Daughters of the Lake(70)

“My daughter and I had gone to the city a week earlier for some shopping,” Mrs. Johnson testified. “We were coming back on the train that Sunday, and we saw Mr. Stewart.”

“You’re sure it was Mr. Stewart?” the prosecutor asked.

“I’m certain of it,” Mrs. Johnson said. “I commented to my daughter how handsome he was. When I saw his picture in the newspaper and read that you couldn’t find anyone to confirm that he was on the Sunday train, I knew I had to come forward.”

“And you’re sure it was Sunday?” the prosecutor wanted to know. “Sometimes when ladies are shopping, they can lose track of time.”

A few members of the jury chuckled.

But Mrs. Johnson turned to the jury and said, “Mr. Stewart was on that train. It was Sunday. There is no doubt about it. I’ll stake my life on it. I know because of that terrible fog. That was the day.”

The packed courtroom gasped. Mr. Stewart’s mother began crying and collapsed into the arms of Mrs. Marcus Cassatt. “Thank God,” she was heard to say.

The courtroom also included prominent businessman Harrison Connor and his wife, Celeste, who was cradling their newborn baby in her arms.

Later, as they exited the courtroom, Mr. Connor told this reporter, “I have steadfastly maintained Jess Stewart’s innocence. He is a victim here. The man lost his wife and child. There could be nothing worse than that for any man. Nothing worse.”

Jess wasn’t lying about coming to Wharton on Sunday! It didn’t mean he didn’t kill Addie, Kate reasoned, but at least he wasn’t lying about his movements. It also meant the dockworker lied. Why would he do that?

Kate decided to keep searching the files to find out, once and for all, the outcome of the trial. When they knew what happened, then she and Simon could start dissecting everything she had learned. She threaded another roll into the machine and turned the handle.

WITNESSES TAKE STAND IN STEWART’S DEFENSE

A parade of character witnesses, including Jess Stewart’s mother, Mrs. Stewart’s parents, and local businessman Harrison Connor, took the stand today to defend Jess Stewart against these heinous charges that have been brought against him.

Hmm, Kate thought. The reporter’s tone is turning. Public opinion must be changing as well.

“I have known Jess Stewart for a long time, since our days in college, and I can unequivocally state that he is not capable of murdering anyone, let alone his beloved Addie,” Harrison Connor said on the stand today. “I believe in him so much that I have charged my personal attorney with defending him. My wife and I have spent countless evenings with the Stewarts, and we can both tell you that Jess and Addie were very much in love. He was fiercely protective of her and more than a little jealous. Who wouldn’t be? His wife was one of the most beautiful women—inside and out—in this town or any other.”

Something about this statement made Kate catch her breath. It sounded wrong somehow. It was almost as though her great-grandfather was planting seeds of doubt in the minds of the jury. Jealous. Protective. Why would he do that? Did he believe Jess killed Addie? If he did, why would he support him publicly? What did he really know? She read on.

Mrs. Stewart’s mother, Mrs. Marcus Cassatt, said on the stand that her daughter had loved Jess Stewart all her life, that they had been children together in Great Bay. Mr. Cassatt testified that Mr. Stewart had gone away to college promising to return and marry his daughter, which he, in fact, did.

“My son has always been a good boy, a loving son, and a wonderful husband to his wife,” testified Mrs. Jennie Stewart, widow of Mr. Phillip Stewart, through bitter tears. “He sends money home every month for me to live on. He worked hard to make something of himself, in order to give Addie something more than the life of a fisherman’s wife. He loved Addie with all his heart, ever since he was five years old. He could not wait to be a father. There is no possibility that he killed her and that precious baby she was carrying. There’s no reason. Why would he have killed them? There is no motive for him to have committed this crime.”

But there was a motive, Kate thought. Stewart had been cheating on Addie. Judging by what had transpired in her dream about the ballroom, the way Harrison Connor pointedly steered Addie to break up the party between Jess and that woman, Sally, Harrison likely knew all about it. She threaded another roll into the microfiche machine and turned the lever gingerly, almost afraid to find what happened next.

STEWART UNFAITHFUL TO WIFE!

The jury heard about a different side of Jess Stewart during today’s proceedings. Several rather damaging witnesses took the stand, eliciting gasps of disbelief from the packed courtroom.

Three women, Anna Jacobsen, Jill Jakes, and Helene Bonnet, all of Minneapolis, testified that they had relations with Mr. Stewart during and after his collegiate years, shedding doubt on Mr. Stewart’s reported faithful intentions to marry Addie Cassatt.

The prosecuting attorney asked Miss Bonnet if she knew about a relationship between the accused and Miss Sally Reade, who, according to Miss Bonnet, is traveling in Europe at this time and could not be contacted for the trial. Miss Bonnet testified that Miss Reade, her self-described best friend, and Mr. Stewart shared an intimate relationship before and after his marriage. She claimed that Mr. Stewart had promised to marry Miss Reade, but broke it off suddenly because of his engagement to a girl from his hometown, Addie Cassatt. This threw Miss Reade into an emotional turmoil as breach of promise certainly would, and she did not see Mr. Stewart for several years. They were reacquainted last year in Wharton and, according to Miss Bonnet, resumed their intimate relationship.