‘Oh.’ I wanted to ask if Mrs Bishop had good reason for being that suspicious, but that was a bit too far to push against a man who was, indirectly, my supervisor.
‘Really, Libby that’s all beside the point. I just wanted you to know that I went along with what occurred in order to be able to learn everything I could about the situation – not because I approve of any of it. I imagine it’s probably difficult for you to trust anyone right now, but I hope you will accept my sincerity.’
‘Yes, sir,’ I said, but I didn’t feel as positive as I tried to make it sound.
‘There are things you need to know that were hidden from you. First, the plan was to dismiss you that day, over my objections and, I must add, Charlie Morton strongly argued for a less draconian solution to the problem. But Charlie thought that the presence of administration higher-ups would intimidate you and get you to comply. I insisted that you were not the type of person that crumbled when confronted by bullies. I was right, wasn’t I?’
‘I’d like to think so, sir.’
‘When you threatened to contact G.G., a number of people in the room thought you were bluffing and wanted to call your bluff.’
It was a close call, then. ‘How? Were they going to call G.G.?’
‘That was suggested after you left. But those of us, including Lieutenant Colonel Crenshaw, who witnessed your meeting with General Groves, cautioned it would be a mistake. And quite frankly, in all things military, Crenshaw was calling the shots. So you get to keep your job, for now.’
‘What about Teddy Mullins?’
‘It took a little longer to convince everyone that dismissing Teddy Mullins would be a mistake. I said that I believed it would make you even more intent on securing justice for Irene Nance. Was I right?’
‘Probably. Hard to be certain how I’d react until it happened,’ I said, hedging my bets unless and until I felt more comfortable with Dr Bishop.
‘It was one of the Roane-Anderson administrators who made the argument that won the day. He said that Teddy was obviously stuck on you and because of that, easily manipulated by you and shouldn’t be punished for being young and in love.’
‘Dr Bishop, we’re just friends …’
‘Maybe so, Libby. Seeing Mullins talk about you did give credence to the argument that there was more to it, at least on his part. Anyway, Mullins’ dismissal was rescinded but I would strongly encourage you to steer clear of him, for his own good.’
‘But, sir …’
He raised his hand, palm up. ‘Hear me out, Libby. For his own sake, you need to cut him off completely. If your interaction continues, Crenshaw might reconsider and decide that dismissing him would serve as a warning to you.’
I nodded even though I had no intention of doing as he said. However, I would take care that Teddy and I would not be seen together. All the while, I needed to keep in mind that what Dr Bishop was saying might be honest and open. Or it might be a disarming move. He could be taking this stance with me with Crenshaw’s blessing or because he was trying to steer my investigation for some reason that wasn’t apparent.
‘But I know you will need assistance to get to the bottom of all of this. I’m willing to step in and serve in that capacity. I am in a position to aid you far more than Teddy Mullins ever could.’
‘After that meeting, you want to help me?’
‘It’s because of that meeting I want to help you. I don’t like the military putting on pressure to hide the facts. I know it will require you to place a lot of trust in me. I know that will be difficult after what you’ve experienced. But I really do think I can make a positive contribution to your effort.’
Ottinger’s words danced through my head. ‘Trust no one.’ But I couldn’t be that absolute in my thinking. Risk was essential to progress. ‘Do you know anything that could help the investigation now?’
‘Yes,’ Bishop said with a nod. ‘I know that Dr Smith, whom we both know is Wilhelm Schlater, could not have attacked Irene Nance on Christmas night. One of his children brought the mumps home the last weekend of school before the holidays and Schlater came down with them mid-week. He was in bed and miserable for a few days. He did not leave the house until after lunchtime the day after Christmas,’ Dr Bishop said. His face turned red as he added, ‘I do not doubt that he was homebound because, well, I don’t want to go into any details but rest assured that an adult male with mumps would not be moving around anywhere.’
I blushed in response, not quite sure what he meant, but understanding it involved men’s private parts. ‘Sir, are you certain he had mumps? Or is it possible that is just the story they concocted to protect him?’
‘That’s what they told me, Libby, and I have no reason to doubt it.’
‘Really, sir? After this morning, you are still willing to accept what they say at face value?’
Bishop sighed. ‘You make a good point. But, what—’
‘What about Mrs Bishop? Does she know Mrs Smith? Could she find out if it was true?’
‘I can’t drag my wife into this situation,’ Bishop objected so forcefully that I didn’t try to convince him otherwise. It was quite touching that he didn’t want to involve his wife in anything remotely sordid.
‘Anyway,’ he continued, ‘I have another possibility for you: Dr William Ottinger. You know him?’
‘I met him briefly when he visited Charlie last week in the lab. And I bumped into him the other night at Joe’s. I don’t, however, recall seeing his name on the list.’ The second those words came out of my mouth, I realized my mistake.
‘What list? Where did you get a list?’
Panic clutched my chest. I couldn’t tell him that Ann drew up the list. I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could and forced a blasé tone into my voice. ‘Oh, nothing much. Just a roster of Y-12 scientists floating around the lab. There are a lot of chemists who think they’ll be out of work when the war’s over and they want contacts to help their career when it’s time to leave.’
‘You need to be careful of that sort of thing, Libby. It can easily be misconstrued. If you see it again, you’d better destroy it before someone gets into serious trouble.’
I blinked hard to keep the expression on my face as placid as possible as I pictured the list sitting in a dresser drawer under my stack of nightgowns. ‘If I see it floating around the lab, I’ll make sure it goes no further.’
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Now back to Dr Ottinger. I know a few things about him. He doesn’t work at Y-12. He’s at K-25.’
‘I’d heard that facility was progressing rather quickly but I don’t know anything about the work they’re doing there. Do you?’
‘No,’ Bishop said, shaking his head. ‘I don’t know what is being done at K-25. And I don’t know what Ottinger is doing since he’s come here. But I do know that he has worked on isotope separation in the past.’
‘Are they duplicating our efforts or are they using a different methodology?’
‘Don’t know with any certainty, at all. I can only postulate and my assumption is that they’re not using the same mechanical process that we are.’
‘Do you know anything else about Ottinger?’ I asked.
‘Just what I’ve heard from my wife. Mildred mentioned that the Ottingers were having marital difficulties. Nell Ottinger confided that she had threatened to leave him on a number of occasions because of his long history of philandering. Mildred said that Nell never followed through because she had four small children, had no money of her own and since they’re Catholic, divorce would not be an option.’
‘That rotund little man is a Casanova? I certainly can’t see the appeal.’
‘You’d be surprised how easy it is to impress the country girls around here if you can put doctor in front of your name. Most of them never left their native counties before the war.’
‘But, surely, the military would have no interest in covering up the tracks of his adulterous behavior.’
‘It depends,’ Bishop said. ‘I t
hink that the possibility he is doing vital work at K-25 is very high, making him someone the governmental and military authorities would want to protect. The fact that his past history of indiscretion didn’t stop them from hiring him reinforces that fact, I think.’
‘He made me very uneasy, Dr Bishop. He’s told me twice now that I should trust no one. I don’t know why he’s warning me like that …’
‘Maybe, it’s a simple case of intimidation. Maybe he’s afraid of you. Maybe he thinks you’ll find something he’s hiding. And maybe that something has to do with Irene,’ Dr Bishop speculated.
‘You may be right, sir. But that sounds like a big leap of faith, rather than a solid deduction. Can you find out anything more about him?’
‘I will try. I’ll have to be discrete but I’ll pass along anything I learn. There is something I need to know from you, Libby. Did you recruit anyone besides Teddy to help you? It seemed to me that you would but the others at that meeting thought otherwise.’
As much as I wanted to trust him not to betray me, I certainly had no faith at all in his protective feelings toward any of the others. ‘You have no idea of how difficult it was for me to make one friend among my fellow scientists. There are a lot of them who don’t think women belong in any field of scientific endeavor.’
‘Ah, well, patience on that front. It will change with time.’
Eager to change the subject before he could ask any additional questions along that same line, I asked, ‘Did you know that they moved Irene’s body from the high school bleachers to a spot outside of the fence?’
‘I knew from the first part of the meeting, before you and Teddy came in, that you were claiming that. It wasn’t until the end of the meeting, though, that they actually admitted doing it.’
‘I guess I should be grateful that they are not lying to themselves.’
‘I imagine that’s some small comfort but I was – and still am – appalled. They said they had dual grounds for that decision: national security and community morale. I said that I didn’t think either made any sense.’
‘I suspect they didn’t take that well.’
Bishop grimaced. ‘Not at all. I had to endure a lecture about the security risks of allowing state authorities to come inside the fence to investigate what was a violation of the laws of Tennessee and about the likely loss of some workers and the loss of productivity by all the others if they no longer believed that the community was safe and crime-free.’
‘Do you think those arguments have any real merit?’
‘I think it’s all baseless, but I’d stopped arguing my point, just the same. In fact, I pretended to be in accord with their viewpoint. I knew I couldn’t change the attitudes in that room but hoped if they were convinced I was on their side, I could be more effective in assisting you.’
‘It could hurt your career if they knew that, Dr Bishop. Why are you willing to take the risk?’
‘I understand your skepticism,’ Bishop said with a nod. ‘In fact, I’d expect nothing less from someone with a scientific mind. But a young woman is dead. She was the same age as my daughter and she was murdered. She was a human with feelings and family and dreams …’ Choking on the last sentence, he paused to clear his throat and swallow before continuing, ‘And she was an American. If we have no interest in pursuing justice for her, then this whole war is a sham. I don’t know if they know who killed her and think he’s worthy of their protection or if they simply fear finding out the identity of the man who committed the crime because they are afraid of the answer.’
‘You got a better glimpse into their thought processes than I did,’ I said. ‘What do you think is the most likely scenario?’
‘I think it’s probably the latter. I believe that they are honorable men who feel they can wrestle with the theoretical without taking action, but couldn’t live with themselves if they knew who did it and did nothing about it.’
‘Seems as if they all believe the ends justify the means.’
‘I can’t argue with that – and I can’t subscribe to it, either. And looking at it from that perspective, I realize you are right about Mrs Bishop. I will ask her to try to verify the story about Dr Smith and the mumps – I’ll present it to her like a lark to chase down gossip. And I’ll see if I can get you anymore information about Ottinger. Let me know if you identify any other possible suspects.’
‘If we can eliminate both Ottinger and Schlater, we can move on to others. Do you know anything else about Schlater?’
‘Yesterday I learned that Dr Smith – please refer to him by that name rather than his real one – is hostile toward you. Mullins told us about him glaring at you in the lab and I asked why he’d do that. A couple of the men at the meeting laughed and one of them said, “She showed him up. He should have known the oil they were using would put impurities into the system but he missed it. He’ll never forgive her for that.” Then Crenshaw said that once Smith caught you spying on him, he started spreading the story that you were only able to figure out the problem with the oil because you’d stolen reports from his desk.’
‘I did not!’ That really angered me – that a fellow scientist would suggest I’d do such a thing was an outrage.
‘I never for a moment thought that you did – and no one else did either. The consensus is that Smith was trying to save face when he pushed to have you charged with treason. But don’t worry: they’re all laughing at him about that.’
Despite his assurances, it was unsettling to know that an accusation of work-related sabotage had been leveled at me. That kind of poison lingers in the back of people’s minds long after the suggestion has been dismissed, just waiting for a moment of doubt to cause its resurrection.
‘I think it’s probably wise if we don’t interact in the lab any more than we’ve done before – which hasn’t been much at all,’ Dr Bishop said. ‘I’ll pass along information through Ann.’
‘But I thought you didn’t want her involved.’
‘I didn’t when I didn’t know the nature of your problem. Now I do. I do not, however, want either her or my wife to have any more knowledge about the details than they need at any given time. I want to keep them in the dark, for the most part, until this issue is resolved.’
‘No problem, sir.’
‘Fine,’ he said with a shake of his head. He rose from his chair, offered his arm, and said, ‘Miss Clark, may I have the honor of escorting you to dinner? Fried chicken awaits and Mrs Bishop makes the best I’ve ever tasted.’
THIRTY-FOUR
Although the Calutron operation was now running smoothly, it still seemed to be a terribly inefficient process. I believed that there must be a better way to achieve the separation, something faster and more productive. At this rate how could we ever get the job done? The gaseous diffusion process developed by the Brits before we got into the war had shown real promise. Was that research still ongoing? Maybe this was what Ottinger was involved in at K-25? I certainly couldn’t ask anyone about it. Scientific inquiry had been blindfolded, gagged and bound; the natural exchange of scientific ideas throttled in its sleep.
It all circled back to the same old conundrum. The fissible material we produced was needed to build and use a bomb the likes of which the world has never seen, but if it were built, would we use it? The immediate death toll would be high but justifiable to end the war. But what additional damage would be done? Was it morally questionable to participate in this project or was it morally wrong to abstain from using my talents and knowledge to bring the war to an end in the belief, hope or desire that, in the end it would actually save lives?
Regrettably, those answers would not be apparent until the war was over and the damage done. But if the Germans developed this awesome new weapon first, there were no doubts in my mind that they would use it. Before the Allies had even heard of their success, the new bomb would fall on Britain or the United States – maybe both at the same time. If that happened, all questions of morality would be moot and I cou
ld never forgive myself for not doing more.
I worked hard for the next two days, keeping focused on my work while I waited for more information from Dr Bishop. On Friday morning, it finally came.
Ann walked up to me in the lab and in a normal tone of voice she said, ‘The answer to the first question is confirmed. The answer to the second question is “nothing more pointing in either direction at this time”.’ Then she whispered, ‘Libby, does that make any sense to you?’
‘Oh, yes,’ I said, knowing now that Wilhelm Schlater really was sick with mumps on Christmas Day and incapable of murdering Ruth’s sister and that Dr Ottinger remained a possibility as a suspect.
‘You’ve got to tell me, Libby. What are the questions? What are you and Dad up to?’
‘You’ll have to ask your dad.’
‘Oh, I did. All he said was that if I cared about you, I need to do exactly as he told me. Then he made me repeat the message twice to make sure I had it down. What’s going on, Libby?’
‘Ann, I promised your dad …’
‘What good is friendship if some silly promise to some old guy can get in the way of it?’ Ann said and flounced out of the lab and down the hall.
Her words hurt. I wanted to answer Ann’s questions but knew that would be selfish. It would ease my mind but it would put Ann at risk. I crossed my fingers and sent up a little prayer that the damage to our friendship would only be short-term.
It was after eight that night when I was finally able to leave work behind. Arriving at home, I found a letter from Ruth.
Dear Libby,
I was glad to hear things are going well for you and you are making friends. I miss you and hope someday we’ll see each other again – maybe after the war, just like everything else. Ha Ha Ha!
Things are a bit rough here at home. Besides everything else, Mama worries every day about Hank. She’s so afraid he won’t come home alive after the war. She says that she couldn’t bear to become a Gold Star mother and have to put on a brave face every day.
I would like to ask you to do me a favor. Could you go see Sally at the guest house? She used to work with Irene on the second shift. She sent Mama the nicest letter but Mama has not been able to answer it. Every time she sits down to try, she starts crying and the ink starts running all over the place. Anyhow, could you tell her that her letter meant a whole lot to Mama and she’ll write back to her just as soon as she can?
Scandal in the Secret City Page 22
