The Innocent Woman

hand.”
    No hands went up.
    Steve smiled. “Thank you very much.” He turned back to the bench. “Your Honor, I find I was mistaken. This jury is entirely acceptable. I have no objection whatsoever.”
    Judge Dalrymple frowned. “You have no challenges for cause?”
    “No, Your Honor. And no preemptory challenges either. The entire jury is acceptable. Let’s swear them in and start the case.”
    A.D.A. Pearson rose to his feet. “Your Honor, Your Honor,” he said. “I haven’t passed for cause.”
    “Oh?” Steve Winslow. “Just a moment ago you said the entire jury was acceptable, each and every one.”
    “I was speaking generally.”
    “Generally?” Steve said. “Each and every one isn’t generally. But I beg your pardon.” Steve stepped back and indicated the jury. “If you have challenges, please say so. These jurors have assured me they can all be fair. Would you please tell us which of them you feel aren’t capable of doing so?”
    A.D.A. Pearson opened his mouth, then closed it again. He recognized a no win situation when he saw one. A minute ago Steve Winslow was the bad guy who’d tricked the jury. And now those same jurors were looking at him with mistrust. It was hard to take.
    Pearson took a breath. “I didn’t say I had objections to anyone on this jury,” he said. “I merely said I hadn’t passed for cause. And I objected to your doing it for me. I said the jury was entirely satisfactory, and it is entirely satisfactory. I have no challenges either.”
    He turned to the bench. “Pass for cause, Your Honor. And I have no preemptories either. The jury may be sworn.”
    Judge Dalrymple nodded and grimaced. It just wasn’t his day. He swore the jury in, rubbed his aching head and broke for lunch.

4.
    F OR HIS FIRST WITNESS , A.D.A. Pearson called Frank Fletcher, who testified that he and Marvin Lowery had been partners in F.L. Jewelry for the past seven years.
    “And are you acquainted with the defendant, Amy Dearborn?”
    “Yes, I am.”
    “In what capacity do you know her?”
    “She was my employee.”
    “When did you hire her?”
    “Approximately six months ago.”
    “Is she still in your employ?”
    “She is not.”
    “When did she leave your employ?”
    “On May 3rd.”
    “What day of the week was that?”
    “It was a Monday.”
    “And how did she come to leave your employ?”
    “I fired her.”
    “I see,” Pearson said. “And can you tell us the circumstances surrounding that firing?”
    “Certainly,” Fletcher said. He shifted position on the witness stand. “For some time I’d been noticing shortages in the petty cash drawer.”
    “One moment,” Pearson said. “For the jurors benefit, could you please tell us briefly about your business and how you operate?”
    “Yes, of course. F.L. Jewelry is a wholesale and retail jewelry outlet. We don’t manufacture, we buy and sell. In that regard we’re a very small operation. Just myself and my partner, Marvin Lowery. And one secretary.”
    “Miss Dearborn?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Go on. You mentioned a shortage in the petty cash drawer.”
    “Yes. For some time I’d been aware of a discrepancy between what there should have been there and what there was.”
    “In what amounts?”
    “Anywhere from twenty to a hundred dollars.”
    “And just how was petty cash handled?”
    “As I say, it’s a small concern. Just the two of us and Miss Dearborn. The petty cash was kept in a cash box in Miss Dearborn’s desk. That’s what I’m referring to when I say the petty cash drawer.”
    “How much money was kept in this box?”
    “It varied, of course. But in the neighborhood of five hundred dollars.”
    “I see. And what did you do when you discovered sums were missing?”
    “I told my partner.”
    “Mr. Lowery?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And what did you do.”
    “We talked it over—”
    Pearson held up his hand. “Fine. Don’t tell us what was said. But after your conversation, what did you do?”
    “We hired a private detective.”
    “Who actually hired him?”
    “I did.”
    “And who did you hire?”
    “Samuel Macklin. Of the Macklin Detective Agency.”
    “How did you hire him? Call him on the phone? Go to his office?”
    “I called him on the phone, made an appointment and went to his office.”
    “What did you tell him on that occasion?”
    “I explained the situation. I told him there’d been shortages in our petty cash drawer and I wanted to get to the bottom of