Magnolia Gods (River Sunday Romance Mysteries Book 2) by Thomas Hollyday

Jones?”
    Answer: “May 15, 1946.”
    Question: “What was your former post?”
    Answer: “Navy liaison to Aviatrice Corporation, New York City.”
    Question: “What were your duties at Philadelphia?”
    Answer: “I was in charge of catapult development.”
    Question: “Catapults are used on carriers to launch aircraft, is that right?”
    Answer: “The lab did very advanced work in steam. We were developing a steam system.”
    Question: “Did you work with Captain Edward Lawson?”
    Answer: “Yessir. He was my commanding officer.”
    Question: “Tell us how often you saw Captain Lawson.”
    Answer: “Everyday I would report to him, go over the catapult program. During the day he would come to my office to supervise me.”
    Question: “Did you see the Captain in any social context?”
    Answer: “No Sir. He was a tennis player and I don’t play. Sometimes he’d go to see his wife on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and I wasn’t invited.”
    Question: “Did you ever hear the Captain mention Communism?”
    Answer: “No Sir, (witness paused) except one time while I was there.”
    Question: “Go on.”
    Answer: “I was in his office in the beginning of the day. He had a pile of books in a drawer in his desk.”
    Question: “What were the names of the books?”
    Answer: “I don’t know all of them. Just this one he showed me.”
    Question: “What was the name of it?”
    Answer: “I only saw the author.”
    Question: “Who was the author?”
    Answer: “Karl Marx, Sir.”
    Question: “Karl Marx, the Communist?”
    Answer: “Yes Sir.”
    Question: “What did the Captain say when he showed you this book?”
    Answer: “He held it out to me and said I should read it.”
    Question: “What did you say?”
    Answer: “I told him that I appreciated his interest in me and would borrow it sometime.”
    Question: “Why did he want you to read this book?”
    Answer: “He said it would help me to think. He said, think in a global way.”
    Question: “What did he mean by that?”
    Answer: “I don’t know, Sir.”
    Question: “Did he ever mention the book again?”
    Answer: “No, Sir. That was six days before the lab was blown up.”
    Question: “What other papers were missing from the lab after the explosion?”
    Answer: “I only know about my own safe.”
    Question: “What was missing there?”
    Answer: “Everything. Everything, Sir.” (witness seemed very nervous and even began to flail his arms in the air) “The loss has devastated me, Sir, the loss of all my notes that I had worked so hard to develop from the complicated designs.” (The witness was then excused.)
     
    Drexel smiled. “The papers loved the mention of Karl Marx. To them it proved Lawson was without any doubt a Communist and capable of the worst evil possible to the United States.”
    Mike nodded. “Maybe the Captain was just a little ahead of his time. Kids read Marx in high school nowadays. At least they used to.”
    He looked at Drexel. “My associate found out that the seaplane may have been armed with bombs when it took off. Did you ever hear or see anything like that?”
    Drexel laughed. “No, I didn’t. If that plane was armed, that’s probably why she blew up. It’s hard to figure out these criminals, what they have in mind. All I know is this Lawson was a real crackpot and might have been capable of anything.”
    “So you didn’t think much of him.”
    “I didn’t have to think. My job was to get his wife out of Navy custody. That didn’t mean I had to believe in his innocence. She weathered it well, stodgy farm woman that she was. I don’t think I saw her smile the whole time I was defending her, but she didn’t cry either, not a tear. My take on it was that the public expected her to break down, and that humiliation would be her penance because she was old family, aristocratic. They wanted her to beg, but she chose not to. Whether this decision was caused by her own pride or because of her respect for her