Robin Cook - Acceptable Risk

Taking one of the books in her hand, Kim looked at the spine. Handprinted in white ink on a black background were the words Sea Witch. Curious about what the book was, Kim cracked it open. At first she thought it was someone’s diary because all the handwritten entries began with the day of the month followed by a narrative involving detailed descriptions of the weather. She soon realized that it wasn’t a personal diary but rather a ship’s log.

Turning to the front of the book, Kim learned that it covered the years 1791 through 1802. Kim put the log back and glanced at the spines of the other books in the stack, reading the names. There were seven books with the name Sea Witch. Checking them all, she learned the oldest went from 1737 to 1749.

Wondering if there could be any from the seventeenth century, Kim looked at the books in other stacks. In a small pile near the window she noticed that there was one with a worn leather spine and no name. She got it out.

The book had an old feel much like the Bible Kim had found in the wine cellar. She opened to the title page. It was the ship’s log for a brig called the Endeavor, and it covered the years from 1679 to 1703. Delicately turning the aged pages, Kim advanced through the book year by year until she got to 1692.

The first entry for the year was on the 24th of January. It described the weather as cold and clear with a good westerly wind. It went on to say that the ship had embarked with the tide and was bound for Liverpool with a load of whale oil, timber, ship’s stores, fur, potash, and dried cod and mackerel.

Kim sucked in a mouthful of air as her eyes stumbled onto a familiar name. The next sentence in the entry stated that the ship was carrying a distinguished passenger, Ronald Stewart, Esquire, the ship’s owner. Hastily Kim read on. The log explained that Ronald was en route to Sweden to supervise the outfitting and take possession of a new ship to be called the Sea Spirit.

Quickly Kim scanned the subsequent entries for the voyage. Ronald’s name was not mentioned again until he disembarked in Liverpool after an uneventful crossing.

With some excitement, Kim closed the book and descended from the attic to the wine cellar. Opening the Bible box, she took out the deed she’d found on her last visit and checked the date. She’d been correct! The reason Elizabeth’s signature was on the deed was because Ronald had been at sea when the deed was signed.

Solving even a small mystery involving Elizabeth gave Kim a sense of satisfaction. She put the deed back in the Bible box and was in the process of adding the ship’s log to her small collection when three envelopes tied with a thin ribbon slipped out from beneath the back cover.

Kim picked up the slim packet with trembling fingers. She could see that the top one was addressed to Ronald Stewart. After untying the ribbon she discovered they were all addressed to Ronald. With great excitement she opened the envelopes and removed the contents. There were three letters, dated October 23rd, October 29th, and November 11th, 1692.

The first was from Samuel Sewall:

Boston

My Dear Friend,

I understand that you are troubled in spirit although I hope in God’s name that your recent marriage may ease your disquietude. I also understand your wish to contain the knowledge of your late wife’s unfortunate association with the Prince of Darkness, but I must in good faith advise you to forebear petitioning the Governor for a Writ of Replevin in regards to the conclusive evidence used to convict your aforesaid wife of abominable witchcraft. To the like purpose I would have you apply to and beseech Reverend Cotton Mather in whose cellar you espied your wife’s infernal doings. It has come into my knowledge that official custody of the evidence has been granted in perpetuity to Reverend Mather according to his request.

I remain your Friend, Samuel Sewall.

Frustrated that she’d found another reference to the mysterious evidence without its being described, Kim turned to the second letter. It was written by Cotton Mather.

Saturday 29th October Boston

Sir:

I am in receipt of your recent letter and your reference to our being fellow graduates of Harvard Colledge which gives me the hope that your disposition to the venerable institution is one of loving solicitude so that you will be amenable of mind and spirit to what I and my esteemed father hath decided is the proper place for Elizabeth’s handiwork. You recall when we met at my home in July I had worried concern that the good people of Salem could very well be excited to a state of unruly and turbulent spirit in regards to the Devil’s presence so clearly defined by Elizabeth’s actions and infernal works. It is most unfortunate that my fervent concerns have come to pass and despite my urging of a very critical and exquisite caution in the use of spectral evidence since the Father of Lies could conceivably assume the outward shape of an innocent person, innocent people’s good reputation can be sullied despite the sedulous endeavors of our honorable judges who are so eminent for their justice, wisdom, and goodness. I fully comprehend your honorable wish to shield your family from further humiliation but it is my belief that Elizabeth’s evidence should be preserved for the benefit of future generations in their eternal combat with the forces of evil as a prime example of the type of evidence needed to objectively determine a true covenant with the Devil and not mere maleficium. In this regard I have had much discours with my father, the Good Reverend Increase Mather who is currently justly serving as the President of Harvard Colledge. We together in like mind have decided that the evidence should be preserved at the Colledge for the edification and instruction of future generations whereof vigilance is important to thwart the work of the Devil in God’s New Land.

Your servant in God’s name, Cotton Mather.

Kim wasn’t certain she understood the entire letter, but the gist was easy enough to comprehend. Feeling even more frustrated about the mysterious evidence, she turned to the final letter. Glancing at the signature, she saw it was from Increase Mather.

11th November 1692 Cambridge

Sir:

I am in complete empathy for your wish for the aforesaid evidence to be returned for your private disposition, but I have been informed by the tutors William Brattle and John Leverett that the evidence has been received by the students with diligent interest and has stimulated impassioned and enlightening debate with the effect of convincing us it is God’s will that Elizabeth’s legacy be left at Harvard to stand as an important contribution to establishment of objective criteria for Ecclesiastic Law in association with witchcraft and the damnable work of the Devil. I beg of you to understand the importance of this evidence and agree that it indeed should remain with our collections. If and when the esteemed Fellows of the Corporation of Harvard deem to found a school of law it will at that time be sent to that institution.

I remain your servant, Increase Mather.

“Damn it!” Kim said after reading the third letter. She could not believe that she’d been lucky enough to find so many references to Elizabeth’s evidence yet still not know what it was. Thinking she might possibly have missed something, she read the letters again. The strange syntax and orthography made reading them somewhat difficult, but when she got to the end of the second reading she was sure she’d not missed anything.

Stimulated by the letters, Kim again tried to imagine the nature of the incontrovertible evidence used against Elizabeth. From Kim’s continued general reading that week on the Salem witch trials, she’d become more convinced that it had to have been some kind of book. Back in the days of the trials the issue of the Devil’s Book had come up frequently. The method that a supposed witch established a covenant with the devil was by writing in the Devil’s Book.