Illegal Alien

Dale went through the business of establishing Wills’s credentials — he was an anatomy professor at UC Irvine. Wills stood five-eight and weighed maybe a hundred and fifty-five pounds. Frank noticed he wore no watch, but was remarkably well dressed for a professor.

"Dr. Wills," said Dale, "the prosecution has spent a lot of time on the missing parts — the items apparently removed form Dr. Calhoun’s body by whatever person killed him. Would you start by telling the jury what the significant characteristics are of the human throat and lower jaw?"

"Certainly," said Wills, who had a pleasant, deep voice. "The shape of the cavity made by the throat and the lower jaw is what allows us to produce the complex range of sounds we’re capable of. In other words, it makes human speech possible."

"Is the throat shape significant in any other way?"

"Well, the Adam’s apple serves as a secondary sexual characteristic in humans; it’s much more prominent in adult males."

"Anything else?"

"I’m not sure I know what you mean."

Dale was pleased with Wills’s performance; the defense could play the "see, we don’t rehearse expert testimony" game every bit as well as the People could. "Well," said Dale, "consider a chimpanzee’s throat and a human throat. What differences are there?"

Wills adjusted his wire-frame glasses. "The angle made by the path between the lips and the voice box is quite different. In a human, it’s a right angle; in a chimp, it’s a gentle curve."

"Does that cause any problems?"

"Not for the chimp," said Wills, grinning widely, inviting everyone in the court to share in his joke.

"How do you mean?"

"In humans, there’s a space above the larynx in which food can get caught. We can choke to death while eating; a chimp can’t."

"Thank you, Dr. Wills. Now, what about the appendix? We’ve all heard of it, of course, but can you tell us a bit about it?"

"Certainly. The appendix is a hollow tube of lymphoid tissue between two and twenty centimeters long, and about as thick as a pencil. In other words, it looks like a worm — which is why we call it the vermiform process; vermiform is Latin for ‘wormlike.’ One end of this worm is attached to the cecum, which is the pouch that forms the beginning of the large intestine. The other end is closed."

"And what does the appendix do?"

Wills blinked his blue eyes. "The common wisdom is that it does nothing at all; it’s just a vestigial organ. Our primate ancestors were herbivores, and in its original form, the appendix was probably of some use in aiding digestion — modern herbivores have an extended cecum that resembles a longer version of our appendix. But for us, the appendix does little, if anything."

"And are there any dangers associated with the appendix?"

"Oh, yes. It’s prone to infection and inflammation. About one out of every fifteen people will come down with appendicitis during their life-times."

"This is a minor condition, no?"

"No. It’s a major, excruciating, and potentially fatal problem. Usually, the appendix has to be surgically removed."

"Thank you, Professor. Your witness, Ms. Ziegler."

Ziegler consulted briefly with her second chair, Trina Diamond, then shrugged. "No questions."

"All right," said Judge Pringle. "In view of the lateness of the hour, we’ll recess until ten A.M. tomorrow morning." She looked at the jury box.

"Please remember my admonitions to you. Don’t discuss the case among yourselves, don’t form any opinions about the case, don’t conduct any deliberations, and don’t allow anyone to communicate with you regarding the case." She rapped her gavel. "Court is in recess."

Hask still spent his nights in his room at Valcour Hall. As usual, Frank escorted him back home, along with a total of four LAPD officers — two in the same car as Frank and Hask, and two others in a second cruiser. The one problem with Valcour Hall was that although the building had been finished, the parking lot adjacent to it hadn’t been surfaced yet, and so the police cruiser had to let Hask out about two hundred yards from the residence. Wooden stakes had been driven into the grass all around the dorm, with yellow "Police Line — Do Not Cross" tape stretched between them. Still, every day after the trial, hundreds of students, faculty members, and other Angelenos could be seen waiting behind the line for a glimpse of Hask. Frank and Hask left the police cruiser together. As usual, Frank was having trouble keeping up with the Tosok, whose stride was much longer than his. It was only four-forty in the afternoon. The sun was still well up the bowl of the cloudless sky.

To Frank’s ears, the two sounds seemed to begin simultaneously, but, of course, one of them had to have come first. The first sound was a cracking so loud it hurt the ears, like thunder or bone breaking or a frozen lake shattering beneath the weight of a stranded man. It echoed off walls of glass and stone, reverberating for several seconds.