Dead In The Water

CHAPTER 54

Court reconvened after lunch, and Sir Leslie Hewitt rose and addressed the bench. "Your Lordship, normally at this time the defense would move for a dismissal of the charges on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Certainly, the evidence submitted by the prosecution has been almost laughable and quite easy for us to refute. But the defense will not request a dismissal of charges, because we want the jury to hear our client, Mrs.Allison Manning, tell her own story, so that they will know from her lips that she is an innocent woman." He sat down.

The judge nodded sagely. "Mr.Barrington, please call your first witness."

Stone stood. "Your Lordship, the defense will, of course, call Mrs.Manning to testify, but before we do, we wish to call one other witness, Mr.James Forrester."

"Call James Forrester," the judge said.

The bailiff called out the name, and Jim Forrester the witness stand and was sworn, giving a New York City address and styling himself as a journalist.

"Mr.Forrester," Stone began, "were you the last person, apart from Allison Manning, to see Paul Manning alive?"

"I think I may very well be, along with anyone else who was standing on the quay when their yacht left the Canary Islands."

"Good, now let's begin at the beginning. How long did you know Paul Manning?"

"I first met him during our university years, more than twenty years ago, when we played on opposing basketball teams."

"How well did you know him?"

"While we were not close friends, we had a very cordial relationship, and I knew him fairly well."

"How would you describe Paul Manning?"

"I always found him to be a pleasant and friendly person, very bright, and a good athlete."

"After your graduation from university, did some years pass before you saw him again?"

"Only two or three years passed before I saw him the first time," Forrester said. "I ran into him in a restaurant in Miami, Florida. He was working as a journalist for the Miami Herald, and I was working for a travel magazine in New York."

This was information new' to Stone, and he wondered why Forrester had not brought it up before. "Did you renew your acquaintance on that occasion?"

"Yes, we had dinner together."

"And when did you next see him?"

"At a baseball game in New York City, some five or six years later. Paul was covering sports for the Herald, and I visited the press box with a reporter friend."

"And did you renew your acquaintance on that occasion?"

"Yes, we had dinner again after the game."

"And when was the next time you saw Paul Manning?"

"Only a few weeks ago, in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands."

Stone felt relieved to be back on familiar ground. "And how did you come to meet him?"

"I was doing a travel story on the Canaries, and we were taking some photographs at the Las Palmas yacht club. I ran into Paul at the bar late in the afternoon."

"And did you renew your acquaintance on that occasion?"

"Yes, we talked for an hour or so, and Paul invited me to have dinner with him and his wife aboard their yacht."

"Did you detect any change in Paul Manning from your previous knowledge of him?"

"Only that he had grown much heavier and was sporting a full beard. Otherwise, he seemed the same happy person I had always known."

"Did you, in fact, dine with Mr.and Mrs.Manning aboard their yacht?"

"Yes, I did."

"How long did you spend in their company that evening?"

"I didn't return to my hotel until nearly midnight, so I suppose I must have been there five or six hours."

"What was your impression of the Mannings as a married couple?"

"They seemed very happy together; it was obviously very successful marriage, by almost any measure."

"Did they express affection for one another?"

"Almost constantly. They frequently held hands or kissed. I was impressed that they prepared the meal together and enjoyed doing so. I've not known many husbands and wives who could share the galley of a yacht successfully."

"Did Paul Manning make mention of beginning to write a new novel?"

"Yes, he said he was making notes for a new book, and he planned to begin the writing as soon as they were home in the States. He said he planned to call it Dead in the Water."

This was news to Stone, something else Forrester hadn't mentioned. He decided to mine this vein. "Did he mention that he was keeping notes in a book?"

"Yes, he showed me a leather-bound book that he had bought in a shop in Las Palmas."

"Would the bailiff kindly show Prosecution Exhibit Number One to the witness?"

The bailiff handed Forrester the book.

"Is this the book Paul Manning showed you?"

Forrester leafed through the early pages. "Yes." He held up the open book. "You see, he wrote the title, Dead in the Water, at the top of the first page."

"Mr.Forrester, you are a professional writer. Please look through the text of the look and tell me if what you read might correspond with the sort of notes a writer might make prior to beginning to write a book. Take your time."

Forrester read several pages while the courtroom waited. "Yes," he said finally,"this seems very much to me to be a set of notes, though an incomplete one."

"Does it appear in any way to be a diary?"

"Certainly not. It does not describe the relationship between man and wife that I saw in Las Palmas."

"After the Mannings sailed from Las Palmas, did you see them again?"

"Yes, on the island of Puerto Rico, to the south."

"Would you describe the occasion, please?"

"We were there gathering information for my article, my photographer and I, and I saw the yacht in the marina there. Paul asked me on board for a drink and told me that they were sailing almost immediately."

New information again. Stone wished that Forrester would stop elaborating on what he had said earlier. "Was Mrs.Manning present?"

"Yes, she was."

"Had anything in their relationship changed that you could observe?"

"No, they still seemed to be the same happy couple I had seen a couple of days before."

"Were you present when they left the harbor?"

"Yes, I was standing on the quay, watching them."

"Did they still seem to be a happy couple?"

"Yes, they were laughing as they sailed past the quay. They waved and called out a goodbye." "Did anyone but Allison Manning ever see Paul Manning after that?"

"No. I believe I was the last to see him."

"You have interviewed Mrs.Manning extensively about their experiences after leaving Puerto Rico, have you not?"

"Yes, I have."

"Did you question her closely about the events that Occurred on the occasion of Paul Manning's death?"

"Yes, I did."

"Did Allison Manning say anything to you about events that you found to be inconsistent with the you had formed of the couple in the Canar is?"

"No, she did not. Everything she told me had the absolute ring of truth."

"Thank you, Mr.Forrester; no further questions."

"Sir Winston?" the judge said.

"Thank you, Your Lordship. Mr.Forrester, do you consider yourself to be an expert on marriage?"

"No, hardly."

"Are you not presently involved in a divorce from your own wife?"

"Yes, I am."

"So do you think that, on the basis of two brief meetings, you could pronounce their marriage a happy and successful one?"

"That was my impression."

"I ask you again, do you think you are qualified to judge the Mannings' marriage, one way or the other after meeting them for only a few hours?"

"Well, I'm certainly no marriage counselor, but…"

"Mr.Forrester, I ask you again: are you qualified to judge the state of their marriage?" "Well, I'm certainly no marriage counselor."

"Answer the question: are you qualified? Yes or no?"

"No," Forrester admitted.

"Did you ever see the couple again after they sailed from the Canaries?"

"No, just Mrs.Manning."

"You were not aboard the yacht with them when it sailed, were you?"

"No, I wasn't."

"So you have no personal knowledge of what occurred aboard that yacht when Paul Manning died?"

"I have Mrs.Manning's account."

"But you have no personal knowledge of these events, do you?"

"No."

"I have no further questions of this witness." Sir Winston sat down.

Stone stood. "Your Lordship, I have a brief redirect."

"Proceed."

"Mr.Forrester, you saw Mr.and Mrs.Manning together in the Canaries, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did."

"And you were the last person alive to see them together?"

"Yes, I was."

"Relying on your judgment as a journalist and as a human being, do you believe them to have been happily married?"

"I certainly do."

"Do you believe Allison Manning's account of her husband's death to be true?"

"Yes, I certainly do."

"Thank you, Mr.Forrester, I have no further questions."

"You may step down, Mr.Forrester," the judge aid. "Mr.Barrington, do you wish to call any other witnesses?"

"Yes; Your Lordship. The defense calls Mrs.Allison Manning."

Stone watched Allison as she left the dock and walked to the witness box. She seemed relaxed, serene; she certainly looked beautiful. If I can just get her through this, he thought, and if she stands up under cross without losing it, I can win this case.

Allison took hold of the Bible and swore to tell the truth.