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The jury was ready

After forty-two hours of deliberations that followed seventy-one days of trial that included 530 hours of testimony fro silently as the lawyers haggled and the judge lectured and the spectators watched like hawks for telltale signs, the jury was ready Locked away in the jury rooned their names to the verdict while the other two pouted in their corners, detached and miserable in their dissension

There were hugs and sratulation because they had survived this little war and could now march proudly back into the arena with a decision they had rescued through sheer detered pursuit of compromise Their ordeal was over; their civic duty complete They had served above and beyond They were ready

The foreman knocked on the door and rustled Uncle Joe frouarded theed their meals, heard their coe In his younger years, back when his hearing was better, Uncle Joe was ruh a flimsy pine door he and he alone had selected and installed But his listening days were over, and, as he had confided to no one but his wife, after the ordeal of this particular trial heup his old pistol once and for all The strain of controlling justice earing him down

He se," as if the judge were so for a call from Uncle Joe Instead, by custo the wonderful news It was truly exciting

The old courthouse had never seen a trial so large and so long To end it with no decision at all would have been a shame

The clerk tapped lightly on the judge's door, then took a step inside and proudly announced, "We have a verdict," as if she had personally labored through the negotiations and noas presenting the result as a gift

The judge closed his eyes and let loose a deep, satisfying sigh He smiled a happy, nervous smile of enormous relief, almost disbelief, and finally said, "Round up the lawyers"

After alned hihtation and four months of a hotly contested trial, the prospect of a draw ine the prospect of doing it all again

He stuck his feet into his old penny loafers, ju like a little boy, and reached for his robe It was finally over, the longest trial of his extremely colorful career

The clerk's first call went to the firm of Payton a out of an abandoned dial picked up the phone, listened for a few seconds, hung up, then shouted, "The jury has a verdict!" His voice echoed through the cavernous ues

He shouted it again as he ran to The Pit, where the rest of the fir Wes Payton was already there, and when his wife, Mary Grace, rushed in, their eyes met in a split second of unbridled fear and bewilderathered at the long, cluttered worktable, where they suddenly froze and gawked at one another, all waiting for someone else to speak

Could it really be over? After they had waited for an eternity, could it end so suddenly?

So abruptly? With just a phone call?

"How about a moht circle and prayed as they had never prayed before All hty, but the common plea was for victory Please, dear Lord, after all this time and effort and rant us a divine victory And deliver us from humiliation, ruin, bankruptcy, and a host of other evils that a bad verdict will bring

The clerk's second call was to the cell phone of Jared Kurtin, the architect of the defense Mr Kurtin was lounging peacefully on a rented leather sofa in his te, three blocks from the courthouse

He was reading a biography and watching the hours pass at 750 per He listened calo The jury is ready" His dark-suited soldiers snapped to attention and lined up to escort hi victory They marched aithout comment, without prayer

Other calls went to other lawyers, then to the reporters, and withinrapidly

So in lower Manhattan, a panic-stricken young ent news to Mr Carl Trudeau, who immediately lost interest in the issues on the table, stood abruptly, and said, "Looks like the jury has reached a verdict" He marched out of the room and down the hall to a vast corner suite, where he reazed through the early darkness at the Hudson River in the distance

He waited, and as usual asked himself how, exactly, so much of his ee people in backwater Mississippi

For a man who knew so much, that ansas still elusive

People were hurrying into the courthouse from all directions when the Paytons parked on the street behind it They stayed in the car for ahands

For four months they had tried not to touch each other anywhere near the courthouse

So Maybe a juror or a reporter It was important to be as professional as possible The novelty of a al team surprised people, and the Paytons tried to treat each other as attorneys and not as spouses

And, during the trial, there had been precious little touching away from the courthouse or anywhere else

"What are you thinking?" Wes asked without looking at his wife His heart was racing and his forehead et He still gripped the wheel with his left hand, and he kept telling himself to relax

Relax What a joke

"I have never been so afraid," Mary Grace said

"Neither have I"

A long pause as they breathed deeply and watched a television van alhter a pedestrian

"Can we survive a loss?" she said "That's the question"

"We have to survive; we have no choice But we're not going to lose"

"Attaboy Let's go"

They joined the rest of their little fir in her usual spot on the first floor by the soft drink machines was their client, the plaintiff, Jeannette Baker, and when she saw her lawyers, she ian to cry Wes took one arm, Mary Grace the other, and they escorted Jeannette up the stairs to the main courtroohed less than a hundred pounds and had aged five years during the trial She was depressed, at tih not anorexic, she simply didn't eat At thirty-four, she had already buried a child and a husband and was now at the end of a horrible trial she secretly wished she had never pursued

The courtroo and the sirens ailing Dozens of people milled about, or looked for seats, or chatted nervously with their eyes darting around When Jared Kurtin and the defense arht know so they didn't Day after day for the past four months he had proven that he could see around corners, but at that ravely with his subordinates

Across the room, just a few feet away, the Paytons and Jeannette settled into their chairs at the plaintiff's table Say to impress upon the jurors that this poorand her two lonely lawyers were taking on a giant corporation with unlilanced at Jared Kurtin, their eyes met, and each offered a polite nod The miracle of the trial was that the two men were still able to treat each other with a modest dose of civility, even converse when absolutely necessary

It had becoardless of how nasty the situation, and there had been so utter and offer a hand

Mary Grace did not look over, and if she had, she would not have nodded or smiled

And it was a good thing that she did not carry a handgun in her purse, or half of the dark suits on the other side wouldn't be there She arranged a clean legal pad on the table before her, wrote the date, then her na in In seventy-one days of trial she had filled sixty-six legal pads, all the same size and color and now filed in perfect order in a secondhand metal cabinet in The Pit She handed a tissue to Jeannette Though she counted virtually everything, Mary Grace had not kept a running tally on the nu the trial Several dozen at least

The woman cried almost nonstop, and while Mary Grace was profoundly sy She was tired of everything-the exhaustion, the stress, the sleepless nights, the scrutiny, the time away from her children, their run-down apartlected clients, the cold Chinese food ather face and hair everyso she could be somewhat attractive in front of the jury It was expected of her

Stepping into a hted belt into a dark and weedy pond You e to scramble up for air, but the rest of the world doesn't

A fes behind the Paytons, at the end of a bench that was quickly beco crowded, the Paytons' banker chewed his nails while trying to appear calm His name was Tom Huff, or Huffy to everyone who knew him Huffy had dropped in from time to time to watch the trial and offer a silent prayer of his own The Paytons owed Huffy's bank 400,000, and the only collateral was a tract of farood day it , obviously, a substantial chunk of unsecured debt If the Paytons lost the case, then Huffy's once pro career as a banker would be over The bank president had long since stopped yelling at him Now all the threats were by e-mail

What had begun innocently enough with a siainst their lovely suburban ho hellhole of red ink and foolish spending Foolish at least in Huffy's opinion But the nice hoone, as was the nice don office, and the i it all, and Huffy had to adenius

The wrong verdict, and he'd stand in line behind them at the bankruptcy court

Thetheir nails and were not particularly worried about bankruptcy, though it had been discussed Krane Chemical had plenty of cash and profits and assets, but it also had hundreds of potential plaintiffs waiting like vultures to hear what the world was about to hear A crazy verdict, and the lawsuits would fly

But they were a confident bunch at that moment Jared Kurtin was the best defense lawyer htly

Mr Trudeau, up in New York, seemed to be satisfied

They couldn't wait to get home

Thank God the markets had closed for the day

Uncle Joe yelled, "Keep your seats," and Judge Harrison entered through the door behind his bench He had long since cut out the silly routine of requiring everyone to stand just so he could assume his throne

"Good afternoon," he said quickly It was almost 5:00 pm "I have been informed by the jury that a verdict has been reached" He was looking around,sure the players were present "I expect decorum at all times No outbursts No one leaves until I dismiss the jury

Any questions? Any additional frivolous motions from the defense?"

Jared Kurtin never flinched He did not acknowledge the judge in any way, but just kept doodling on his legal pad as if he were painting a masterpiece If Krane Cheeance, and the cornerstone of its appeal would be the obvious bias of the Honorable Thomas Alsobrook Harrison IV, a for corporations in general and, now, Krane Chemical in particular

"Mr Bailiff, bring in the jury"

The door next to the jury box opened, and soiant unseen vacuum sucked every ounce of air from the courtroom Hearts froze Bodies stiffened Eyes found objects to fixate on The only sound was that of the jurors' feet shuffling across orn carpet

Jared Kurtin continued hisHis routine was to never look at the faces of the jurors when they returned with a verdict After a hundred trials he knew they were impossible to read And why bother? Their decision would be announced in a matter of seconds anyway His teanore the jurors and show no reaction whatsoever to the verdict

Of course Jared Kurtin wasn't facing financial and professional ruin Wes Payton certainly was, and he could not keep his eyes from the eyes of the jurors as they settled into their seats The dairy operator looked away, a bad sign The schoolteacher stared right through Wes, another bad sign As the forelanced at Wes with a look of pity, but then she had been offering the sa statements

Mary Grace caught the sign, and she wasn't even looking for it As she handed another tissue to Jeannette Baker, as practically sobbing now, Mary Grace stole a look at juror number six, the one closest to her, Dr Leona Rocha, a retired English professor at the university Dr Rocha, behind red-fraave the quickest, prettiest, most sensational wink Mary Grace would ever receive

"Have you reached a verdict?" Judge Harrison was asking

"Yes, Your Honor, we have," the foreman said

"Is it unanimous?"

"No, sir, it is not"

"Do at least nine of you agree on the verdict?"

"Yes, sir The vote is 10 to 2"

"That's all that matters"

Mary Grace scribbled a note about the wink, but in the fury of theTry to appear cal herself

Judge Harrison took the envelope fro the verdict-heavy wrinkles burrowing into his forehead, eyes frowning as he pinched the bridge of his nose After an eternity he said, "It appears to be in order" Not one single twitch or grin or widening of the eyes, nothing to indicate ritten on the sheet of paper

He looked down and nodded at his court reporter and cleared his throat, thoroughly relishing the moment Then the wrinkles softened around his eyes, the jaw ed a bit, and, to Wes anyway, there was suddenly hope that the jury had scorched the defendant

In a slow, loud voice, Judge Harrison read: "Question number one: "Do you find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the groundwater at issue was contaminated by Krane Chemical Corporation?"After a treacherous pause that lasted no more than five seconds, he continued, "The answer is "Yes"

One side of the courtrooan to turn blue

"Question number two: "Do you find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the contamination was the proximate cause of the death or deaths of (a) Chad Baker and/or (b) Pete Baker?"Answer: "Yes, for both"

Mary Grace ed to pluck tissues fro furiously with her right Wes lance at juror nu at hiood part"

"Question number three: "For Chad Baker, what amount of es for his wrongful death?"Answer: "Five hundred thousand dollars"

Dead children aren't worth , but Chad 's iave a quick previeas to coe and thanked God that bankruptcy had been averted

"Question number four: "For Pete Baker, what amount of es for his wrongful death?"Answer: "Two and a half million dollars"

There was a rustle from the money boys in the front row behind Jared Kurtin Krane could certainly handle a 3 million hit, but it was the ripple effect that suddenly terrified them For his part, Mr Kurtin had yet to flinch

Not yet

Jeannette Baker began to slide out of her chair She was caught by both of her lawyers, who pulled her up, wrapped arms around her frail shoulders, and whispered to her

She was sobbing, out of control

There were six questions on the list that the lawyers had hammered out, and if the jury answered yes to nuo crazy