Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell (27 page)

A I always felt he was very polite. He liked a lady to be a lady. I should have wore a dress today. (Laughter.)

Q Did he ever flirt with you?

A No.

Q Did he ever make obscene or lewd comments?

A No.

Q Does he ever compliment you?

A Yes.

Q Do these compliments have any sexual connotations?

A No.

Q What sort of compliments are they?

A Very nice. He would always comment on how I looked. In fact, we had a little joke in the office. He wondered that particular day which airlines I had worked for.

Q ... Have you had an opportunity to determine the care which he takes in his medical practice?

A ... A lot. . . . His wife would also tell me many times that he had stayed up most of the night studying on that case. He's a very—I believe he's a dedicated doctor.

Q What is Dr. Story's reputation for telling the truth?

A I have never known him or caught him in a lie.

Q I have no further questions.

Diana wondered, When am I going to be asked about Emma Lu and Julia? She was pleased when Kathy Karpan got up to ask more

questions:

Q ... Were you allowed to turn the knob and walk into a room when the doctor was in the examining room with the patient? A No.

Q Did you ever walk in that room? A No.

Q Are you aware of any employees who did knock and then walk in the room? A No.

Then the defense attorney took over again:

Q Was the door ever locked while Dr. Story was giving an examination to a patient? A I do not know.

That seemed to end the questioning by the lawyers. She was relieved that she hadn't been asked about the semen in the wastebas-ket and certain touchy matters like one woman's comment that she wouldn't pay her bill "and Dr. Story knows why," but she also wondered why no one had given her a chance to back up Emma Lu and Julia.

The four doctors on the Board began asking questions. How many patients did Dr. Story see each day ("Oh, probably fifteen"), and how many pelvics did he perform? ("Probably two or three").

Q Did you ever notice women being upset when they came out of the examining room?

A No, truthfully I haven't . . .

Q Do you know whether or not there are locks on the doors to the examining rooms in Dr. Story's office? A I think there is.

Q Are you still a patient of Dr. Story's? A Yes.

212 "DOC"

After a few more questions, the judge told her to step down. She thought, They still haven't asked about Emma Lu and Julia. Dear Lord, they'll bring them in here cold and cross-examine them and embarrass them to death. And there'll be nobody to confirm their stories or their integrity. She'd been asked about Doctor's own honesty and she'd given him a high recommendation. Why couldn't she do the same for her aunt and Julia? Was it because they were victims?

She stumbled across the courthouse lawn, crying. She just wanted to get away. "Diana!" someone called.

She turned. It was Kathy Karpan, running to catch up. "Diana, I'm sorry. I didn't have a chance to let you know. They won't let your aunt and the other lady testify."

Diana turned away. She was sure her makeup was dripping. "Why not?" she mumbled.

"The hearing officer said we turned in their names too late. I'm sorry."

She remembered how Bill had instructed her to butt out. She thought about the four stony-faced doctors sitting in judgment on one of their own and not being willing to listen to a couple of poor abused old ladies. She decided not to stick around.

37

MINDA BRINKERHOFF

Living in Gillette, Minda hac| begun to feel better, but for this morning inquisition some of her old symptoms came surging back. She had pain in her throat, her hips, her legs. She felt as though she were working the spotting rack at the Lovell Cleaners and getting stung every night at the Queen Bee Gardens. Maybe the problem was the long drive across the mountains from Gillette, or the sleepless nights worrying if she'd be a good witness, or her customary work load. Or just plain fright. Everything was so overpowering.

Before the 9
a.m
. session on the second day of the hearing, Kathy Karpan showed her photocopies of her medical charts from Story's office. They were such obvious fakes that she almost forgot her discomfort in amazement. Who did the man think he was fooling? The penmanship varied, and dates were juggled around or omitted. Dozens of entries went all the way back to her childhood and consisted of a few scribbled lines each, but for the pivotal final date of their relationship he'd composed a minor essay:

4/21/83 1. Throat sore, and tongue hurts—3 days, cold U/2 weeks. 2. Nervous breakdown—rundown end '81. 3. Hips and back hurt all the time. Has been on Motrin 400—up to 10-12/d. Now on 6 daily. Hurts all over—esp. hips. 4. Stomach (epigastric) pain couple months (one in hi-school). 5. Pelvic—lot discharge. LMP—last week. Menses severe and bleeding excessive. Flow 62 days now (previously 3 days). Leg veins getting bad. EXM: Neck: Thyroid essentially neg. Breasts: Neg. Heart: RSR good tonal no m. Lungs: clear A & P. Abdomen: tender epigastric widely and RLW somewhat laterally. Pelvic: brief—didn't feel anything right adnex (on half effort). Crux slightly diffuse erosion. No evidence infection speculum. Extremities: No. Varicose veins (she mentioned). Back: Flexibility back and hip motion. (Vitals next visit) Essentially full range of motion. Tender left hip periarticularly. But no objective changes. Sugg. "Palindromic" syndrome. Fibrositis reaction. Some is surely a "pushed-too-hard." Says sleepy all time now. Pressure work, money, decisions vs folks, business problems. List—tongue, hips back legs, etc. Epigastric burning etc. (with stress), Pelvic—mense pain (and tender right lower quadrant). Given: Tagamet #8 1 each bedtime.

Minda thought, This is the man who never lies? She'd gone in that day for a few minor ailments and ended up being abused. She perused the entry again. It was puzzling. Where did he get so much biographical information to lump under one date? Then she remembered her deposition three months earlier. She'd mentioned just about every point he'd noted. Obviously he'd cribbed from the transcript and designed an entry that made him look thorough and conscientious. How impressed the Medical Board would be!

She noted the way he'd dragged in the phrase "nervous breakdown." That had been years ago and had amounted to nothing; she'd seen a doctor once, then discarded the pills and healed herself. But the simple notation "nervous breakdown" would make good reading for the authorities. Who would believe the testimony of someone so unstable?

As she arranged her print dress down over her knees in the witness box, she saw Dr. Story sitting to her right with his three lawyers, including Senator Simpson's son. Four men in conservative suits sat in a row to her left, along with the judge.

Story stared at her with a fixed smirk. As she started her testimony, he went behind his hand to whisper to his lawyer, then resumed the smirk. He took notes as though scoring her insufficiencies. She hated his routine—it looked so rehearsed and manipulative—and avoided looking at him.

The lawyers went around and around, from the name and birth date of each of her children to the name of every city she'd ever lived in and every job she'd ever held. Construction crews outside the windows forced her to yell her answers. The lawyers kept yapping at her to speak louder or slow down or both. Gol, she thought, what time do they bring in the elephants and the twenty-one clowns in the Volkswagen?

Her direct testimony went on and on till her mouth turned dry. When Kathy Karpan finally said, "No further questions at this time," the court reporter slumped and the judge said, "Let me ask the reporter. Does your concentration need a rest?"

"Yes!"

Minda thought, How strange. The court reporter is saying a word and taking it down at the same time.

The judge commented that the testimony had been "most rapid" and called for a break. Kathy Karpan took Minda aside and told her she was doing fine.

Sixteen minutes later, the defense began taking her over the same ground. Her ulcer felt like a swallowed horse chestnut and the hard oaken chair aggravated her arthritic hips. She was sick of talking about Dr. Story. She'd told everything she knew in a long deposition; why couldn't they just use that? She knew that lawyers used various techniques, but she hadn't realized that the main one was repetition. There were times she could have sworn that Charles Kepler was deliberately trying to confuse her. It seemed unfair. Weren't things confusing enough already? He questioned her closely about visiting Story with Scott. Then:

Q I do note, just a matter of interest, you mention that three times doctor said he did not violate you, and then you say he said three times, Anything I can do to make things right.

A Right.

Q Did he have a tendency to repeat himself three times?

Oh, but you do, Minda said to herself. Anybody can see that. The object is to make me contradict myself. If I stick to the truth, I'll be fine.

She tried to concentrate. She wasn't going to allow herself to come across as a dimwit just because she talked fast and had trou^ ble hearing him above the construction din outside. The interrogation about Story's p-e-n-i-s seemed endless. The word had always grated on her, made her feel crawly. She would have been happy to go to the Celestial Kingdom without ever hearing that word. The questions came fast:

Q And you had a sheet over you . . . and you raised up to see this penis?

A No, I didn't. I just turned my head off to the side.

Q And could see it from turning your head to the side?

A Uh-huh.

Q You did not raise up?

A No, I didn't.

Q Do you remember in your deposition saying that you raised up to look?

A No, I don't.

Q You don't remember that? When you—if I remember your testimony here correctly, you had to force his hands away?

A I pushed his hands up out of the way while I brought my hand up. He moved them out of the way.

Q So you touched him? This would be with your right hand?

A Right.

Q And you raised up this way?

A Uh-huh.

Q Did he say anything?

A No.

Q He said nothing about that when you were interfering with his examination?

A No.

Q Did he have [his lab] coat on that day?

A A white one.

Q And you could not see both ends of his penis?

A Right.

Q How much of the penis did you see? What dimension? What length?

A About the width of my hand.

Q So then some portion of it is in your upper leg?

A The end was pushed up against my leg.

Q And some portion of it is hidden behind his coat?

A Right.

Q The portion you saw is at least the width of your hand, and your hand is two or three inches, I suppose?

A Yes.

Q And you said nothing ^bout it? You didn't say, "Doctor, that's your penis"?

A No, I didn't.

Q "Doctor, what are you doing?"

A No, I didn't.

Q "Doctor, please don't do that anymore?"

A No, I didn't.

Q Why didn't you say so?

A Because I really didn't think Dr. Story would do anything wrong. And in my mind I hoped that it was not a penis and I hoped that I was just seeing things.

She glanced at the members of the Medical Board. She hoped they understood why she hadn't made a scene. Their faces were pure Mount Rushmore. Kathy Karpan smiled from the counsel table. Dr. Story scribbled and smirked. She knew that Scott was waiting his turn in the witness room, and she had to defeat a claustrophobic urge to run to him for comfort.

Kepler got her to repeat that she'd once been near a nervous breakdown and that she'd been overdoing the Motrin, a prescription drug. She thought, He's making me sound like a lunatic and a drug addict. She wondered what these questions had to do with the case of Dr. Story.

The cross-examination finished in a volley of fast talk: