Dead in the Water

members of the court?”
    “I am acquainted with Sir Leslie Hewitt and yourself, Your Lordship, as I have made suits for both of you in the past.”
    “Anyone else?”
    “I know Sir Winston, though I have never had the pleasure of his custom.”
    “Yes. Have you heard anything about this case?”
    “Oh, yes, Your Lordship,” the man said. “I have read all about it in the newspapers.”
    “Have you formed an opinion of the prisoner’s guilt or innocence?”
    “Well, Your Lordship, I think she might have done it, but then again, she might not have.”
    “He’s okay with me,” Stone murmured.
    “Keep your seat, Mr. Kimbrough,” the judge said. “You’re the foreman of this jury.”
    Kimbrough sat down, and another man was brought in. He was not so finely dressed, but he was clean and neat. He was a bartender at a local hotel, and he was soon seated. He was followed by a taxi driver, anapprentice shoemaker, who could not have been more than twenty, a street vendor, and a white merchant, all of whom were briefly questioned and rapidly seated.
    “We have a jury,” the judge said.
    “Only six?” Stone asked Hewitt.
    “It is all we need,” the barrister replied.
    Stone was dissatisfied with only the taxi driver, who looked at Allison with something like contempt, as if he had seen her kind before, but only in his rearview mirror. But on the whole, he thought, he had tried cases before worse juries.
    “The foreman is good for us,” Hewitt whispered. “He is a very kind man and will not hang a woman lightly. The others will respect his opinion because he is so well dressed.”
    Stone hoped so.
    “The bailiff will read the charges,” the judge said.
    The bailiff stood and read from a single sheet of paper. “The prisoner, Mrs. Allison Manning, is charged with murder, willfully taking the life of Mr. Paul Manning, her husband, on a date unknown between January first of this year and the present day, on the high seas, having departed the port of Puerto Rico, in the Canary Islands, a Spanish possession, and not yet having arrived at the port of English Harbour, in St. Marks. Be it known to all present that the crime of murder is a capital offense in St. Marks, and that if convicted, the prisoner will suffer death in the prescribed manner, which is hanging.” He sat down.
    Short, but not very sweet, Stone thought.
    “Now,” the judge said, addressing the jurors, “I will explain how we will proceed in this courtroom. The prosecutingbarrister, Sir Winston, will make an opening statement of his case, then he will be followed by Sir Leslie, who will make an opening statement in defense of the prisoner. Thereafter, Sir Winston will call witnesses and question them, followed by a cross-examination by Sir Leslie. When the government has completed its case, Sir Leslie may call witnesses and question them, and Sir Winston may cross-examine them. Items may be entered in evidence by either side. When the defense has concluded its case, Sir Leslie will make a closing statement, followed by a closing statement from Sir Winston. When he has concluded I will charge the jury, and the jury will retire to the jury room to consider their verdict, which must be a majority verdict. While we are in the courtroom the bench will make all rulings on the admissibility of statements and other evidence, and the decision of the bench will be final in all matters. Is there any one of you who does not understand what will take place?”
    No member of the jury moved, let alone spoke.
    “In that case, we will begin with the opening statement of the people of St. Marks, who are represented by Sir Winston Sutherland. Sir Winston?”
    Sir Winston rose, smoothed his robes, adjusted his wig, shot his cuffs, cleared his throat, and began to speak.

Chapter
50
    S ir Winston bowed to the bench, and his voice boomed over the courtroom, stentorian and didactic. He might have been instructing the jury without waiting for the judge to do so. “Gentlemen of the jury,” he began, though he was looking at the packed gallery rather than at the jurors, “we come here this day to avenge the death of a human being. Paul Manning was a gentleman in the prime of life who had made for himself a successful career, becoming famous and rich. He owned a large house; he owned an expensive yacht; he owned a life insurance policy with a death benefit of twelve million dollars. It was for this wealth that he was murdered by his wife.” He gestured