I didn’t know my affair would end with Lauren’s murder. But it’s cold comfort to say that, in a strictly legal sense, I am innocent of that crime. I did know that my infidelity would have far-reaching consequences. Even if I never imagined that death would result, I always knew that suffering would almost certainly occur. It always does when you disregard your sense of morality. And while I’ve seen plenty of wives blame themselves for their spouse’s crime—and always felt anger at their pathos—I understand now why they felt that way. At the same time, though, I feel the judgment I heaped on those women fall squarely upon me.

57. ELLA BRODEN

57.

ELLA BRODEN

The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution contains a host of provisions. The most famous is the right against self-incrimination, which states that no person may be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. But elsewhere in the amendment is the clause “nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.”

The so-called double-jeopardy clause prohibits anyone from being tried twice for the same crime. Double jeopardy attaches as soon as the jury is seated; therefore, this is the one and only time Dana Goodwin can be held accountable for the murder of Lauren Wright. Dismissing the charges would mean that Dana Goodwin could confess to me on the way out of the courtroom that she actually acted alone, and there would be nothing I or anyone else could do about it. Worse still, if we brought Stuart Goodwin to trial for Lauren’s murder, nothing would stop Dana from testifying that she committed the crime. As a practical matter, therefore, unless Dana Goodwin was a witness against her husband, letting her go free means that Lauren’s murder will go unpunished.

And Dana refused to cooperate with us.

But the simple fact is that Stuart Goodwin, or at least someone looking a lot like Stuart Goodwin trying not to be photographed, was captured by the security cameras in front of the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, on Fifth Avenue and Fifty-Ninth Street, at 12:31 a.m. on the night of Lauren’s murder. The N subway line, which has a stop in Astoria, has an aboveground exit directly in front of the Sherry-Netherland.

We found Franklin Pearse at the shelter on Lexington and hoped that he would settle the question for us. After providing him with another roast beef sandwich, he repeated what he’d been saying from the beginning: that he only saw the guy from behind, so he didn’t know if the person he saw in the black hoodie was the same person as in the photograph we showed him. And, as I suspected, Stuart Goodwin’s phone was turned off all night, so we could not place him in Central Park that way.