‘You believe him?’ Jessie asked.
‘I certainly do,’ Mabel said. ‘Look around. He gives me everything I could want. It might be his wife’s money that he’s spending on me now but he’s developed a new invention that will enable him to make a fortune of his own.’
‘Really? What kind of invention?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know. He said he can’t reveal anything about it to me just yet because he promised his investors to keep quiet. He said that everything should be in place by the end of the year.’
‘Mabel, I don’t want to burst your bubble,’ Jessie began, ‘but I worry about you. Men sometimes lie about things like that. How do you know he isn’t?’
‘Because he loves me,’ Mabel said. ‘You can mock that if you want but I believe it with all my heart.’
‘Do you love him?’ Jessie asked.
‘He’s nice enough,’ Mabel said. ‘I could learn to love him.’
Her willingness to marry a man she did not love spoke volumes about her internal yearnings. I knew that a direct appeal to Mabel would not be effective. She saw Hansrote as the man who would rescue her from any fear of poverty or spinsterhood or anything else she felt was lacking in her life. She had idealized her vision of him and saw him as a savior of sorts. And who would betray the one person whom she believed could save her from a life of misery? I tried one more question in hopes of penetrating her tunnel vision about Hansrote. ‘What if you found out he was not the man you thought he was?’ I asked.
‘Yeah,’ Jessie added, ‘what if he was secretly another Jack the Ripper? Or what if he was one of Al Capone’s boys? Or a Nazi spy?’
Mabel fumbled the plate she was rinsing in the sink. It shattered as it struck the porcelain. As she cleaned up the broken pieces, she laughed and said, ‘For heaven’s sake, Jessie. What an imagination you have. He’s none of those. Except for being an ace scientist with a big brain, he’s just an ordinary guy with ordinary needs.’
I thought Jessie’s comments were a bit too much but maybe she understood that was the approach that needed to be taken with Mabel. They seemed to unsettle Mabel but I wasn’t sure why. It was possible that she was hiding something but just as likely was that Jessie had planted a seed of doubt.
‘Humph. Well, you can never be too careful, Mabel,’ Jessie added. ‘Everybody back home thought the world of Brother Blackthorne until they found out he was gambling away the church bank account. When the church elders asked him about the missing money, he disappeared into thin air, leaving behind a wife and six kids. The organ player disappeared at the same time. You just never know.’
‘Dr Hansrote is no backwoods preacher man, Jessie. He’s a sophisticated man of the world. He doesn’t run from problems or complications, he resolves them to his benefit. Oh my, I’m getting a headache – it’s pounding right fierce. Let’s leave this mess for now. I have a nice bottle of wine chilling. Go sit down in the living room, I’ll bring three glasses and we can forget about men and just gossip about the girls we know,’ Mabel said.
Jessie and I sat next to each other on the sofa. We gave each other quizzical looks but knew if we spoke, Mabel would overhear us. Jessie shrugged when I mouthed, ‘What do you think?’
Mabel entered the room carrying a tray and handed us each a glass before sitting down with hers. The first sensation of the wine hitting my tongue was absolutely delightful but when I swallowed, it left a bitter aftertaste as if it had aged in an oaken barrel a wee bit too long.
Jessie chugged a big swallow and screwed up her face. ‘This is sour,’ she complained.
‘Oh, Jessie, don’t tell me you have never had wine before,’ Mabel asked.
‘Sure, every year my grandma makes blackberry wine. I’ve had a glass at the end of harvest since I was a little kid – of course, it was diluted with a lot water back then but still …’
‘Blackberry wine?’ Mabel sneered. ‘That sticky sweet stuff? Oh, Jessie, good wine is an acquired taste. You need to cultivate it if you ever want to escape the backwoods. Bottoms up, girl. If you still don’t want another glass, I’ll be surprised.’
Mabel’s idea of gaining appreciation for good wine was a bit bizarre, but Jessie drained the glass in a quick swallow. I continued sipping mine trying to be polite by ignoring the distasteful echo it left in my mouth.
I wasn’t paying much attention as Jessie and Mabel chatted about the girls they both knew at K-25 until Jessie’s words suddenly seemed to slur. At first, I thought she was simply unaccustomed to alcohol and that one glass quickly consumed was having a disproportionate effect on her. But when I tried to say something about that, my own words tangled up in my mouth and came out in nonsensical order.
At first, I was confused. Then, the realization hit me: the bitter aftertaste was not the wine at all. It was something Mabel put into it. I stumbled to my feet and tried to pull Jessie up to hers. She went totally limp and hung like a dead weight in my hand. The room spun in lopsided circles. I heard Mabel laugh – or was that Jessie? It sounded like two voices. Then, there were none.
THIRTY-FIVE
My eyes opened and I slammed them shut – the brightness of daylight hurt. My whole head throbbed like a just-skinned knee and it felt as if a snake was alternately coiling and relaxing in my stomach. I struggled to think but my brain felt swaddled in dark, rumbling clouds.
I heard bickering voices at some distance but although the tone was clear, the words were indistinct. I realized I could not move my arms or legs, my buttocks were numb and my shoulders ached. By instinct, I knew that I needed to remain quiet and conceal my dawning consciousness from the arguers.
Hansrote had to be one of them. Mabel was the most likely candidate for the other but I had to admit that it could just as easily have been Jessie. That acknowledgement was hard to accept. Mabel barely knew me. My history with Jessie made the possibility that she cooperated with Hansrote a clear case of betrayal. Could I have misjudged her that much? Then, I remembered her wooziness before I lost consciousness and almost let go of those unwelcome suspicions. But wait. Was it all an act?
With the passing minutes, my thoughts grew more nimble and I was able to organize the facts that I knew and the conclusions they shaped. No real surprise that Mabel was involved in my current predicament – Hansrote had manipulated her by recognizing her points of vulnerability and exploiting them. But, Jessie? Had she betrayed me? She’d slugged down that wine very quickly. Was that her inexperience or was that a ploy to ease my mind? Was she really slurring her words or did they only sound that way to me? Had it all been planned in advance?
The voices still seemed to be off in another room so I risked opening my eyes and making a scan of my immediate surroundings. The light burned in my eyes and made the pounding in my head more intense but I kept them open until I’d assessed as much as I could. I was still in the living room, tied to a dining room chair. I flexed muscles to ascertain any weakness in the knots that bound me but found none. The rope that held me in place fit my imagined image of the one used to throttle Marvin.
The daylight drifting through the windows brought me to the realization that it must be the next morning. I wondered how long it would be until my band of merry scientists noticed my absence at work and deduced the possibility that I might be held against my will in Mabel’s apartment. And Jessie, where would she be now? She wasn’t restrained in this room with me. What was she doing? Going about her life as usual? Fleeing the reservation? Or had she escaped from the apartment and, at this moment, was bringing help. I imagine it all depended on whether or not she’d betrayed me and whether or not she thought I’d leave this place alive.
I heard approaching voices and the words and identities were now apparent. Hansrote said, ‘She should be awake by now. Go get a pot of cold water and throw it in her face.’
‘But it’ll get all over the carpet and everything, Eddie.’
‘Stop calling me that. I hate it. Edwin is my name – I’m not some street corner thug.’
‘But Eddi– Eddi– Edwin …’
‘Just do what I tell you. By the time this is all over, we’ll have more than water on the carpet and we’ll have to replace it anyway.’
I kept my eyes shut and my body limp to buy a moment more of time. I listened for the water to stop pouring. I didn’t want to risk water on the ropes, it could make them constrict tighter.
The tap shut off and I blinked and shuddered. ‘What? What?’ I mumbled.
Hansrote kicked the leg of the chair, bouncing it back a bit. I shook my head and looked at him as if I couldn’t focus clearly.
‘Are you going pull yourself together, girlie, or do you need a bucket of cold water in your face?’
‘Water? No. Please. I can’t seem to move,’ I said.
‘That’s because we tied you up nice and tight and you’re going to stay that way until you tell me what I want to know.’
‘Where’s Jessie?’
‘Don’t you remember? She got out of here as quick as a little scaredy bunny. She doesn’t care, Clark. You’re all alone here.’
I swiveled my head to the far right and faked surprise. ‘Mabel? Mabel? I thought we were becoming friends. You helped him?’
Mabel flushed and said, ‘I told you. We’re getting married. Do you think I’d let you hurt my future husband?’
‘Does he know you don’t love him?’ I taunted. ‘Does he know you’re only after his money?’
‘That’s not true, Edwin. She’s lying.’
‘Leave the room,’ he said to Mabel. ‘You’re too much of a distraction.’
Turned as I was toward Mabel, I didn’t see the blow coming but I felt it connect. The punch to my left cheek made my teeth rattle and sent the whole chair with me in it to the floor. I twisted my head just in time to keep my nose from taking the direct impact of the fall.
Hansrote jerked the chair upright, making everything in my head clang. ‘Keep your focus on me, Clark.’
Once my eyes stopped rolling around in their orbits, I turned a hard gaze on him and sneered. ‘Oh, are you just a lonely little boy desperate for attention?’
He kicked me in the chin so hard I feared it would break but the resulting pain felt more like a severe bruise than a fracture. ‘Don’t be a smart aleck, Clark. It just annoys me. And when I’m annoyed I tend to lash out.’
I knew somehow I had to get out of the restraints or he could easily beat me senseless or worse. Belligerence was not going to get me what I wanted. ‘I am sorry, Dr Hansrote. The pain in my shoulders, shooting down my arms is preventing me from thinking clearly. If you could, please, loosen the ties a little. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.’
Hansrote threw his head back and laughed. ‘I’m not a stupid little boy like those chemists you spend time with. You’re probably thinking that anything you can do to drag things out will give your acolytes time to come to the rescue. Think again, Clark.’ He lifted his wrist and looked at his watch. ‘Just about now, one of your little science pals should be arriving back at Oak Ridge. He’s chock full of surprises for your other little disciples.’ He folded his arms across his chest and leaned backward as he studied me. When I said nothing, he continued. ‘You’re not going to ask? I am so disappointed. I thought you were a scientist with a curious scientific mind. Well, well, well. You’re just another boring dame.’
I blinked but said nothing.
‘We picked up one of your pals just as he was arriving for one of your secret meetings,’ he said, leaning in and putting his face up close to mine. ‘My, you are a mess. Tsk. Tsk. You would never make it in espionage, Clark – you are so transparent.’
‘That’s what happened to Gary? You got him?’ I asked, wishing I hadn’t spoken.
‘Oh, yes, indeed,’ Hansrote chortled. ‘Two federal agents – at least, that’s what that little sheep thought – told him the horrible truth. He was stunned to learn that you were manipulating all of them, that the real spy ring was you, Frannie and Jessie. He firmly believes that the document Jessie turned over to them for safekeeping was something she stole to give to the enemy but decided she needed to use it to continue her duplicity and cover-up. And wipe that disbelief off of your face. Yes, he believed it. Every word. I know because I showed up when they’d finished with him and he apologized to me – me! Yes, he did. I let him go and told him he’d better warn his friends before they were all dragged down into the muck with you. Now, simply tell me where I can find Frannie Snowden and once I am able to verify that you are telling me the truth, your ordeal will end.’
I knew now that he had no intention of allowing me to leave that apartment alive. I also knew he’d have no chance of getting past the military guards to harm Frannie, so telling him where she was bore no risk. ‘Crenshaw has her,’ I said.
‘Liar!’ he screamed and kicked the chair backwards.
My legs and arms instinctively jerked in an attempt to break the fall but bound as they were, they were useless. The back of my head bounced on the floor. Now my vision was blurred but my hearing was still fine and I listened as he stomped out of the room.
He returned, grabbed the back of the chair and thrust it upwards where it jiggled around on its legs before settling down into place. When it did, I knew why he had left the room. He was holding a heavy rolling pin in one hand, tapping it against the other. ‘I talked to Crenshaw yesterday afternoon. He told me that he is still searching for that girl. So tell me the truth or I’ll be forced to use this.’
‘Crenshaw is lying to you. Don’t take it personally – he lies to everybody.’
I saw the rolling pin swing through the air. It collided with my rib cage on my right side. This time it knocked my chair over to the left and excruciating stabs of pain seared through my body where the implement struck me and made black swirls float before my eyes. Every inhalation made me want to scream. I tried not to make a sound but whimpers escaped despite my best efforts.
When he righted the chair again, the movement made me scream. I could no longer hold up my head. It slumped lifeless, with my chin resting on my chest. I tried to will myself to hold it erect but my internal strength could not overpower the intensity of the pain.
‘Now, tell me where Frannie Snowden is or the next time I’ll crack your skull with this thing.’
‘Mabel, help me. He’s going to kill me!’ I shouted with little hope that she’d respond.
Much to my surprise, Mabel rushed into the room. ‘Eddie, you said you were going to rough her up. You didn’t—’
Her words were cut off by the pounding of multiple fists on the door to the apartment. Mabel’s mouth dropped open as she froze in place and stared at the door.
Hansrote waved the rolling pin in front of my face and whispered, ‘One sound and I’ll kill you before they know what happened.’
The pounding now made a sound that resonated with more force and caused the door to bulge. Someone was trying to break it down. Hansrote tossed the rolling pin aside and ran for a table against the far wall. He pulled open a drawer and grabbed a pistol. Hansrote ran to my side and held the barrel to my head.
‘He’s got a gun,’ I shouted and the door gave way.
Hansrote swung the pistol in the direction of the doorway and pulled the trigger. Charlie’s face crumpled in anguish as he fell to the floor. Joe and Teddy stood right behind him. Hansrote held the gun high, pointed at the two of them. I jerked my body with all the strength I could find crashing the chair over and into his legs. I screamed again as my body collided with the floor.
THIRTY-SIX
My head was swimming and I couldn’t focus. I heard someone cry out in pain. I didn’t think it was me but I couldn’t be sure. I remained lying on my side in a forced fetal-type position and realized someone was behind me untying the ropes holding my arms. I blinked my eyes hard and saw a prone Hansrote on the floor, writhing in pain, as Teddy kicked him in the side. Mabel stood over the two of them, bouncing the rolling pin in the palm of one hand.
&nb
sp; Across the room by the door, Charlie was still on the floor but now he was sitting up and, somehow, he had Hansrote’s gun in his hand. Joe moved from behind me and knelt down as he worked on the knots binding my legs to the chair.
He stood with rope dangling from both fists. ‘Okay, Teddy, ease up. I can’t tie up Hansrote while you’re still kicking him.’
Teddy landed one last thump into the man’s side, then pulled back one arm while Joe grabbed the other. They tied the first knot so tight, I could see the rope embed into the flesh of Hansrote’s lower arms.
Teddy kneeled down by my face and gently laid a hand on my shoulder. ‘Libby, can you sit up?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘I’ll help you. Just tell me if I touch a spot I shouldn’t,’ Teddy said as he eased an arm under my lower shoulder.
‘Wait,’ I hissed. ‘The rolling pin.’ When I saw the puzzled look on his face, I knew I must not be speaking distinctly. I wanted to move my arms but my joints felt like rust-hardened hinges. ‘Closer.’
Teddy slid out his arm and put an ear to my lips. I worked hard to enunciate. ‘Don’t trust Mabel. Get rolling pin.’
His forehead crinkled and his eyes squinted in response. Then, his face brightened as understanding of my meaning registered. He gave me a grin and a nod before bouncing to his feet. ‘Hey, Mabel, hand that thing to me. I’ll put it away for you.’
Mabel clutched the rolling pin to her chest and said, ‘No.’
Without a moment’s hesitation, Teddy gave her a shove backwards, snatching the kitchen tool as Mabel stumbled, lost her balance and took a pratfall. ‘I’m sorry. I know I’m not supposed to push girls around, but for you, I’ll make an exception. And don’t get up,’ Teddy snapped.
All our attention turned toward the bedroom at the sound of banging and muffled cries. Charlie swung the gun in Mabel’s direction. Teddy held the rolling pin over Hansrote’s head. ‘What is that? Who is in the other room?’ Teddy asked.
Treason in the Secret City Page 18
