Several witnesses from the county and the Boys and Girls Clubs testified at the hearing, but before the matter blossomed into an investigation, except for Wilde no one but Marshall had spoken with Workman personally about how the job should be configured.

That means what happened in that less-than-10-minute conversation in Workman's office is of crucial importance: If Workman told Marshall the true nature of the position, which she maintains that she did, she can argue that she had no intent to deceive and that the matter was simply one of administrative mix-up. If Marshall is correct, however, things look bad for Workman.

It's pretty clear how Workman plans to defend herself: Skordas called Marshall "a conspiracy of one" in his closing argument.

Marshall testified that Workman may have explored retribution early on in the investigation, saying he was worried he would lose his job because he had been accused of disloyalty by Workman supporters.

"I've been told by at least two people in the room that my termination had been discussed," Marshall said. (Workman's communications director Ted Phillips disputed that.)

Workman attorney Jack Morgan suggested that Marshall, not Workman, was responsible for the mess.

"Whose decision was it to put this position in the Department of Health?" Morgan asked.

"Mine," Marshall said.

"Did the mayor ever tell you to disregard any hiring practices in bringing her (Iorga) on?"

"No." Nevertheless, Marshall maintains, Workman gave him incomplete and inaccurate information for him to correctly classify the position.

Iorga was the only other person present in the meeting between Workman and Marshall, but she lives out of state and was not present to testify in the hearing.

Skordas alluded to Iorga testifying at the upcoming trial but refused to comment on whether she would confirm Workman's version or Marshall's.

When Iorga moved away, the woman who took her place, Jennifer Schroder, also was paid by the health department.

As he did with Marshall, Morgan questioned whether health department director Patti Pavey, who had repeatedly expressed concerns about the "ghost employee" in her department, had been breaking county employment policies and state law based on her mandate to supervise all health department employees.

Morgan said Pavey did nothing "to stop this train" even though she had authority to do so. That did not go over well with Pavey, who became coldly angry at the suggestion.

"If I knew then what I know now, it would be different," she said.