Treason in the Secret City

by Diane Fanning

  ‘Okay, Frannie. I’ll just leave it here on your dresser for later. I really have to go.’

  She sat up and clutched my upper arm. ‘Please, please, don’t leave yet. Wait until I fall asleep, please?’

  I really needed to get home and climb into bed, too, but the desperate pleading in her eyes made my needs feel insignificant. ‘Okay, Frannie. Get dressed for bed and I won’t leave till then.’

  When she returned from the bathroom, I tucked her in like a little child and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

  ‘Thank you, Libby. Thank you for everything.’

  ‘Hush, go to sleep now,’ I said as I sat down in the chair by the telephone table.

  Frannie flipped and flopped from one side of the bed to the other. I despaired that she would never drift off. Then she made a deep moan and her breathing slowed. I sat watching the rise and fall of her chest for a few minutes then tiptoed out of the room.

  I felt hollow and numb. Telling her was almost as bad as finding Marvin tied to that tree. I trudged to the car and set off for Oak Ridge. I had promises to keep and feared the challenge might prove to be too much for me.

  TWENTY-TWO

  On Friday morning, I woke with the realization that this night I might unlock the door to an important piece of evidence I needed to snare Hansrote and secure justice for Marvin and Frannie. My thoughts drifted to Marvin and the fact that I was far too late for him. For a moment, I felt the weight of disconsolation descend down on my shoulders. I reminded myself that although I could not bring him back to life, I could avenge his death and complete his mission to save his cousin. I just needed a little bit of help from Mabel. I was confident I could get it. I understood southern girls; I was one by birth. I knew the right buttons to push.

  At lunch time, I told Gregg that when I was in town that night, I’d call Marvin’s mother.

  ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea, Libby. Not right now.’

  ‘But that’s why we made the list with contact information, so our loved ones could be informed,’ I objected.

  ‘Think about it for a minute. First of all, they’ll wonder why Frannie didn’t call. And if you tell them he was murdered and Frannie is in hiding, don’t you think they’ll demand to know more? You can’t tell them everything – not yet – and I doubt they’d sit quietly and say nothing to anyone. And if you blame his death on an accident, they’ll want to talk with Frannie and make arrangements.’

  ‘This seems so wrong, Gregg. It makes the whole idea of our list seem stupid.’

  ‘We just need more answers first, Libby. If we can solve the problem with Frannie and Hansrote, then Frannie can tell them. She’s family. If she tells them, they have to keep quiet because of the security situation, they are more likely to listen to her.’

  I sighed. I knew he was right but I didn’t like it one little bit.

  After work that day, I parked by the curb in front of Mabel’s building and took the elevator to the fourth floor. As I said I would do, I stood and listened for a moment. Seeing no one in the hallway, I pressed my ear to the door. I heard some sound of movement but no voices. I knocked.

  A few footsteps came in my direction and the door opened wide. The woman standing in front of me was not a raving beauty but she was attractive enough to turn more than a few heads. Her auburn tresses were styled just like Rita Hayworth’s and she was blessed with the thick, wavy hair that pulled off that look well, although her nose was a bit too large, her lips too thin and her eyes too dull to fulfill the complete image. On her left ring finger, she wore a wedding set.

  I stretched my hand towards her and said, ‘How do you do, Mabel. I’m Libby Clark and my friend, Jessie Early, told me to look you up while I was in town. She thought we’d enjoy each other’s company.’

  ‘Jessie sent you? What a surprise! I thought she’d given me the brush off when she didn’t answer my letter. Come in, come in. Coffee? Or would you like something stronger?’

  ‘Coffee would be perfect.’ I looked around the living room and saw that however despicable Hansrote might be, he wasn’t stingy with Mabel. The furniture was of good quality and the sofa felt quite comfortable.

  Quicker than I thought possible, she returned and said, ‘The percolator’s on. I keep it fixed and ready in case of visitors. So alls I have to do is turn on the stove.’ She plopped in an easy chair and said, ‘So how is old Jessie? I miss the girl.’

  I certainly didn’t want to tell her that Jessie’s mother wouldn’t approve of her visiting someone with a tarnished reputation. ‘Oh my, that girl is so busy – all day long. Most of us have to work ten hours or more every day and each day they tell us to work harder.’

  ‘Tell me about it. I was so relieved to find a way to get by without slaving away out there. And don’t tell me I was doing my bit to help win the war because I stopped believing that line a long time ago. Do you work with Jessie?’

  ‘No, I—’

  ‘Oh, so you met her in the dorm?’

  ‘No, actually, she sought me out when she thought I might be at the reservation. We are from the same farming community in Virginia. We went to school together.’

  ‘Are you that girl she was talking about right before I quit my job? The one she swore up and down had to be a scientist?’

  ‘That’s me.’

  ‘I declare. Of course, you’re not a scientist, are you?’

  ‘Yes, in fact, I am.’

  ‘Are you pulling my leg?’

  ‘No, Mabel,’ I said with a laugh. ‘Cross my heart and hope to die.’

  ‘Well, well, well. And you took time to visit me? Let me get the coffee and then you can tell me how you went from being a farm girl to a career woman – sounds like something out of a Joan Crawford movie.’

  When she returned from the kitchen, I said, ‘Jessie didn’t mention that you were married.’

  ‘Oh this thing?’ she said, pointing to her ring finger. ‘This is just camouflage. When I go out with my soldier boy, I don’t wear it. C’mon, didn’t Jessie tell you? I’m what they call a kept woman and I’m enjoying every minute of it.’ She sat down with a smug, haughty look on her face as if daring me to criticize.

  ‘Pfft,’ I said with a flash of my hand as I attempted to make her think I approved of her behavior. ‘Jessie told me that but when I saw the wedding band and diamond on your finger, I thought she was wrong. But I will say this: I think every woman should be able to live her life the way she wants to and if this is what you want, then go for it.’

  ‘It is and thank you very much. You have a refreshing and very modern attitude, Libby. I like that – Jessie was right. Now, where were we? Oh, yes, you were going to tell me how you went from gathering eggs in the hen house to doing fancy things in a laboratory.’

  ‘Right,’ I said with a smile. I told her about losing my father and brother and going to live with my dad’s sister up north. I left out the ugly parts of the transition.

  ‘But your mama was still alive. Why didn’t you stay with her?’

  ‘She was awful sickly,’ I lied. ‘She had to go into a sanitarium.’

  ‘TB?’ she asked.

  I nodded.

  She came over to the sofa, sat beside me and put an arm around my shoulders. ‘That pretty much made you an orphan, didn’t it, poor thing?’

  ‘I did feel that way at times,’ I admitted. ‘But my Aunt Dorothy took very good care of me and made sure I got an excellent education. I often wonder what would have become of me without her.’ I had a question on the tip of my tongue that froze there when I heard a scratching noise on the front door. I immediately went rigid.

  ‘Did that durned cat scare you? He belongs to one of my neighbors and always is trying to get in. I think he smells the tuna cans in my trash. Nothing I like better for lunch than a tuna fish sandwich.’

  The visit was going well but somehow I needed to steer the conversation to her lover and subtle didn’t seem the right method to use with Mabel. ‘So who is this man who has
set you up in this fine apartment?’ I asked.

  ‘Why do you want to know?’ she said with a grin. ‘I’m sure not going to let you steal him away.’

  ‘Please,’ I said, ‘the last thing I want is a man in my life telling me what to do and when to do it. Don’t get me wrong, I think you have a good set-up here but it’s just not for me. It sure seems to beat being married, though, and having to wait on a husband hand and foot every night and all weekend.’

  ‘My feelings exactly,’ Mabel said and laughed. ‘Anyway, he’s a scientist – a hotshot scientist to hear him talk. Being a scientist yourself, maybe you know him. His name is Hansrote, Dr Edwin Hansrote.’

  ‘I’ve heard the name,’ I said, ‘but I don’t know him. What’s he like?’

  ‘As you can see looking around here, he’s not a skinflint. He stocked me up with liquor, stockings, roast beef, sugar, and cigarettes and this past Wednesday, he showed up with chocolate. I can’t complain.’

  ‘Does he come around a lot?’

  ‘That’s the best part. Usually, I can expect him on Wednesday evenings. He comes over, I go for a walk while he makes a phone call and then I let him have what he’s paying for and he goes home. He said if he ever needs to come by at any other time, he’ll give me a call. One night a week is not too much of a sacrifice to live like this. It’s almost like there isn’t a war going on.’

  ‘Who does he call on Wednesday nights?’

  ‘I don’t know. I asked once and he told me that it was top-secret stuff that no one could overhear at the risk that it would get back to the enemy. Then he said, “If you want to keep this apartment, don’t ask that question again.”’ Mabel shrugged. ‘So I don’t.’

  ‘Still, he must think you’re special to go to all this trouble.’

  ‘I’m not blind about the man. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had another girl or two in some other apartment building – or even in this one. I wouldn’t know. He was playing up to every girl at K-25, it seemed like. A lot of them were too prissy to even listen to what he had to say. But I recognized a good thing when I saw it. Those Dumb Doras can just keep slaving away.’

  So there could be other Mabels scattered about town. He must have realized how risky it was to use Frannie to go through the switchboard. He must have been planning an alternative long before she listened in to his conversation. If she hadn’t done that, would he just have disappeared from her life or would something deadly have happened to her?

  ‘Yoo hoo, Libby. Did you hear a word I said?’

  ‘Sorry, Mabel. You reminded me of a scientist who’s been getting too familiar,’ I lied. ‘I’m trying to get him to leave me alone. I sort of got lost worrying on that.’

  ‘No matter,’ she said. ‘I was just wondering if you could come back for a visit sometime soon and bring Jessie.’

  ‘I know I can but I can’t really speak for Jessie.’

  ‘Oh sure you can. We’ll make it Sunday – oh no wait, my soldier is coming by for dinner then. Let’s say Tuesday evening. I’ll fix a nice roast beef for dinner. Just tell Jessie that – she won’t be able to resist the idea of a home-cooked meal.’

  ‘Jessie’s on night shift this coming week. We’ll have to set something up later. Do you mind if I drop by the next time I’m in town?’

  ‘I look forward to it,’ Mabel said, ‘just so long as it’s not on a Wednesday night.’

  ‘I really have got to get back home. My kitty is bound to be hungry and tomorrow morning will come far too early as it is.’

  I drove home thinking about my new dilemma. If I told Jessie I needed her help, she’d probably be willing to give it. But how much would I have to tell her? And how much risk would I be taking if I confided in her? I knew I was walking on the edge of disaster. If everything with Frannie blew up in my face, I could be charged as a conspirator. In the face of that, the risk of confiding in Jessie seemed small in comparison.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Teddy stopped me on my way out of the lab Saturday evening. He wanted to take me to dinner and a movie but I resisted. It had been an exhausting week and all I wanted to do was get into my pajamas, eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and read myself to sleep.

  When I saw Jessie slumped on the steps to my flattop, I sunk into a deep well of disappointment. I needed to talk to her about Mabel but I certainly didn’t want to do it tonight – I didn’t want to see anyone.

  I got out of the car and Jessie looked up at me. Her face stretched long, her brow furrowed and she was as pale as the moon. Something was wrong. ‘Jessie, what happened?’

  She held up the telltale yellow of a telegram. ‘I never got a telegram before and I never want to get another one.’

  ‘Oh, dear, who died?’

  ‘No one died – well, that’s not right. Someone did but I don’t care about him and you don’t either. It’s just the how of it and the who of it. It’s just a mess.’

  She must have understood what she was talking about but it wasn’t making any sense to me. ‘Come on in, Jessie. I’ll fix a pot of tea.’

  Jessie followed me into the house and I put the kettle on the stove right away. When I returned to the living room, she was just standing there with a peculiar look on her face.

  ‘Sit down, Jessie. Sit down and tell me what’s got you so upset.’

  On the way to the chair, Jessie said, ‘I talked to Mama today and she had serious news.’

  ‘Not about my mother, I hope.’

  ‘More than that, Libby. There’s war news, too.’

  ‘About D-Day?’

  ‘Yes. Company A was in the first wave of the invasion – they might have been the very first. At least that’s what Mama heard at Green’s Drug Store.’

  ‘Company A?’

  ‘Oh that’s right, you were already gone. You remember the Bedford County National Guard.’

  ‘Yes, it’s hard to forget – they never missed a parade.’

  Jessie smiled but it quickly faded away. ‘They sure didn’t. But those boys became Company A in the 116th Infantry division.’

  ‘And they were the first on the beach?’

  ‘That’s what Mama heard. There were a lot of upset ladies there wondering about their sons, their husbands, their brothers. They’re all sure that the casualties had to be high in that first assault.’

  ‘Did you know anybody in the company?’

  ‘Yes. And you do, too. At least when they were boys. You remember the Stevens twins from the farm up the road.’

  ‘The family with more kids than we could count?’

  ‘Yes. There were fourteen of them. Both of the twins were assigned to Company A. And remember Ray Nance?’

  ‘His folks grew tobacco mostly, right?’

  ‘Yes, indeed. And there’s Taylor Fellers – he’s the captain, he’s a bit older than us.’

  ‘Can’t say I remember him at all,’ I admitted.

  ‘Well, anyway, there’s a lot more. That’s just all the boys Mama mentioned.’

  ‘Are they okay?’

  ‘Nobody knows and Mama says the whole of Bedford is on edge waitin’ for word. Like Mrs Nance told Mama, it’s the not-knowin’ that’s tearin’ up their insides.’

  ‘Let me know if you hear any news but sometimes it can take a month or more to get word on the dead and wounded.’

  ‘I thought I’d call Mama in a couple of days even though it will probably be too soon to hear any more but then considering what else has happened, you’ll probably hear before I do.’

  ‘Me? How would I? I’m not in close contact with anyone there any longer.’

  ‘I imagine you’ll be changing that soon whether you want to or not.’

  ‘What are you talking about, Jessie?’

  Jessie threw her hands over her face. When she took them down, her eyes darted back and forth but she wouldn’t look straight at me. ‘I don’t know how to tell you. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to start. I never got a telegram before and I hope I
never do.’

  ‘That bad? Let me read the telegram,’ I said.

  She handed it over. I read: ‘Urgent STOP Call me today STOP Love, Mama STOP.’ That certainly wasn’t much help. ‘Did you call her?’ I asked.

  ‘Oh, yes, I did and I almost wish I hadn’t. She wanted me to talk to you.’

  ‘Another message from my mother pleading for my help immediately?’

  ‘No, it wasn’t from her but it was about her. But it’s too late for you to help her get rid of Ernest. She’s already taken care of it.’

  ‘Really? Well, good for her.’

  ‘No, Libby. Not good. She didn’t kick him out, she done him in.’

  ‘What? My mother? She killed him? There has to be a mistake.’

  ‘There’s a mistake all right and your mother made it. Mama said that Annabelle loaded the shotgun and fired it into the back of Ernest’s head while he was sleeping.’

  ‘How do you know my mother shot him? Ernest has made a lot of enemies over the years. Any one of a dozen people could have shot him and felt justified doing it.’

  Jessie sighed. ‘Annabelle called the sheriff. She told him that she shot her husband. She sat by the body with the shotgun draped across her legs while she waited for him to arrive.’

  ‘Was she arrested?’

  ‘Yes. She’s in jail now.’

  The harder I tried to absorb this news, the less real it seemed. My mother was not a woman of action – not by any means. And why couldn’t she wait until I could get there to resolve the situation legally? ‘What else did your mama say?’

  Jessie let out another big sigh. ‘I hate telling you about this, Libby. But …’

  ‘I need to know.’

  ‘Mama had given your mother the message that you were coming as soon as you could. Mama thought she was relieved and ready to wait until you got there. So when Mama went to visit your mother in the jail, she asked her, “Why, Annabelle? Why couldn’t you wait for Libby? Why now after all these years?” Your mother said it was on accounta Ernie. Ernest punched him in the face and knocked out a couple of teeth. Then he locked him in the tool shed and told him he would stay there till mornin’. Your mother tried to get Ernest to give her the keys after it turned dark. She told Mama that Ernie was terrified of spiders and he’d probably die of fright if he stayed out there overnight. Ernest refused and when he went to bed, he stuck the key to the shed under his pillow so she couldn’t get it. She told Mama she had to get that key and that the last time she asked for it, Ernest said, “Over my dead body,” and so she obliged him. She said she had to do it for her boy.’