The Meriwether Murder
Page 27
I nodded. “So how did you come to find me there?”
“I followed you. I woke up and you weren’t there. Then I heard you downstairs, so I slipped on my jeans. By that time you were already leaving. Something about the way you pulled out of the driveway made me decide I’d better follow. And when I saw you go inside that house I knew it must be something important. I kind of blundered in because I was scared for you.”
“I’m glad you did.”
“But that’s not why I followed you. I followed because you seemed so furtive. It was like you were running away, and I was scared. I’ve been left before.”
“Your brother and your father,” I said and she nodded. Suddenly she seemed very vulnerable, not at all like the self-assured women I’d met a year before.
She stopped and removed her sunglasses.
“I’ve got some hangups, Alan. I tried not to get close to you because I didn’t know how it would work. I still don’t know. But if you want to try …”
I pulled her to me then and we kissed for a very long time. When we finished, I took her hand and led her down the mound and away from the tombs.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The unexplained death of Governor Meriwether Lewis, as recounted in this novel, is a fact, as is the treason of General James Wilkinson. The Jefferson cipher is also a part of history. A number of explanations have been offered for Lewis’s demise, ranging from suicide to murder, and there is still no scholarly consensus. Recently, a second inquest was held and a plea was made to disinter Lewis’s body. Perhaps by the time this book is published this will have been done. In the meantime, the truth will remain buried at Grinder’s Stand.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author is indebted to a number of people. These include the authors of previous works on Meriwether Lewis and the mystery of Lewis’s death: Vardis Fisher, David Leon Chandler, Richard Dillon, and Stephen Ambrose. Also of invaluable assistance was the staff of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc., which furnished back issues of their publication, We Proceeded On, a gold mine of scholarly information on Lewis and Clark. Jonathan Daniels and William C. Davis have both written excellent books on the Natchez Trace. Ms. Pat Choate, director of the J. H. Warf Public Library of Hohenwald, Tennessee, was most helpful. Linda Gavin gave us a fascinating tour of the Blackburn farmstead in Lewis County. My wife, Margaret, accompanied me up the Natchez Trace, camped with me on the grounds of the Meriwether Lewis National Monument, and served as a sounding board throughout. Dennis Jones, Carl Kuttruff, and Guy Weaver all aided me regarding the current location of Fort Pickering. Becky Hill provided information about DNA testing. Paul Lemke gave me advice on Louisiana law. And last, but hardly least, were my editors, Coates Bateman and Jennifer Sawyer Fisher, who encouraged this project from start to finish, and my agent, Peter Rubie.
In this work, the author, for simplicity, has adopted Grinder’s as the name of Lewis’s last stopping place because that version of the name has prevailed in popular history. It should be noted, however, that the proper spelling of the name is Griner, and Griner is the version still favored in that part of Tennessee.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1998 by Malcolm K. Shuman
Cover design by Michel Vrana
ISBN: 978-1-4976-5010-7
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