Chapter 58 You Will Have the Truth
Under the best of circumstances, these investigations were messy and distasteful. One had to snoop on unsuspecting parties in various stages of relations. The outcomes were always demoralizing to all parties involved, both adults and children. This case presented salacious allegations of adultery among the most prominent two black families on Beacon Hill. In the end, both the Nells and the Scotts would be changed people. Did the Sheriff want to become involved in such a thicket? On the other hand, the electorate had entrusted him with making these difficult prosecutorial decisions. Because the decision was hard and unpleasant did not mean the Sheriff could run away and avoid his duty. He had a duty to Mrs. Nell just as he had a duty under the law to her husband and to Mrs. Scott.
Three days later, Louise returned to the Sheriff's office. She asked for his decision.
Sheriff Sumner said, yes. He advised Louise she should not become involved in any way. The Sheriff alone would conduct the investigation. Louise should treat her husband as she would on a normal day. And the same applied to Mrs. Scott. Mrs. Nell should not act out of character in any way until the Sheriff completed his investigation. This meant she should not, for example, learn how to read. This might arouse suspicion in William G. She should not try to become familiar with Mrs. Scott in any way. Out of character familiarity might arouse suspicion and cause the possible defendant to change behavior. Finally, she should not reveal her discussions with the Sheriff to anyone or share her suspicions with anyone else.
"Thus far, I'm aware of the note. You're aware of the note. William G.'s aware of the note. Is there anyone else?" asked the Sheriff.
"No one else knows, except my baby sister Lourine," answered Louise.
"This is my concern and greatest challenge in this investigation. Your husband, and Mrs. Scott, are known by everyone on Beacon Hill. It will be difficult to keep this investigation secret but we must. Please tell no one else about the note," warned the Sheriff.
"You have my word," said Louise.
"Now, other than the note, what evidence do you have of adultery?" asked the Sheriff.
"Well, William G. and Ted Scott were the best of friends. When the workday ended, William G. often went over to Third and Wood and worked well into the evening on antislavery agitation with Ted. I imagine William G. got to know Mary at some point," remembered Louise.
"Continue," said the Sheriff.
"After Ted Scott died, William G. went over there to help Mary with arrangements. I understood that, the passing of a provider and breadwinner. The woman doesn't know how to work from what I can tell," said Louse. "She must have been lost in the world when she lost Ted."
"When do you suspect the affair began?" asked the Sheriff.
"When I discovered the note, number one. And then little things didn't add up. He said he had worked extra hard on the Lozano job. When I ran into the Lozanos, I asked them about the quality of the tailoring. They said they were unimpressed as they knew of William G.'s reputation as a tailor. They said he had seemed distracted as he dropped off the clothes. And then, Mary seemed helpless with little things around her house. William G. stayed over there fixing up her place."
"Anything unusual? Any unaccounted times when he seems to disappear during the day or night," asked the Sheriff.
"Well, there seems to be something about Fridays. He's always away from the tailoring shop on Fridays in the middle of the day. He says he has to meet with fugitives in secret," said Louise.
"You don't believe him," asked the Sheriff.
Louise looked down with regret and loss. "No, I don't trust him anymore."
"Louise, has he talked about unusual travel plans," asked the Sheriff. "Perhaps to New York City or Philadelphia."
Louise thought for a moment -- Montreal. "He mentioned in passing a few weeks ago that he wanted to see Montreal."
The questioning went on like this for the better part of an hour. From long, hard experience, the Sheriff knew adulterers played by certain rules. You could observe patterns of behavior, cycles of deceit if you will. Excuses were always grounded in reality and truth. The deceivers were always able to provide a skeletal accounting of where they had gone and with whom. [I have to meet the fugitives on Fridays in the afternoons at the Underground Railroad. It is the only time we can meet safe from slave catchers.] Anything would do that gave the deceiver a regular, legitimate excuse to be out of the house. Cash ruled affairs. Only the dimmest adulterers committed affair expenses to writing. Adulterers avoided intimate relations with the spouses as a general matter. In part, these needs were being met outside the marriage compact. In part, relations with a spouse generated wild jealousy in the third party adulterer. True to the pattern, the Sheriff determined William G. and Louise had not had relations in two years and counting. But perhaps the most chronic symptom of adultery was denial. To their dying breath, adulterers denied and denied their transgressions. If William G. could look Louise in the eye and refute any accusations, he was acting true to form. Innocent spouses like Mrs. Nell always knew something was not right on a visceral level. And yet the innocent had their own reasons for living in denial -- stability, reputations, children.
"Mr. Sheriff, I want to know the truth," said Louise as she rose to leave.
"On my honor, Mrs. Nell, you will have truth," said Sheriff Sumner.