The judge peered down at the woman and asked, “Madam, in the testimony you are about to give, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”
“Yes, sir, I surely do,” she said.
Walker nodded toward the chair beside his bench. “You may take the stand.”
Blythe lifted the lectern from in front of the jury and faced it toward the witness.
After the objection, Thomas Blythe’s opening statement had continued for another hour. From Micah’s perspective of the technical aspects of the opening, the man’s demeanor and fervent choice of words were flawless. It was an exercise in eloquence, never once becoming boring. But Micah wondered if the jury felt the same. It was clear Blythe had them for at least the first forty-five minutes, but long before the end, Micah noticed many of the jurors were shifting in their seats. For that reason, Micah kept his own opening to less than fifteen minutes, and he could sense the gratitude of not only the jurors but the judge as well.
“Would you state your name for the record, please?” Blythe asked.
“My name is Jane Eggers.”
“Is it Miss or Mrs. Eggers?”
“It is Mrs. I have been a widow now for going on fifteen years.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Mrs. Eggers. Tell us how you have supported yourself in those fifteen years.”
“In many ways. I have been a housekeeper, cook, nurse, and matron in a school for young women. My most recent employment was with Dr. Hedstrom.”
“Would that be Dr. Chester Hedstrom of Probity, Wyoming, Mrs. Eggers?”
“It would.”
“Would you point to the doctor, please, if you see him in the courtroom?”
The woman hefted her flabby arm toward the defense table. “Right there,” she said. “The big one.”
Blythe asked the judge, “Your Honor, may the record reflect that the witness identified the defendant?”
The judge leaned forward in his chair, looked down at the reporter, and asked in his no-nonsense voice, “Jeb, did you write down what this woman said?”
“I sure did, Judge.”
“I expected that you had.” Walker turned his gaze to Blythe. “Mr. Blythe, there is no need to make superfluous requests of the court. Let’s trust our reporter to do his job, shall we?”
“Of course, Judge. I was merely noting—” Blythe began, but he stopped when Walker’s eyebrows rose an inch. “Yes, sir,” he said. “Thank you, Your Honor.”
Micah was aware that Blythe and Walker had known each other for years and were, according to the rumor, good friends, but there was no doubt who was in charge in the courtroom.
Blythe turned back to the witness. “Tell us, Mrs. Eggers, how long you were in the employ of Dr. Hedstrom.”
“A little more than a year. A year and two months, to be exact.”
“How did you come to leave his employ?”
The woman glared at Chester. “I was dismissed,” she said. “Dismissed without so much as a warning.”
“You were given no notice whatsoever?”
“None. In fact, I was thrown from the man’s house in the middle of the night without even a change of clothes.” She had taken the stand holding a lace handkerchief, which she now dabbed at her eyes.
“We will come back to that in a moment, Mrs. Eggers.” Blythe added in a just-right solicitous tone, “Are you capable of proceeding? Would you care for some water?”
Mrs. Eggers sniffed and said, “Yes, please.”
Blythe poured the woman a glass of water and waited until she composed herself. “Now, Mrs. Eggers,” he began again, “what were your duties with Dr. Hedstrom?”
“Everything. I was his housekeeper, his cook.”
“Did you have duties in his medical practice as well?”
“Oh, most definitely. I’m sure that was the main reason the doctor hired me in the first place, was my skills as a nurse, particularly a surgical nurse. But I did everything for him in his practice. I scheduled patients. Kept the records. Everything that was needed.”
“Would you say the doctor respected your abilities as a nurse, Mrs. Eggers?”
Micah stood. “Objection, Your Honor. That calls for speculation on the part of the witness.”
“Response, Mr. Blythe?” asked the judge.
“Yes, Your Honor. I suppose, in a sense, young Mr. McConners is correct. Arguably, at least on the surface, the question does ask the witness to speculate as to what is in the mind of her employer. But I would suggest, Judge, that it is the rare employee who does not have a feel for his position and place in the mind of the individual supervising him in his daily activities. I would suggest that—”
“That’s enough, Mr. Blythe,” the judge interrupted. “The objection is overruled.” He turned to the witness. “You may answer the question.”
“Would you repeat the question?” Mrs. Eggers asked.
Blythe looked to the reporter. “Mr. Blake?”
Jeb Blake flipped a page back in his notebook, scanned the notes, then read, “ ‘Would you say the doctor respected your abilities as a nurse, Mrs. Eggers?’ ”
Blythe turned back to the witness. “You may answer that, madam.”
Mrs. Eggers’s already voluminous breasts seemed to puff up. “Oh, yes,” she said. “There were any number of times when he told me what a fine, fine nurse I was. He thought I was especially good at making the patients feel at ease—you know, making them feel comfortable.”
“What horse shit,” Chester whispered. Micah nodded but didn’t respond.
“When was it that you were dismissed from the doctor’s employ? What was the date?”
“August 27. I remember it well.”
“Nineteen hundred?”
“Yes, sir, this August past.”
“Describe that day for me, Mrs. Eggers. What you did. What the doctor did.”
“Describe it?” she asked.
“Yes, did anything unusual happen that day?”
“Well, I’d say. I was sacked from my position. I thought that was unusual.” Although the jury didn’t react, there was a smattering of laughter among the spectators.
“Yes, of course,” Blythe acknowledged, “but I mean other than that. Start when you woke that morning and take us in detail through your day.”
“I woke at my usual time,” Mrs. Eggers began. “I went downstairs, put on the coffee, prepared breakfast. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, the doctor likes oatmeal for his breakfast. On the other days he likes bacon and eggs. This was a Monday, I believe, so I prepared the oatmeal—”
“Pardon me, madam,” Blythe said, “but you needn’t provide quite so much detail.” This time even the jury joined in the laughter. “Please provide us with a general overview of the day. If I want anything more, I will ask a specific question.”
It was clear that Mrs. Eggers did not appreciate being the object of laughter to so many people. She pulled herself up straighter in the chair and folded her hands in her lap. “After I made the doctor’s oatmeal,” she said, “I called him down. Usually he was already down by the time breakfast was ready, but not on that day. When he still didn’t come down after I called, I went upstairs and found he wasn’t in his room.”
“Did you find that odd?” Blythe asked.
“Yes, it wasn’t like him at all. When I returned to the kitchen, though, I heard the sound of that motorized bicycle of his. I hate that thing,” she said. “It scares the animals, and it makes—”
“Please, Mrs. Eggers, let’s try to keep to the topic at hand.”
Mrs. Eggers gave Blythe a disgusted look.
“Did you ask the doctor where he had been?”
“Well, Dr. Hedstrom is a man with a mind of his own. Everyone thinks he’s a jovial, friendly fellow, but I can tell you, sir, that is not the case. In the privacy of his home, he can be a beast. You do not pry into his—”
Micah was on his feet. “I object, Your Honor. The answer in not responsive to the question.”
“Sustained,” Walker said.
“Let me try that again,” said Mr. Blythe. “Did you ask the doctor where he’d been so early in the morning, Mrs. Eggers?”
“No, sir, I did not. I didn’t want to get my head bitten off.”
Micah considered letting that one go by, but Jackson nudged him with his elbow, and Micah rose. “Objection, Your—”
“Sustained,” said the judge before Micah could say any more.
“Please, Mrs. Eggers,” Blythe said, “listen to the question and answer only the question. Will you do that for me?”
Mrs. Eggers’s bosom rose in a huff. “I thought that was what I was doing,” she said.
“So the answer is, no, you did not ask the doctor where he had been or what he had been doing so early in the morning. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Mrs. Eggers said and pursed her lips together.
“Very good,” said Blythe in a tone that suggested he was happy to be past that question. “Let’s start at the time when the doctor began seeing patients. What time was that?”
“Patients are always scheduled between eight o’clock in the morning and four o’clock in the afternoon. As I recall, on that day the morning was full, but the only person scheduled for the afternoon was Polly Pratt.”
“Was Miss Pratt ill?”
“She’d had some kind of an accident the week before, and the doctor had taken a couple of stitches. She was coming in to have the stitches removed.”
“Did anything unusual happen during the course of the day up to the time of Miss Pratt’s arrival?”
“No, not that I recall. The doctor was being moody, is all.”
“Would you describe Dr. Hedstrom as a particularly moody man?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” Micah said.
“Grounds?” asked the judge.
“Relevance.”
The judge seemed to ponder that for a bit, and after giving it some thought, said, “Overruled.”
Jackson tugged hard on Micah’s sleeve, jerking him down so he could whisper in his ear.
“Excuse me, Mr. Clark,” Judge Walker said, “did you have an objection you wished to make?”
“Well, sir, Judge,” Jackson said as he came to his feet, “I did have, but I supposed you didn’t allow two lawyers making objections at the same time.”
“As a rule I don’t, but since I can still remember what it was like to be a young attorney, I expect that’s Mr. McConner’s only suit, and my guess is he would rather the sleeve not be torn off. What’s your objection?”
“Foundation,” Jackson said.
“Sustained,” said the judge.
“Thank you, Your Honor,” Blythe said. And Micah thought he could hear a speck of sarcasm.
“How long did you say you were in the doctor’s employ?” asked Blythe.
“Over a year.”
“And your duties were housekeeper, cook, and nurse?”
“That’s right.”
“You lived in the doctor’s home.”
“I had my rooms.”
“Yes, and you spent the greatest portion of your day either in his clinic or his house; is that correct?”
“I spent most all of every day in one or the other of those places, except, of course, for church on Sundays and Wednesday nights.”
“Would you say that over the course of the year you worked for Dr. Hedstrom you became acquainted with his manner?”
“I surely did, yes, sir.”
“Would you describe him as a moody man?”
“I’d describe him as a mean man.”
Micah was almost on his feet to object, when Walker’s hand came up, stopping him. “Mrs. Eggers,” the judge asked, “do you speak the English language?”
A baffled look fell across Mrs. Eggers’s chubby face. For a moment she seemed lost for an answer. “Yes,” she finally said, “of course I do.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it,” said the judge, “because I was beginning to wonder. The question put to you was, ‘Would you describe Dr. Hedstrom as a moody man?’ As I understand the language myself, that requires a simple yes or a no answer. Either you would describe him as a moody man or you would not. Now which is it?”
Again Mrs. Eggers’s lips pursed. “Yes,” she said, “I would describe him as a moody man.”
“Thank you,” said the judge. “Now if you would listen to the question and answer only the question that is asked rather than some question you would like to be asked, maybe we could get this trial over before next Christmas.”
There was tittering among the crowd.
“Did he seem to be any more or less moody on this day than any other?” asked Blythe.
“Well,” said Mrs. Eggers, “he had been in one of his moods for days, but when he came in from riding that machine of his, he seemed right cheerful.”
“When you say ‘one of his moods,’ are you saying he had been morose the few days prior to the day in question?”
“Yes.”
“But he seemed to be feeling better that morning?”
“Yes.”
“Now, did anything unusual happen up to the time of Miss Pratt’s arrival at the clinic?”
“No.”
“What time was Miss Pratt’s appointment?”
“If I remember right, it was one-thirty.”
“Did she arrive alone?”
“No, she came with her mother.”
“Very well, now, Mrs. Eggers, did the doctor remove Miss Pratt’s stitches?”
“I wasn’t there during his examination of her, but the next time I saw her that afternoon, they had been removed, yes.”
“When was the next time you saw her?” Blythe asked.
“When the doctor called me into the examination room and told me to prepare the surgery.”
“Was there a surgery scheduled for that afternoon?”
“No, sir, there was not.”
“Did it seem unusual to you that he should make such a request?”
“Yes, sir, it most certainly did.”
“What did you do next?”
“Prepared the surgery.”
“What did the doctor do next?”
“He told me my services as surgical nurse would not be required.”
“Did you find that unusual?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Why?”
“Because in all the time I worked for the doctor he never performed any surgical procedure without me being there.”
“What did you do next, Mrs. Eggers?”
“I left.”
“And after that?”
“I’m ashamed to say.” She dropped her gaze to her lap.
“I realize this is difficult,” Blythe said, “but, please, madam, it’s important.”
She took in a breath as though drawing in courage. “I waited until I knew the doctor had begun whatever he was planning to do in the surgery, and then I went into examination room two and peeked through the crack in the door.”
“Why did you do that, Mrs. Eggers?” Blythe asked.
“Because I couldn’t understand what he could be doing that he would not need assistance. Dr. Hedstrom would not lance a boil without an assistant present.”
“What did you see when you peeked through the door?”
“Miss Pratt was on the table. Her legs were in the stirrups, and Dr. Hedstrom was using a curette to . . .” She paused.
“Yes,” Blythe urged, “go on.”
“He was scraping the baby out of her.”
The jury remained stoic, but there were murmurs from the spectators.
“Could you see this from where you stood?”
“I could.”
“Describe the specifics of what you saw that afternoon, Mrs. Eggers.”
“Your Honor,” Micah said, “may we approach the bench?”
“You may.”
All four attorneys and the court reporter stepped to the bench and turned their backs to the jury. In a whisper, the judge asked, “You requested the side-bar, Mr. McConners. What is it?”
“Your Honor, I object to this line of inquiry. It is designed to elicit testimony of a grisly and macabre nature in yet another effort on the part of Mr. Blythe to inflame the passions of this jury. This area of testimony is highly prejudicial to my client.”
“Judge,” began Blythe, “The woman—”
Walker waved his hand, shooing away Blythe’s attempt at a response. “Never mind,” he said. “Young man, Mr. Blythe here has a right to prove his case. If this woman’s testimony is grisly and macabre—very nice words, by the way—” He bestowed his compliment with half a smile. “—so be it. It is something she saw, and she has the right to tell the jury what she saw. As far as the testimony being prejudicial to your client, I disagree. I do expect it to be damaging to your client, but, my word, if the prosecutor didn’t put on at least some testimony that was damaging to your client, he wouldn’t be doing his job, would he? Your objection is overruled.”
Everyone returned to their places, and Mr. Blythe resumed where he had left off. “Please describe, Mrs. Eggers, the specifics of what you saw as you watched Dr. Hedstrom performing the procedure on Polly Pratt.”
Again the woman touched the handkerchief to her eyes. “It was awful,” she whispered.
“You will need to speak up, madam,” Blythe said.
“I had never seen such a thing done before,” Mrs. Eggers said. “He inserted the curette into the girl’s—into the girl and began to use it to scrape her out.”
“Excuse me, Mrs. Eggers. This is the second time you mentioned the use of a curette. Could you explain to the jury exactly what a curette is?”
“It’s a medical instrument. It usually has a long handle at one end and on the other it’s shaped like a spoon; the edges are very sharp. It’s inserted into the uterus and the fetus and placenta are scraped out.”
“Do the contents of the uterus come out intact?”
“No, sir. There is a great deal of blood and tissue that comes out. It all comes out in pieces.”
“Mrs. Eggers, when you say ‘it’ comes out in pieces, to what do you refer?”
“Why, the baby, sir. The baby comes out in pieces.” Again, the woman brought the handkerchief up, this time to her mouth in an effort to suppress a sob. “It was awful. Awful.”
“She does this very well,” Chester whispered to Micah.
“I expect they’ve been rehearsing,” Micah said.
“And you watched the procedure take place as you peered into the surgery?”
“I did, sir.”
“Very well, Mrs. Eggers, what happened next?”
“When he was finished, I left and went about my chores in another part of the house. An anesthetic was used, and the doctor gave Miss Pratt time to rest. In a few hours, he drove the girl and her mother back to their boarding house.”
“What did you do at the time?”
“I had been trying to decide all afternoon what I should do. A crime had been committed, I knew.”
“Yes.”
“I felt I should inform the authorities, but, too, I had a loyalty to my employer.”
“Of course.”
“I decided to confront the doctor with what I had seen when he returned.”
“And did you do so, Mrs. Eggers?”
Once more, up came the handkerchief. “Yes, yes, I did.”
“Tell us about that. What did he say, and what did you say?”
“When he returned, he came in demanding his supper. But I must admit, I was so distraught at what had happened I had not prepared his meal.”
“Did this make him angry?”
“Oh, my, yes. Furious. Most times when he gets that way, I’m so frightened, I immediately do whatever it is he is demanding.”
“Did you do so this time?”
“No, sir, this time I stood my ground.”
“Did you tell him what you had seen take place in the surgery earlier in the afternoon?”
“Yes, sir, I did.”
“What did he say?”
“At first he was very quiet. I had never seen him respond in that fashion, and I don’t mind telling you, that was more frightening than when he shouted.”
“Was there any conversation at all between you and the doctor regarding what he had done to Polly Pratt that afternoon?”
“Yes, sir. I asked him was there some problem with her pregnancy that required him to perform such a procedure.”
“As the doctor’s nurse and the keeper of his files, were you familiar with Miss Pratt as a patient?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Were you aware of any specific health problem relating to the young woman?”
“No, sir, none.”
“In fact, you were not even aware of her pregnancy, were you, Mrs. Eggers?”
“No, sir, I was not.”
“The doctor had never entered that fact in her medical record, had he?”
“No, he had not.”
Jackson whispered to Micah, “He’s asking her leading questions.”
“Yes,” Micah agreed, “but it’s helping to speed things along. The quicker we can get this woman off the stand, the better.”
“You found it odd, didn’t you, that he had not entered her pregnancy in her records?”
“Yes, sir, very.”
“So, Mrs. Eggers, you asked Dr. Hedstrom if Miss Pratt had any life-threatening health problems regarding her pregnancy that would warrant performing the procedure; is that correct? You testified to that a moment ago; am I right about that?”
“Yes, I asked him that.”
“What was his response?”
“He said the only thing wrong with her pregnancy was that it existed at all. He laughed and said, she was carrying some extra baggage, and all he did was help her get rid of it.”
“Extra baggage? Is that how Dr. Hedstrom referred to this baby, this child, as extra baggage?”
“Yes, sir. Extra baggage.”
“What was your response to that, madam?”
“It is then, I’m sorry to say, that I lost my temper. I said if he didn’t give me some sound, medical reason why he had done what he had done that it was my duty as a citizen and good Christian to inform the county attorney.”
“His response?”
“He laughed once more. He said no one would take my word over his, and if I wished to reconsider, I was welcome to stay. Otherwise, I could seek employment elsewhere. I told him that what he had done was inexcusable, and I would seek employment elsewhere, and I gave him notice.”
“What did he say to that?”
“He became enraged.”
“What did he do?”
“He grabbed me by the hair, dragged me across the parlor, and threw me onto the porch. He told me to leave his house and never come back. He slammed the door in my face, not even allowing me time to collect my possessions.”
“That was some four months ago, Mrs. Eggers. Was that the last time you have seen Dr. Hedstrom?”
“Today is the first time I have seen him since, and the last, I hope.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Eggers,” Blythe said. “No further questions, Your Honor.”
“Mr. McConners,” Judge Walker said, “we will begin your cross-examination after the noon break.” He turned to the jury. “The jury is instructed not to discuss the case until it is submitted to you for deliberation. Court is in recess.”
When the judge stood and turned to leave, Earl Anderson shouted, “All rise!”
As they came to their feet, Jackson Clark grumbled to Micah, “To be so damned young, you sure are slow.”