"Yes. There are usually two surgeons, one assisting, sometimes two anesthesiologists, a scrub nurse, and at least one circulating nurse."

"I see. Then there must be a lot of noise and excitement going on. People calling out instructions and so on."

"Yes."

"And I understand that it's a common practice for music to be playing during an operation."

"It is."

"When Dr. Barker came in and saw that Lance Kelly was dying, that probably added to the confusion."

"Well, everybody was pretty busy trying to save the patient."

"Making a lot of noise?"

"There was plenty of noise, yes."

"And yet, in all that confusion and noise, and over the music, you could hear Dr. Barker say that Dr. Taylor had killed the patient. With all that excitement, you could have been wrong, couldn't you?"

"No, sir. I could not be wrong."

"What makes you so sure?"

Dr. Peterson sighed. "Because I was standing right next to Dr. Barker when he said it."

There was no graceful way out.

"No more questions."

The case was falling apart, and there was nothing he could do about it. It was about to get worse.

Denise Berry took the witness stand.

"You're a nurse at Embarcadero County Hospital?"

"Yes."

"How long have you worked there?"

"Five years."

"During that time, did you ever hear any conversations between Dr. Taylor and Dr. Barker?"

"Sure. Lots of times."

"Can you repeat some of them?"

Nurse Berry looked at Dr. Taylor and hesitated. "Well, Dr. Barker could be very sharp ..."

"I didn't ask you that, Nurse Berry. I asked you to tell us some specific things you heard him say to Dr. Taylor."

There was a long pause. "Well, one time he said she was incompetent, and ..."

Gus Venable put on a show of surprise. "You heard Dr. Barker say that Dr. Taylor was incompetent?"

"Yes, sir. But he was always ..."