Today in Salem: A naked judge stands before the fire, shivering and damp, wrapped in a rough woolen blanket and hoping for something warm to eat. He is the second most powerful man in the colony, the Chief Justice and next in command to the Governor. In this moment, though, he is in a borrowed bedroom with a borrowed blanket, cold and wet and without clothing, powerless over what has brought him here.
Bound for Boston, he’d left home in the early morning, riding into a rainstorm that quickly became a downpour and then a gusting deluge. The journey had been challenging from the start, but it’s become impossible to continue. So he’s sent his servant back to retrieve some dry clothes, and now has little to do but wait and think.
He is certain of one thing: The Devil is threatening the Church throughout all of New England, and is using witchcraft to do it. And he, the Chief Justice, has been fierce in the fight against it. He’s led 24 trials and authorized 24 executions. Nearly 100 other accused witches are in jail waiting for trials, with more accusations every day. Clearly there is much work to be done, and he will not stop until every witch in New England has been found and destroyed.
The Governor seems less committed, though. He’s spent much of the last few months in Maine, fighting the frontier wars. He hasn’t attended a single hanging. Reprieves are given and taken away impatiently, depending only on who he speaks with that day. He seems bored, anxious, and indecisive.
In four days the Court is scheduled to begin its next session, with several trials already scheduled. But rumors abound that the Governor will stop the Court from sitting. The Chief Justice has asked him several times whether the rumors are true, but the Governor has been evasive, changing the subject or avoiding him entirely.
Still shivering, the Chief Justice decides to confront the Governor forcefully, as soon as he gets to Boston. It’s a simple question: Yes or no? Will the witchcraft trials continue?