Scandal in the Secret City (18 page)

T
he next evening, our fledgling detective group gathered again at Joe’s. When pitchers of beer and mugs arrived and the barmaid departed, I said, ‘I believe I have neglected to inform you of three bits of information that may have bearing on the issue at hand – variables in our equation as it were. I would like to rectify that right now. The first two had slipped my mind. First is the anonymous gift I received shortly after Irene’s death. It was left in a sack on my porch steps – a pair of mittens with a note that read: “I’ve got my eyes on you”. Now, while I realize that could have been interpreted as an admirer, it, nonetheless, felt threatening to me because of its timing. It frightened me enough that I tossed them into the fire. And who would think of hand-knitted mittens for a gift? My logic tells me it would be an older married man, a father, someone with a wife and kids.

‘Secondly, Ruth told me that Irene had always been open with her about who she was dating until this mysterious Bill came along. Never told her his last name. Ruth never saw her in public with him. When she confronted Irene and directly asked her if her Bill was a married man, Irene changed the subject. Ruth was certain he was a married man.’

‘So Irene was a home wrecker,’ Tom said.

‘Please, Tom, let me finish. The third piece of information, I deliberately concealed. Irene was dead. I saw no reason to spread the story around. But I realize now that it is a vital piece of information. Probably the one fact that leads more directly to a married man than any other: when Irene Nance was murdered, she was pregnant.’

‘What a floozie!’ Tom exclaimed. ‘I can’t understand why we are wasting all this time and energy on a tramp. She got what she deserved.’

‘You disgust me, Tom. Thoroughly. Your attitude towards women is deplorable,’ I said.

Tom jerked to his feet, his eyes angry, his fists clenched. ‘No woman talks to me like that.’

Teddy jumped up, mimicking Tom’s stance. Gregg tried to defuse the situation with a chuckle. ‘Looks like this one just did, Tom. There is a first time for everything.’

Tom took a step in Gregg’s direction. ‘Why, you—’

I jumped to my feet. ‘And I’ll say it again: you disgust me. Whatever did your mother do to you to make you so hostile to women?’

Tom raised one fist in the air and shook it. ‘I’m warning you, girl. You leave my mother out of this.’

I defiantly thrust out my chin. ‘Or what? Are you going to hit me, big man? Go ahead. I dare you.’

‘Don’t think I won’t!’

Gregg shouted, ‘Shut up, Tom, and sit down. Teddy, unclench your fists and get back in your seat. Libby, you sit down, too. You’re not helping matters here.’

The three of us all glared at Gregg. Slowly I lowered into my seat careful to do so at the same time as Tom, to prevent him from getting the upper hand.

‘First of all, Tom, Libby is right,’ Gregg said.

Tom clenched his jaw so hard it throbbed. Several of the group murmured their agreement – but not Gary and Rudy, they stared at the floor. They probably agreed with Tom’s philosophy even if they didn’t agree with his methods of expressing it.

‘You’ve forgotten why we are here,’ Gregg continued. ‘We are here because we wanted to do vital war work. We wanted to play a part in our victory. We wanted to ensure freedom and protect the American way of life – and that’s for all Americans, not just half the population. For women, too.’

Teddy added, ‘Where have you been the last couple of years, Tom? You’ve seen the change. Women in factories. Women doing what we always called men’s work – and they’re doing it well. The only reason they hadn’t been doing it before is because we wouldn’t let them. Out of misguided chivalry and an unhealthy dose of fear, we’ve wanted to keep them in their place – under our thumb. And we did it not because we are smarter or more capable but simply because we’re bigger and stronger.’

Tom looked from face to face around the room, shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands. ‘I give,’ he said. ‘I concede to the opinion of the majority. I’d hate for this group to break up over some woman.’

‘Tom!’ Teddy and Gregg exclaimed in unison.

‘OK, sorry,’ Tom said. ‘So what’s the plan? How are we going to find the guy who bumped off Irene?’

‘The theory I propose is that a married man took Irene’s life,’ I said. ‘He would have the most to lose. It puts both his personal and professional life at risk. A single man would have far less need to resort to a drastic, fatal solution to the problem of a pregnant girlfriend.’

‘Just as long as we don’t totally eliminate the single men and only rank their priority a bit lower, I’m fine with that approach,’ Tom said. Murmured agreement circled the table.

‘OK, I have a list of all the scientists here. I think we should look at all of them – not just the men named Bill. Irene’s boyfriend could have lied about his name to her. Or he could have an official code name and Bill is his real name. We just don’t know. I’ve gone through the list and put a check mark beside all the names that I know aren’t married – and that includes everyone at the table. I’d like to pass it around and have all of you check off anyone I missed.’

Tom reached across the table and snatched the list out of my hands. I did not like that man and could not understand why the others invited him into the group in the first place. He seemed to be fueled by anger and his attitude was so negative. But he was a part of it. And I was the new one here. I had to find a way to smooth things out between us for the good of the group and the investigation. I doubted, though, that Tom would make that easy.

‘Wait a minute,’ Tom said. ‘I thought we were checking off the single men but you’ve checked Dr Bishop. I know for a fact that he’s married.’

‘You’re right, Tom. I neglected to mention that – it slipped my mind. The Bishops were out of town and on the night of Christmas Day, Dr Bishop did not have access to his automobile so he couldn’t have slipped back here on the sly. If anyone else knows a married man who’s on the list who could not have been here when Irene was murdered, please check him off, too.’

‘No. That’s not adequate,’ Tom objected. ‘We need to distinguish between the two. Say we make a check for “not married” and an x for “not here”.’

‘That’s fine, Tom. If that’s important to you, go right ahead.’

‘Are you saying it’s not important?’

‘No, Tom. I am not saying that.’ What an exasperating man. ‘I’m not arguing with you. Please change my check by Dr Bishop’s name to an x. Please.’

‘While we’re talking about suspects, I checked out an engin-eer named Mike DeVries today,’ Teddy said.

‘I thought we were operating on the premise that Irene’s boyfriend was a scientist – not an engineer,’ Tom objected.

‘Well, gee, Tom. Irene was a country girl. Maybe she doesn’t know the difference between the two.’

Tom opened his mouth to argue the point but Gregg interrupted. ‘What about him, Ted?’

Teddy related his conversation with DeVries, getting nods of understanding for his suspicion about the man. ‘Today, I talked with his wife. Mrs DeVries told me that late Christmas afternoon, their little boy broke his arm. She said that she and her husband were in the hospital with their son all night – didn’t return home until just after dawn.’

‘That takes him off of the list of possibilities,’ I said.

The pages continued around the table as everyone not working on the list talked about the news they’d heard from the front in Europe and the Pacific and the latest coming out of Washington, DC. Teddy interrupted their conversation. ‘Not all the names on here are real,’ he said.

‘I suspected that was possible, but I wasn’t certain.’

‘This guy,’ Teddy said pointing to the paper. ‘This Dr Smith, Dr Fredrick Smith. That’s not his real name.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Definitely. He works in Alpha but before that he was working with Fermi up at the University of Chicago. When I was a student there, I attended the seminar he conducted.’

‘Dr Smith?’ Gregg interjected. ‘Wasn’t that the one who was glaring at you the other day, Libby? I thought his name was phony then.’

‘Well, it was a Dr Smith but that’s such a common name,’ I said.

‘What does he look like, Teddy?’ Gregg asked.

‘Dark, almost black hair. Big, bushy eyebrows. And deep-set eyes. His facial hair is so dark and thick, by lunchtime every day, he looks like he could use a shave.’

‘That’s the same one, Libby,’ Gregg said. ‘I was wondering if he might be staring at you because he was Irene’s boyfriend and he knew about your connection to her.’

‘Teddy, what’s his real name?’

‘Wilhelm Schlater.’

‘What more do we need?’ Tom said. ‘Wilhelm sure could be Bill. And it sounds German, too.’

‘What does that have to do with anything?’ I asked.

‘I guess you’ve been too busy in the lab, Libby, but we declared war on Germany a little while back.’

I wanted to slap his face, pop him in the nose, something. I stifled down my aggressive impulse and through clenched teeth said, ‘I know we are at war with Germany but that has nothing to do with people who trace their heritage back to Germany.’

‘OK, Teddy, is he German?’

Teddy looked at me, his face contorted with regret, ‘Yes. He has a very thick accent.’

‘There you go,’ Tom said. ‘That’s my postulate: Wilhelm Schlater is our man. We can test it and if we’re wrong move on to other possibilities. But at this point, there is a high enough probability to warrant further investigation.’

‘And you think the probability is high simply because he’s a German?’ I snapped.

‘That’s one reason.’

‘Although there are other facts that make him suspicious, his country of origin is not a valid one, Tom,’ I argued.

‘And just why not?’ Tom shouted.

‘Hold it down, Tom,’ Gregg urged. ‘You’re going to get us thrown out of here.’

In a quieter voice, Tom said, ‘I think we have our first suspect.’

‘But we don’t even know if he’s married or not,’ I objected.

‘Fine, that’ll be the first thing we’ll investigate,’ Tom said. ‘All in favor of pursuing the investigation of our suspect Wilhelm Schlater, raise your right hand.’

I was dismayed to see every hand but mine in the air. When I looked at Teddy, he pulled his down.

‘You sure about that, Teddy?’ Tom asked.

Teddy nodded.

‘OK, it’s eight to two. Majority wins. You two in opposition still with the group?’ Tom asked.

‘We don’t toss people out because they cast a vote different from the majority, Tom,’ Gregg objected.

‘I just want to know if they’re with us or against us, Gregg. It’s all about democracy. That’s what we’re fighting this war for, aren’t we? If we’re going fight for it, we have to live with it. Libby? Teddy? You gonna go along with the will of the people?’

I looked around the table. I didn’t like the bias that went into the decision making but I didn’t have a better idea for a starting point. Smith/Schlater was a definite possibility. I nodded. Once I did, Teddy followed my lead.

‘OK,’ Tom said. ‘This is your investigation, Libby. What are we going to do to find out if he’s married or not?’

‘Could you ask Ann Bishop to find out?’ Gregg asked.

The last thing I wanted to do was entangle Ann in this mess again. ‘I don’t think she’d have access to that information. They’d have that up in personnel. I don’t know anyone up there.’

‘Ann would, wouldn’t she, considering her position? She could find out for us,’ Gregg said.

Teddy said, ‘I don’t think we should get her involved. We all go to her for the latest gossip around here. She could let something slip.’

‘OK, then, Teddy, how are we going to find out?’ Tom demanded.

‘I’ll follow him home from work. Find out where he lives. He works in the lab next to mine. I see him coming and going most days. I probably have the best opportunity.’

After murmurs of agreement, they broke up for the night, the men heading back to the clamor of their dorms, me to my quiet home. Teddy insisted on escorting me to the front door, but I squashed his attempts at conversation. Right now, I needed to think, not talk.

T
he racetrack was in continuous operation around the clock now and the workload in the laboratories increased dramatically. Trainloads of the ore to be separated were offloaded into the Calutron building and the new loosely wrapped electromagnets no longer had issues with shorting. As I ran samples of the Uranium 235 through the spectrograph, I was delighted by the improved purity of the product. With the change in the lubricating oil, the anomalies I’d found before Christmas were absent. It was professionally – and personally – rewarding to see proof that my theories were right.

The investigation into Irene’s murder, however, seemed to have stalled, making me frustrated and out of sorts. Every evening, Teddy was waiting when I finally emerged from the lab after days that averaged twelve hours. Each time, he reported his lack of success; his shoulders seemed to slump even more. Either he hadn’t seen Wilhelm Schlater leave the premises or when he left, he was picked up by a soldier in a jeep.

On Friday, however, I noticed a change in Teddy’s demeanor the moment I opened the door. He was pacing the boardwalk. Excited or agitated? I couldn’t tell. ‘Hey, Teddy, what is it?’ I asked.

Teddy looked in all directions before whispering, ‘I know where he lives.’

‘Is he married?’

‘Yeah.’

‘You saw his wife?’

‘Well, no. But he lives on Outer Drive in a type C cemesto. They have three bedrooms so he has to be married with at least two kids.’

‘Maybe. But if he’s important enough to have a code name, he might be important enough to get a larger house than his family size would dictate. We can’t make assumptions. We can theorize, but we need to verify.’

‘So how do we do that?’

‘We can look in their windows.’

‘Oh, no, Libby. How could I ever explain to my mother if I got arrested for being a peeping Tom and sent home in disgrace?’

‘Fine. I’ll be less suspicious than a man anyway. You can be the look-out. I’ll go up to the house and see what I can see.’

‘You really think that’s a good idea, Libby?’

‘No. But right now, it’s my only idea. Let’s go.’

When we reached the home, Teddy stood guard on the boardwalk on the opposite side of the street, as I snuck up to the house, perched on a rise with a steep patchy lawn in front and back. On one end, the windows were too high for me to look inside of them. I crouched down as low as I could go and crept to the back of the house. Looking in the window on the kitchen door, I saw the signs of meal preparation but no one was in sight. I moved to the side of the house where the windows were closer to the ground.

I lifted up slowly, just high enough to see over the sill. The family was sitting down to dinner. Two young children, a boy that looked to be about eight years old and a girl who appeared to be about two years younger sat at a table with someone who must be their mother and Wilhelm Schlater. The tranquil, domestic scene, made me doubt that he could possibly have anything to do with the death of Irene. But looks can be deceiving.

I lingered too long taking in the scene as I suddenly heard the wife scream. Schlater jumped up from the table, glaring at me before I could duck and run. I stumbled, rushing down the hill and finally reached Teddy, grabbed his hand and kept moving. I heard the front door open and the sound of a shouting voice.

‘What happened?’ Teddy said.

‘Not now. Just run,’ I urged.

I wouldn’t let Teddy stop until we reached Towncenter, where we collapsed on a bench to catch our breaths. I cast nervous glances in the direction we’d just traveled. After five minutes, I felt fairly certain we had not been followed.

‘That was too close,’ Teddy said.

‘Yes. But we found out what we needed to know.’

‘Did he see you?’

‘Definitely,’ I admitted.

‘Did he recognize you?’

‘I don’t know. I looked back when I heard the front door opening. He had to have seen you, too. Do you think he would recognize you?’

‘I don’t know. I doubt it. I was just one student in a crowded auditorium.’

‘But, we’ve been seen together a lot. If he recognized me, he could probably find out who you are. We’d better not be seen in each other’s company for a few days,’ I said.

Teddy sighed deeply. ‘You’re probably right. But I’ll worry about you.’

‘Don’t. I’ll keep my eyes open. If I have a problem, I’ll get word to you, one way or another. Otherwise, avoid me.’

I walked away, turning back once to see that Teddy hadn’t moved from the bench. Because of the distance, I could no longer discern his expression but his shoulders slumped, making him look like a lost little boy. Was Teddy that rattled by the near confrontation? Or was the idea of not spending time with me making him distraught? Not seeing him made me feel sad, too.

All day Thursday, I kept waiting for some sort of commotion over our escapade the night before. Every time anyone walked into the lab, my nerves jangled in response. I expected to look up and see Wilhelm Schlater glaring at me from the doorway again. When nothing happened all day, I was more relaxed on Friday but still maintained a state of vigilance. I didn’t pay a lot of attention when Charlie walked into the lab with a pot-bellied man in a suit. A few minutes later, that man was at my elbow and Charlie was nowhere in sight.

‘Mr Morton told me you impressed G.G. That is quite an accomplishment.’

I flipped over the papers in front of me. I didn’t know who he was and wasn’t about to assume he was authorized to view my work. My stomach fluttered and a jolt of adrenaline coursed through my veins. With his bushy mustache, button nose and bespectacled eyes, he looked harmless enough; but, then a good spy wouldn’t appear sinister, would he? ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ I said, ‘but shouldn’t you be with Mr Morton?’

‘Relax, Miss Clark. I’m Dr Ottinger and I am authorized to view your facility here. Mr Morton had a phone call and told me I was free to look around.’ He chuckled. ‘You think I’m trying to commit an act of espionage? I’m just not the sneaky type. I came over to talk to you because you reminded me of my first love in college.’

His pleasant demeanor did not reassure me. To the contrary, it ratcheted up my anxiety and left me speechless. Was he a spy? Or was this a test?

He placed his chubby fingers on my forearm and gave it a pat. ‘It’s a much more dangerous world out there than it was when I was your age. Be careful at all times, Miss Clark, and trust no one.’ He turned and walked toward Charlie’s office just as Charlie emerged.

‘I’ve got to get back to work, Charlie,’ Ottinger said.

‘I’ll walk you out,’ Charlie said, nodding at me when he noticed I was staring at them.

Then they were gone. I blew out a forceful exhalation that was louder than I thought it would be – loud enough to capture Gregg’s attention. He tilted his head to one side, giving me a quizzical look. I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. Inherently, there was nothing wrong with anything Ottinger had said. Still, somehow, it made me feel uneasy and disoriented. What hidden purpose lay behind his warning?

By the time Saturday came and went without any other untoward or unsettling occurrence, I relaxed in relief. Looked like we wouldn’t have to pay a price for our clumsy spying.

Monday morning arrived with sunny skies and warmer temperatures than we’d had for weeks. The improved weather seemed like a good omen. I was filled with optimism, excited about the prospect of the work week ahead and eager to push forward with the investigation in my spare time.

When the boom lowered, it seemed so inappropriate, so out of place on such a promising day. I first realized that something was amiss when a uniformed man appeared at the door of the lab. The soldier whispered to Charlie Morton, who walked over to me and said, ‘We’re both needed over at the administrative building, Miss Clark. This soldier will drive us there.’

He never called me Miss Clark to my face. Something serious was afoot. I glanced at Gregg Abbott, then followed Charlie out of the building. At the outside door, I removed my shoes and slipped into my galoshes – the return of warmer temperatures had heralded the arrival of the treacherous mud.

The soldier drove to the castle on the hill and led us up to the top floor and to the office of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas T. Crenshaw. In the foyer, the secretary told Charlie to go right in and asked me to take a seat. At first, I clung to the vague hope that this summons had something to do with our work. Maybe G.G. had questions and wanted answers from Charlie and me. Maybe there were changes that needed to be made and we were being consulted. I couldn’t hold on to those fantasies for long. The fact that I was left waiting alone made it clear. I suspected that everyone in the room was now being briefed about the problem with Libby Clark. I was in trouble – big trouble – and it had to involve Wednesday night’s events or some other aspect of the investigation into Irene’s death.

I ran through the periodic table in a futile attempt to remain calm, but I was so rattled, I kept losing my place. I started over from the beginning, again and again. I sucked in a harsh breath, making a small gasping sound when the door to the inner office finally opened. Teddy walked out the door with a soldier by his side. He gave me a quick sidelong glance and mouthed ‘sorry’ as he was led out into the hallway. I didn’t have much time to worry about the significance of his presence in the room. Moments later, the door opened again.

‘Miss Clark,’ another soldier ordered.

I rose, smoothed my skirt and walked through the doorway. I looked first at the big glass windows of the office, taking in the sight of Oak Ridge spread out below. It looked far more massive from here than it did on the ground.

A uniformed man with an oak leaf on each shoulder – presumably the lieutenant colonel – sat behind the desk with a rigid military posture, even the brown and gray bristles on his head stood at attention. Brown eyes stared straight ahead and his hands folded together on his desk. ‘Miss Clark, please have a seat,’ he said nodding in the direction of the plain oak chair that looked out of place amid the other leather, tufted chairs and the burled walnut desk.

I summoned my dignity and did my best to make a gracious descent despite the shaking in my legs. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘I’m Lieutenant Colonel Crenshaw and we would like to ask you a few questions.’

I looked around the room at an array of suits and uniforms – except for Charlie who was still in his lab coat, looking pale and drawn. He would not meet my eyes. Dr Bishop was there, too – he looked at me, nodded and greeted me with a tight smile. I didn’t know the names of any of the others and they didn’t bother to introduce themselves. ‘It has come to our attention, Miss Clark, that you and your colleague, a chemist named Teddy Mullins, have conspired in a rogue investigation of a scientist, who for security reasons has been given a code name by the government. Uncovering his real identity is a serious violation of security.’

He only mentioned Teddy. Does that mean Teddy didn’t name names? That they don’t know anything about the others? I could only hope that was true and answer accordingly. ‘Teddy recognized him from his days at the University of Chicago. We knew his identity.’

‘Then, why were you spying on him, Miss Clark?’

‘We wondered if he was married,’ I said, hoping a piece of the truth would disarm them.

‘Who are you working for, Miss Clark?’

‘No one, sir. I am not a spy.’

‘Who are you reporting to?’

‘No one, sir.’

‘Then why do you have any interest in Dr Smith?’

‘My only interest in him is finding out whether or not he had anything to do with the murder of Irene Nance.’

‘Why do you think that has anything to do with you?’

‘Because our local police force will not investigate because they are certain the crime happened outside of the fence in Knox County. And the sheriff’s department said they will not investigate because they are certain the murder happened in Oak Ridge and the body was only dumped in their jurisdiction to confuse law enforcement.’

‘What our police force or sheriff’s department does or doesn’t do is irrelevant, Miss Clark. You were told to stop your investigation.’

‘But, sir, I made a commitment. I promised the family of Irene Nance that I would give them answers regarding her death. Since no one in authority is interested in finding those answers, I had no choice in the matter. I had to pursue it.’

‘You were given specific orders.’

‘I know what I was told to do, sir. People were throwing around patriotic platitudes like candy at a Christmas parade. But not one person offered up one fact about the case that turned it into a genuine security issue. And quite frankly, I owe it to her family to find out why that is. Why that poor girl’s murder does not matter. Why her life had no value. Can you tell me, lieutenant colonel, can you?’

‘I can tell you one thing, young lady, you clearly crossed the line when you began investigating a high-ranking scientist. That is a definite security issue. That does threaten the war effort. You also seem to have no regard for the necessity to maintain high morale in this facility even though that matter was explained to you at great length.’

‘Does this mean you are covering up for Wilhelm Schlater? Are you willing to give him a pass on murder because of the value of his work? Or is it because he’s connected to someone rich or powerful?’

Crenshaw slammed a fist down on his desk with force, causing a pen to skid across the surface and land on the floor. ‘Enough! This will stop right now. I am ordering you to cease and desist in this investigation from this moment forward.’

I was raised by a mother who taught me that you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. Had none of these men ever heard that from their parents? If so, were they intentionally trying to provoke me? ‘Sir, I must respectfully remind you that I am not in the military. Since I am not, you cannot court martial me and I am not required to obey your orders, even if this is war time.’

The smile that slid across Crenshaw’s face churned up nausea in my stomach. ‘Of course you aren’t military, Miss Clark. You would have never survived in that environment. Mr Morton?’