the Third Twin (1996)

Quinn got to his feet and opened his briefcase. Steve noticed that his fingers were stained yellow from cigarettes. He took out a sheaf of blowup photocopies of the New York Times piece about Jeannie and handed one to every person in the room. The result was that the table was covered with pieces of paper saying GENE RESEARCH ETHICS: DOUBTS, FEARS AND A SQUABBLE. It was a powerful visual reminder of the trouble Jeannie had caused. Steve wished he had brought some papers to give out, so that he could have covered up Quinn’s.

This simple, effective opening move by Quinn intimidatedSteve. How could he possibly compete with a man who had probably thirty years of courtroom experience? I can’t win this, he thought in a sudden panic.

Quinn began to speak. His voice was dry and precise, with no trace of a local accent. He spoke slowly and pedantically. Steve hoped that might be a mistake with this jury of intellectuals who did not need things spelled out for them in words of one syllable. Quinn summarized the history of the discipline committee and explained its position in the university government. He defined “disrepute” and produced a copy of Jeannie’s employment contract. Steve began to feel better as Quinn droned on.

At last he wound up his preamble and started to question Berrington. He began by asking when Berrington had first heard about Jeannie’s computer search program.

“Last Monday afternoon,” Berrington replied. He recounted the conversation he and Jeannie had had. His story tallied with what Jeannie had told Steve.

Then Berrington said: “As soon as I clearly understood her technique, I told her that in my opinion what she was doing was illegal.”

Jeannie burst out: “What?”

Quinn ignored her and asked Berrington: “And what was her reaction?”

“She became very angry—”

“You damn liar!” Jeannie said.

Berrington flushed at this accusation.

Jack Budgen intervened. “Please, no interruptions,” he said.

Steve kept an eye on the committee. They had all looked at Jeannie: they could hardly help it. He put a hand on her arm, as if restraining her.

“He’s telling barefaced lies!” she protested.

“What did you expect?” Steve said in a low voice. “He’s playing hardball.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be,” he said in her ear. “Keep it up. They could see your anger was genuine.”

Berrington went on: “She became petulant, just as she is now. She told me she could do what she liked, she had a contract.”

One of the men on the committee, Tenniel Biddenham, frowned darkly, obviously disliking the idea of a junior member of faculty quoting her contract to her professor. Berrington was clever, Steve realized. He knew how to take a point scored against him and turn it to his advantage.

Quinn asked Berrington: “What did you do?”

“Well, I realized I might be wrong. I’m not a lawyer, so I decided to get legal advice. If my fears were confirmed, I could show her independent proof. But if it turned out that what she was doing was harmless, I could drop the matter without a confrontation.”

“And did you take advice?”

“As things turned out, I was overtaken by events. Before I had a chance to see a lawyer, the New York Times got on the case.”

Jeannie whispered: “Bullshit.”

“Are you sure?” Steve asked her.

“Positive.”

He made a note.

“Tell us what happened on Wednesday, please,” Quinn said to Berrington.

“My worst fears came true. The university president, Maurice Obeli, summoned me to his office and asked me to explain why he was getting aggressive phone calls from the press about the research in my department. We drafted a press announcement as a basis for discussion and called in Dr. Ferrami.”

“Jesus Christ!” muttered Jeannie.

Berrington went on: “She refused to talk about the press release. Once again she blew her top, insisted she could do what she liked, and stormed out.”

Steve looked in inquiry at Jeannie. She said in a low voice: “A clever lie. They presented me with the press announcement as a fait accompli.”

Steve nodded, but he decided not to take up this point in cross-examination. The committee would probably feel Jeannie should not have stormed out anyway.

“The reporter told us she had a deadline of noon that day,” Berrington continued smoothly. “Dr. Obeli felt the university had to say something decisive, and I must say I agreed with him one hundred percent.”

“And did your announcement have the effect you hoped for?”

“No. It was a total failure. But that was because it was completely undermined by Dr. Ferrami. She told the reporter that she intended to ignore us and there was nothing we could do about it.”

“Did anyone outside the university comment on the story?”

“They certainly did.”

Something about the way Berrington answered that question rang a warning bell in Steve’s head and he made a note.