Ann-Marie MacDonald - Way the Crow Flies

A. Yes sir.

Q. Are you a Brownie?

A. Well,

Madeleine can hear Marjorie giggle, although the court stenographer didn’t record it.

actually I flew up so I’m a junior Girl Guide now. I have a babysitting badge.

You lie, Margarine! Why did no one check up on that?

Q. How old are you, Marjorie?

A. I just turned ten.

Q. These children are young, I don’t know if I can swear this child. Do you understand the nature of an oath?

A. It means that you swear on the Bible to tell the truth and not to lie in court.

Q. That’s right, Marjorie. What happens to people who do lie?

A. They get punished.

Q. Good. Swear the witness.

Madeleine wonders what she would make of ten-year-old Marjorie now, through adult eyes. Would she be taken in, the way the grown-ups were? Waxy curls. Blue doll-eyes. Polite and slightly, reassuringly, out of date.

MARJORIE NOLAN, sworn:

EXAMINATION IN-CHIEF BY MR FRASER:

MR FRASER: You live with your parents in the Permanent Married Quarters of the Air Force Station in Centralia, Marjorie?

A. Yes sir.

Mr. Fraser, the Crown prosecutor. In the gloomy black robe.

Q. And last spring were you in the same grade, four, as Claire McCarroll?

Q. Yes.

A. Was Claire your friend?

Q. Yes.

Another lie.

Q. And did you know Richard Froelich?

A. Ricky?

Q. Yes, Ricky.

A. Yes.

Q. And on Wednesday, April 10, did you have a conversation with Ricky?

A. Yes.

Q. Will you tell what that conversation was please?

A. Well, Ricky said, “would you like to come to Rock Bass? I know where there is a nest.”

Q. And what did you say?

A. I said, “no.”

Q. Why did you say no?

A. Well,

Madeleine hears another giggle, and the good-natured know-it-all tone. Are some children transparent only to other children?

first of all, I had Brownies that night. So did Claire, but she’s only a Tweenie—

HIS LORDSHIP: Stop right there. Gentlemen of the jury, Mr Fraser has already explained and the witness, Miss Lang who is an officer of the Brownie pack, has already explained what Brownies are. If you are not clear on this, please feel free to request clarification. Good. Go on, Mr Fraser.

It’s strange to picture these grown men—1963 men — grappling with the taxonomy of the Toadstool — Tweenies, Sprites, Elves and Pixies.

Q. And was there another reason you said no to Ricky?

HIS LORDSHIP: Was that a yes?

A. Yes sir.

MR FRASER: What was that other reason, Marjorie?

HIS LORDSHIP: The reason she declined his invitation?

MR FRASER: Yes, my Lord.

HIS LORDSHIP: Go on, Mr Fraser.

Q. Why else did you say no to Ricky, Marjorie?

A. Because I’m not allowed because I am too young.

Q. What are you too young for?

A. To go on dates.

Q. Why did you think Ricky was asking you out on a date?

A. Because he said, “let’s go on a date.”

Dream on, Margarine.

Q. He said that on April 10?

A. Yeah, yes. And lots of times before that.

Q. Where did he say it on April 10?

A. On his front lawn. He was out with the hose.

Q. And what did he say on April 10?

A. He said, “Want a drink, Marjorie?” and then he did something rude.

Q. What did he do?

A. He. He pretended like, you know.

Q. Yes?

A. Like he was going to the bathroom.

Q. Yes?

A. With the hose.

Q. Then what happened?

A. I said “I’m not thirsty.”

Q. And what did he say then?

A. He said, “Would you like to come on a date with me? To Rock Bass? I know where there is a nest.”

Claire said that. No, not exactly, she said, “We can look for a nest.” Madeleine and Colleen were in the schoolyard, Claire had a buttercup. Music was coming from the school, the band was practising … the tattered melody struggling out the windows of the gym at J. A. D. McCurdy School— It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears … — the school band playing as Mr. March thumped time at the piano. Marjorie was nearby with Grace, trying to butt in, she heard where Claire was going and why. And with whom. Ricky, so Claire imagined.

Q. And you said no.

A. I said, “I will have to take a rain check.”

Poor Marjorie. Terribly left out by everyone — except Grace and Mr. March. Is that how he found out where Claire was going that day? Mr. March’s little fiend, running to him, reporting.

Q. Thank you, Marjorie.

A. You’re welcome.

Show-and-tell. “I collect them, sometahms,” said Claire, the weightless robin’s egg cupped in her hands. Madeleine rubs her palm and looks at it. There is the pale scar, but something else is there too — a piece of shell. Pale blue. No, not in her hand, not yet, she is reaching for it in the long last-year’s grass but Colleen grabs her wrist, slaps the knife into her hand, Cut me .

It was only a bit of blue shell, but perhaps it would have been bad luck to take anything from the murder scene — yes, that’s where she found it. A foot or so from the edge of the tamped-down circle. Fairy ring. Was it from Claire’s blue egg? One she found that day?

EXHIBIT No. 50: Statement of Grace Novotny

What if Madeleine had accepted Claire’s invitation and gone with her to Rock Bass? Claire might still be alive. Or would they both be dead?

HIS LORDSHIP: Have you read this statement, Mr Waller?

MR WALLER: I have a copy of Grace Novotny’s statement My Lord, given to me by the Crown Prosecutor, Mr Fraser, this morning. I had not seen the document before, much as I did not know until last week about the existence of the witness, Marjorie Nolan — HIS LORDSHIP: We’ve been over that, Mr Waller.

Mr. Waller. The nice loser in the shimmering silk robes. Defending Rick.

MR WALLER: My Lord, the question of the propriety of concealing a witness—

HIS LORDSHIP: What do you have to say to that, Mr Fraser?

MR FRASER: My Lord, there is no question of the propriety here since Marjorie Nolan’s testimony was not exculpatory.

MR WALLER: My Lord, with the greatest respect I would like to point out that there is a cumulative possibly deleterious effect that could have the effect of causing this trial to become a mistrial—

HIS LORDSHIP: I’ll be the judge of that, Mr Waller.

MR WALLER: Yes, my Lord, but in the interests of avoiding a costly appeal—

HIS LORDSHIP: The Crown has not breached the law of disclosure that I can see.

MR WALLER: No, my Lord, not the letter, but perhaps the spirit.

HIS LORDSHIP: Gentlemen, we won’t need you for a few minutes.

— Jury retired.

IN THE ABSENCE OF THE JURY…

Many pages of legal arguments. Many cases cited by both sides, with a kind of quiz-show virtuosity. Inspector Bradley has the statement he took from Grace in the classroom after three. The defence wants the statement ruled inadmissible. But the Crown says Grace’s statement is consistent with Marjorie’s testimony and therefore ought to be read out in court. All this because Grace is not here to testify in person. Her mother left her father and took the younger children. No one knows where they have gone.

It’s not really a statement at all. It’s a stitched-together series of quotes: answers she gave to the policeman’s questions, which he duly recorded in his notebook. The judge decides that Inspector Bradley will be permitted to read out the statement but, in deference to the defence, only if the inspector consults his notes in order to reinsert the questions “and every other detail” that elicited the responses that became the statement. A short recess is called so that the inspector may go over his notes and those of Constable Lonergan’s, and revise Grace’s “statement” after the fact.