Part Sixteen
Jo was grateful to put some distance between that massive stone edifice of the ancient court of law in which she had spent so much of her life. She needed a break but, after a trying day, could not mentally face up to what must come next.
Suddenly, a train of thought spirited her away with her eager consent from the pressing needs of the moment. The Old Bailey was a building that was her place of work, which she took for, granted as somewhere where she moved around as her natural right. It was something, which she did not think about as there was never enough time in her life to contemplate something so abstract. It hadn't always been like this. An image leapt into her consciousness, one that had been so deeply implanted in her mind as if it were a part of her DNA and therefore buried in her unconscious. That was of a black and white TV depiction of that massive domed roof and the symbol of the scales of justice perched on the summit. It symbolised ancient majesty and one of the most powerful depictions of evenhandedness that could be conjured up. So rightly had that physical depiction been created, something that ancient craftsmen had laboured long and hard on and had swung it up to the very top of the edifice to announce that value to all and sundry. It was a shame that, right close up, it was so difficult to see. She had watched black and white films centred on the Old Bailey and that had been her initial guiding spirit that had propelled her to her destiny. She knew that John had been similarly driven and that she had been deeply influenced by him on a personal level, second hand through this same shared vision.
She had arrived back at her parked car without knowing how she had got there, sat in the driving seat and lay back as she smoked a cigarette. She knew that when she had extinguished it, she would phone Karen on her mobile and make the necessary arrangements to interview Barbara. Dog tired though she was, she could face the reality of what she had to do. It almost didn't matter how desperately tired she felt. After the event, she always knew that she would rise to the occasion. The course of action was clear enough. It was just a question of doing it. As she fumbled in her handbag for her mobile, she checked her watch and it was four thirty. She was relieved to see that the icon 'battery low' didn't flash up. She had a tendency to not bother recharging it until it was needed at a critical time and let her in for scouring the streets for that increasingly rare sight, a phone box that was unvandalised.
"I wanted to see if it is convenient to see Barbara a little while later this afternoon"
"How soon is soon?" enquired Karen. At this time of the day, there was plenty of time to fit her in for an interview, even allowing for London traffic.
"As soon as it takes to get to Larkhall from the Old Bailey which is where I am now"
"You've even got time to share a cup of tea as well with Nikki and me if you want," Came her cordial reply.
Jo smiled gratefully at the kind offer.
As she engaged in the cut and thrust battle to edge her way through the rush hour traffic, she reflected on how unspeakable John had been. The normal patient courtesies that he had displayed were conspicuous by their absence. There had been occasions in the past when she had deliberately pushed her luck but her interventions today had been smacked down in short order. She had seriously wondered, not for the first time, that he was going through some mid life crisis. At some point, she would have to speak to him inside or outside court and would have to edge her way into discussing the matter. As the shiny new Audi powered its way just across in front of her, causing her to brake sharply, she ended up suspending that background contemplation of matters more distant and stuck to the job in hand. John and everything else not immediately connected to the matter in hand could wait till later. That was her philosophy of coping with challenges.
With something like a growing feeling of familiarity, Jo passed through the front lodge.
"You know the way, madam." Ken's friendly voice was more a statement than a question and Dominic was on duty to welcome her.
"Do you want to see Barbara now or perhaps see either Nikki or Karen first?" Dominic queried in his friendly, helpful fashion.
Jo debated the matter in her mind. It would be pleasant to sit back and take it easy in friendly company but her evening was already going to be taken up scouring through computerised newspaper archives. Business first, a little mild relaxation later, she concluded.
"I'd better see Barbara first. I may not have time to drop in on Nikki and Karen later on even if they are available."
Jo strolled down the corridors to the private room and took her place in the cramped space. She placed her briefcase at her side and waited patiently till a polite knock at the door heralded the arrival of a slightly concerned Barbara. She was puzzled at the message of a second visit by Jo and had been trying to work it out.
"I'll be outside the room for when you've finished," Dominic tactfully explained, covering two purposes in one explanation for his presence.
"I know you must be a little surprised at me coming back so soon after last time," Jo's pleasant voice and reassuring smile grabbed hold of the conversation from the start. "But there's been a development in the case which I had to see you to ask you for your permission or otherwise"
Barbara studied Jo's manner carefully. She had seen Jo in action on a number of occasions and had had pleasant experience of her before in that far off time when they had played together in the same orchestra. She judged that Jo was not trying to conceal bad news as a doctor might to an incurably ill person like, like … her husband.
"Please continue," Came her invitation in the precise tones of Middle England offering cucumber sandwiches.
"What I didn't know last time I saw you is that there is available to us the opportunities and advantages of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia, Dr. Kay Scarpetta. She is perhaps the highest authority in her field"
"Which is, Jo"
"As a pathologist, to being able to definitely establish what led to the unfortunate death of your husband"
The expression on Barbara's face tightened and a look of fear flashed across her face. Jo felt uncomfortable as she spoke. The situation could so easily be reversed. She could imagine so easily Barbara's intense desire that Henry's body be left physically in peace after his sufferings over the months before his death.
"I know that you are doing what you think is for the best for me but don't you have any idea what that means. Remember, I've lost two husbands, both dear to me the same way.
Does it have to be this way"
Jo licked her lips and deliberated before she carefully articulated her reply.
"I can't hide it from you that it means conducting a postmortem and all that it entails. I would never suggest it if I didn't think that there are good reasons"
Jo's voice trailed away. The barrister side of her personality was setting out what was mathematically a good case but sometimes equations didn't feel like emotional sense. Two strands of thinking were starting to twist against each other till she found the will and inspirational thinking to carry on.
"…….I have to advise you that, thinking dispassionately as I have to do, so much of this trial will depend on medical expertise. If we don't double check for ourselves, some vital clue, something that neither myself nor any of the legal profession that I will know, could remain undetected. We are simply handing over a vital area of ground to the prosecution. I can never in all good conscience, fail in my duty to give you my best advice to my client. This is a vow I made to myself that I could never break"
Perhaps it was the way that Jo's voice broke for a fraction of time with emotion or that Jo's statement of her ideals was so close to her form of Christianity. Either way, Barbara could not help but be swayed by her. If it took that to gain her freedom, then so be it. Barbara could feel Henry's tangible presence in the room smiling down on her with quiet approval.
"I must explain that we don't know what Kay will find, so you mustn't get up any false hope"
"That doesn't stop me having faith."
Barbara's very quiet, slowly articulated words and direct expression pierced Jo through and through. A woman like Barbara had the knack of making Jo feel that, for all her knowledge, she had a lot left to learn in life.
"You must have faith. You must indeed."
Jo nodded her head vigorously and a tear or two welled up in her eyes as Barbara's kindly gaze settled on her.
The conversation veered off sharply towards lighter, inconsequential matters which suited both of them until Barbara suddenly asked the question which had been at the back of her mind all along.
"If you don't mind me asking, Jo but when will it be done"
Barbara's reply was polite but it was plain to Jo that she did not want to dwell too much on the details.
"I understand that it will be tomorrow."
"That quick?" Barbara raised her eyebrows before slipping into a Shakespearian quote which surprised Jo slightly. "Well, if it were done, it were best done swiftly."
"If that is all right by you," Jo carefully replied.
"Quite sure," Came the definite reply with strength of purpose behind it.
Presently, when Dominic escorted them both back to the wing and to the welcoming smiles of Denny and the Julies,
"Why don't you pop in and see Nikki and Karen while you're here. By the off chance, they're both in Nikki's office"
Dominic must have taken a few lessons from Coope in gently moving situations along, Jo thought as she noticed the ready smile, which accompanied his soothing words.
"I don't know," Jo said hesitantly. "I've got more work to do tonight"
"You're worse than Karen if that's possible. A break will do you good if you don't mind me saying"
Jo felt a sudden rush of tiredness run through her system. She did need that break when she thought about it.
Nikki poured a cup of tea for Jo and Karen drew up a chair as Jo wearily made her way into the office. She did need this period of time to let go and her throat was parched with all the talking all day, both here and in court. She accepted a cigarette eagerly and sank back in her chair. They chattered in a leisurely fashion and enjoyed the companionship together. After a while, her promptings of conscience began to get in the way of her enjoyment. Her mouth made the right sounds but she didn't feel them the way that she wanted and occasionally, to her embarrassment, her reply was out of sync with the preceding comment. Both Nikki and Karen smoothed away Jo's faux pas with the fluency that came natural to them. Finally, Jo stubbed out her second cigarette, which she had left to smoulder away in her fingers.
"I'm sorry. I really am not the best company right now. I must be getting on to do what I'm supposed to do. I can't afford to let things slide"
Nikki's eyes flicked between Jo and Karen. Karen was the worst workaholic that she had known, especially since she came back from the conference. She could feel Jo's tangibly compulsive desire to be elsewhere but was tactfully silent upon the matter.
"Well, whenever you're round these parts, don't hesitate to look us up, Jo," Nikki said casually as she rang for a prison officer to see her on her way. In the meantime, while Jo made her exit, her mind was already in the next scene, to where George was waiting for her and remembered the little squabble she had with her earlier on. However, this was the least of her problems because that was the way things were between them these days.
When Jo arrived at George's later that evening, she had calmed down considerably since lunchtime. She shouldn't really have said what she had to George, but bad publicity aimed at their expert witness was definitely the last thing they needed. When George opened the door, she looked relaxed, as if the harsh words of this morning were entirely forgotten. "How did it go with Barbara?" George asked as Jo moved into the hall. "Fine, and I rang the hospital and spoke to Dr. Scarpetta, to let her know to go ahead with the postmortem tomorrow. She does have a nice voice, I'll give you that," She added with a smile. "Rolls over you like honey, doesn't it," George said, the slight gleam of lust in her eyes. "You're incorrigible," Jo said fondly, drawing George into her arms. "And I'm sorry about earlier," She said, after they'd exchanged a softly lingering kiss. "Oh, that's all right," George said airily. "Any random observer will think it's just like the old days, you and me scrapping at every possible opportunity. They'd never even suspect we were sleeping together." "I think John's been far too much of a bad influence on you over the years." "Yes, more than likely," George agreed, moving into the kitchen to pour them a glass of wine, before they began on the evening's work.
"Did Kay give you any ideas as to where to start?" Jo asked, as they both drew chairs up before George's computer. "She suggested the New York Times and The Washington Post. So, whilst I was waiting for you, I familiarised myself with their archives, and I found enough headlines about our, dear, chief, to make John's bad press look like fairy stories in comparison." "Oh, well," Jo said philosophically. "It should make interesting reading if nothing else." "Jo," George said carefully. "I've not read much of it, but from what I have seen, I think you might have been right, in what you said at lunchtime. If the likes of Brian Cantwell got hold of some of this, her testimony in this case would be history." "Show me, and only when we've seen the worst of it, will we make a decision," Jo said quietly, now willing to at least give Kay's publicity a fair hearing, before doing anything rash. "Let's start with the most recent," George began, clicking the mouse and bringing the monitor back to life. "Because I think the few I found will give you plenty to think about." As she began to scroll through the various headlines that the Washington Post had accumulated about Kay over the years, Jo began to get a fractured picture of someone who had lived far too much in the public eye, and who's every misfortune had appeared in print.
"FBI lover comes back from the dead," Read one, dated 2003, followed by a picture of a man in his late fifties, with silver-grey hair and a world weary face.
"The world of law enforcement has been brought face to face with the resurrection of one of its most valued and cherished profilers, Benton Wesley. Chief Medical Examiner, Kay Scarpetta, thought her FBI lover and most trusted colleague to have been killed at the hands of Carrie Grethin, one of the most notorious serial killers of the age, back in June of 1998. Imagine her shock, therefore, when she is presented with the unbreakable evidence that her lover faked his own death, in order to go undercover, and bring down the Chandonne criminal cartel from within..."
"There are numerous stories along the same lines," George filled in as they read. "I just can't imagine that," Jo said in total horror. "Thinking someone you loved was dead for over five years, only to then find out they were still alive."
"Killer, or victim," The next one read, dated December 1999.
"Jean-Baptiste Chandonne was last night apprehended as he tried to attack Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta in her home in Richmond, receiving a particularly severe injury for his trouble. Believing this man to be the killer of several people in the Richmond area, Dr. Scarpetta retaliated by dashing formalin in her attacker's face, rendering him blind from caustic burns to the eyes..."
"Good God," Jo said with a wince. "Not quite how I would choose to defend myself," George said dryly. "But there you are."
"Wolf man blinded as he enters home of Chief Medical Examiner." "Has Le Loup Garou finally met his match?" "Beauty and the Beast: a crime of fury."
The headlines went on and on about this particular event, seeming to become even more wild and speculative the more they increased. Then, perhaps the biggest shock of the night so far.
"Chief Medical Examiner to be tried by grand jury."
"The Chief Medical Examiner, Kay Scarpetta, is to be tried by a Richmond grand jury, to decide whether or not she should be indicted for the murder of Deputy Chief Diane Bray, who only joined the Richmond Police Department some months ago. Dr. Scarpetta, is currently refusing comment. Readers may remember that just before Christmas, Dr. Scarpetta threw formalin in the face of a man trying to gain entry to her Richmond home. When questioned by the press at the crime scene of Diane Bray's murder, Dr. Scarpetta also refused us comment. Was this because she knew only too well who had committed this crime?"
"That's ludicrous!" George exclaimed in anger. "She's gorgeous, she wouldn't kill anyone." Jo laughed. "George, I knew that John was unfailingly naive when it came to female beauty, but I didn't think you were quite as bad. Besides, if she had been found guilty, she would hardly still be in her job, now would she." There appeared to be nothing immediately prior to the incident of the formalin, until they reached June of 1998.
"FBI lover killed on the job."
"FBI profiler, Benton Wesley, was yesterday found dead, after the most recent of a series of fire related deaths that have called such officials as Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia, and Teun McGovern, head of the arson investigation department of the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the scenes of the crimes. Dr. Kay Scarpetta was called to the scene of the third in this series of fires, to find that her own lover, the FBI profiler Benton Wesley, had become the latest victim..."
And so the stories went on, many of them to do with Kay's involvement with Benton Wesley, and his tracking down and eventual capture of the psychopath serial killer, Carrie Grethin, in the Bowery in New York.
"Chief Medical Examiner kills for the third time in self defence."
"Third time?" George queried, her entire body breaking out in a cold sweat. "Just who has Professor Khan introduced me to?" "It does say self defence, George," Jo reminded her.
"The Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, has brought her total number of self defence killings to three."
"They make it sound as though she makes a habit of it," George said in disgust.
"Whilst Carrie Grethin, the female accomplice of the serial killer Temple Brookes Gault, was yesterday apprehended in the Bowery of New York city, the Clyde to her Bonny meeting his end under a train in a subway tunnel, after being stabbed. Dr. Scarpetta is persistently refusing to comment, though the information has been leaked that the knife Gault was stabbed with, was a scalpel he had previously stolen from the Chief Medical Examiner. Temple Gault has always been assumed to be the killer, or at least one of the killers, of thirteen-year-old Eddie Heath, a prison Governor and a prison guard from Richmond, as well as Scarpetta's former morgue supervisor, Susan Storey. Whilst the general public can only feel a sigh of relief at the capture of Carrie Grethin and the death of Temple Gault, it must surely be noted that this is the second time the Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, has killed in the name of self-defence in the past three months. Back in October, the public will remember that she shot Mrs. Denesa Steiner, at the same time saving the life of her long time friend and colleague, Captain Pete Marino. Is the Chief Medical Examiner perhaps becoming more than a little trigger happy?"
"I couldn't have put that question better myself," George said dryly, thinking that never again could she be shocked or surprised by anything. "It's all sensationalist rubbish, George, anyone can see that." "Oh, come on," George said with disgust. "Not even the Sun would print a blatantly fabricated lie, and the Washington Post and the New York Times, are far more reputable. There must be something in it." "Well, like it or not," Jo said matter-of-factly. "She's going to do the second postmortem tomorrow, and we need to decide what we're going to do about using her as a witness, or merely submitting her report as evidence." "You want to use her, don't you," George said, closing the computer down because she thought they'd probably read quite enough for one night. "Look beyond the headlines," Jo replied with a sympathetic smile. "And I suspect you'll find someone who's had to fight against the odds for most of her life. That is precisely the kind of person we need on this case, someone who is used to fighting with everything they possess. She must have an endless supply of severe determination, in order to still be functioning after all that." "I would like to be as optimistic as you are," George said regretfully. "But is Barbara's case worth putting trust in someone you've never even met." "You have met her, and spoken to her," Jo told her seriously. "And until you read all this, you liked her. I think it might just be time, to put some faith in your initial impressions. When she's done the postmortem tomorrow, talk to her, and use the opportunity to iron out some of the things that bother you. For all we know, the prosecution might not even think to look in the American press." "You would, if you were acting for the prosecution, wouldn't you." "Yes, I would, but Neumann Mason-Alan rarely thinks along such sensible lines." After a moment's far away thought, George broke the silence with, "I wonder what it's like, to kill someone?" "You've clearly not defended enough killers," Jo said quietly. "I'm serious," George insisted. "I mean, to talk to her, she's so normal, that to contemplate her killing three people, never mind one, is pretty much unthinkable. I just wondered how she's managed to come out of it so sane, that's all." "Well, ask her," Jo said with an encouraging smile. "She might just tell you."