'Evelyn,' she said. 'What's her white?' DuQuette read her the figures on her white blood cell count. It was close enough to zero to be inconsequential. 'All right,' she said in a clipped tone. 'Give her a few more hours with a count every hour. If you see any activity at all, call me. If you don't, call me.'
'Either way-right.' He rang off hurriedly.
She returned the receiver to its cradle. Walking back to the table, she announced that she was stepping out for a smoke.
'How's Renata?' This time Karen asked. Her eyes held a fa-tal concern.
'She's steady. Babies have a will to survive.' Fletcher laid a gentle hand on Karen's shoulder. 'It's only grownups that can choose to give up. Hang in there.' She clasped David's shoul-der for good measure. Her gaze met Johnson's. She signaled him to follow and turned away. Johnson finished his soup in a few easy spoons and stood. 'I want to review some testimony with Dr. Fletcher. You two take it easy.'
The courtyard was blissfully free of reporters. A cool sea breeze wafted through the building while patches of high clouds scudded overhead. He saw Fletcher lighting up and joined her.
'How is she really?' he asked.
'In trouble.' She took a short, nervous drag. 'I should be there.'
'DuQuette's good, you said.'
She threw the cigarette to the ground half-smoked. Her shoe rammed down to crush out its flame.
'Sure. But if she dies, I'll never know if I'd have been able to save her. I might have known one extra protocol, seen one additional symptom, rec-ognized some obscure infection.' Her eyes turned toward the clouds.
Johnson's watch chimed. He reached over to silence it. 'Time to head back.' She put an arm across his shoulders with weary friendli-ness. 'When Czernek rests his case, what have you got in store for Karen?'
'I've decided not to put Karen on. I got the most I could out of her during my cross-exam. I want you to go up.'
Her arm dropped. 'What?'
Johnson grinned.
XIX
Judge Lyang entered the courtroom and took her place be-hind the bench. She rapped the gavel lightly once.
'Court will come to order. I have been notified by counsel for the plaintiff that they have rested their case.' She looked at Czernek and Dalton as if in confirmation. She nodded to them with a slight turn of her head, then shifted her attention to Johnson, Fletcher, and the Chandlers.
'The defense may now present its case. Mr. Johnson?'
Johnson rose. 'The defense has only one witness,' he said. 'Dr. Evelyn Fletcher.' The Chandlers turned toward each other in shock and sur-prise, then stared back at Johnson. Cameras swiveled about for reactions. The spectators murmured among themselves or into pocket recorders.
Before she could comment, Johnson faced the judge to say, 'Your Honor, I could present the Chandlers to argue that theirs would be the preferred home for Renata.' He turned toward the jurors.
'They are already paying for her medical care and are in all other ways serving as her parents. I think, though'-he approached the jury box slowly, somberly-'that the ques-tion of custody in this case does not rest so much with the fitness of the parents as it does with the nature of the opera-tion and the explicit agreements involved. Dr. Fletcher, as a co-defendant in this case, is as much an interested party as the parents. And it is my contention that transoption is implic-itly on trial here today via the question of the status of Exhibit A-the contract Valerie Dalton signed. If the contract is found to be fraudulently induced, then Renata is rightfully the daugh-ter of Valerie Dalton and Ron Czernek.' He leaned on the bar separating him from the six jurors. 'If, however, the contract is determined to be legitimate, then transoption will be recog-nized as a moral, life-saving alternative to abortion, and Karen and David Chandler would be the rightful parents of Baby Renata.'
He turned to look up at Lyang. She raised one eyebrow as if to say it was his case and he could blow it however he wanted. 'Counsel is free to proceed,' she said, sitting back in her black vinyl chair. Dr. Fletcher ascended to the witness stand and was sworn in. Valerie Dalton stared impassively into the woman's eyes as they chanced to gaze down at her. She saw no anger, even though her actions had cost Dr. Fletcher her career. Valerie lowered her gaze to the papers on her part of the table. Her fingers twined in a tight, anxious double fist.
'Dr. Fletcher,' Johnson asked after she had been sworn in, 'what are your qualifications to be an expert witness
