Missing Witness (28 page)

It was only then—after mention of his name—that Ludlow tuned into the proceedings around him, sat up straight, and flashed a grin at the bench.

The court next turned to a listing of expert witnesses to be called by each side at trial.

“Now, Mr. Chambers, let's start with you. Who are the expert witnesses you anticipate calling at the time of trial?”

“Your Honor, we've listed three potential expert witnesses.”

“Yes, I see that,” the judge said. “In reviewing your pretrial statements, I noticed that both you and Mr. MacPherson listed three expert witnesses. That's a nice balance. Three and three. So tell me about your expert witnesses so that Mr. MacPherson here can know a little about them.”

“My first potential expert witness is Dr. August Longfellow.” Will was reviewing his notes while speaking, but he heard a chuckle coming from MacPherson's table.

Then he looked up and saw Judge Gadwell chuckling as well.

“Yes, the court does have some familiarity with Dr. Longfellow. And I'm not talking about his being an expert witness. As a matter of fact, wasn't he a defendant in this court not too long ago? DUI? For the uneducated
in this courtroom, that means driving under the influence—of alcohol, that is.”

Will grimaced.

“Okay, let's go to the next one,” Judge Gadwell said, still chuckling. “This Susan Red Deer Williams. What's she all about?”

“She's an expert in early American Indian history—specifically, on the history of the Tuscarora Indians.”

The judge had a perplexed look on his face.

“Mr. Chambers, what are we talking about Indians for? I mean, what does that have to do with the issues in this case?”

“Your Honor, there is evidence that Isaac Joppa survived the Battle of Ocracoke Inlet, where he was presumed to have been killed. The fact is, there's good evidence that he survived the battle, had contact with the Tuscarora Indians, and then moved on—”

“So?” the judge said, raising up his hands. “What in the world does that have to do with the issues of this case?”

“Because his conduct after the Battle of Ocracoke Inlet may have relevance to questions of guilt or innocence.”

Will could see that Judge Gadwell was entirely unimpressed by the potential relevance of Susan Red Deer Williams' testimony. And frankly, Will had doubts himself as to whether or not he would actually call her. On the other hand, if he failed to list her, then he might be excluded from calling her at trial should facts develop that required her expertise.

“The third expert is Dr. Stephen Rosetti. He's an ocean archaeologist.”

That caught Virgil MacPherson's attention, and he jumped to his feet to address the court.

“And here is where we have a real problem,” MacPherson said. “Here's an expert who spends his time researching sunken vessels. We're not here about sunken vessels. We're here trying to determine whether Isaac Joppa was guilty of piracy in the year 1718.”

“If the court please,” Will countered gingerly, “Dr. Rosetti, as an ocean archaeologist and an expert in ancient sunken vessels of the early eighteenth century, has a wealth of information and expertise about shipping customs, the practices of pirates, and matters of admiralty law as they applied to those charges of piracy in the year 1718.”

“Well, I'm not going to make an advance ruling on these witnesses right now,” the judge said with a skeptical look on his face, “but you're going to have to convince me at trial that these folks have something worth saying about the issues in this case.”

Then the judge turned his attention to Virgil MacPherson. He was loaded for bear.

“Your Honor, my first expert witness is Dr. Manfred Berkeley, a world-famous maritime historian, who will be able to address, directly and forcefully, the fact that there is overwhelming evidence of Isaac Joppa's guilt as a member of the pirate crew on board the ship belonging to, and in the control of, Edward Teach.”

Judge Gadwell's eyes were riveted on MacPherson, and he was nodding.

“The second expert witness listed by us is Dr. Wilson Auger. He's an ocean archaeologist. But unlike Mr. Chambers' expert—Dr. Rosetti—Dr. Auger is going to be able to directly address the issues of Isaac Joppa's guilt. He's going to be able to address the fact that none of the artifacts extracted from the sea at the site of the Battle of Ocracoke Inlet support, in any way, a claim of innocence on the part of Isaac Joppa.”

MacPherson was now ready to address his third listed potential expert witness. However, as he mentioned Dr. Henrietta Clover, the judge held up his hands and had the court reporter halt transcribing. He bent over to his clerk to answer a question on a matter that had just come to her on the telephone.

While the judge was talking with the court clerk, Will leaned toward Virgil MacPherson.

“Virgil, can you give me any idea why you're calling this Dr. Henrietta Clover—who's an expert, according to your list of witnesses, in matters of genealogy?”

MacPherson smiled and bent toward Will, lowering his voice.

“Sure, Will. I thought it would be helpful in this case to sort of get the genealogy lines straight. You know, there's a lot of room for confusion about who Isaac Joppa was and who he is related to, and this Reverend Malachi Joppa who was his father, and how Randolph Willowby is a distant relative of this fellow who married one of the daughters of Malachi Joppa. You know what I'm talking about…I just thought, to avoid confusion, we could get a genealogical expert in here to kind of set the stage straight on who the players were, so to speak. Just by way of background—and to set the stage…nothing too significant…you know what I mean?”

Will nodded, but something in both MacPherson's tone and in Will's recently obtained knowledge of MacPherson's tactics led him not to believe much of what the other attorney had just told him.

“Okay, we're back on the record,” the judge said. “And the last one that you listed, Mr. MacPherson, is this Dr. Henrietta Clover. And apparently you've indicated in your pretrial statement that she's going to address issues of genealogy. All right, let's move on then.”

Will gestured to the judge.

“If I may, Your Honor—could we just put on the record what the substance of Dr. Clover's testimony is going to be—”

“Mr. MacPherson said right on his pretrial statement,” the judge said with irritation in his voice, “that she's an expert on genealogy. She's going to be talking about genealogy in this case. So I suppose that's why he's going to call her. So, let's move on.”

Will could see that trying to gain further information about the anticipated testimony of Dr. Clover was a useless endeavor.

“Your Honor, in terms of exhibits, we intend to introduce a certified copy of the clerk's minutes of Her Majesty, the Queen's Court of Vice-Admiralty of the American Colonies, of Williamsburg, Virginia, dated March 12, 1719,” Will explained. “In addition to other exhibits we also intend to introduce a certified copy of the entries of the clerk in the docket of Bath, North Carolina, for the years 1718 and 1719, relating to the grand jury testimony that led to the indictment of Isaac Joppa, the issuance of an arrest warrant by the magistrate shortly thereafter, and the eventual dismissal, a year later, by the court.”

MacPherson then indicated that he would introduce into evidence the testimony of Henry Caulfeld, who testified at the grand jury hearing in Bath, North Carolina, positively identifying Isaac Joppa as a person who was actively engaged in the pirating, along with Edward Teach, of Caulfeld's ship, the
Marguerite
. Caulfeld's testimony had formed the basis for the grand jury's finding of reasonable grounds for the issuance of an indictment for piracy against Joppa.

With that, Judge Gadwell adjourned the proceedings and disappeared into his chambers. Jonathan Joppa walked out with Will Chambers but said very little. But Will could read Jonathan's expression. To borrow an adage from Joppa's prior years in baseball, he was probably thinking now that he should be looking for a relief pitcher…because the other side was hitting the ball out of the park.

41

“J
IMMY—YOU
'
RE SWINGING LATE
!”

Jonathan Joppa was on the sidelines of the makeshift ball field, calling to the twelve-year-old who had just struck out.

“I don't know where you're looking—but you're not looking at the ball. Just concentrate on the ball coming in—and swinging into the strike zone. Don't bother about trying it. Just make contact. Just watch the ball, swing into the strike zone, and focus on making contact, when it comes.”

The young batter shrugged and nodded.

It was late afternoon, and Joppa was halfway through batting practice for his Safe Harbor Community Church youth baseball league. He had two in the outfield, two in the infield, and his pitcher. The rest of his team was rotating at bat.

Joppa took off his hat and swiped the sweat from his brow.

There was a crack as the batter swung and smacked a line drive that shot past the pitcher and landed at the feet of an outfielder.

“Nice job, Jimmy! Way to keep your eye on the ball.”

Joppa was having a hard time focusing on baseball practice. He was ruminating on the rumors his secretary, Sally, had reported to him earlier that day.

“The natives are restless…” she had said, referring to Minnie Metalsmith and her group of malcontents.

He tried to shrug it off, but it hung over him like a cloud. He looked out onto the field and called to the team.

“Okay, rotate. You five go in for batting, and the rest of you take the field. Howie, you do the pitching for a while.”

Then Jonathan caught something out of the corner of his eye.

Off in the distance, on a side street adjacent to the vacant lot turned baseball diamond, there was a long, black Rolls Royce. It looked familiar.

“Wow, take a look at that!” one of the boys exclaimed. “It must be somebody really famous!”

“I think I know that car,” Jonathan said under his breath. “It looks like the same limo…Randolph Willowby's limo…the day I met with him. A couple months before his death. Definitely looks like it.”

Frances Willowby was in the back seat of the sleek black Rolls. The chauffeur was sitting patiently and dutifully while she was watching the practice—and Jonathan Joppa—through her opera glasses.

When she noticed that her car had been observed, she motioned for the chauffeur to drive off.

She stared back through the rear window at the humble sandlot baseball diamond, with Jonathan Joppa now shouldering a canvas bag of baseball bats and gathering up his young players for a final huddle at home base.

“How come we get millionaires watching us?” Ryan shouted out.

“Dunno.” Then Joppa smiled and added, “Maybe it's the owner of the Yankees—checking you guys out.”

There was an explosion of laughter and catcalling.

But while the boys were letting off steam, Jonathan's gaze was fixed on the limo. He watched until it disappeared out of sight.

42

W
ILL WAS AT THE SMALL KITCHEN TABLE
, working on the Joppa case. Files, papers, and books covered the entire table, as well as most of the flat surfaces of the living room. Despite intense effort, he was stymied. He had produced almost no concrete evidence proving Isaac Joppa's innocence.

In the living room, at the piano, Fiona had been working on a melody line for a new song. But at some point—Will wasn't sure when—she changed moods. Suddenly she was playing Beethoven's “Emperor” Concerto.

At almost any other time, Will would have appreciated it if Fiona played the classics. As a pianist, she was almost as accomplished as she was a vocal performer.

But today he had little appetite for Beethoven, particularly when it was banged out loudly less than twenty feet from his workspace, as he struggled to unravel the knotted historical facts surrounding an eighteenth-century criminal charge.

His focus was to find an answer to the old res judicata entry by the court clerk in Bath, North Carolina.

So he launched a full-scale research effort into similar piracy trials in the early 1700s. He came across an account of one particularly famous case—the trial of Captain William Kidd. He had picked up a book on the subject from the local island bookstore.

Kidd had been tried for murder and piracy in 1701, found guilty, and hanged. Originally, his career was legitimate enough. In fact, he received, in 1695, a royal commission to arrest pirates who had been attacking the ships of the East India Company. But lawful “privateering” soon turned to criminal piracy, with Kidd and his crew attacking and plundering a variety of ships. Faced with an increasingly difficult-to-control crew, in one outburst Kidd struck and killed his quartermaster.

But now, halfway through the arcane record of the 1701 trial, Ludwig van Beethoven was vying for Will's attention.