Veil of Doubt, page 23
“That is a complete exaggeration by the prosecution, Your Honor. Mr. Orr was a participant in numerous strategy discussions on behalf of the defense. He was present during the autopsy conducted at Union Cemetery—”
“You’re referring to the autopsy that the district court excluded from evidence in this trial?” Kilgour interjected.
“Yes,” Powell confirmed, looking at Kilgour, “where the defense discussed our counterarguments to the state’s analysis of all the forensic evidence in this case.” He turned his attention to the judge. “Your Honor, any involvement by an attorney of the defendant for the prosecution is a betrayal of the defendant’s right of confidence and a blatant violation of the attorney-client privilege.”
Judge Keith held his gaze to Powell’s for a long moment before looking over at the prosecution table. “Mr. Orr, please approach, will you?”
Orr stood and joined them at the front of the courtroom.
“Mr. Orr,” Keith said. “Did Mrs. Lloyd retain you to assist in her defense?”
“No, she did not. My only involvement was that I was asked by her defense counsel, Matthew Harrison, to provide advice in regard to a possible insanity plea,” Orr answered. “When experts from Western State Lunatic Asylum determined that Mrs. Lloyd was of a sound mind, my services were no longer needed.”
“Do you have a retainer agreement with Mr. Harrison that you can provide the court?”
“I do not, Your Honor. Mr. Harrison asked me to consult as a favor. We’ve known each other for a long time, and neither of us felt the need for such formalities.”
“Did you sign a representation letter with Mrs. Lloyd?”
“I did not,” Orr said.
“Very well, then,” Keith said, and shooed them away with a flit of his hand.
Powell knew the judge’s ruling before he announced it. Matt was old-school, and this time it was going to cost them.
“Mr. Harrison, your objection is overruled. Mr. Orr, you may proceed to question the first witness.”
Orr nodded at the judge and turned to Powell. “My intent was not to cause any hard feelings, Powell. I honestly didn’t think this would be a problem. Let Matt know, will you?”
“You can tell him yourself,” Powell said, giving Orr a hard look before returning to the defense table.
Orr waited as Powell took his seat. Straightening his shoulders, Orr drew a long breath and focused his attention on the witness box, where Delphi waited.
“Miss Lozenburg,” he said as he walked toward her, “how do you know the defendant, Mrs. Lloyd?”
“She is my employer,” Delphi said.
“And what is it that you do for her?”
“I help her with housework, cleaning, cooking, and caring for the children.”
“And in the past two years, all four of Mrs. Lloyd’s children died rather abruptly, didn’t they?”
“Objection,” Powell said. “The state is leading the witness.”
“Sustained,” the judge ruled.
“What were the names of Mrs. Lloyd’s children?” Orr asked, seemingly ignoring the judge’s ruling.
“George, Henry, Annie, and Maud,” Delphi answered before Powell could object.
“Your Honor!” Powell complained.
“I’ll allow it,” Judge Keith said with a nod at Orr. “Continue, Mr. Orr.”
“And you tended them at Mrs. Lloyd’s home on Loudoun Street?”
Delphi brought her gaze to Orr. “I did.”
“Were you tending Maud when she took ill last March?”
“Yes, I was.”
“Can you tell us what happened the week Maud died?”
“On that Thursday, I had been out at the shops gathering things that Miss Emily told me she needed. When I returned, Maudie had a fever and was throwing up something awful. Miss Emily sent me to fetch Dr. Moore, like she always does. He came over and told us it might be the cholera. That’s what took little Annie, and it had us both real worried that Maudie might have it, too. He said he’d send some powders over and told us to give her milk and lime water. Friday, she was worse. But Sunday morning, she seemed a lot better. She was up and playing with her doll. I fed her a little cake, and she seemed to take it with no problem. But that afternoon she got sick again, and by Sunday night it was awful. She started shaking in her bed and then she wouldn’t look at us or talk or nothing. That’s when Miss Emily sent me to find Dr. Moore. He came over with another doctor, and they told us Maud was going to die.”
Delphi bit her lip, tears in her eyes. “They gave her some powders and then she died right after. Just like that, poor little Maudie was gone.”
Orr proceeded to ask Delphi a battery of questions about what Maud ate, what she drank, who was with her at various times, and who came to visit. After nearly an hour and a half of questioning, his focus shifted to what Powell assumed was the true intent of his interrogation.
“At any time, did you administer any of Dr. Moore’s powders to Maud?”
“No, sir, only Miss Emily and Dr. Moore gave her medicines.”
“Did Mrs. Lloyd ever purchase arsenic and bring it to the house?”
“Not that I know of, but she should have. We had heaps of mice in that house and some rats, too.”
Orr nodded his head and paused, his mind clearly at work. He glanced at Kilgour, who rose to his feet.
“Your Honor,” Kilgour said. “It’s beyond the noon hour. Might I suggest a recess for dinner?”
Judge Keith glanced at the large wall clock that hung at the back of the courtroom. “It’s a quarter after now. We’ll reconvene the court at half past one.”
“Want to grab a bite at Pickett’s next door?” Matt asked after the judge left the courtroom.
“You two go on. I’ll catch up.” Powell watched Freddie lead Emily from the courtroom. “Mrs. Lloyd and I need to have a word.”
• • •
“That didn’t take long,” JW said as Powell approached the table where Matt and JW were sitting at the rear of the dining hall at Pickett’s Inn.
“Mrs. Lloyd and I quickly came to an agreement,” Powell said, smoothing the rain from his hair before pulling a chair to join them.
“We took the liberty of ordering for you.” JW pushed a plate covered with a pewter lid toward him. “So what did she have to say for herself?”
“Seems one of those sisters that live next door paid Mrs. Lloyd a visit last night,” Powell said as he removed the lid from the stewed meat and vegetables steaming on the plate. “Apparently the woman named Lilith convinced Emily that she needed to arouse the passions of the jurors to invoke their sympathy.”
“Arouse passions?” Matt scoffed. “So she decides it’s a good idea to dress like a harlot?”
“I suggested she put the veil back on and cover her bosom. And from here on out, she will dress like she’s going to church. I assured her that the only way to gain a juror’s sympathy is to look like a grieving mother.” Powell pulled the napkin to his lap and picked up a fork. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was.
“The sisters are back in town?” JW asked.
“Apparently,” Powell said, digging into the food.
“We need to speak to them,” JW said. “I’ll head over there tonight and pay them a visit.”
“Make certain they haven’t spoken to Kilgour and that any testimony from them won’t impact our case,” Powell said.
“Er, about our case.” Matt drew a deep breath. “I owe you gentlemen an apology. I thought I could trust John as a man of his word.”
Powell looked up from his plate. “No need for an apology, Matt. It’s right to have confidence in a man’s word. But I trust words a lot more when they are put to paper.”
Matt nodded and shifted in his chair. They ate in silence while the clinking of silver against china and conversations of other guests swarmed around them.
“Is anyone besides me surprised that they brought Delphi as their first witness?” JW asked as he pushed his plate away.
“I’d have thought they would bring Dr. Cross,” Matt said in between chews. “If I were the prosecutor, I would have first established the child was murdered.”
“I agree,” Powell said, with a swallow of sweet tea to wash down his last bite of stew. “Kilgour is up to something, I’m certain of it. I just don’t know what yet.”
• • •
“Miss Lozenburg,” Orr said, “before the break, you testified that you were unaware of any purchases of arsenic by Mrs. Lloyd. Would there be any reason for Mrs. Lloyd to purchase arsenic?”
“Objection,” Powell said from his seat. “Calls for speculation.” He glanced over at the dock. Although still in the same dress, Emily sat poised in the chair with the veil back over her face and a scarf wrapped loosely around her neck, covering her bosom.
“Sustained,” Keith agreed.
“Were you troubled with rodents at Mrs. Lloyd’s home?” Orr continued.
“I didn’t like the mice,” Delphi replied, looking at her hands in her lap.
“Mice?”
“Yes, sir, lots of mice,” she answered without looking at Orr.
“What about rats?” Orr asked.
Delphi shrugged her shoulders, her eyes downcast.
“Miss Lozenburg, have you ever seen rats at Mrs. Lloyd’s house?”
Delphi shook her head without looking up. “I ain’t never seen any rats.”
JW moved forward in his chair and glanced down the table at Matt and Powell. Powell remained perfectly still, careful not to give the jury any indication that this new testimony from Delphi was of any concern.
“You stated before the break that there were rats. Is it now your testimony that there were no rats at Mrs. Lloyd’s?”
“I said there were mice. But I didn’t see no rats. I ain’t never saw no rats at Mrs. Lloyd’s.”
“So if there were no rats in her home, why would Mrs. Lloyd need to purchase arsenic?”
“Same objection, Your Honor,” Powell said.
“Mr. Orr,” the judge said. “Let’s not ask the witness to speculate.”
Orr nodded. “Did Mrs. Lloyd ask you to purchase arsenic on her behalf?”
“No, sir.”
“You mentioned that Mrs. Lloyd asked you to fetch Dr. Moore like she always does. How often does Mrs. Lloyd send for Dr. Moore?”
For the first time in her testimony since court resumed, Delphi looked up from her lap. Orr offered an encouraging smile. “Lots, I guess.”
“How many times? Once a month? Once a week?”
She shrugged her shoulders again. “A couple of times a week, I reckon.”
“Thank you, Miss Lozenburg,” Orr said with another smile. “Your Honor, the state reserves the right to recall this witness later in the proceedings.”
Judge Keith nodded and looked at the defense team. “Mr. Harrison?”
Powell stood. “Defense defers our cross-examination of the witness until the whole of her testimony has been taken.”
“Very well,” Keith said. “It’s your turn again, Mr. Kilgour. Next witness?”
“The commonwealth calls Dr. Randolph Moore.”
• • •
“And you are certain, Doctor?” Orr asked, leaning closer to the witness box than he should. Orr had spent nearly an hour asking Moore about every ailment that Maud Lloyd had suffered, including every detail of his treatment of her illness the weekend that she died. Powell looked over at the men on the jury. In the back row, two jurors had their eyes closed, another softly snored, his head listing toward his left shoulder. Orr was losing them.
“I stand by my statement that nothing I observed then or now leads me to believe that Maud Lloyd died from anything other than congestion of the stomach,” Moore said. Although it was chilly in the courtroom, Powell noticed beads of perspiration on Moore’s brow. Powell straightened in his chair.
“Even though the autopsy results indicate that there was arsenic present in her stomach?” Orr asked.
“Objection, Your Honor,” Powell interjected. “He’s badgering the witness.”
“Overruled,” Keith said with a pointed look at Powell. “I’ll decide when the prosecution crosses boundaries, Mr. Harrison.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Powell said with a glance at the jury.
Orr eyed Moore, waiting for his answer.
“I cannot explain the autopsy analysis,” Moore said. “The results are inconsistent with my observations of the child.”
Orr fixed his gaze on Moore for a long, awkward moment before Kilgour stood from the prosecution’s table and walked toward the witness box. Orr released his stare and returned to the table and took his seat.
“Dr. Moore,” Kilgour said. “Would you restate for the jury the powders you prescribed for Maud while she lay ill the weekend of March 21?”
“I gave her calomel and opium to set upon the liver and to quiet the action in the bowels. When it appeared that was not working, I switched her powders to bismuth with opium. And then, with Dr. Cross’s concurrence, we gave her Huxham’s tincture and cerium.”
“And the specific elements of the last prescription?”
“One grain oxalate of cerium, one-sixteenth grain of morphine every two hours with a tablespoon of Huxham’s tincture of bark,” Moore repeated from his earlier testimony. Powell made a note.
“Who conducted the postmortem on Maud Lloyd?”
“I did. Dr. Cross and Sheriff Atwell were present, as were Deputy Fred Roberts and Mayor Bentley.”
“Would you explain in layman’s terms the procedure you conducted?”
Moore turned and looked at the jury. “I cut into the child’s abdomen with a blade and located the stomach. I tied the upper and lower orifice so that the contents remained with the stomach when I removed it from the body. I also took the duodenum, the outlet next to the stomach. I placed both organs in a clean jar and put the glass stopper on top. I then wrapped the vessel in a white muslin cloth and handed it to Deputy Roberts, who walked it over to my store. I finished closing the child’s abdomen, and Dr. Cross and I left the Lloyd house. When we arrived at my pharmacy, I cleaned the exterior of the jar, as some blood had found its way on the cloth that the deputy had used to carry it from the house. I proceeded to seal the jar with wax and gave the jar with its contents to Deputy Roberts to deliver to Professor Tonry in Baltimore.”
Powell studied Moore’s face as he lied under oath, looking for a tell.
Orr handed Kilgour a brown glass jar. “Do you recognize this?” Kilgour asked Moore, who nodded.
“Yes, it’s the jar I used for the stomach specimen.”
“Were any chemicals or poisons ever stored in this container?”
“No, sir,” Moore said. “And I washed the vessel thoroughly at the hydrant in my store before I took it to Mrs. Lloyd’s.”
“Did you attend Maud Lloyd’s funeral or the internment at Union Cemetery?”
“No, unfortunately they had already left the house by the time I arrived. But I was present at the cemetery when the sexton had Maud’s body and the other Lloyd children exhumed for further examination.”
Powell was on his feet. “Move to strike, Your Honor. Any testimony on this subject is inadmissible, and Mr. Kilgour knows it.”
“Dr. Moore was simply answering my question in his own words, Your Honor,” Kilgour said. “The defense is overreacting.”
“I concur with the defense on this one, Counsellor. Your objection is sustained, Mr. Harrison.” Keith turned to the jury. “Gentlemen of the jury, you are instructed to disregard the last statement of the witness.”
“Your Honor, that is all the prosecution has for this witness at this time. We reserve the right to recall him later.” Kilgour took his seat.
“Your witness, Mr. Harrison.”
Buttoning the top button on his jacket, Powell stood and walked toward the witness box.
“How long have you known the defendant, Mrs. Lloyd?” he asked.
“About twenty years, if I had to guess,” Moore replied.
“And how long have you been her family physician?”
“Since about 1865, thereabouts.”
“As a physician, did you find that Mrs. Lloyd took good care of her children?”
“Objection! Foundation?” Kilgour questioned.
“Your Honor, I am asking Dr. Moore’s professional opinion as to whether or not Mrs. Lloyd provided appropriate care for her children. That is well within his expertise as a physician to the children to answer.”
Keith nodded his head. “Objection overruled.” He looked at Moore. “You may answer.”
“Yes, Emily was a good mother to her children. She was attentive to them. Taught them to read and write. Made certain they were well clothed, well fed, and bathed. At the slightest cough or sniffle, she would send for me. She doted on those children. Especially the youngest one, little Maud.”
“Was the father alive when Maud was born?”
“I don’t believe so.”
“And you were with Mrs. Lloyd when Maud was born?”
“I delivered the child, yes.”
“So it’s fair to say that you have been the physician to Maud all her life and, as such, would know the most about the condition of her health?”
“Yes, that’s a fair assessment.”
“How would you describe Maud’s health?”
“She was colicky as an infant and suffered numerous gastrointestinal ailments.”
