy six-and-a-half-foot frame. He glanced over at her, his expression pinched and angry. For a moment, it seemed as if he was about to make an obscene gesture.

Grow up, she mouthed.

She was gratefully uncertain of his reply.

"Okay," Mallon said upon their return. "Not only do I approve of Mr. Ettinger's answering this line of questions, I encourage it." His expression was smug, his manner once again self-assured-too self-assured.

Sarah strained to understand why.

"Mr. Ettinger, how did you first meet Pramod Singh?" Matt went on.

"We had done a series of seminars together some years ago when he was on the staff of the Medical Center of Boston. He told me about a set of ancient Ayurvedic dietary rules and herbs that he had been using on his patients for weight loss with remarkable success."

"Was Lisa Summer one of those patients?"

"I don't know."

"Constanza Hidalgo?"

"I don't-"

"Stop, Peter!" Mallon snapped. "Mr. Daniels, stick to the issue and the patient at hand."

"Mr. Ettinger, did Pramod Singh want to market his product to the general public?"

"He did."

"With you as the spokesman-the figurehead?"

"Among other things."

"And so you two Ayurvedic entrepreneurs struck up a deal of some sort?"

"Object to the antagonistic form of the question," Mallon cut in. "Don't answer it, Peter."

"Mr. Ettinger, exactly what is in this product of yours?"

"A number of herbs, plants, and roots. Twelve to be exact. Dr. Singh obtains them in India and elsewhere in the Far East, and ships them to me. We have a production facility where the naturally occurring substances are combined with a protein powder to form a combination balanced nutritional replacement and appetite suppressant."

"But you have no scientific verification of the product's composition, do you?"

Ettinger glanced over at Jeremy Mallon. When he turned back to Matt, he was grinning confidently.

"As a matter of fact," he said, "unlike Dr. Baldwin's preparation, we have absolute scientific verification-FDA analysis and approval of the product. I demanded those before ever allowing the Xanadu name to be used, and we insist upon retesting on an ongoing basis."