“And what can you tell us about the type of videotape in question?”

Chin answers with the dry precision of an engineer. “Digital videotape of the kind found in the cassettes in question—mini-DV tapes—is much more difficult to erase than other types of tape, such as VHS, reel to reel, or the cassette tapes of the 1970s. It uses evaporated metal technology, and devices like bulk degaussers—popularly known as demagnetizers—will not erase them with any degree of completeness. Sometimes they won’t even affect them.”

“But can mini-DV tapes be erased?”

“Oh, yes. Recording over their length in real time will realign the magnetic particles on the tape—permanently, for all practical purposes.”

“But in some cases such tapes can be restored?”

“I have never seen it myself. But in a very small number of cases it has been accomplished.”

Shad lets this statement hang for a few seconds.

“And what about the two tapes I sent to the Sony lab for this purpose?”

Mr. Chin nods once, then lifts a piece of paper from his lap. “The Sony technicians were unable to restore the data on the videotape taken from the RV belonging to Mr. Walter Garrity. The magnetic content was permanently altered when the tape was reloaded into a camcorder and put in record mode for its entire one-hour length. The original data could not be recovered.”

It takes a couple of seconds for me to register what he said. Then a voice in my head says, One down, one to go.

“What about the other tape?” Shad asks, voicing the crowd’s thoughts.

“The tape found in the hospital Dumpster was a different matter.”

Oh, God . . .

“That tape was erased using a different method.”

Shad nods soberly, as though learning this information for the first time.

“And was the Sony team able to restore this tape?”

Everyone in the courtroom leans forward.

“No, sir. They were not.”

The crowd’s expectation becomes shock, then disappointment, then tangible frustration, even anger at Shad Johnson for toying with their expectations. For teasing them. But true to his nature, Shad presses doggedly forward.

“Did you learn any useful information from their report on the videotape taken from the hospital Dumpster?”

“Yes, sir. The magnetic data on that tape was actually far more scrambled—disrupted—than the data on the tape taken from the RV. It had been passed through a magnetic field of enormous power.”

“Will you elaborate, please?”

Even before he answers, I feel nausea in the pit of my stomach.

“Yes, sir. The effects noted on that tape were almost certainly produced by a magnetic resonance imaging device.”

“Are you referring to an MRI machine?”

“Yes, sir. The kind of device hospitals use to image soft tissue.”

“I see. Thank you, Mr. Chin. Tender the witness.”

The familiar click and whir sounds as Quentin drives himself toward the witness box.