Fiddlehead (The Clockwork Century) (25 page)

He drew the cart up in a stop that left skid marks in the gravel. Polly grabbed the horses and said, “I’ll take them, ma’am—you take the doctor!”

“Come back inside as soon as you’re able,” Mary commanded, yelling at Polly over the wind. Then, to Wellers: “Doctor, have you heard? Where is he? Is he all right? Did they take him?”

“I’ve heard,” was all he replied.

Gideon threw off the canvas covering and rolled over the cart’s side, nearly spraining an ankle on the landing. He shouldn’t have tried it—it was too high—but he was so tired from running that it was the only dismount he could manage. He leaned forward and put his hands on his knees, then straightened up and said, “They’ve accused me of murder.”

“My, yes—they certainly have! Please, hurry inside! Before they come back!”

“I can’t hide forever,” he told Mary, even as he let her guide him inside, luring him forward with the unspoken promise of a fire and a friendly ear, of someone he could trust while the world burned down.

“No, and you won’t have to.”

“Where’s Lincoln?”

“Inside, waiting for you. I’ll … I’ll make tea,” she said as she shut the door behind all three of them. Gideon was quite sure that no one wanted tea, but it was the most normal, civilized thing she could think of, and these were uncivilized times.

“In the library?” Wellers asked, before she disappeared around a corner. She nodded without looking back.

“The coppers said two people had been killed,” the doctor told Gideon as they paced swiftly down the hall. “An elderly colored couple. They worked in the White House. That’s all I know.” They rounded the corner and joined Abraham Lincoln in a library that was almost too toasty.

“Not just two,” the old man said, overhearing. “Three.”

“Three?” Gideon exclaimed. He untangled his scarf and let it hang limply around his neck.

“Indeed. A very kind old couple in Grant’s employ, and a housekeeping girl.”

“My God, I’ve been busy. How did I do it?”

“An ax in one case, and an excess of bullets in the other. My sources say that the girl had performed a bit of casual treason at the president’s request—and at Katharine Haymes’s peril.”

“You drew that conclusion rather quickly,” Wellers noted, settling onto the edge of a chair and leaning forward to warm his hands at the fire.

“I’m not an idiot,” Lincoln said wryly. Then, to Gideon: “All this happened while you were out with Nelson, naturally enough. Or perhaps you’re some kind of witch and you performed the first round of killings immediately before you brought the paper back from Smithy’s.”

“A witch?” Gideon chose not to sit. He was wound up too tightly, a watch that’s been cranked but not set. Tired as he was, he could scarcely lean, much less be seated. “I’ve been accused of worse.”

“Don’t say that; there’s far worse to come. The young woman was assaulted. Reports suggest she was ravished, though even if she wasn’t, you can bet that’s what they’ll say.”

A prickling sensation scaled the back of his neck. “A white girl?” he guessed.

“If she weren’t, they might not care.”

A quiet moment fell between them, filled only by the crackling sizzle from the fireplace logs and the hollow, whistling gale howling down the bricks and against the windows. Finally, Lincoln spoke. “It’ll be in the papers. If not tomorrow, then the next day. How optimistic do we feel this evening, gentlemen?”

“Marginally,” Wellers confessed.

“Less than that.” Gideon sighed. “It’s the same story over and over, like some nightmare I never awaken from. I begin underground and fight until I rise, only to find myself underground again. Slave quarters to university. A basement to the … the illustrious Lincoln estate. And tonight, out from the basement again, but headed to prison—or, more likely, for a tree or a bullet.”

Lincoln replied, “Let’s not forget: you’re here, you’re alive, and you’re not in prison
yet.
There’s room for improvement, but the situation could be considerably more dire.”

“So what should we do?” Wellers asked, staring into the fire.

Gideon spoke firmly. “We keep the story out of the papers.”

The doctor let out half a laugh. “And how do you propose we do
that
?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead. Give me a minute.”

“I don’t disagree, mind you.”

“Good, because we
must
prevent the story from going public, and thereby prevent Haymes and her … her minions from discrediting me. We
must
get someone to defend my character, and remind the nation of the truth in my editorial. We need a credible person—you, perhaps, Mr. Lincoln—to write a follow-up to my editorial letter, underlining the key points and alluding to evidence that exists, and is confirmed, and will be revealed in good time.”

Lincoln shook his head. “Gideon, you make it sound … well, not easy. But you make it sound doable, and it isn’t. Not the way you present it.”

“You won’t write a letter?”

“I will, absolutely. I’ve supported you from the very start—from the very first plans you drew for the Fiddlehead. I believed in you then, and I believe in you now—not just because I know that you’re incapable of having killed those people.” He adjusted himself in his chair so he could face Gideon more fully, make absolute contact with his one good eye. He did not blink as he said, “If you were not right, and powerful, and dangerous, they would not have resorted to this. But because you
are
right, and powerful, and dangerous, they
have.
And they’ll resort to worse before they’re finished. I can feel it in my bones.”

Nelson Wellers wrung his slim hands together and swallowed, then ran his fingers through his hair. “He was with
me
when the murders were committed. He has an alibi.”

“Yes,” Gideon said it fast, as the puzzle piece fell into place. “Yes, that’s true. From a doctor and an agent of the law, after a fashion. We can prove I’ve done no wrong. I should’ve let them arrest me!”

“Gideon,
no.
You were right to slip away while you could. I sensed it the moment they arrived. They didn’t want to interview me, or have me offer any statement on your behalf. And when they realize that I can vouch for you, they’ll come for me. I…” He looked around, his gaze darting from corner to corner. “I shouldn’t stay here. I’m a danger to you all.”

“Wellers, settle down,” Gideon groused. “No one’s coming for you. I’m the problem here. if anyone should go, it ought to be me.”

“But I’m willing and ready to plead your case and take the stand on your behalf.
That’s
why they’ll need to be rid of me. If they kill Gideon,” Wellers said sharply to Lincoln, “they make him a martyr—they make his message louder. But if they kill me, he has no defense and he’ll be shrieking his message from a jail cell, like a madman. I need to send a message to Chicago. I need to summon a replacement.”

“You’re abandoning us?” Gideon asked with disbelief.

“No. Absolutely not. But I can’t speak on your behalf if I’m dead, and I won’t stand for anyone else getting caught in the fray. Certainly not you, or Mary or Polly,” he said firmly to the old man.

“Now don’t say anything rash. Furthermore, don’t
do
anything rash,” Lincoln said in a calming voice. “They can’t kill us all. They
won’t
kill us all, even if they catch us. The police won’t be back for another hour or two, I shouldn’t think; and although Haymes has agents who are willing to break the law, they may not have arrived yet, and
surely
they won’t come for you here. Not yet. Not yet.” He murmured the words like a mantra. “We have time to think. Time to plan for—”

He was interrupted by a knock on the door, hard and fast, a steady bang of the metal ring.

All three men froze in place, exchanging a violent lightning of glances.

The doctor said, “Gideon, hide.”

And Gideon said, “
No.
”

“No one’s hiding, not yet,” Lincoln said, his timbre a plea for patience and order. It was a plea for time, but even that great man couldn’t wring more from the moment than was already granted.

Down the hall a man came running, all heavy footsteps and rambling, long-legged pace; and behind him trailed the lighter, frantic footsteps of the serving girl. In the library, all three men drew guns, prompting Gideon to wonder where Lincoln had hidden one, and how he used one with those twisted fingers.

He analyzed the situation with his ears.

Polly’s following behind him, whoever he is. He didn’t break inside, he knocked. He is alone except for the girl, who can’t catch up to him. This might not be what it sounds like.

“Abe!” the newcomer shouted before he reached the library. That one word blew the tension from the room like steam through a kettle whistle.

“Grant?” the old president asked, just in time to spy the leader flinging himself around the doorjamb.

“Abe, they’ve killed…” He stopped when he saw Gideon and Nelson, who lowered their guns but did not put them away.

“I know,” Lincoln told him. “Your housemaster, and his wife, and the girl who stole those papers. I got your message half an hour ago, and I’m very sorry to hear of it. Is everything … otherwise all right?”

“No, it’s not. Nothing’s all right. This is about
you.
” He pointed at Gideon. “And me. They’ve done this to
us,
not just to those poor people they’ve killed out of hand.”

“They wish to discredit me,” Gideon said stiffly.

“Oh, that’s not all they want. No, no, no. I’m afraid not.” Grant walked to the far window. He held his hand against the glass to guard his eyes from the glare. Seeing nothing outside, he reached up to draw the heavy velvet curtains shut. He turned around. “They want to keep me cowed, as surely as they want to make you look like a murdering maniac. Maybe they want to make me look mad, too. I had to escape two Secret Service men in order to arrive here unseen. At least I
believe
I haven’t been seen…”

Lincoln said, “Dr. Wellers is confident they want him dead, too. It’s quite a party here tonight.”

Gideon explained, “Wellers and I were together when the murders happened.”

“Then he might have a point,” Grant said. To Lincoln, he added, “You need to guard this man’s life with … with
your
life. The four of us,” he said, so out of breath from his trip, and from the revelations that had brought him there, that his speech caught in his throat, “are all that keeps them from milking the Union nearly to death, and slaughtering thousands for the profit.”

Gideon put his gun back in his coat and clenched his fists. He measured his words against his fury and rising fear, and cast it all at the president. “God
damn,
but you’re being shortsighted, sir! If the war runs on, it won’t just be Atlanta that falls to the plague. Remember the Fiddlehead. Remember the numbers, and the predictions: the
continent
will fall within the decade if we cannot stop this madness and force a conclusion. Possibly the world!”

Nelson Wellers laughed ruefully. “It’s not enough to save our own skins, or the entire nation.” He sighed. “No, we must save the world as well. All from this library.”

Lincoln gave a crooked shrug. “There are worse places from whence to mount a defense of civilization.”

Grant seemed to agree, but he was flustered, and he rambled. “They threatened me, Abe. Not just me, but Julia—they’ve threatened her. That terrible woman, that dragon in a hat.
She’s
the one who did this.”

“Where is Julia now?” his old friend asked.

“Baltimore, but that’s not far enough away to keep her safe from Haymes.”

Gideon’s nails dug into his palm. He fought to keep from hitting something for emphasis, but managed to restrain himself for only a few seconds before taking a swing at a bookcase. He knocked it so hard that it rocked precariously, then settled.

“For God’s sake!” he shouted. “Have you not heard a thing? Baltimore won’t be far enough. New York won’t be far enough. Mexico won’t, and Argentina won’t. Canada won’t. The Department of Alaska won’t! There will be no place in this hemisphere far enough away to protect anyone from this walking plague!”

Nelson Wellers positioned his lean frame between Gideon and the other two men with his hands up. “You’re right. We know you’re right—we’ve already said as much. But in the short term, we must take what action we can.”

“We don’t have time for the short term!”

Wellers gave up, flung his upraised hands into the air, and finally hollered back. “
You’re
the one who wants to stop a damn news story before morning! You’re wanted for murder. That’s a short-term problem, now, isn’t it?”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake!”

“Gentlemen!” Lincoln tried to roar, but it came out as a cough. Grant went to his side, and Nelson looked back to make sure that it wasn’t any worse than that.

Gideon did not back down. He mimicked Wellers’s tone when he said, “They want you dead. That’s a short-term problem, too, now, isn’t it?”

“Short term for you—somewhat longer for me! But yes, fine. It serves my point,” Wellers said, struggling to calm himself. “I would prefer to survive. You would prefer to stay out of prison. The Union must be preserved. The war must end. The weapon must be stopped. The walking plague must be addressed. We need stepping stones, Gideon.
Stepping stones.
”

Gideon argued, “How are we supposed to stop it? We don’t even know where it’s headed.”

“Executive order!” cried Grant. “I do still wield
some
authority, you know. I’m only the president, as I’ve been reminded more than once in the last week.”

“Then why not send an executive order
now
?” Wellers asked plaintively. “Recall the project, bring the weapon home.”

Grant fidgeted like an angry man, pacing with a stomp. “Because no one will admit that it exists. I can’t recall the project; I have to recall the mission itself. And
I can’t find it.
”

A disquieting pause fell, and then the doctor said, “Someone will. Someone has to. Maybe … maybe Troost’ll hear something.”