Nick said, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“It’s up to me. But would you stay till the end?”
“Of course.” He let go of her and she sat back down. “Go ahead, Marcy, escort the next person up.”
A woman with a child approached her. “Well, that was something.”
Noreen shrugged. “You may see the whole thing in a future book. Everything’s material.”
* * *
“Thanks for giving me a lift here,” Pax said to Nick the next day, as they headed to the courthouse in Syracuse for the pretrial hearing.
“No sense in taking two cars.” He surveyed Nick.
“You’re pretty upbeat.”
“I am.” Pax forced himself to suppress the events at Noreen’s book signing. She and Jackson had gone to the police station and filled out the forms for restraining orders. The man, Hank Pierson would be held for twenty-four hours for assaulting Jackson.
“Yeah, with their paltry evidence, I expect a dismissal of the charges.”
“I don’t want to get my hopes up, but it seems that way to me too. So I’m focusing on the positive.”
The courthouse on Main Street was large and stately. Because Nick’s offices were in the city, he’d been here many times. He knew the best place to park and soon he and Pax climbed up the steps. The building was made of stone, with a dome and another peak rising over the doors. Pillars flanked them.
“I’ve never been here,” Pax said. “Even when I was living in Syracuse.”
“No reason to. But Redmond Associates have tried a lot of cases here.”
“You’re very successful, Nick.”
In the law, he thought. Not in love. Of course, that was of his own doing. He was forty years old and still afraid of getting too close to anybody.
Inside the third courtroom on the second floor, Pax came face to face with Lance Kramer, the son of the woman who’d died on Pax’s table. He was a diminutive man with a receding hairline, glasses and a frown.
Nick sat next to Pax at the defendant’s table. The judge came out and took his place on the bench. He was a big man withlinebacker shoulders. “We’re here to discuss the charges against Dr. Paxton Barry by Mr. Lance Kramer. I’d like the attorneys to come forward. Nick buttoned his suitcoat and walked up to the bench. The lawyer of the complainant stood next to him. “Mr. Lansing, you provided the statements of witnesses for discovery. I have to ask if that’s all the proof you have.”
“The autopsy report is there, too.”
“It is. The report is inconclusive. Did your client know that?”
“Yes.”
“Did you search for more proof?”
He cleared his throat. “There isn’t any more.”
“So you brought this lawsuit thinking we’d settle at pretrial.”
“Ah, no, not really. My client suffered horribly over the loss of his mother. He asserts that he’s entitled to compensation.”
“Mr. Redmond? What do you have to say?”
“It’s clear to me, your Honor, that the depositions speak for themselves. One of them is by somebody who wasn’t even in the operating room.”
“I realize that. I hadn’t seen the evidence when you asked for a dismissal weeks ago. But now that the discovery is in, I’m declaring a dismissal of charges.”
Pax said aloud, “Wow.”
