Fiddlehead

“A sad summary, Miss Boyd.”

“A sad state of affairs, Mr. Pinkerton. In my more cynical hours I don’t know who to resent more: the slave owners for the peculiar institution, or the slaves themselves for what it’s cost to end it.”

“That’s hardly fair.”

“I know, and I hate myself for it, particularly since I’ve come to know and respect … some former slaves.” Her voice petered out again. There were things her employer was welcome to suspect, but needn’t know for certain. “But you’re decent enough to insult me directly, so I’m decent enough to tell you the truth. I’m only being honest.”

“As if that excuses anything.”

She sighed, and met his stare blink for unhappy blink. “You asked me how I felt and I told you. I wish I were more noble than this, but I’m not. I wish there had never been slaves. I wish there had never been a war. But if wishes were…” She hunted for some expression she hadn’t heard a thousand times before. Failing to find one, she tried again. “I am capable of controlling my behavior, if not the sentiments I learned in the cradle. I would like to believe that actions are more meaningful.”

“There might be something noble in that. Or maybe only hypocritical; I can’t decide.”

“Decide whatever you like. You’ve already told me that my performance is satisfactory. I have grown accustomed to compromise, sir.”

“And do you think compromise is enough?”

“Not particularly. But it’s worked for the last twenty years, and it’ll work for the next month in D.C., if you’re still game to send me.”

His chair popped and creaked as he leaned forward. He tossed another envelope onto the pile of paperwork and said, “Oh, I’ve already booked your ticket. I just wanted to make sure you were still game to go.”

Four

Mary Todd Lincoln brandished a gun. She was small in stature and getting along in years, and guns made her feel better, stronger, and more prepared.

Gideon understood. He had one, too, tucked into the back of his pants, underneath his grandfather’s coat. It wasn’t within easy reach, but he needed both hands free in order to rummage through the wreckage of the Jefferson. Night was falling, and it was already dark enough in the basement where the Fiddlehead lurked, even with the lantern Gideon held aloft, aiming its watery white light into every corner.

Some curiously hopeful part of his brain thought some of the missing printout might have fallen into the basement with the rest of the debris, but he wasn’t stupid enough to bank on it. That was good, because he could barely find the monstrously sized machine, much less anything lighter or more ephemeral.

Dynamite had blown the laboratory windows outward in a spray of fine glass shards, and it’d taken down two of the walls, too. The ceiling dipped and teetered ominously, held aloft by the work of some architectural wizard whose load-bearing walls were bearing more than they were expected to. For the time being, the roof remained where it ought to be, though it creaked unhappily and leaned at a frightening angle.

It all felt very much like being in the hold of a ship, surrounded by damp and danger, listening to the environment moan and grumble like a hungry stomach.

He could see the roof through a crack in the basement floor. He could see the sky, too, and Mrs. Lincoln pacing back and forth above him, gun in hand and a grim, fierce look that stopped just short of being comical.

She paused her pacing and peered down through the rubble. “Gideon, is everything all right down there?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he assured her. It was only somewhat true.

“How’s the … the machine?”

“I won’t know for certain until I can see the whole thing, and right now—” A grating scrape a

“Oh dear. I was hoping it might not be so bad as all that,” Mrs. Lincoln sighed. “I heard Abe say ‘intact,’ and I hoped for the best.”

Gideon murmured, “Never a good idea, really.”

“I’m sorry, come again?”

Louder, he replied with a fib. “I said, I wonder if the generator’s still good.”

“Why does that matter?”

He sighed, and was glad she couldn’t see his face. “Because the Fiddlehead can’t run without it, even if everything else is whole and undamaged.” He shoved a beam up out of his way, clearing a short path that took him a few feet closer to his goal. “Without power, it’s useless.” It wouldn’t be easy to rig up a fresh supply. The generator had been a cobbled-together affair, more powerful than anything in the District except perhaps the big machine that ran the plates and presses at the mint.

A series of thoughts flickered faster than lightning through his head. The mint: Its generators would be hearty enough. The Fiddlehead was too badly damaged to move, even if it weren’t too bulky. The mint’s generators … would also be difficult to move. How difficult? He’d need a look at them to know for certain. Impossible at this time of night, but maybe he could get in tomorrow. Or maybe he’d have a better plan by then.

He sure as hell hoped so. This one had too many holes.

“Where’s the generator?” Mary Lincoln had a lantern, too. Gideon could tell from the shifting light and the tone of her voice that she was walking around the basement’s edge, following him or trying to find him.

But before he could reply that it was in the next room over, she barked out to someone else: “You, stop there! Put your hands up!”

Gideon froze, listening to see if this was a problem or merely another watchman startled to find the former first lady patrolling the grounds with a gun.

“Hello there, Mrs. Lincoln,” came the response. A Southern voice, from somewhere deep in the CSA. Gideon tensed and slipped his hand around his back, reaching for his own firearm; but then the speaker said, “My name is Henry Epperson. Your husband told me I could find you here. He … he didn’t mention you’d be carrying…”

“If my husband sent you—”

“He didn’t send me,” Henry interrupted. “He invited me. I’m sorry, and I sure don’t mean to cause you any alarm. I work for the United States Marshals Service. Here’s my identification papers—Mr. Lincoln said you’d want to see them. I was born in Mobile, and I never managed to shake the vowels; but my parents were scalawags, not fire-eaters, and now we’re all living in Baltimore. Please, ma’am. I’m here to help.” And then he added quickly, “Oh, Mr. Lincoln said that if you still didn’t buy it, I should say that there’s a Pinkerton agent on the way to your home right now, arriving from Chicago.”

Gideon unfroze, and returned his gun to its place against his back.

Mary also relented. “Chicago,” she repeated. “That was the code word we picked between us. Hello, Mr.… Epperson? Am I reading this right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “It’s a pleasure and an honor to meet you.”

Gideon found his way to the basement steps and climbed them, emerging into a late afternoon that wasn’t fully dark yet, but would be in another twenty minutes. “You’re the man from the Marshals Service?” he said, not because he doubted it, but because he didn’t want to sneak up on anyone with a gun. Mary was worrisome enough all by herself, never mind the armed federal agent.

Henry turned around, holding a wallet of folded papers. He was somewhat taller than Mary, and somewhat shorter than Gideon, with light hair and round, wire-rimmed glasses. He was casually but warmly dressed, though he wore no gloves. “Yes, that’s me. You must be Dr. Bardsley. Just the man I’m here to see.” He held out his hand. It was chapped and pink, but his nails were clean.