Treason in the Secret City

by Diane Fanning

  I bit back a surge of bitterness. When Ernest had turned my world into a place of misery, she hadn’t raised a finger but now, for her son – it was as if his life was important and mine didn’t matter. I was torn between conflicting emotions. On the one hand, she was my mother and I could not turn my back. But the hurt little girl buried in my core wanted her to sit in that cell, miserable and alone, until she rotted away.

  ‘What are you going to do, Libby?’

  ‘I don’t know. I have to have time to think – time to accept. At the moment, it all seems so preposterous that it can’t be true. How, in heaven’s name, did murder strike her as a solution? And how – wait – what about Ernie? Did your mama say anything about Ernie?’

  ‘Oh yes. How could I forget to tell you that? Annabelle let Ernie out of the shed and sent him over to our house. Ernie is staying with Mama for a bit until you can get there. I told her maybe you wouldn’t want to come and she said that you had to.’

  ‘How is he?’

  ‘Mama said he’s fine, considering. He’s not talking much and seems to be lost in a fog. She expects he’ll snap out of it once the newness wears off. She also said that the only thing he wants to know is when you’re coming. He said that your mother told him you had to come now.’

  ‘I do have to, don’t I? I don’t want to go but I must. I hope my Aunt Dorothy can come, too. I’ll need her both for advice and moral support when I go back to the farm. I should have dropped everything and gone back the day you gave me the message from my mother. But I didn’t and now we’ll all have to live with the consequences.’

  ‘Do you need me to come with you?’ Jessie asked.

  ‘I’m not certain how quickly I can get leave and find my way there. Hopefully, when I do I will have my aunt by my side. But, thank you, for offering. I appreciate that a lot. But it’s Saturday night. Go out, have fun and don’t worry about me.’

  ‘But I do worry about you, Libby. I worry a lot. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve sensed that you’ve been pulling a two-horse plow all by your lonesome since I found you here. Then when I gave you the message from your mother, you talked about a matter of life and death. I have a feeling it has something to do with that creepy Dr Hansrote, but I don’t think it’s just his tomcattin’ around. It seems like it would have to be more than that. I don’t know what it is, but I will be glad to help you in any way I can.’

  The room felt as if it started to spin, built up momentum and then jerked to a stop. How did she come to that conclusion? How am I giving myself away? I stared down at restless fingers fidgeting in my lap.

  Jessie crouched down beside me and took one of my hands in hers. ‘You can tell me, Libby. I will never betray you. We come from the same earth. We’ve found ourselves here, far from home, working in a place without a real name. How did that happen? It’s as if we were brought together for a purpose. Maybe this problem is the reason why.’

  I knew I should talk to the group before I said anything. They would have a fit over me sharing the story with her. Most of them, though, are city boys, they don’t understand the sense of community in farmland, how we are forced by nature and disaster to rely on one another. I felt my roots running through the dirt of southwestern Virginia, stretching long and entwining with Jessie’s. We had a kinship that ran generations deep. I told her everything about Hansrote and Frannie and Marvin. I only held back the group’s name and composition. The whole time I talked, Jessie’s mouth hung open and her eyes never left my face.

  We sat in silence for a while before Jessie spoke. ‘That’s why you wanted to meet Mabel, isn’t it?’

  I nodded.

  ‘We’ve got to warn Mabel.’

  ‘No, we can’t.’

  ‘No? How can we not tell her?’

  ‘Listen, Jessie, I need to gather information about Hansrote – the more the better. If she doesn’t care that he is passing secrets to the other side, she might tell him. If she’s appalled by the idea, she could cut him off completely and he could be on to someone else and we’d have to start all over.’

  ‘It kinda doesn’t seem fair, Libby.’

  ‘No, it might not be, Jessie. We know she’s helping him just by allowing him to have a private phone in her place and call some man named Raymond in Manhattan. It is possible that she knows exactly what he’s doing – after all, she’s already compromised her morals in one area. Who knows where she draws the line?’

  ‘You’re probably right. Is one of your group working in K-25? And could I help him in some way?’

  ‘That’s one of our problems, Jessie. None of us work there and none of us have clearance there.’

  Jessie smiled. ‘I do. I’ll let you know if I see him doing anything suspicious.’

  ‘Don’t do anything, foolish,’ I urged. ‘One person is dead already and another is in hiding. This is serious.’

  ‘I don’t have your smarts or education, Libby, but I do have a lot of common sense. Don’t worry about me.’

  I watched Jessie descend the steps. When she reached the boardwalk, she turned around and gave me a wave and a smile. I waved back but I think my attempt at a smile fell far short of cheery. I didn’t hold out hope that she could possibly catch Hansrote in anything compromising but she might ferret out a valuable tidbit. Now, I’d be leaving to attempt to set things straight in Virginia. In addition to everything else, I’d have Jessie to worry about, too.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  I almost put off calling my Aunt Dorothy until the next day but I was glad I hadn’t. I felt a lot better once I reached her on the phone. She took charge of the situation and of me. Growing up, I sometimes resented her ability to grab one of my problems and wrestle it to the ground, but now I appreciated her strength and clear-headed, dynamic personality. Talking to her, I actually smiled for the first time since I’d received news of my mother’s arrest the night before.

  My aunt’s initial reaction was much like my own – total disbelief. She, however, recovered from the shock a lot more quickly than I did. She grasped the current reality and ran with it. ‘How quickly can you get away?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m not sure. I’ll have to talk to Charlie to request leave.’

  ‘I’ll plan our departures for Monday morning then.’

  ‘But, I haven’t talked to him—’

  ‘Merciful heavens, Libby. He can’t exactly refuse to allow you to leave under the circumstances. If this does not qualify as a family emergency, I don’t know what does. Call me back tomorrow after you speak to him. I’ll try to have all the arrangements made by then.’

  I felt as if I could breathe again. And my previously muddled thinking now grew crystal clear. I had a lot to do before Monday morning.

  Before going to bed, I wrote a letter to my half-brother, assuring him that I would be there soon. I knew that there was a good chance I’d arrive before the mail did, still it seemed important to make this gesture. From the time I’d left home, a decade ago, I’d always sent him a note and a present for his birthday and at Christmas. That remembrance had kept alive a weak but constant connection and it seemed, from what Jessie’s mama had said, to be an important one to him.

  Early Sunday morning, I went over to Teddy’s dormitory and spooked the boy at the front desk by walking inside. After shooing me out, he agreed to rouse Teddy Mullins, who stumbled through the doors a few minutes later appearing to need at least two more hours of sleep. I asked him to find Gregg and Joe and come over to my place for breakfast.

  ‘Is something wrong?’ he asked.

  ‘My life just got extremely complicated.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘Honestly, Teddy, I don’t want to go over this all again and again. Could you gather up Gregg and Joe and come to my place. I’ll fix breakfast and let you all know at once.’

  ‘You’re worrying me, Libby.’

  ‘Please, Teddy. Just get the others. The sooner you do, the sooner I will explain.’ I turned and walked away as Teddy called out my na
me a few times before giving up.

  By the time the three joined me, I had a fresh pot of coffee steaming on the stove, potatoes sizzling in one skillet, slices of spam frying in another and eggs sitting on the counter waiting for their moment on the heat. I answered the door, poured them all a cup of coffee and slid bread into the oven to toast.

  I had insisted that they stay out of the kitchen and they did, but stood in the doorway, raising their voices to ask me one question after another. ‘Five minutes. I’ll sit down with you in five minutes and give you all the information you want.’

  I called them in to the kitchen to fill their plates and carry them out. Gregg and Joe sat at the table while Teddy and I sat on the sofa with the plates on our lap. For a few minutes the questions were stilled as the three of them shoveled forkfuls into hungry mouths, mumbling barely coherent compliments as they chewed.

  Gregg still had another egg and half his spam on his plate when he set down his fork and said, ‘Libby, I am really loving this breakfast but why are we here? Did something happen to Frannie? Did Crenshaw threaten you again?’

  ‘As far as I know Frannie is okay and Crenshaw has not given me any more trouble. I have a family problem, Gregg, and it is going to take me away from here for a while.’

  ‘You can’t leave now,’ Joe said. ‘You have to help us with the Frannie and Hansrote situation.’

  ‘Can’t it wait a bit?’ Gregg asked.

  Teddy, on the other hand, asked, ‘What’s wrong, Libby?’

  My first instinct was to not answer the last question and simply address the first two but the obvious compassion and concern in Teddy’s voice made me realize I needed to be totally forthcoming with them all. ‘My mother is in jail.’

  ‘Are you serious?’ Gregg asked.

  ‘Yes, I am.’

  ‘What did she do? Or, I’m sorry, what do they think she did?’ Joe asked.

  ‘She’s not denying it, Joe, so no apologies are necessary. She shot and killed my stepfather.’

  ‘Why?’ Teddy asked.

  ‘Things had gotten very bad in their house. My stepfather was drinking to excess and becoming very nasty and physical when he did. He broke one of my mother’s ribs recently and blackened her eyes a few times. My mother’s asked for my help this past week. Mrs Early, who sent me the message thought she was going to wait until I could get there before she did anything. Then Ernest knocked out a couple of my little brother’s teeth and locked him in an outbuilding. That’s when my mother snapped her cap.’

  ‘And it’s Ernie you’re worried about, isn’t it?’

  ‘There’s little affection lost between my mother and I. If it was just that she was in jail charged with murder, I’m certain that I would feel compelled to go anyway, but I’d give it a lot more thought before deciding. My little brother, though, is only twelve years old – he can’t cope on his own. I’m not sure what I’ll do but I have to find a stable situation for him. And something needs to be done with the farm. I’ll have to find a manager or sell the property. I just won’t know what is possible and what is best until I get there.

  ‘And I don’t know. I’m probably partly to blame. She wanted me to come home and stay, to get rid of Ernest for her and remain there to run the farm. I don’t think I could be happy with that life in general terms. And most particularly, I know with certainty that living with my mother is not my idea of living at all. I sent back a message saying I would come as soon as I could to extricate her from the mess she’s made of her life – for little Ernie’s sake. But I did say I couldn’t come right away and I would not stay long term.’

  ‘Well, then,’ Joe said, ‘we’re just going to have to work harder and smarter while you’re gone to get the situation with Frannie and Hansrote brought to a satisfactory resolution so you won’t have to worry about that, too.’

  I smiled at them and said, ‘Just keep this quiet. Don’t spread the tawdry news around, okay? I’m going to have to tell Charlie but I really don’t want to be the subject of gossip all over Y-12. Now, where are we with our investigation? Have we made any real progress at all?’

  Gregg shook his head from side to side. ‘Libby, I am beginning to worry that this is a hopeless cause. Unless we can actually hear what Hansrote is saying when he makes those phone calls, how can we hope to unveil his treachery?’

  ‘That’s another reason I feel dreadful about leaving right now. I think the only way we’ll be able to do that is if Mabel will help us. I am building a relationship with her and trying to determine if she is as in the dark about Hansrote as she seems. I can’t move anything forward while I’m in Virginia.’

  ‘Is there anything we can do in that regard?’ Joe asked.

  ‘Not that I know of,’ I admitted. ‘But if you thinking of any approach while I’m gone, don’t feel as if you need to check in with me. I’ll give you all the phone number at the farm in case of an emergency but you do not need to consult me, just make your own best decisions. Follow up any lead that can give you more information about Hansrote, you never know where it will take you. If one of you can drive me to the train station, you all can have the use of the car while I’m not here.’

  Joe said, ‘I was thinking, Libby, if I told my sister what we’re trying to do, she might be able to feel out Henrietta on the issue of espionage.’

  ‘Risky move,’ I said.

  ‘That’s what I said when he suggested it to me,’ Gregg said. ‘But he convinced me that it made sense.’

  Joe said, ‘I know she would be discrete and is definitely a master of subtlety. She won’t give us away but she can be more useful if she knows the story. You see, Libby, she’s doing anything that’s suggested to her to help the war effort. She works for the war bond drive, she volunteers with the civil air patrol, she fills packages for shipping to soldiers and – much to my mother’s horror – she actually tends her own victory garden. Mother told her that it’s not seemly for someone of her background and breeding to muck about in the dirt. My sister is a true-blue American without an ounce of stuffiness, hesitation or doubt.’

  ‘What if she asks about the work you do, about what’s going on here that would make Hansrote’s spying worthwhile?’ I asked.

  ‘That’s easy,’ Joe said. ‘If I tell her that the government swore me to secrecy, she’ll be satisfied with that. If she knew of my concerns about what the leaders of this country were up to, she’d be horrified that I’d dare question the righteousness of any of their actions.’

  ‘Okay, Joe, that sounds safe enough. If the Mabel approach does not yield results, it would be good to have a better idea of how receptive Henrietta might be if confronted with her husband’s espionage.’

  ‘If she doesn’t want to come down here to chastise him about his spying, maybe she’d be indignant over Mabel,’ Teddy said. ‘And there is one other thing we could do.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Joe asked.

  ‘We could search his house while he’s at K-25. There’s a window in the back that he has left open for days now. It would be easy to slip in and out without anyone being the wiser.’

  ‘How do you know that and what do you think you’ll find there, Teddy?’ I asked.

  ‘I’ve been keeping an eye on his house. I was worried the first time I walked past the rear of it, but no one seemed to notice when I cut through there so I kept going back. There has to be something inside his home. Maybe no direct proof, but a little note or official documents or who knows what – he can’t be spying in a vacuum.’

  ‘If you go inside his house, though, the risk of getting caught becomes much greater and the consequences of that grow more severe,’ I cautioned.

  ‘I thought about that, Libby,’ Gregg said. ‘We need to all be waiting nearby for him to go to work. A series of brief checks inside might be the best way to manage the risk. Two of us go in, one stays guard as a look-out. If we can find a spare key on our first reconnaissance that would decrease the suspicious nature of our activities on subsequent visits.
Don’t know if we’ll find anything incriminating but I also feel that we need to try.’

  ‘It’s up to you,’ I said. ‘Use your best judgment. Wednesday night, he is supposed to be in Knoxville at Mabel’s – that could be a good time to look as well. At this point, I think we have to take on a higher level of risk if we ever expect to resolve Frannie’s problem. In that regard, I want to let you know I’ve made an independent and irreversible move. I’m fairly certain, given the tenor of our conversation, that you three will understand my on-the-spot decision but I’m not sure the others will accept it. I very well could get drummed out of the group.’

  ‘What did you do, Libby?’ Gregg asked.

  ‘I told you about the old hometown friend who works in K-25. I believe she is trustworthy based on our childhood bond and my estimation of her character at this time and I also was confident that if she knew what was happening, she’d be better equipped to recognize suspicious behavior from Hansrote at work.’

  ‘You told her?’ Gregg asked.

  ‘About us?’ Joe added.

  ‘Not about any of you but about the situation – everything about Hansrote, Frannie and Marvin.’

  ‘I, for one, will endorse your decision, Libby,’ Gregg said.

  Joe and Teddy echoed his sentiment and Teddy added, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t mention it to the others until something develops.’

  ‘That would be the simplest,’ I said, ‘but it has to be your decision, not mine.’

  The men moved on to plan their first foray into Hansrote’s home the next morning and we wrapped up our impromptu meeting. When they were gone, I dressed for the Episcopal service at the Chapel on the Hill, wondering the whole while what I would find when I did get back to Virginia, hoping I could resolve it quickly and get back to the work I loved.