.

"You have been testifying throughout saying that I wrote the standards
you used. I put it to you. Is this something you were told, or do you
know of your own knowledge that I wrote those standards you used to
compare with 'suspect' SmurFFs?"

"What was that?" Anuse interrupted.

"I'll ask the question again. Please let the witness answer.
Specifically, did I write those standards in front of you so you know
positively that they were written by me."

"No. I assumed that the exemplars that I was given were authentic
exemplars or standards of your own writing."

"Just as you assumed that I wrote the questioned documents?"

Diana paused just long enough for that to sink in, then asked, "It has
been pointed out that some of us see many dissimilarities in the
exhibit you have shown us. Don't these carry any weight?"

"If, in my opinion, the similarities outweigh the dissimilarities, or
vice-versa, that would be the basis for my opinion," Alice answered,
then forcefully added, "my opinion is based on training, not
assumptions."

"Thank you very much, Ms. Stebbins. I'm glad that we clarified that the
standards were assumptions."

Anuse promptly went into a damage control frenzy trying to destroy the
point made that the exemplars were not authenticated. He would
probably have succeeded had not the examiner been so haughty, so
confident. At least three of the panel were not convinced by her
testimony.

Janet chuckled to herself. She didn't particularly like the fact that
many women never figured out their intolerance of their own sex, but
she was delighted to see anything working in Diana's favor. Evidence
was evidence and courts made it clear that you couldn't manufacture it.
Evidence had to be proven authentic. She knew that a judge would throw
this case against Diana right out on the testimony of this document
examiner.

There was a delay while Alice Stebbins was escorted out. During this
time, Janet rested her fingers and recanted her previous thought.
Actually, she amended, it would never have gotten this far. It would
have stopped back when it became obvious that there was no chain of
custody established for the seven 'suspect' SmurFFs.

Chapter 12

Henry called the dean of the medical school, Sam Broadhurst, MD, and
asked him to identify himself and his position at Belmont for the
record, as the witness before him had done.

The dean was a swarthy complected, strongly built indi