Robin Cook - Crisis

"Do you feel all right?"

"Other than a headache, I'm okay."

"What about the children?"

"Apparently, they're doing fine. They think they're on vacation, skipping school and staying at Grandma's. There have been no calls on my cell. Each of them knows the number by heart, and I would have heard if there was a problem of any sort."

"I've had an eventful morning."

"Really? What's going on with the autopsy? We're in the market for a miracle."

Jack told the story of his morning's ordeal on the Massachusetts Turnpike, which Alexis listened to with a progressive drooping of her lower jaw. She was equally astounded and alarmed.

"I should be asking you if you are all right," she said when Jack described Franco's final, spectacular upside-down crash.

"I'm fine. The rent-a-car is worse for wear. I know Franco's hurting. He's probably in a hospital somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if he's also under arrest. I reported the incident to the same Boston detective that came to the house last night. I would assume the authorities would take a dim view of discharging firearms on the Massachusetts Turnpike."

"My God," Alexis said sympathetically. "I'm sorry all this has happened to you. I can't help but feel responsible."

"No need! I'm afraid I have a penchant for trouble. It's all my own doing. But I'll tell you, everything that's happened has done nothing but fan my determination to do this damn autopsy."

"What is the status?"

Jack described his machinations with Harold Langley, Walter Strasser, and Percy Gallaudet.

"My gosh," Alexis said. "After all this effort, I hope it shows something significant."

"You and me both."

"Are you okay with possibly putting off flying to New York to tomorrow morning?"

"What has to be has to be," Jack said with a shrug. He wasn't about to get into that personally thorny issue.

"What about with your wife-to-be, Laurie?"

"I haven't told her yet," Jack admitted.

"Good lord!" Alexis commented. "This is not a good way for me to start out a relationship with a new sister-in-law."

"Let's get back to what's going on in the trial," Jack said to change the subject. "You were about to tell me how Craig's testimony got worse."

"After he castigated Tony for being a despicable ambulance-chaser, he took it upon himself to lecture the jury that they were not his peers. He said they were incapable of judging his actions, since they'd never had to try to save someone like he tried to save Patience Stanhope."

Jack slapped a hand to his forehead in stupefaction. "What was Randolph doing during this?"

"Everything he could. He was jumping up and down objecting, but to no avail. He tried to get the judge to recess, but the judge asked Craig if he needed a rest, and Craig said no, so on it went."

Jack shook his head. "Craig is his own worst enemy, although…"

"Although what?" Alexis questioned.

"Craig has a point. In some respects, he's speaking for all us doctors. I bet most every physician who's gone through the hell of a medical malpractice trial feels the same way. It's just that they would have the sense not to say it."

"Well, he sure as hell shouldn't have said it. If I were a juror fulfilling my civic responsibility and got that kind of rebuke, I'd be incensed and much more apt to buy into Tony's interpretation of events."

"Was that the worst part?"

"There were many parts that qualified for being the worst. Tony got Craig to admit he'd had some concern that the fateful house call was for a legitimate emergency, as Leona had testified, and also that a heart attack was on his list of possible diagnoses. He also got Craig to admit that driving from the Stanhope residence to Symphony Hall would take a shorter time than from the Newton Memorial Hospital, and that he was eager to get to the concert before it began to show off his trophy girlfriend. And perhaps particularly incriminating, he got Craig to admit he'd said all those unflattering things about Patience Stanhope to the tart, Leona, including that Patience's passing was a blessing for everyone."

"Whoa," Jack said with yet another shake of his head. "Not good!"

"Not good at all. Craig managed to present himself as an arrogant, uncaring M.D. who was more interested in getting to Symphony Hall on time with his sex object than doing what was right for his patient. It was exactly what Randolph told him not to do."

Jack sat up straight. "So what is Randolph doing on cross-examination?"

"Attempted damage control would be the best description. He's trying to rehabilitate Craig on each individual issue, from the PP, problem patient, designation all the way to the events that happened on the night Patience Stanhope died. When you came in, Craig was testifying to the difference between Patience's condition when he arrived at the home and the description he'd gotten from Jordan Stanhope on the phone. Randolph had already made sure that Craig told the jury that he did not say Patience Stanhope was having a heart attack when he was speaking with Jordan, but rather it was something that had to be ruled out. Of course, that was in contradiction to what Jordan had said during his testimony."

"Did you get any sense of how the jury was responding to Craig's testimony during the cross as compared with the direct?"

"They seem more impassive now than before, but that may be just my pessimistic perception. I'm not optimistic after Craig's performance on direct. Randolph has a real uphill struggle ahead of him. He told me this morning that he's going to ask Craig to tell his life's story to counter Tony's character assassination."

"Why not," Jack said. Even though he wasn't all that enthusiastic, he felt a rekindling of sympathy for Alexis and wanted to be supportive. As they returned to their seats in the courtroom, he wondered how a finding for the plaintiff would affect Alexis's relationship with Craig. Jack had never championed their union, from the first time he'd met Craig some sixteen years previously. Craig and Alexis had met while in training at the Boston Memorial Hospital and had come as houseguests to Jack's home while they were engaged. Jack had found Craig insufferably self-centered and one-dimensionally oriented toward medicine. But now that Jack had had a chance to see them together in their own environment, despite the current, difficult circumstance, he could see that they complemented each other. Alexis's very mildly histrionic and dependent character, which had been much more apparent as a child, melded well with Craig's more serious narcissism. In a lot of ways, from Jack's perspective, they complemented each other.

Jack settled back and got himself as comfortable as he could under the circumstances. Randolph was standing stiffly erect at the podium, exuding his normal blue-blooded resplendence. Craig was in the witness box, leaning slightly forward, his shoulders rounded. Randolph 's voice was crisply articulate, melodic, and slightly sibilant. Craig's was vapid, as if he'd been in an argument and was now exhausted.

Jack felt Alexis's hand insinuate itself between his elbow and his side and then move forward to grab his hand. He squeezed in return, and they exchanged a fleeting smile.

"Dr. Bowman," Randolph intoned. "You've wanted to be a doctor since you were given a toy doctor's kit at age four and proceeded to administer to your parents and older brother. But I understand there was a particular event in your childhood that especially firmed this altruistic career choice. Would you tell the court about this episode."

Craig cleared his throat. "I was fifteen years old and in tenth grade. I was a manager for the football team. I'd tried to make the team but didn't, which was a big disappointment for my father, since my older brother had been a star player. So I was the manager, which was nothing more than the water boy. During the timeouts, I ran onto the field with a bucket, ladle, and paper cups. During a home game, one of our players was hurt and a time-out was called. I dashed onto the field with the bucket, but as I drew near I could see the injured player was a friend of mine. Instead of carrying my bucket to the huddle of players, I ran to my friend. I was the first one from the sidelines to get to him, and what I confronted was disturbing. He had badly broken his leg such that his cleated foot stuck off in a markedly abnormal direction, and he was writhing in agony. I was so struck by his need and my inability to help him that I decided on the spot that not only did I want to become a doctor, I had to become a doctor."