“Where were you and how did you feel when the school phoned to let you know Clara had indeed gotten worse?”
“I was at the Channel 2 studio about to go live. I was upset, naturally, and felt guilty for not being there the one time she needed me. But I also knew she was in good hands with Lucy and, in fairness to Clara, she’s not needy or clingy. Neither of my kids are.”
“Because, as Mrs. Murphy herself testified just a few days ago, you raised them to be confident, independent—”
“Objection. Irrelevant and shamelessly misleading!”
“Sustained. Counsel, you’re on dangerous ground with that nonsense. I won’t tolerate it.”
“My apologies, Judge. I was merely trying to help illustrate that Mrs. Cooper was acting in accordance with her daughter’s behavior and personality.” He turned back to Madeleine.
“So, let’s continue. Far from being negligent or willfully irresponsible, you took the necessary steps to ensure your daughter was taken care of should she become ill.”
“Counsel...” the judge warned, but for her part Madeleine was buoyed by the defense barrister’s bravery. It made the whole thing come across so much more reasonable.
“Duly noted, Judge, and again my apologies. Mrs. Cooper, tell us what happened afterward when you returned from your work commitment in Dublin?”
Feeling heartened by how things were going so far, Madeleine continued, her voice becoming more confident. “Lucy was good enough to stay with Clara at my house for the hour or so it took me to get home, and after that I kept her in bed, gave her some more acetaminophen and kept a close eye on her to see how things would develop. Obviously I kept her home from school from thereon in. I began operating under the assumption that it must in fact be chicken pox—after all, it was going around. But then her temperature spiked and I became concerned, though not enough to take her to the doctor or anything. My feeling was that these things had to take their course.”
“And when did you discover the true nature of Clara’s illness?”
“It was a few days later. I was tending to Clara at home when I received a call from Lucy. She called to tell me that Rosie O’Hara had gotten sick, too, and I told her that I wasn’t too surprised, especially when chicken pox is so contagious. But then she mentioned that Rosie had already had it a couple of years before. At the same time, I didn’t think that was particularly odd, either; I believe some kids can get different variants of a disease more than once. But Lucy told me that wasn’t the case and urged me to check Clara’s chest for spots. It seemed Rosie’s mum had very quickly recognized her own daughter’s symptoms as measles. She’s a nurse, of course, so she would know.”
McGuinness considered this information. “And how did you feel then?”
“Well, I was taken aback. And worried, obviously, as well as annoyed at myself, too, for missing it. It had been some time since I’d come across measles before, though, a good six years previous when Jake was a baby, so it wasn’t foremost in my mind. And I immediately thought about the holiday we’d taken to Florida over Easter, where there’d been news of a small measles outbreak, and wondered if she could have picked it up there or on the flight back, even.” Despite Matt’s, and indeed Tom’s, advice, she thought it best to own up to the idea that Clara was likely the source of the infection, because she felt the alternative was just too damaging.
“So I immediately pulled my son out of school, too. Even though Jake had already had the disease, he could still be carrying it, and I didn’t want to put other kids at risk.” Her voice was earnest, and Madeleine didn’t think there could be anyone in the courtroom who believed she wasn’t telling the truth.
“Responsible move,” commented McGuinness, while Madeleine waited for the other side’s barrister to object.
But Patrick Nevin didn’t, because what was there to object about? She had acted responsibly, based on her knowledge of events at the time.
Hindsight.
Michael McGuinness looked at Madeleine thoughtfully. “So you did wonder if Clara might have picked it up in Florida, but how could you know for sure? As previous witnesses already mentioned, it is not easy to locate Patient Zero.” The defense barrister still wasn’t quite willing to give up the proof angle.
“That is correct, but from what I understand, our time there did coincide with the incubation period for the disease.”
Nevin stood up. “I object. Speculation. Mrs. Cooper is not a medical professional.” She rolled her eyes inwardly, wondering how she was supposed to win when just then she was effectively playing devil’s advocate for the other side.
“Sustained,” replied the judge.
“But, looking at the timeline, it seems a bit of a reach to automatically assume Clara infected Rosie, doesn’t it? Couldn’t it just as easily have been the other way around?”
“Objection! Speculation!” shouted Nevin.
“Sustained,” replied the judge. “May I remind you, Counsel, that the source or origin of the infection is not under discussion here, rather the question of whether or not Mrs. Cooper was negligent in sending her daughter to school given the risk her unvaccinated status posed. Please refrain from commenting or alluding to the source.”
“Apologies, Judge. It won’t happen again.” He turned back to the witness. “Mrs. Cooper... Madeleine, this last year has been tough on your family, hasn’t it?”
Grimacing, Madeleine shook her head sadly. “It’s not just about my family. I know this hasn’t been easy for Kate O’Hara or Rosie, either. And maybe I can understand how frustrated and out of control all of this must feel—she lost her husband a few years back, and now this terrible situation with her daughter. I also suspect that she’s had some people in her ear, giving her bad advice. But I know all of us could have handled this whole situation better, myself included. When it was evident that both Clara and Rosie were sick, I should have made more of an effort to help Kate—we could have helped each other. I know I’m not supposed to talk about hindsight, but there’s no denying that if I could go back to that morning and change things, I would. But, well, all I can say now is that it’s been a trying and scary time for both of us, but we can’t change the past.”
Finally, she’d had the chance to say this to Kate, to speak directly to her. Madeleine tried to meet the other woman’s gaze as she did so, but Kate kept her eyes fixed on a spot somewhere else in the room, away from the witness stand. She would give anything to be able to read what was in her mind just then. Couldn’t she see that Madeleine had never meant for any of this to happen, had done nothing wrong and was desperately sorry about the outcome?
“Speaking of moving forward, remind us of the timeline of Clara’s illness and when you became aware that she had measles?” McGuinness went on, swiftly changing the subject and she guessed the barrister was concerned she was being almost too sympathetic to the plaintiff’s position. Time to get back on track.
“Clara started showing symptoms of...something on Monday evening, and she came home from school Tuesday at lunchtime. It was Friday by the time I actually realized she had measles.”
