CHAPTER 29
October 11
There were no polite introductions; no civil shaking of hands. Once the combatants were present and seated at the massive conference table in Jeremy Mallon's law firm library, once the stenographer had readied her machine and loosened her fingers, the battle simply began. With no judge present, Sarah wondered just how ugly it might get.
'State your full name please,' Matt said, after dictating the time, date, location, list of those present, and the purpose of the session.
'Peter David Ettinger.'
'Your occupation?'
'I am an anthropologist and a healer.'
'Your education?'
'I have a bachelor's degree from Reed College and a master's from the University of Michigan, both in anthropology, and both with honors.'
'On the television ads for your weight loss product, you are often referred to as 'Doctor.' Have you a degree at that level?'
'I hold an honorary doctorate in herbal sciences from the Holbrook College of Chiropractic, and several other honorary doctorates as well.'
'Do you have a Ph.D.?'
'No.'
'An M.D.?'
'Certainly not.'
'And what is your current occupation?'
'I am the executive director of the Xanadu Holistic Health Community and president of the Xanadu Corporation.'
'And exactly what does the Xanadu Corporation do?'
'We formulate and distribute the Ayurvedic Herbal Weight Loss System.'
The key to a successful deposition, Matt had explained to Sarah, was the same as that for a successful courtroom cross-examination-never ask a question to which you do not already know the answer. Unfortunately, he was quick to add, the only significant questions he would be asking Peter Ettinger today were those to which they had no answer.
Sarah stared down at her hands, folded tightly on the table in front of her. She hoped Peter could not tell how tightly. When she had first returned to Boston, she had actually entertained notions of reestablishing some sort of professional or platonic relationship with the man. Now she could barely stand to look at him. She had never done anything more virulent than to move her life along in directions that did not include him. No public condemnations; no nasty letters; no tell-all articles; no demands for palimony. Yet here he was, helping to orchestrate a legal case against her that could well put her in professional purgatory, if not in prison.
'You mentioned you were a healer, Mr. Ettinger-oh, excuse me, do you prefer to be addressed as Mister or Doctor?'
'Either way. Mister will be fine.'
'Don't badger this man, counselor,' Jeremy Mallon warned matter-of-factly. 'Either in your words or your tone. You do, and this deposition may be over a lot sooner than you expect.'
'Mr. Mallon, please don't threaten me,' Matt countered. It seemed to Sarah he was purposely exaggerating his Mississippi drawl. 'You saddled this mule months ago in the shop of a sick old man. Now you and your stable of experts had better be ready to ride it yourselves.'
In the corner of the room, the stenographer dispassionately whispered into the hooded microphone of a tape recorder at the same time she was tapping out the exchange on her machine. Arnold Hayden, seated to Matt's right, nodded that Matt's response was appropriate and necessary. Across from Hayden, Jeremy Mallon's associate countered by whispering something in Mallon's ear. Sarah managed a furtive glance across at Peter, but saw only an emotionless mask. Circles within circles within circles. The whole affair would have been incredibly fascinating to her, had not her livelihood and way of life been at stake.
The morning had begun contentiously an hour before the actual deposition. Mallon flatly refused to allow his client, Lisa Grayson, to have her blood drawn or, in fact, to be contacted by Matt, Sarah, Rosa Suarez, or anyone else who did not clear such contact with him. Matt had kept his cool and had stopped short of indicting the Ayurvedic Herbal Weight Loss System. But it was clear to Sarah that before this session was through, Peter's remarkable gold mine would come under attack.
Arnold Hayden had been with them from the outset of the day. Sarah was pleasantly surprised to realize that her initial impression of the man as being far more legal form than substance was way off base. He had a practical and theoretical acumen that Matt clearly found useful, and a calming manner that helped keep her inside her skin. Now, in combat, his presence and bearing seemed to add credibility and force to Matt's examination.
There was also the matter of Hayden's helping out should Matt's compromised objectivity become manifest in any way. Unwilling to give up either Sarah or her case, Matt had asked for his assistance with that in mind. And although he had not spelled out to Hayden the extent of his and Sarah's evolving relationship, she suspected the hospital attorney had some idea.
'Okay, now, Mr. Ettinger,' Matt said, 'getting back to the issue at hand. Would you mind telling us your definition of what a healer is?'
For almost an hour and a half, Matt asked, rephrased, and asked again questions designed more to fill in blanks and set tone than to get at any major legal point. The strategy he, Sarah, and Hayden had agreed upon was to try to get Peter to acknowledge that Sarah's method of prescribing and dispensing herbs was, in fact, no different from his own. Once made, the point would essentially transform Peter into an expert witness for them. They would then begin to dissect the connection between Ettinger, the Xanadu Ayurvedic Weight Loss System, and Pramod Singh.
'When I get to that point,' Matt said, 'I'm just going to wing it.' He dangled his Egyptian amulet. 'I mean, what chance does he have against two thousand years of black magic?'
At the ninety-minute mark, they took a break, during which Mallon had one of his secretaries serve coffee.
'Hey, Matt, maybe you should switch cups with Jeremy,' Sarah whispered. 'There's no telling what he might have put in yours.'
'Nonsense,' Matt drawled. 'He's about as intimidated by me as a hungry mountain lion would be by the Easter bunny. The last thing he'd want to do at this point is to bump me off. I'm too much fun to play with. But right about now I'm going to start tightening the screws on his expert. The measure of how effective I am will be how loudly and how often Mallon objects to my questions. Arnold, do you have any suggestions?'
'None, really,' Hayden said. 'Except that I think it's time to pin down some things about this Dr. Singh. So far, I'm impressed by the way you've handled matters.'
'Thanks. That's kind of you to say-especially considering that I haven't done any damage whatsoever.'
'What you've been throwing are body blows,' the older lawyer replied. 'No one really pays much attention to them, but they set up the head shots. You're doing just fine.' He patted Matt encouragingly on the shoulder as the session resumed.
'Okay, Mr. Ettinger,' Matt began, 'I'd like to spend some time talking about this Ayurvedic Herbal Weight Loss System of yours.'
'Why?' Mallon asked.
'You're the one who brought this man in as an expert,' Matt said. 'I'm just trying to document his qualifications.'
'Peter, I don't see where this line of questioning is relevant. If you don't care to answer the questions, I don't see any reason why you should.'
