Chapter 9
Mere conjectures are worthless. So let us continue with the development of the process of the Judge .
The Judge has had to be thorough in investigating Mrs. Lewis’ room where her death occurred. There are conditions, which at first sight seem insignificant, revealing data that can root out the contradictions in the testimonies. He has to proceed in a more formal and assertive way than the Chief. He must follow the facts from discovery to discovery in order to find a solution. It is indispensable to examine things no matter how insignificant and to understand them in the context of events.
This is where we have set ourselves up so that our observations do not fundamentally conflict with official procedures.
That is why we see the Judge at the room in Hotel Maury, going through its compartments, touching the furniture that was used by Mrs. Lewis and Mr. Lecaros, and coming to form a picture of the household goods, of the bed in which she slept, of the places where the container of prussic acid and other objects were found, of the chest of drawers in front of which a leather bag was found empty, of the place where Mrs. Mártin arrived, of the usual position taken by the bedroom door and of an accumulation of such details as necessary to derive a conclusion.
The presence of Dr. Agnoli’s prescription in the small desk drawer also reminds us of his examination of Mrs. Lewis. We know from what he says that part of his observations were based on the references made by Bacigalupi when speaking on behalf of Mrs. Lewis at the time of the consultation. She could not express herself in Spanish or Italian, which is the doctor’s language, nor he in English because Bacigalupi ignored it.
So it was the interpreter who told of the history of the patient’s illness and who asked the questions leading to an examination done under the assumptions expressed by the interpreter. A diagnosis under these conditions could not provoke an effective and conclusive treatment. For this reason the death certificate was issued for something like an approximation rather than certainty. He had doubts about the possibility of death by suicide that he presumed.
The desk reminds us that inside the drawer was forty silver Soles, the only money found.
The unusual position of the bedroom door gives the idea of how some person could have been inside, or how others could have gotten in and out unseen by the waiter Juan Lopez at the moment he was called by Bacigalupi
For the reader to follow the Judge we have drawn the sketch below:
Entrance
1-Entrance to the hall
2- Entrance to the living room
3- Entrance to the balcony
5-5- Entrance to the bedroom
Positions
4-Window
6-6-Usual state of the bedroom door
7-7-Small table with shelf
8-8- A small desk
8-8-Sofa
9-center table
10-table
12-A chair
13-13-bed where Lewis slept
Each of these sites and the furniture listed, recalls an incident and forms a context for the crime. The judge gathers in the statements, sometimes with the vagueness of witnesses who saw the events eleven months earlier, other times with the fear suggested by a responsibility that is felt, and in some with the intention of misleading.
Thus, the table in front of which the leather bag used by Mrs.Lewis was found empty, he remembers that money was extracted from there that was not found.
The steward Juan Lopez denies taking the money and remembers that when he was cleaning up room number 35, he heard the bell of number 34 where Lewis resided. After an hour, after having served her a cup of coffee, he recalls a person was rushing down the stairs. He could see the head of a man, so he followed him with his eyes until he went out to the street. Lopez was struck by the hasty way in which the man left the hotel.
At that time, he heard Bacigalupi’s voice calling him from room number 34, and instructed him to go and tell the owner of the hotel that Mrs. Lewis was dying. Later Bacigalupi asked him for the letters that the deceased had.
Lopez is the type of man from the mountains of Peru, but he speaks in a very understandable way and relates the facts naturally. Lopez, like many of his fellow countrymen who work in the hotel service in Lima, made a trip to his homeland and has now returned.
“To this day his behavior is that of an honest person”, Mr. Lecaros told us in his presence.
Convinced and flattered by the recommendation that we have remembered, López added, “Some time ago I found in the hotel a thousand soles, which I gave to this administration because I did not know the name of the traveler to whom it belonged.”
Where is that money, then? It represents an unknown amount of money belonging to Mrs. Lewis, and has completely disappeared. It was money brought from California on her last trip.
Did it come from the value of the opium she had smuggled in?
It is known that opium is very expensive. From a small quantity sold without having paid the customs duties assigned to it, one can obtain a large sum. Reasonably Capt. Lewis thought that his wife could make a tidy sum from Dockendorff’s idea.
Finally, the most interesting scene of this judicial drama appears, and from there emerges the plot of the crime locked up until today in the secrecy of judicial practice, although not stipulated by the Code, to assure the effectiveness and discovery of the crime and of the criminals.
According to the system of justice in Peru, the trial formulated by the Judge must be subject to facts, strictly adhere to the form of the procedure established by legislation and legal precedent. The legal conviction is, for this reason, the only one that can motivate its judgments, and although the criterion of truth and the moral conscience are part of it, it is forbidden to resort to them to condemn or absolve.
It is not the same with the Jury. They value the facts by conscience and truth, and produce a verdict accordingly. When it appears justified by the facts, they apply the penalty provided by law.
That is why there is delay in the processes in the system that governs in Peru. The delay is to prevent impairment of legal outcomes, and avoid having to retract judgments after some time has elapsed when omissions may be discovered.
Those small details that we have discovered before in the course of this study are essential for the judge. For us the task is easy because of the investigations of the police that form a complete picture of the matter. We have added those that we have directly gathered from witnesses and those that have provided us with information:people who are interested in making everything as clear as possible, and avoiding an erroneous judgment falling on an innocent person.
Chapter 10