Daughters of the Lake(71)

“They were having an affair,” Miss Bonnet stated. “Sally told me all about it.”

Jess Stewart sat silently during the testimony, hanging his head.

Kate’s stomach was turning. She threaded the next roll and read on.





JESS STEWART GUILTY OF MURDER


After ten hours of deliberation, in an unusual verdict, the jury in the Jess Stewart trial has found Mr. Stewart guilty of the murder of his wife, Adelaide, despite the fact that no body was found.

Mrs. Stewart was last seen on April 24 and is presumed to have gone missing from the couple’s Front Street home shortly after that time. Mrs. Stewart was heavy with child, mere days away from delivery.

Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Stewart killed his wife to clear the way for him to marry his mistress, Miss Sally Reade, daughter of financier Preston Reade of Minneapolis and heir to his sizable fortune.

“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t heard it with my own ears,” said prominent local businessman Harrison Connor, Mr. Stewart’s friend and employer. “I guess this goes to show that we really don’t know what anyone, even our closest friend, is capable of.”

Sentencing will take place on May 15.

Kate printed the article. She felt a tightening in her chest, as though someone was pulling a rope around her. He killed her. He really did it.

She didn’t want to read on, didn’t want to know more, but she couldn’t stop herself from threading another roll into the machine. She turned the handle, wincing with anticipation of what she might find on the next page.

JESS STEWART MURDERED ON COURTHOUSE STEPS!

As convicted murderer Jess Stewart was being led into the courtroom today to hear the judge hand down his fate, he was shot in the chest by Marcus Cassatt, the father of Mrs. Stewart.

“You bastard,” Mr. Cassatt was heard to say. “You killed my little girl.”

Mr. Stewart fell on the courthouse steps. This reporter heard him call out his wife’s name as he took his last breath.

Kate stared at the page, tears spilling from her eyes. Her hands shook as she printed the article. She gathered up all the sheets she had printed over the past two days, put them together in a file folder, tucked it into her bag, and returned the rolls to their rightful resting places. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t wait to get out of that library and into the fresh air.

Kate burst through the double doors and onto the street, gasping as though she had been drowning. She made her way around the people, past the shops and restaurants, and out onto the town’s main dock at the water’s edge where she sat down, hard, and dangled her feet over the side toward the water.

The two people in her dreams were so alive, so in love, such good friends, laughing together, fighting, making up—and now they were dead, both of them, within weeks of each other. A family ruined, obliterated, not even given a chance to begin. A love denied, extinguished. Jess killed her. And his baby. Because of another woman. Addie’s father probably ended up in jail himself, but Kate didn’t read far enough to find out for sure.

And for what? An affair? How could it possibly be?

Kate fished a tissue out of her purse and dabbed at her eyes but couldn’t stop the tears from coming.

“Hey.” She felt a warm hand on her back. “Kate. What’s wrong?”

Nick sat down on the dock next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. Kate put her head onto his chest and sobbed. He didn’t say anything—he just held her and let her cry it out.

She drew back and blew her nose on a tissue. “I don’t understand it,” she said, her voice shaking. “These people lived and died a century ago. Had they not been victims of murder, had Addie and Jess lived out their entire lives to their natural conclusions, they’d still be in the ground right now. I couldn’t possibly have saved them. I couldn’t warn Addie about Jess’s betrayal, no matter how desperately I wanted to. I couldn’t warn Jess to keep his eyes focused on his family, or there would be dire consequences. I’m totally helpless. So, what is this all for?”

“I take it he was found guilty,” Nick said.

She nodded, holding her file folder. “It’s all in here.”

“Why don’t you show me what you found over a burger?”

Kate took a deep breath, not knowing what else to do. Nick stood up and held his hand out for Kate to take. She slipped her hand into his and let him help her up to her feet.

Inside the restaurant, Kate excused herself to use the ladies’ room and splashed cold water on her face.

“Get a grip,” she said to her reflection. She dug some moisturizer out of her purse, dabbed some concealer under her eyes, and ran a brush through her hair. Not ideal, but it would have to do.

When they had settled into a booth and ordered, Kate fished the copies of her newspaper articles out of her folder and handed them to Nick. She nibbled on french fries while she watched him read. Midway through, he looked up at her.

“This is wild,” he said. “I’ve got to tell you—I’ve seen a lot of strange things in my years on the force, but nothing like this.”

“Are you going to close the case?”

He grinned. “And put what in the case file? Victim murdered by husband. In 1910.”

“I guess not,” she said.

“You know, though,” he said. “All of this is a start, but it really doesn’t tell us what happened.”