Mrs. Heustis rose to her feet and answered in a wavering voice unaccustomed to speaking in public.
“She went off without a word and without the permission of her mother and father. We just knew she must’ve gone bad. I was afraid she’d turn up in a furnished room somewhere, and now she has.” She dabbed at her nose with a handkerchief and sat down.
“Has Miss Heustis anything to say on the matter?”
“Your Honor, I don’t see?—” interjected Detective Courter, but the judged raised a hand to silence him.
Constance had seen to it that Edna’s dress was pressed and clean, and gave her some time with her comb and mirror to fix her hair. She was as simple and honest-looking a girl as had ever appeared before the judge. She took a little breath and said, “Only that I’ve found a steady place at the powder works and a room in a good Christian house. Miss Kopp says it’s my right to do so and I needn’t stay at home just because my mother wants to keep me there.”
Judge Seufert raised an eyebrow at that. “I’ve been made to understand that Deputy Kopp undertook her own investigation.”
Detective Courter slapped a stack of papers on the table. “Your Honor, it’s irregular to have anyone from the sheriff’s department investigate a police matter. The sheriff may hire a jail matron if he wishes, but she hasn’t any involvement in this case other than as a jailer. She has no education in the law and no authority to conduct an investigation, if it can even be called that.”
“I know more about Miss Heustis than the officer who arrested her,” Constance shot back. The detective snorted.
Judge Seufert sighed and said, “I believe the sheriff hired a matron—excuse me, a lady deputy—precisely because these cases come before us and no one seems to know what to make of them. Is it the wish of the prosecutor’s office that perfectly respectable girls be locked away at the public’s expense for years at a time?”
“No, sir. But in this case, we have the mother?—”
“Yes, and who looks into the mother’s claims to decide if there’s anything to them?”
Detective Courter looked as though he’d swallowed a chicken bone. He coughed and said, “Anyone charged by this office may engage an attorney for his defense.”
“An attorney? Miss Heustis, how much do they pay you at the powder works?”
Edna was so alarmed that she could hardly speak. “Seven dollars a week, sir,” she croaked.
“Seven dollars. And what do you pay for that furnished room?”
“Five dollars a week, sir.”
Judge Seufert seemed taken aback by that. “Five! Does it include board?”
“Yes, sir.”
He sat back in his high-caned chair. “Well. When I was a law clerk, I paid sixty cents a week for room and board, but never mind about that. Detective, how do you expect this girl to engage an attorney? No, don’t answer. I’d like to hear from Deputy Kopp.”
Constance was indignant on all fronts by this time, and spoke assuredly. “Your Honor, I visited the powder works yesterday, which, to my knowledge, Detective Courter did not. They tell me that Miss Heustis is a fine worker and they’d like to have her back. The boarding-house, to which Detective Courter has likewise not paid a visit, is clean and well-run. The landlady only rents to DuPont girls who come recommended.”
He nodded. “That’s fine . . .”
But she wasn’t finished. “I am fully convinced,” she continued, aiming her remarks at Mrs. Heustis, who kept her eyes cast down to her lap, “that the girl is high-minded and of good character and that her only desire in leaving home was to go to work and earn her own living. Detective Courter would agree with me if he’d only bothered to go to Pompton Lakes and see for himself, before throwing a girl’s future away.”
The detective jumped to his feet. “I won’t listen to this girl instruct me?—”
“That’s enough, John,” the judge said.
Constance pushed on. “Furthermore, it was selfish of her mother to want her back. She bore a good reputation in Pompton Lakes, and as for her being wayward, I can’t believe it’s true.”
“It wasn’t selfish!” Mrs. Heustis cried. “She’s gone off on her own and left me by myself all day while her father is at his office. I haven’t anyone to help with the washing and cooking, and nothing but an old beagle for company. What am I to do?”
Judge Seufert dropped his chin into his hand, but not before giving Constance a glance to let her know that he hadn’t missed the intention of her scheme. She wanted Detective Courter to reckon with the fact that he was putting innocent girls in jail. More importantly, though, she wanted Edna to hear, in front of all of them, that her mother might miss her daughter’s company, but she didn’t really believe Edna to be morally corrupt. No girl, Constance believed, should have to bear the burden of a mother’s shame just for leaving home.
“Mrs. Heustis,” the judge said, “is it your idea that a housewife should call the police when she gets lonely or tired of her work?”
“No, sir.” Mrs. Heustis kept her eyes down.
“And did you honestly believe that this girl’s character was of such a low standard, after all your years of raising her, that she’d get herself into some trouble the minute she left home?”
Mrs. Heustis looked briefly at her daughter and shook her head.
“Then would it be all right with you if we allowed Miss Heustis to return to her position, and for us to return to ours? I believe there are still criminals to be caught and put to trial, and Deputy Kopp and I would like to proceed with that business. I don’t know what the prosecutor’s office might get up to next, but I suppose I’ll find out.”
Mrs. Heustis nodded mutely and the judge dismissed the charges, but not before asking Constance to look in on Edna once or twice to be sure she wasn’t causing any trouble.
Detective Courter could hardly contain his indignation. “Am I to understand that the lady will be serving as a probation officer?”
Judge Seufert sighed and gave the detective the weary smile of a man who had seen every kind of subordination in his courtroom. “Yes, I suppose it will be something along those lines. Does that meet with your approval?”
Mr. Courter tapped his papers on the desk officiously and said, “The prosecutor’s office will expect a copy of her reports weekly.”
The judge rose and waved them all away. “Go back to your office, John. You’ll get your reports when she writes them. Deputy, please take this girl back to Pompton Lakes before she loses her place.”