Nick Stahl in 'Incident in a Small Town' SPOILER

I was so impressed by this young actor! (He was about 14 when the movie was made- 1994.) There were some strong, adult actors in the film-- like Walter Matthau and Stephanie Zimbalist-- but Nick held his own.

I came in on the movie about 5 minutes late and I couldn't figure out why Judge Bell (played by Harry Morgan) came upon a young girl in a library where she found a photo of Judge Bell's daughter and she asked him about the photo. "Who is this woman? She's so pretty." Judge Bell answers, "Oh, she was someone I once knew..." And then the the plot goes forth...

The Judge's statement is totally confusing in light of how the plot works out. His daughter, played by Stephanie Zimbalist, had moved away from home because her father had been mean about the fact that she got pregnant out of marriage. (The time was in the 1940's.) They had not seen or spoken to each other for 14 years, until the father of her son suddenly shows up acting as mean and cruel as he had been when they had very shortly dated-- but now wanting to "know his son." She calls her father to come in from another state to legally protect her and her child. Ultimately the unwelcome father of the boy is killed under mysterious circumstances. The murder is solved. Reconciled with his family, Judge Bell decides he's going to set up his practice near where his daughter and grandson live.

End of Story.

So... why did the Judge-- who was quite elderly to begin with-- begin the movie saying that he "once knew the girl in the picture"? Did she die? The Judge looked for all the world like *he* could die any moment from old age. Why would he outlive his daughter?

Can anybody help me sort out what happened in the first 5 monutes of the show and why the Judge, who had promised to live in the neighborhood of his newly found Grandson and daughter, say "I once knew the girl in the picture." Like she had been dead for many years.

I am confused!

Flanagan