Mindscan

Herrington nodded at her. "Obviously, whether this is really Karen Bessarian is an issue that I want to reserve judgment on — although if you are, well, it's a pleasure to meet you; I've very much enjoyed Karen Bessarian's novels." He looked back at Deshawn. "Do you have anything else, Mr. Draper?"

"It's not what I have, your honor. It's what Ms. Lopez doesn't have." Deshawn was clearly trying to not sound smug, but he was only partially succeeding. "You have before you a woman who says she is Karen Bessarian, alive and well. And surely in the absence of a death certificate, the court has to assume she's telling the truth."

Judge Herrington made that quizzical face again: eyes widening, eyebrow lifting. "I don't understand," he said.

Deshawn made his own version of a puzzled face. "Before probate begins," he said, "either the physician in charge or the county medical examiner would normally issue a death certificate if in fact anyone had died. But since no death certificate has been issued, clearly—"

"Mr. Draper," said Judge Herrington, "you seem to be confused."

"I—" began Deshawn, but he got no farther before Maria Lopez stood up.

"Indeed he is, your honor," she said, with great satisfaction. "We have a death certificate for Karen Bessarian right here."

21

"That damned death certificate changes everything," said Malcolm Draper, pacing back and forth — even uploads liked to pace when they were thinking. We had retreated back to the boardroom at Karen's house. "It puts a huge burden on us to prove that Karen isn't dead."

Karen had taken off the jacket of her suit — not that she could possibly be warm; I guess that, too, was another habit that survived uploading. She was sitting on my right, and Deshawn was on my left. She nodded grimly.

"But at least Judge Herrington agreed to a jury trial," said Malcolm, "and I think we'll do better with a jury than without one." He paused as he came to the end of his pacing path, and turned around.

"What do we know about the other attorney?" I asked. "This Lopez?"

Deshawn had a datapad in front of him, but he didn't consult it. "Maria Theresa Lopez," he said. "She's young, but very good. Probate is her specialty, so she may be out of her depth with some of the issues here, but I doubt it. She finished third in her class at Harvard, was on Law Review, and clerked for the Michigan Attorney General."

Malcolm nodded. "I've always made it a policy never to underestimate the other side."

"This is all going to take a lot of time," I said, "and the judge did issue a temporary freeze on Karen's assets." Actually, Herrington had frozen all but five hundred thousand dollars; he'd left her access to enough to meet basic household expenses and legal disbursements.

"And I will need more funds than what the judge left free, won't I?" said Karen. She pursed her plastic lips, then: "Well, let's see what I can do about that." She tilted her head up, spoke into the air. "Phone, call Erica." Then, in an aside to us, "Erica Cole is my literary agent."

"Erica Cole Associates," said the male receptionist, whose face now filled one wall, but before Karen could speak, he went on. "Oh, it's you, Karen. I'll put you straight through."

An idling pattern appeared on the screen for all of three seconds, then the face of a white woman of about fifty appeared. She was a study in circles: round head with ringlets of hair, round eyes behind round glasses. "Hello, Karen," she said. "What's up?"

"Erica, this is my friend Jake Sullivan, and these two gentlemen are my lawyers, Malcolm and Deshawn Draper."

"Malcolm Draper?" said Erica. " The Malcolm Draper?"

Malcolm nodded.

"Wow, we should talk," said Erica. "Are you represented?"

"For books? No."

"We should most definitely talk," Erica said, nodding decisively.

Karen made a mechanical coughing sound, and Erica's eyes swung back to face her.

"Sorry."

"You know I've been toying with writing another book." Karen said.

Erica nodded expectantly.

"Well, I'm ready — if the offer is good enough."

"What did you have in mind? Another DinoWorld book?"

"Yes," said Karen.

"Urn," said Malcolm, "ah, forgive me for interrupting, but…"

We all looked at him.

He lifted his shoulders apologetically. "Until all this is resolved," he said, "you should stay away of any properties you might not have clear ownership of."

For the first time ever, I saw rage on Karen's face. "What? DinoWorld is my property!"

"What's going on?" asked Erica.

Deshawn and Malcolm spent a couple of minutes filling Erica in about Tyler's action, while I watched Karen fume. I didn't think this was the time to tell Karen that, even if we lost our case, all she had to do was wait seventy years until DinoWorld was in the public domain; then she could write all the sequels she wanted, and no one could stop her.

"All right," said Karen finally, arms crossed in front of her chest "It won't be a

DinoWorld book. But it will be the first new novel by me in fifteen years."