The Shut Mouth Society (34 page)

The doorknob jiggled and they heard a soft knock. Baldwin opened the door to a uniformed guard who wheeled in a trunk-sized metal box with built-in wheels and handle. Evarts was wondering how much the box contained, when the guard said he would return momentarily with the second cart. Evarts looked at Baldwin and they both grinned at each other.

After a second identical cart had been wheeled in, Baldwin removed a small key ring attached inside her computer bag and unlocked the side panel of both carts. When she opened the door, Evarts saw two drawers similar to a file cabinet. He heard Baldwin take a deep breath before she opened one of the drawers. It slid with the smooth motion of precision machining. Not surprisingly, the drawer contained file folders. Baldwin extracted the first one and lay it unopened on the metal table.

“
I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high,” she said.

“
Too late for me. Open it.”

She gently gripped the lower right-hand edge of the file folder and slowly lifted it open. She gasped.

“
What is it?” Evarts asked.

“
Lincoln’s discharge from the Illinois militia,” she whispered, barely breathing. Baldwin rifled though the folder. “These are Lincoln’s preinaugural papers. They appear to be in chronological order.” She quickly thumbed through all the documents in this particular folder. “My god, to a historian these are priceless, to a collector they’re worth millions.”

“
And as a solution to our predicament, they’re worthless. We need to find the William Evarts files.”

“
Can’t I have a half hour to see what’s here?”

“
Of course … if you’ll allow me to look through your other cart.”

“
I’m not sure I should let you forage through my birthright … unless you’ll give me a full hour to peruse these Lincoln documents.”

He made a show of checking his watch. “Deal.”

Evarts quickly determined that the second cart truly held her birthright. File after file contained trust documents, contracts, real estate deeds, last wills and testaments, the provenances for dozens of artworks, and an aged box of heirloom jewelry.

“
These are your family affairs. No Lincoln or William Evarts documents.”

Baldwin had buried her head in a pile of papers. She made a distracted wave toward the cart in front of her. He opened the bottom drawer and immediately saw from the labels that these folders contained the William Evarts dossiers on the misdoings during Reconstruction. Without saying anything to Baldwin, he started reading from the front folder.

Two hours later, he said, “Sorry to disturb, but we need to talk.”

“
What’s the matter?”

“
These papers in the bottom drawer implicate people by name in the looting of the South during the Johnson administration, but I can find nothing that relates to the union or modern crimes.”

She looked at the file drawer. “You can’t possibly have read everything.”

“
I’ve flipped through it all.”

She now gave all her attention to Evarts. “There must be something; otherwise, why would the union fear their disclosure?”

“
Good question.”

Chapter 40

Baldwin had looked at only three of the dozen or so files in the top drawer, so Evarts started searching from the back. The last folder contained about thirty pages of code. At first, he wished he had brought a copy of
The
Tempest
with him, but he realized these encrypted communiqués would probably not help in their battle with the union.

He heard a knock and Jonathon stuck his head in to say, “I’m going to lunch. Would you care for a break or would you like me to bring something back for you?”

“
No. We’re fine,” she said.

“
Any coffee out there?” Evarts asked.

“
Coffee, tea, soft drinks. What would you like?”

Baldwin smiled sweetly. “Tea for me and if you have one available, a carafe of coffee for my friend here. He likes it black.”

“
Certainly.” He disappeared behind the closed door.

Evarts jumped up and opened the door. “Excuse me.”

Jonathon turned around to face him. “Is there a copy machine available?”

“
Would you like one wheeled into your room?”

“
That would be perfect. Thank you.”

After he closed the door, Baldwin asked, “What should we copy?”

“
The encrypted pages and the Evarts dossiers. I only glanced through them.”

“
And these.” She held up several handwritten pages.

“
What are they?”

“
Letters to Lincoln from William Seward, secretary of state.”

“
Can they help us?”

“
No, but I want to study them. They’re not Illinois documents.” She looked at the papers with a puzzled expression. “Lincoln probably stuffed his preinaugural papers in some closet, and a few administration papers from the early days must have gotten included accidentally.”

“
Any dark secrets?”

“
I’d put them in the class of revelations. When Lincoln agonized over whether to reinforce Fort Sumter, Seward opened a back channel through a Supreme Court justice from Alabama who hadn’t resigned. He assured Jefferson Davis that the fort would be evacuated. Of course it wasn’t. Historians assume Seward acted on his own. Early on, he thought Lincoln weak and tried to set himself up as some kind of prime minister to act as the real head of the government, using Lincoln as a figurehead. Supposedly, after Lincoln discovered that Seward had made assurances without his permission, he engaged in a little political theater to put Seward back in his place. After being embarrassed in front of the entire cabinet, Seward became a loyal cabinet member.” She waved the pages. “These letters say Lincoln knew all along. Seward explained exactly what he was doing.”

“
Why would Lincoln allow that?”

“
To buy time. It paralyzed the Confederacy until Lincoln made a decision.”

“
Okay, so why the charade?”

“
If it were official, then Lincoln lied. My bet is Seward told him about the back channel and Lincoln never responded. Seward took that as permission. Lincoln gave Seward free rein while it served his purpose and then later jerked him back in line.” She shook her head. “Lincoln could be devious as hell.”

An attendant wheeled in a copier, and Evarts grabbed his ancestor’s dossiers to start the copying process.

They completed a quick search of the remaining files and copied hundreds of pages, while Evarts consumed the entire carafe of coffee. He suggested that they take two of the William Evarts originals that mentioned his investigational targets by name. Evarts explained that they should each hide one of the original documents and not tell the other about the hiding place. It would give them each a bargaining chip that couldn’t be compromised by the other—the same strategy Douglass had used. She agreed but insisted that the originals be replaced with copies so the files in the cart remained intact.

“
Let’s see,” she said. “How many hiding places are there in an Explorer?”

“
Not now. In fact, perhaps never. Depends on whether we can settle some place for a while. For now, it’s just an idea.”

“
Greg, I’m beginning to worry.” She tapped the file in front of her. “The thrill of finding these made me forget that we came looking for a two-by-four to bludgeon the union.”

“
I’d prefer a small nuke.” He looked at the remaining files. “It’s here. We just haven’t found it yet … or we saw it and failed to recognize its significance.”

Chapter 41

When they emerged onto the street, Evarts saw that the day had grown overcast and threatened rain. They returned by public transportation to Newark, carrying the box of document copies. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the humidity made their new clothes cling uncomfortably to their bodies. In the room, he threw the box of papers onto the bed and said, “Let go eat an early dinner.”

They found one of those chain eateries that looked like a cross between an upscale coffee shop and an uninspired restaurant. These establishments advertised themselves as family restaurants and then subtly promoted themselves as a respectable place to drink alcohol. As a cop, Evarts had seen too many automobile accidents to like the idea of taking the wife and kids out for the evening, getting a bit soused, and then driving them all home in the family sedan. He usually made it a practice to avoid these places, but it was close by the motel, and the sky continued to forewarn that a thunderstorm would soon be on them.

Baldwin sipped her wine and made a face. Evidently, the usual clientele had less sophisticated palates. Beer made life simpler. After finishing his drink, Evarts excused himself to make a telephone call. Using a calling card, he phoned Lieutenant Clark.

When Clark answered, Evarts said without preamble, “Give me the news.”

“
Good news or bad news first?”

“
Give me the good. I need it.”

“
You’re no longer a person of interest to the LAPD for the Rock Burglaries. They checked your whereabouts around the time of all the burglaries over the past three years and found no pattern that implicates you.”

“
And the bad?”

“
Where are you?”

“
Never mind that. I don’t want to stay on this line long. Give me the rest.”

“
You got two days to get back to work, or the chief is going to suspend you again: This time as a disciplinary action. You better fly your ass back here. The chief wants you to bring back Baldwin as well. We still haven’t solved that Douglass mess and she’s a witness.”

“
I gotta go.” Evarts had a premonition. “Hey, one more thing. You heard anything about a big shoot-out in Boston? Three, four people killed.”

“
Yeah. Some kind of botched drug hit. The dead all had long rap sheets.”

“
Any suspects?”

“
The cops ain’t got a clue. Who cares? Bad guys just shooting each other. Hey, are you in Boston?”

“
No. Why does the chief want me back so bad?”

“
We’re getting killed on this Douglass thing. Now the mayor wants a cop who can claim to be his friend. You know, we’re not a racist city and all that. He’s rip-roaring mad. Can you fly back tomorrow? I’ll pick you up at LAX.”

“
Tell the chief I’m on vacation.”

“
You’ll be on suspension is what you’ll be. Come on, Greg, where the hell are—”

“
Gotta go.” Evarts hung up.

When Evarts returned to the table, Baldwin asked, “Learn anything?”

“
Plenty. I’m no longer a person of interest in that Rock Burglar thing, and someone managed the news media around the Boston episode. The dead have been identified as henchmen for drug lords, so they dismissed it as a gangland hit. That’s why we’ve only seen subdued news coverage.”

“
Who’d cover that up?”

Evarts waved down the waiter and ordered another beer. After all, they didn’t need to drive. A loud racket drew his attention outside, and he saw that rain pounded the cars and pavement. It looked like they would run instead of walk the hundred yards back to their motel.

He waited until the waiter had returned with his second beer before he continued. “The police would’ve easily reconstructed the scene as an assassination attempt, and although the dead killing team had drug-related police records, they would’ve pursued the targets as assumed gangland members. Our prints were everywhere, so someone squashed the investigation. Only the union had motivation for a cover-up, because if we got identified as assassination targets, it would lend credibility to the Shut Mouth materials—if we ever got to release them.”

“
Can they cover up a crime that significant?”

“
Sure, with enough pull in either the mayor’s office or the police department. I guessed as much when the DTCC computer let me into their building.” Evarts took a long draw of beer.

“
That’s not all bad news. At least we’re not being chased by the police.” Baldwin studied him. “Why are you upset?”

“
I discovered who planted that parking receipt at the Rock Burglary.”

“
Who?”

“
Lieutenant Clark.”

“
He works for you, doesn’t he?”

“
Yeah, but the union must have got to him. Dickhead’s older than me, so maybe he didn’t want to wait around to see if I retired early.”

Evarts watched the heavy rain hit so hard it bounced up almost a foot from the hood of the car outside his window. After another swig of beer, he continued to look out the window as he talked. “He told me to fly back and he’d pick me up at LAX. The bastard kept asking where I was, so how did he know I needed to fly? When he said I should get you back as well, it clinched it for me.”