Fallen Hearts (Casteel 3)

Anticipating his testimony, my heart began to beat madly, but when I gazed over at Fanny's table, she looked relaxed and comfortable. She whispered into her attorney's ear and he smiled and nodded and patted her on the hand. Randall stared ahead, little or no expression on his face until he turned my way. He looked like a man caught in a trap, no longer as sure about what he was doing or even why he was sitting there. He looked as if he wanted to apologize to me. But Fanny nudged him and he turned away quickly.

"Reverend Wise, would you tell the court under what circumstances you took Fanny Casteel into your home and treated her as you would your own daughter?"

"The Lord enables us to help one another in many ways if it is in our hearts to do so," Reverend Wise began. "I learned about the poor plight of the Casteel family, children without a mother, and for a good deal of the time, without a father, living in a shack in the Willies, hungry, cold, uncared for. My wife and I discussed the situation and decided we should take at least one of these poor children into our own home and provide for her as the Lord has provided for us," he said. Some of his parishioners nodded and smiled self-righteously.

"And so you brought Fanny Casteel to your home to be your daughter. You even gave her your name and replaced her Christian name, is that not so?"

"We did, happily."

"Please describe what Fanny was like when you first brought her to your home."

"She was grateful, happy to be there. Naturally, I began to instruct her in the ways of righteousness. I knew the circumstances under which she had lived and how that would affect her moral upbringing."

"Did you make satisfactory progress with Fanny?" Camden asked. Reverend Wise's beady black eyes fastened on Fanny and then darted across at the audience.

"She was a difficult child, often promiscuous as described. I felt the Devil had indeed taken hold of her."

"I see. So the conduct Mr. Meeks described continued even though she was in a warm home, loved and cared for? Is that not correct?"

"The Devil is indeed a clever foe."

"Please, Reverend, just answer the question yes or no."

"Yes."

"And at this point Fanny was maturing into womanhood," Camden said. He took a dramatic pause. You could hear a pin drop, so eagerly were ears bent to listen to the scandalous truth. For a moment Camden scrutinized his audience, then suddenly reeled around to face the reverend. "Reverend Wise, did Fanny Casteel become pregnant while she was residing at your residence?"

For a long moment the reverend did not speak. He bent his head as if in silent prayer. Then, very slowly, he raised his eyes, drilling them into Camden Lakewood.

"She did."

"And what did you offer to do?"

"My wife and I, who were childless at the time, decided we would take the baby as we had taken Fanny and raise her as our own. We decided the Lord had given us another opportunity and we have indeed felt blessed because of it." There was some murmuring in the audience, but when the judge slammed down his gavel, it ended abruptly. Nobody wanted to be thrown out and have to miss the drama. "We did pretend the child was my wife's child, but it was a deception of good intentions, designed to make life easier for the innocent baby. We wanted her to be accepted in the community. It was how the Lord intended it."

"I'm not here to question your motives, Reverend, but did you not offer Fanny Casteel ten thousand dollars if she would sign away all rights to her own child?"

"I did, but it was not my intention to buy her child. My wife and I felt she needed the money to provide for herself once she left our residence and went out in the world to make her way."

"But the papers stated that the child, and the sworn secret of the child's parentage, be forever kept silent for the sum of ten thousand dollars, isn't that correct?"

"Yes."

"And did Fanny Casteel willingly sell her own child to you?"

The reverend only nodded.

"The record will show the witness's answer as affirmative," Camden instructed. "No further questions, Your Honor."

Camden told me his strategy would be to avoid embarrassing the reverend in hopes that his damaging testimony would imply that Fanny slept around, became pregnant, and sold her child. He hoped Fanny and her lawyer wouldn't want the real circumstances bandied about while her morality was in question. But they were willing to take the risks.

"Reverend Wise," Wendell Burton began, this time shooting up out of his seat like a cannonball, "was yer only motivation fer givin' Fanny Casteel ten thousand dollars fer her child yer interest in her welfare?"

"I'm not quite sure, I--"

"Were ya not and are ya not indeed the father of Fanny Casteel's first child?"

The stillness in the room felt so complete it was as if all the air had been drawn out to create a vacuum. No one even dared cough.