Treason in the Secret City

by Diane Fanning

  ‘He does that often?’ I asked, wondering if I needed to reassess my image of him.

  ‘Marvin? No. His idea of relaxin’ is to drink one or two of those watered-down beers, but he never touches the harder stuff. And truth be known, I don’t know if he’s ever touched a girl, either. But even a blind hawg finds an acorn now ’n then,’ Jubal said with a chuckle.

  ‘If you see him or hear from him, would you tell him to come see me or Gregg just as soon as he can?’

  ‘Will do. Y’all let me know if you find him first, awright?’

  Gregg patted him on the back and said, ‘Sure, Jubal.’

  Jubal moseyed off – really there was no other word for it – with a deliberate, loping pace that looked right out of Huckleberry Finn.

  ‘It’s hard to believe someone who talks like that is actually a scientist,’ Gregg said.

  ‘Don’t let the southern accents fool you, Gregg. We, southerners aren’t all slow-witted illiterates.’

  Gregg winced. ‘Sorry, Libby, I forgot you were from Virginia. But you just don’t sound that southern.’

  ‘So, you were taken in by my Pennsylvania veneer, Mr Abbott?’

  ‘Oh, there you go, it still does sneak out. How many syllables are there in “my”?’

  ‘Oh, hush,’ I said with a grin. ‘You ain’t heard nuthin’ yet.’

  ‘Al Jolson, 1927, from The Jazz Singer.’

  I laughed out loud. ‘I won’t even ask why or how you know that.’

  ‘It’s a long story – I’ll tell you after the war,’ Gregg said with a wink as he walked away.

  Yeah, right, like everything else. But maybe now it was about to come true. Maybe we were on the verge of invading France by the sea. Or maybe it’s just a scare tactic the allies are using to distract the Nazis. Add another thing to the long list of information I do not need to know.

  NINE

  The moment I stepped outside at the end of my work day, I spotted Teddy pacing on the boardwalk running alongside the building. I walked up to him and he swooped me in his arms and whispered in my ear. ‘One of the guards has been keeping a close eye on me. If he sees a romantic rendezvous, he’ll forget about anything that made him suspicious. And besides, I like this,’ he said as his lips met mine.

  I had to admit I liked it, too. And I had to agree his cover was a good one. But still, it made me uneasy. I wasn’t sure I understood all my feelings about him and I wasn’t sure if I trusted any man to keep his word after he had a legal document in hand – my stepfather being a case in point. Until women’s careers were considered as important as men’s, making a marital alliance with any man was a gamble. Why am I even going down this road? I had put up enough barriers that he’d never go so far as to propose unless I cleared a path for him.

  To continue the ruse for the soldier’s benefit, I held his hand as we walked away from Y-12. He leaned towards me and whispered, ‘I checked with the secretary. Marvin did not call in sick.’

  ‘So he never came in all day?’

  After Teddy shook his head, I updated him on what Gregg and I had learned from Marvin’s roommate and asked, ‘I wonder if he went out to Frannie’s hiding spot.’

  ‘Could you find your way there without him?’

  ‘Maybe. I sure could try. But the sun’s starting to set. We’d never get there before she left for the hutments tonight.’

  ‘But if he’s out there, he might stay there overnight.’

  ‘Marvin? Not exactly the outdoorsy type. I never figured out how he managed to do the Dossett Tunnel dare to get into the group.’

  ‘That was before my time, Libby, but I heard he chickened out the first time and begged and pleaded for a second chance and barely managed that. So, I guess he is a bit yellow, but that still doesn’t explain why after we all agreed to help him, would he run off like that without a word to anyone?’

  ‘I don’t know, Teddy. The possibility that he disappeared of his own free will doesn’t make any sense to me. But if he’s not there and Frannie’s not there, we won’t learn anything.’

  ‘All right. Tomorrow at daybreak. Why don’t we try to find that little shack then? I’ll meet you at your place.’

  ‘Okay. See you then. Right now, I have to run to Town Square and see if I can pick up any magazines for Frannie and then I want to make it an early night. It might be a good idea if you do, too. If I can’t find the hideout right away, we might get lost in the morning.’

  ‘I’ll walk you as far as Town Square. Once we get through this mess, I’d like to talk to you about what your plans are after the war.’

  ‘I don’t know when that will be, Teddy, and I have no idea where my career will take me after this job. There’s no way I can make plans right now.’

  ‘If the stories about an upcoming invasion onto the European continent are even part true, the war might be over sooner than we think. The project, the product and the gadget might be outmoded before we can get the job done. And if I am right about what I think the gadget is, the world would be a better place if we never accomplished what we are trying to do.’

  ‘Teddy, don’t say that out loud, again. There are creeps everywhere.’

  ‘I wouldn’t say it to anyone but you. Now that we are on the subject, I want you to know that although I do want to keep working in a lab after the war, it’s not like I am motivated by ambitious career plans. It’s just that I like that kind of work and I know I need to work – so that’s it. If it came down to it and I got married to a woman with a career, I’d be willing to follow her anywhere she needed to go to make the most of it. I could get a job anywhere and it wouldn’t bother me in the least if in doing so, I went down the ladder instead of up if it helped her succeed.’

  I had to admit that was a surprise – a welcome one. I still wasn’t convinced he’d stick with it when push came to shove, but maybe he would. ‘I thought you said we’d talk about this after we got this problem with Frannie Snowden all settled.’

  ‘I did. But then. Oh, horsefeathers, we’re already at Town Square. I guess I’ll see you in the morning then.’

  ‘Yes, till then,’ I said and surprised him more than a little when I landed a small kiss on his lips before heading off. I turned back once and saw him staring after me. The thrill of the current passing through me made my fingers and toes tingle when I caught sight of him just standing there, keeping his eyes on me as long as he could. I wiggled my fingers in his direction and took off for the shops. Maybe Teddy, by the time the war is over, you’ll have me convinced. Maybe …

  TEN

  In the morning, I pulled on my Chippewa ranger shoes for the trek into the woods and packed my knapsack with nicer footwear for work, a few pieces of paper and a pencil, along with the magazines for Frannie. As an afterthought, I opened the box in the kitchen I call my treasure chest and pulled out one of the two remaining Hershey’s bars my Aunt Dorothy had sent to me the month before. I suspected the half dozen she sent were black market buys but that wasn’t a question I wanted to ask.

  I’d no sooner stepped out of my front door when I saw two guys walking up the boardwalk in my direction. One was Teddy, whom I’d expected. The other was Gregg. I was not comfortable with both of them going to see Frannie; I thought she was going to be skittish enough with just one.

  Gregg put my mind at ease when he reached me and said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m not coming along unless you think you need me for some reason. I just happened to meet Teddy on my way over here. I wanted to tell you that Marvin didn’t show up at the dorm last night either. And you had said you were going out to see her again so I thought you might find my compass useful.’

  ‘That’s terrific, Gregg, I’m sure I will and the update on Marvin is very timely. I’m already worried about Frannie’s reaction when I arrive with Teddy, so it’s probably best that you don’t join us.’

  ‘I thought that might be a problem. Also, I thought if you guys are held up for some reason then I can cover for you in the lab,’ Gregg said.r />
  ‘I’m glad you’ll know where we’re going, Gregg,’ I said. ‘With Marvin missing, we should have thought about telling someone about our plans so if we get lost and wander around in the woods for a few hours, there won’t be a panic. And with the compass in hand, I still might not find Frannie’s hideaway, but I’ll sure be able to get us back here.’

  In just a couple of days, the growth on the weeds and bushes was astronomical. Several times I had to stop and get my bearings. There was one spot where Marvin and I had walked with ease, but now a blackberry bramble threatened to block the way. Teddy and I detoured around that and trudged forward. I hit one place where I made a decision to veer to the right, but in about fifty yards, it looked all wrong. We retraced our steps and went in the opposite direction.

  We reached a point where I no longer could see even the vaguest of pathways. ‘I did something wrong somewhere, Teddy.’

  We both looked around in every direction but I saw nothing to indicate where we needed to go. Then Teddy pointed down the hill. ‘Look, is that it? Did we circle around it?’

  ‘Maybe,’ I said, as we stumbled in toward the building. We took the most direct route which had us fighting vines, ducking branches and stubbing toes on rocks. We made enough noise for a herd of elephants, probably terrifying Frannie.

  Once we were within twenty feet of the structure, I knew it was the right shack. I opened the rickety door and spotted Frannie huddled in a corner with wide, terrified eyes. She exhaled loudly when she saw me. Then, she bristled back and looked for an escape route. ‘That’s not Marvin!’

  I reached towards her and patted her arm. ‘It’s okay, Frannie. It’s Teddy. He’s a friend of Marvin, too. Look,’ I said, slinging the knapsack off my back. ‘I brought you magazines and a special treat.’

  She snatched the latest Photoplay and True Confessions out of my hands the second they cleared the bag. ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was getting sick of looking at that same old magazine.’

  ‘I’ve got something else,’ I said as I pulled out the Hershey bar.

  Frannie’s mouth dropped open and she looked about ready to drool. ‘For me? Really?’

  I placed the candy in her hand and she stroked it as if it were a baby bird. ‘Can I open it?’

  ‘Yes. It’s all yours,’ I said as I smiled at her delight.

  She ripped through the outer wrapper, then carefully folded open the inner layer. She broke off a square with great care, stared at what was left, then, with great reluctance stretched it toward us and said, ‘Would you like a piece?’

  Teddy and I both shook our heads and she slid the chocolate into her mouth and moaned with delight. As she savored it, she took care to cover up the remainder and put it in her potato chip tin. When the last bit melted in her mouth, she sighed and said, ‘Thank you, again.’

  ‘Frannie, when did you last see Marvin?’ I asked.

  Her eyes squinted and she said, ‘Why do you ask?’ She looked as wary as a puppy encountering his first black snake.

  ‘Tell me when, Frannie, and I’ll explain.’

  ‘I haven’t seen him since you came out here with him – two, three days ago, I guess.’

  ‘I was afraid of that,’ I admitted. ‘We were hoping he was out here with you. We haven’t seen him since our group meeting two nights ago. We agreed to help him look into your situation and try to find evidence that Hansrote is the guilty one. We are worried because he hasn’t been to his dorm room either. Where do you think he might have gone? Could he have gone home?’

  ‘And leave me out here? I don’t think he would do that. At least not unless he felt he had to get help for me, but you said that you were going to help him.’ Frannie’s eyes were darting in every direction. Her breath grew too fast, too shallow.

  I wrapped an arm around her as she collapsed into my body. I made soothing noises as I stroked her hair. Once she showed signs of settling down, I said, ‘You need to keep as calm as possible, Frannie. It might mean nothing at all. Teddy and I and the rest of the group are digging into the background of Hansrote. If we can get to the bottom of your problem, I’m sure we’ll find Marvin, too.’ I can’t say that I was totally convinced of the latter but I tried not to show it.

  Frannie let out a shuddering sigh, pulled back and asked, ‘What can I do?’

  ‘If I remember correctly, Hansrote had you memorize the number he was calling, is that right?’

  Frannie nodded.

  ‘Do you still remember it?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘CA6-4410.’

  I pulled a pencil and notebook out of my knapsack and jotted it down.

  ‘You’re not thinking of going through the switchboard to make that call, are you?’ Teddy asked.

  ‘No. I’ll have to go into Knoxville. Maybe from that phone booth at the drug store on Gay Street. That phone is so busy, there’s always a waiting line. No one will know who placed the call.’

  ‘What will you say to whoever answers?’

  ‘I’m hoping when I call, the person identifies the number in some way. I don’t intend to talk to anyone.’

  ‘You could ask for Raymond and see what happens,’ Frannie suggested.

  ‘I’ll keep that in mind and see how it goes,’ I said. It might be a good idea but then again, it could be disastrous. ‘I’ll try after work this evening. The car has been idle for a while, it needs to run.’

  ‘I’m going with you,’ Teddy said.

  ‘I’d like the company, but that’s not necessary.’

  ‘Under the circumstances, I’d say it is.’

  On that ominous note, Frannie burst into tears. ‘You’ve got to find Marvin. He was an Eagle Scout. He worked very hard at it. And he’s really smart. He would have left you a clue if something happened to him on his way out here. He earned a badge for that. I know he’d mark the trail. You’ve got to find the signs he left. You’ve got to find him. If you can’t come out here, just go to the cafeteria and tell Hannah to tell me that my cousin is doing fine – then, I’ll know. Okay?’

  ‘Yes. We’ll do that, Frannie. I really hate to leave but we need to get to work before somebody starts asking questions.’

  I turned back once as we walked away and saw the forlorn young woman standing in the open doorway. She gave a feeble wave. I shot my hand in the air and we walked out of sight.

  ELEVEN

  After the end of our workday, Teddy and I piled into the 1932 Buick Coupe that I had on extended loan until my former roommate’s brother Hank got back from the war. As we drove into town, I noticed that a newer black Buick was driving the road behind us. We parked and I saw that same car – or one very much like it – pulling into a space half a block back.

  Inside the drug store, there were only three people in line ahead of me – that is considered lucky, believe it or not. Teddy and I chatted while we waited making sure that we did not touch on any topic that could label us as being from the city behind the fence. It was probably a futile gesture, though, since Teddy’s accent was a dead giveaway that he wasn’t a Tennessee boy. My voice could still pass for a southern girl who got her education up north – not something a good rebel gal would do, but still I wasn’t automatically considered an outsider.

  When I finally took a seat, I dialed the operator and asked for Manhattan CA6-4410. I deposited the amount of coins she instructed and soon heard a phone ringing far away. I heard the click of someone picking up the receiver at the other end, but no one spoke. After waiting for a moment, I said, ‘Hello.’

  Still no response. ‘Is anyone there?’

  I could hear breathing but whoever was on the other end said nothing. ‘Raymond, are you there?’ I asked.

  ‘Who is this?’

  Pulling a name out of nowhere, I said, ‘Edith Thomas. Is that you, Raymond?’

  I heard the sound of disconnecting and then dead air. I clicked the lever in the cradle several times until the operator came back on the line. Teddy handed me more change and I filled the phone
and listened to it ring. That was all it did. Over and over. I held on until the operator said, ‘Your party is not answering.’

  I said, ‘Thank you,’ and ruefully heard the coins falling back out of the phone.

  ‘Maybe it was a female voice that bothered him,’ Teddy said. ‘Let’s come back tomorrow and I’ll try the number.’

  Sounded like a good idea to me. So did an ice cream soda. But when I looked over at the soda fountain, I saw a sign that read: ‘No Sugar. No Coke. No Ice Cream.’ All those ads Coca Cola put in magazines sure made their drink look like a part of everyday American life. It seemed as if every G.I. was walking around in foreign countries handing them out like there was an unlimited supply.

  Teddy must have read my mind because he stretched an arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. ‘It can’t be much longer before the war is over and everything is normal again.’

  ‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘Then again, maybe after the war, what we learn to call normal won’t be anything we would have recognized a few years ago.’

  Emerging from the store, I saw a figure in a dark suit and fedora hurry away from the window and head straight for the black Buick. I pulled my car away from the curb and looked in the rear-view mirror. The Buick pulled out, too. I made a right at the first intersection and then turned right again at the next one.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Teddy asked.

  ‘Look behind us. Do you see a black Buick?’

  ‘Yes. Why?’

  I made a last-minute left turn. ‘Still behind us, isn’t he?’

  ‘Yes. What’s going on, Libby? Do you think we are being followed?’

  ‘Definitely,’ I said. ‘I thought I was just being paranoid when he was behind us all the way into town. I saw him fast-walk away from the drug store when we came out.’

  ‘Did you see what he looked like?’

  ‘No,’ I sighed. ‘Just a suit and a hat – nothing else. But it makes me even more concerned about Marvin. If we’re being followed, maybe he’s been nabbed.’