On Jo's bench lay the crumpled notes, much thumbed evidence folder, which comprised the fruits of her's and George's labours for the last two weeks, and every question asked over the past five months. Now she was done, and she focused her mind to make one last effort.
"You have heard a considerable volume of evidence but there are three basic questions that I ask you, the jury, to consider. First of all, was it possible for Barbara Mills to take her husband's life , secondly, was she capable of doing so and thirdly, did she do it? I am asking you, the jury, to consider the very valuable evidence of Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Chief Medical Officer of the State of Virginia, whose access to the finest medical analytical techniques have established that, regrettably, it was Henry Mills who took his own life. You may think that a strong minded man would cling resolutely to his own life. Instead, I ask you to consider that a man in the worst extremities of a painful and lingering terminal illness is in the most extreme situation imaginable. Such a person could have taken his life, even the strongest. It is very easy to commit a fallacy in considering the deceased, who my learned counsel man justly described as a very strong man as being strong, whatever the circumstances. You would draw false conclusions as to what he may or may not do. You must remember that months of painful decline can create such a state of desperation that is almost conceivable to imagine. Yet, I am asking you, the jury, to try and make that leap of the imagination."
Jo paused for a second and reached for the mug of water on her bench as, unaccountably, her voice had become hoarse. Entirely focusing her mind on Barbara's plight to the total exclusion of everything else, including herself, she plunged onwards down the leaping line of logic.
"Once you admit that possibility, then Henry Mills engaged that sheer desperation of will to use the last strength within him to reach for the pre prepared morphine syringe at his bedside and to take his own life. It explains why Mrs Mills, in making a cup of tea downstairs would be utterly unprepared for the danger of her leaving her husband's bedside. In the land of the healthy and the living, however tired out, she would, for the one time in her life, have been utterly unable to foresee the train of thought that had formed in her husband's head. The evidence offered by the consultant anaesthetist, Dr Zubin Khan is particularly important because he was closer in experience to the situation. This was because he had the responsibility for overseeing Mr Mills's pain relief. It is to be preferred to Ms Connie Beauchamp because, capable surgeon though she no doubt is, she was further away from the situation. The direction points in one way, and in one way only. Mrs Mills could not have taken her husband's life.
Finally, I must pay tribute to highly professional and insightful evidence offered by Nikki Wade, who has offered compelling evidence from a unique perspective of closeness. It reinforces and is reinforced by Dr Waugh's psychological assessment. It paints a clear picture of a devoted wife of extraordinary clear principles, who was simply not capable of the sort of self-deceit that my learned counsel implies.'Perhaps if I give him an overdose on the quiet, it will put him out of his misery.' That is, after all, what the case of my learned counsel amounts to."
Jo threw those words across the courtroom with a sweeping gesture of the hand and every ounce of scorn to dismiss utterly the central proposition of the prosecution. She let her words hang in the air before resuming in a quieter vein.
"When you put it as crudely as that, how grotesquely improbable it all sounds from all you have heard about the defendant, as opposed to the outpourings of prejudice and bigotry from Mrs Hollamby, whose capacity as a competent and caring prison officer I would seriously question. So in winding up, I urge you, the jury who hold the defendant's life in your hands to acquit her. She couldn't have done it, she wouldn't have done it and she didn't do it."
"Hear hear." George muttered under her breath, smiling reassuringly at Jo as she sat back in her bench exhausted. The final address had taken it out of her more than she had thought. Brian Cantwell kept his head lowered. He had done all that he had been paid to do, and could now view proceedings with a certain degree of detachment.
"It seems a convenient point to adjourn the court for lunchbreak to give all members the court, particularly the jury, a chance of a break. I advise everyone to be back sharp at two so that they will be here for the summing up." John intoned.