Scandal in the Secret City (17 page)

A
fter work the next day, I stoked up the fire in the coal stove in the living room and put on a pot of water as soon as I walked in the front door. Hot tea was the perfect antidote to a nippy night, filling me with a delightful warmth with each swallow and driving the stiffness out of my fingers as I held the cup tight in my hands.

As soon as my digits felt limber, I picked up stationary, a pen and the letter I had received from Ruth the previous week. I reread the chatty correspondence, chuckling about the convoluted and subtle way Ruth had referred to her sister’s murder. To the censors, it had to sound like nothing more than the nearly meaningless babble of a shallow young woman.

Ruth’s craftiness in her composition was impressive. I would have never thought that my open, honest friend was at all capable of subterfuge. Nonetheless, there it was in her own handwriting – words veiled and cloaked but with an underlying meaning as clear as a glass of spring water to me. Ruth needed to know about her sister’s death. She wanted to know if I’d made any progress in finding the culprit. The not knowing filled Ruth with an anxiety that magnified her grief. Her silent scream for justice lurked between every line.

I mimicked Ruth’s nonchalant tone as I drafted my response, taking care not to use any specific names like Y-12 or Alpha or Beta laboratories. I hoped my meaning was as clear to Ruth as Ruth’s had been for me:

Dear Ruthie,

The weather here continues to be dreadful – frigid, icy and only the smallest glimpses of sunshine. The silver lining in the cloud is that the colder it remains, the harder the mud freezes. I haven’t heard of anyone losing a shoe in the mud all month. Ha! Ha!

I miss you a lot, Ruthie, and wish you were here. I often long for you to be here to talk over problems with me. But I have made a new group of friends – some scientists from my building. Yes, they are all fellas and I’m the only girl but NO, I’m not stepping out with any one of them.

I get together with my new friends and we discuss different problems and seek solutions. Of course, we cannot talk about work since we are from different areas, but you’d be amazed at how adept they are at applying scientific method to basic, everyday problems. If one gave them a mystery to solve, I’m sure, given a little time, they could solve the toughest one you could imagine. Maybe I should ask them to find out what is really in that loaf they serve in the cafeteria. Ha! Ha! But their conclusions could very well get them in hot water. None of them would care though – finding answers is more important to them than facing the consequences. That’s one of the things I really like about them.

Keep warm, Ruthie, and the next time you have a sip of Jack Daniels think of poor, dry me.

Your friend always,

Libby

At 10:30 the next morning, I slipped away from the lab to speak to Ann Bishop. I found her at her desk pounding away on the typewriter. ‘Hi, Ann,’ I said. ‘Got a minute?’

‘Oh, do I! My mother just called and wanted me to ask you to dinner tonight.’

‘Tonight? Really?’

‘Yes. She’s so excited. After endless days of meatless spaghetti, tuna casserole and vegetable mishmash, she was the first person in line at the grocery store this morning and got ground beef, ground pork and ground veal to make a meatloaf. She couldn’t believe her good fortune and she wanted you to share it with us.’ Ann laughed and said, ‘Sometimes, I wonder if she thinks that working all day with a bunch of men puts too much temptation in your path and without a mother-figure in your life, you might forget the need to protect your reputation and your chastity.’

I tried not to show any dismay at that remark, hoping there wasn’t any truth in it.

‘Oh, don’t look so shocked, Libby. I was just joking. Mom likes you, that’s all. And she wants to have you to dinner.’

‘That’s very nice of her. Please tell her that I will gladly accept her invitation.’

‘Swell! Now what brought you to my desk?’ Ann asked.

‘You know how it is with those men I work with?’

‘Oh, yeah, they think just ’cause they’re men, they’re smarter.’

‘You got it. You wanna help me get back at them?’

‘Soitently, pal.’

‘I need a list of all the scientists working at Y-12. Can you get that?’

Ann narrowed her eyes. ‘What’s this all about, Libby?’

‘I’m saying that the most common male name in this place is Bill.’

‘You could be right. But it might be Tom.’

‘That’s what a couple of the guys say. Another one says Charlie.’

‘But what if I give you the list and you’re wrong.’

‘In that case, there would be a second part to the favor,’ I continued.

Ann cocked her head to the side, ‘What do you mean?’

‘You could leave off a name here or there and where would they go to prove that I’m wrong?’

Ann grinned. ‘Me?’

‘And what will you tell them?’

‘I’m not authorized to provide that information, sir. You’ll have to make a request through your supervisor.’

‘Exactly,’ I said, smiling at her quickness to fall for my scheme. ‘That means they would have to go through the building getting every single name. And with the racetrack about to be up and running again, they’re going to be far too busy.’

‘Swell. I’ll try to get it ready for you before lunch.’

‘Don’t take time from anything you need to be doing.’

‘No worries, Libby. Nobody ever yells at me ’cause nobody wants to have to explain why to my dad.’

Ann surprised me by providing a typed document. I’d expected a hastily scrawled list of names that would be difficult to read.

‘And you were right, Libby. If you count up all the men named William, Wilbur, Wilfred – well, maybe we shouldn’t count the Wilfreds, people usually call them Freddie. But even without them the Bills win.’

Now that I had what I wanted, I inwardly cringed at how easy it had been to manipulate Ann. I ran down the list looking for the men I knew were not married. That left a lot whose marital status was unknown to me and even more I didn’t know at all. Hopefully, my fellow molecules could help me cull the list down a bit more.

That evening, I drove the car to the Bishop home. It was a bitterly cold night and I knew Mrs Bishop would insist that her husband give me a ride home after dinner. And I certainly did not want to be alone in a car with Dr Bishop, where he could question me again about security’s interest in my actions.

I received another warm welcome from Ann’s mother who once again lived up to her sterling reputation as a cook. Dinner was fabulous. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a tastier meatloaf. Everything went as usual until the end of the meal.

Dr Bishop rose to his feet and said, ‘Mother, Ann, if you will excuse us, I would like to have a private word with Miss Clark in the living room. I would really not like to be disturbed.’

A lump lodged in my throat. I swallowed hard but it wouldn’t go away. Did Ann mention what she did for me today? Was he going to ask me to never return to his home? Had he heard news that I’d soon be sent packing?

I trailed after him with all the enthusiasm of a condemned man heading for the noose. I remained standing, not knowing what to do until Dr Bishop said, ‘Have a seat, Libby.’

I slumped into the nearest chair and summoned up the courage to meet his eyes. ‘Yes sir, is there something on your mind?’

‘There is, Libby. I imagine you are aware that you are under unusual scrutiny at this time.’

‘Yes, sir. I certainly am. I think it’s unwarranted but—’

‘I am not here to chastise you for anything you have done or you’ve been accused of doing. I consider myself a good judge of character and I don’t find yours lacking.’

‘Thank you for your confidence in me, sir.’

‘You’ve earned that, Miss Clark. And although I’ve been questioned about you more than once, I do not want to put you in a position where you’ll feel the need to defend yourself.’

‘I could—’ I began.

‘Quite frankly, the less I know the better. You do understand that, don’t you?’

‘Yes sir,’ I said, as my guts clenched tight waiting for him to drop the ‘but’ and all that followed it.

‘But, I wanted to talk with you about two things. First, although I initially decided to keep this to myself, I think you should know that I have been asked to report back on every visit you make to my home.’

‘Have you agreed to do that?’ I asked, working hard to keep my feelings of alarm out of my voice and facial expression.

‘Yes. But I am telling you because you have never done anything here that is questionable in any way. You’ve always behaved like a lady and a professional. I’ve assured them that I have never heard you mention a word about our work in the presence of my wife or daughter. And I’ll repeat that in my reports about your visits. I simply felt you had a right to know about this.’

‘Thank you, sir. It is kind of you to inform me.’

‘How could I do less for a fellow scientist?’ he said with a smile that seemed a bit condescending. Still I smiled back.

‘The other matter is my daughter. As I said, I don’t know what you are involved in, but I do want to make it clear that I do not want you to drag my daughter into your problem in any way.’

Oh dear. Did Ann tell him about the list? ‘I would not intentionally do anything to hurt Ann.’

‘I have no reason to believe you have done so,’ he said to my great relief. ‘Nonetheless, I wanted to make my feelings clear. I do not want my daughter compromised in any manner. She is not as educated as you. She is far more naive than you. As her father, I want your assurances that you will not involve her in any manner.’

My conscience screamed for a confession that I’d already involved Ann but my common sense prevailed. ‘I promise, sir, that in no time in the future will I ever get Ann involved in anything that is the least bit questionable.’ It wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t the complete truth either; I added deceit onto the list of forgiveness items for my nightly prayers.

After the conversation, I escaped to the kitchen where Ann pressed to know what her father wanted. Fortunately, Mrs Bishop gave me an easy out. ‘I imagine it was about work, Ann. You know scientists can’t share information about their work with the rest of us. That’s what it was, wasn’t it, Libby?’

I was chagrined over how easy it was to say, ‘Yes.’

W
alking out to the car for the drive home, I suppressed the urge to jump in the air and click my heels. It had been far easier than I thought it would be to turn the conversation away from Ann’s line of questioning and onto the Bishops’ trip at Christmastime. Ann washed, I dried and Mrs Bishop put away the dishes while memories of the family’s recent holiday trip rolled off the older woman’s tongue.

That woman certainly was a talker. It was difficult to feign interest as Mrs Bishop talked about people I didn’t know: Aunt Flossie and her bunions, Uncle Freddy’s death, a cousin’s latest letter from the front and the two – or was that three? – new babies that were added to the clan in recent months. Fortunately, I was able to pay enough attention to ask the right question at the right time.

‘Mrs Bishop, I can’t help but wonder how you stretched your gasoline ration to travel around to all those households. Weren’t you worried you wouldn’t have enough fuel to make it back home?’

‘Land’s sakes no! It wasn’t a problem at all. The families planned it all out like a military campaign before we arrived. We went straight from here to my mother-in-law’s house on Christmas Eve. They delivered us to the next stop – and so on, down the line. Like a relay race. It was really lots of fun. We didn’t get back to Mr Bishop’s parent’s home – and our car – until the afternoon after Christmas. And
that
certainly put a big pout on my little Annie’s face.’

Ann rolled her eyes. ‘Please, Mom,’ she said and turned to me. ‘I accidently left my tube of lipstick in the back seat of our car. I wanted to swing by and get it – we were awfully close when we went to Aunt Minnie’s. I couldn’t understand why it was out of the question.’

Mrs Bishop crinkled up her nose and pinched Ann’s cheeks. ‘Isn’t she just the cutest thing? I tell her at her age she doesn’t need any face paint – she’s as pretty as she can be without it.’

Ann lightly swatted at her mother’s arm. ‘Mother!’ she moaned, before grabbing my hands and dragging me out of the kitchen.

After tonight, I could officially scratch Dr Bishop off of my suspect list. His name wasn’t Bill, and knowing he was out of town and unable to sneak back on Christmas night because he didn’t have access to his automobile made it scientific certainty. Who else on the list would have been away at Christmas under similar circumstances, unable to make a surreptitious trip back to Oak Ridge? It was satisfying to know, that without trying tonight, I’d actually made the list shorter. Somehow, I was going to find answers for Irene’s family. As I drove home, I thought I might smile through my dreams.

That sense of well-being dissipated the moment I pulled up to the house. A large shape blocked the steps leading up to my home. It moved. It was alive. It was a man. Should I restart the car and zoom away? But where would I go? Who could I turn to for help?

Cautiously, I stepped out of the car, standing for a moment by the open door. Then I shut it and walked toward the steps. I shuddered as a voice called out, ‘Libby!’

It was a familiar voice but whose? ‘Who’s there?’ I asked.

‘It’s Teddy from Alpha – your fellow Walking Molecule, at your service.’

What in heaven’s name was he doing here? ‘Hi, Teddy. What are you doing out here in the cold?’

‘I’m hoping you’ll let me inside before my jaw freezes shut. I learned some information tonight that I thought you’d want to know.’

‘I didn’t lock the door, Teddy. You could have gone right inside. In fact, I wish you had, you could have gotten the place toasty before I returned.’

‘Libby, don’t ever leave your door unlocked again.’

‘Nobody locks up here, Teddy. We’re not in a big city,’ I said pushing open the door and stepping inside.

‘Yes, but there is a killer on the loose and he could be looking for you. Promise me until he’s found, you will lock your door.’

‘Teddy …’

‘Please! If you don’t promise, I’ll have to camp out on your steps every night.’

‘All right. I promise. Now let’s get that fire going,’ I said and reached for the poker beside the stove. Before I could secure it, Teddy had it firmly in his grasp.

‘I’ll take care of that,’ he said. ‘Think maybe you could make us something warm to drink like some coffee or whatever you’ve got around that you pretend is coffee?’

‘I still have some of the good stuff left from Christmas. I’ll fix us both a cup.’

Was there something suspicious about Teddy’s presence here tonight? Or could I accept what he said at face value. I was on edge and startled when he spoke, nearly dropping the coffee cups I’d pulled from the cupboard. He stood in the entryway to the kitchen with the coal scuttle dangling from the fingers of one hand. ‘I used up all your coal in your stove. I thought I’d refill it for you so you’d have some for the morning.’

‘Oh, there’s no need, Teddy.’

‘Really, I don’t mind. And my mother will never forgive me if I didn’t act like a gentleman once in a while,’ he said with a grin.

‘Well then, be my guest. Grab the flashlight by the door. The coal bin is that little thing at the foot of the stairs that looks like a dog house.’

He walked back inside just as I was carrying a tray with a coffee pot, a small plate of cookies and two cups and saucers into the living room. ‘Sorry, but I don’t have any sugar. I used every last crystal to make these.’

‘I like it without, anyway. And cookies? What a treat. Thank you.’

We sat down in chairs on opposite sides of the stove. ‘Well, Teddy, you sat out in the cold waiting for me. I have a hard time imagining what tidbit of information could possibly be so important that you’d risk frostbite.’

Teddy sipped and sighed. ‘I’ll be honest, Libby. Now that I’m sitting here talking about it, I doubt that it’s all that important.’

And just what did that mean? I forced a polite smile to remain on my face. What was he up to? ‘Really? Why not?’

‘You see, what I learned just made me nervous about where you were tonight and I don’t think I could have slept if I hadn’t made sure you got home safely.’

‘How did you know where I was tonight?’ I asked, my suspicions about his motivation strengthening.

‘Oh, golly, I didn’t mean to alarm you. I didn’t follow you or anything, I swear. It was Ann Bishop. I’m not carrying a torch for her or anything like that. It’s just that I’ve been hoping if I paid her some attention, she’d invite me to dinner at her house sometime. She doesn’t live in the dorm – she lives with her parents and it sounds like her mother’s a pretty good cook.’

Ah, that’s a man for you. I couldn’t help but grin. ‘She most definitely is.’

Teddy sighed. ‘I’ve been to her house once when I picked Ann up to go to a movie. I tried to charm her mother without coming right out and begging for a home cooked meal. So far, no luck, but I keep trying. I often asked Ann what her mother’s making for dinner. When I asked her today, she told me that you were coming to the house.’

‘You were worried about the Bishops?’

‘No, I didn’t think about them. I guess I should have but I didn’t. I wasn’t even worried until I went down to Joe’s and bumped into an engineer named Mike DeVries.’

‘Ugh, DeVries! I had the distinct misfortune of meeting him once and that was enough for a lifetime.’

‘Not exactly my favorite person either. He used to live down the hall from me in the dorm. When he got one of the cemesto houses, his wife moved down to join him. But that Mike is a real drugstore cowboy. Always making passes at every dumb Dora he can find. Didn’t seem to matter that he was married when his wife was out of town but I thought that would change when she moved here. But judging by his conversation tonight, I don’t think it’s made any difference to him at all.’

‘When I met him before Thanksgiving up at the Calutron, he said he knew Irene.’

‘Well, that answers that. When he said that he had a regular dame up until Christmas and finally found a new one to take her place, I asked, Was your last regular girlfriend named Irene? He squinted, glared at me and said, What business is it of yours? Then he threw a buck on the bar and walked out.’

‘Yes, but just because he knew Irene doesn’t mean that he was her regular boyfriend. I can’t imagine what she’d see in a man like him. Why would what DeVries said make you worry about where I was tonight?’

‘I went back to the dorm and it hit me. I rushed over here to look for you. I thought about walking the roads you’d take if you walked home but then realized that if you got a ride home, I wouldn’t recognize the car. And until you pulled up tonight, I didn’t realize you had a car.’

‘Teddy, you’re still not making sense. What hit you?’

‘I remembered where Mike DeVries and his wife lived. They moved into a cemesto just across the street from the Bishops’ house. And I started thinking, what if “Bill” was a phony name? Maybe Irene didn’t know her boyfriend’s real name.’

‘And maybe it was Mike?’

‘Well, yes. But now that you’ve said it, I feel like I really stretched my chain of logic all out of shape.’

‘I can’t argue with that assessment,’ I said with a laugh, amused by his runaway concern. ‘But, you never know. Do you think we need to take a closer look at DeVries?’

‘Well, I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it …’

‘Admit what, Teddy?’

‘I stole his cigarette lighter.’

‘What?’

‘I’ll give it back. It’s part of my plan. You see, tomorrow at lunch, I plan to run up to his house to return it and it’ll give me a chance to talk to his wife when he should be at work. Never know how much you can learn with innocent questions.’

I laughed out loud. ‘That is an outrageous plan.’

Teddy shrugged. ‘Desperate men – desperate times.’

‘Teddy, I think you are a bit too paranoid.’ Suddenly, my suspicions all felt normal in comparison.

‘It seems a natural state to me, considering all the secrecy in this place.’

‘And it is a sneaky plan – brilliant in its own way. But I really think it’s a waste of your time.’

‘Maybe. But I know I’ll feel better if I follow it up. Well, tomorrow should be a busy day and we’ll be meeting again after work. I better get going and let you get your beauty sleep – not that you need it.’

‘Don’t go all lounge lizard on me.’ I was flattered but still …

‘Wouldn’t dream of it. But you take good care of yourself. Be cautious even when it makes you feel stupid. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you.’

‘It sure would destroy the reputation of the Walking Molecules. Experiment declared abysmal failure after death of one of the scientists,’ I joked.

Teddy laughed and then looked into my eyes. ‘It’s more than that, Libby. Much more.’ Before I had a chance to respond, he was gone.

As I prepared for bed, I wondered if I understood the meaning of his parting words. Was he interested in me? He certainly was interesting. Was he really as progressive in his attitudes about women as he seemed? I drifted of to sleep thinking about his smile.