Chapter 16
They rode down Madison Street, the dim streetlights showing the way. Jack and Ezra followed Garrett as they entered one of the better neighborhoods of Washington. After they had taken Miss Edmonds to the City Watch, Garrett insisted on joining them on their visit to Davis. He had grinned gleefully at the prospect of one of the City’s best-known gentlemen being arrested.
Davis’s residence was a large Italianate home of recent construction. Heavy woodwork cornices hung from the house, painted white against the tan brick. A set of steep steps lead to a green painted door with a large brass knocker. The curtains were all closed, and not a single light could be seen inside. Ezra got down and held Jack’s horse as he painfully pulled himself down from the mare.
Meanwhile, Garrett approached the steps. He held a gun in his hand and knocked on the front door. There was no answer at first, so he began rapping on the door with the butt of his gun. “Mister Davis,” he shouted. “Come on out. I need to talk to you.”
Within a minute, the door opened. An older man holding a lit candle stood there. “Mister Davis is not in, sir,” he said sleepily.
“Who are you?” Garrett asked, trying to look past him and into the house.
“Sir, I am the butler and who might you be?”
“I am Captain Henry Garrett of the City Watch. Your Mister Davis needs to come with me and answer some questions.”
“He has not been in all night. He is staying with friends.” The butler answered him, his impassive expression giving nothing away.
“I would rather find out for myself,” he told the butler. “Come on you two, let’s take a look inside and see if this man is telling us the truth.” Garrett pushed past the butler and walked into the house.
Jack painfully shrugged his shoulders and followed his partner inside.
Garrett and Ezra started to search the house and left the wounded detective at the front door. The entrance was dimly lit by a sputtering oil lamp that had been set aside by the butler. From where he was standing, Jack could see that the house was well furnished. A mosaic tile covered the entry floor. Wide wooden stairs with thick carpeting lead gracefully up to the second floor.
The butler looked harshly at him and said, “This is an unreasonable search of this home. Mister Davis will be most upset.”
Jack said nothing. He reached over and turned the entryway lamp up higher. The sounds of Ezra and Garrett searching the house could be heard.
“As I already told the gentleman, he is out for the evening.”
“Sure he is,” Jack said. “When did he go? After Stevenson showed up? Maybe half an hour ago? How long did it take him to gather his things and take off?”
The butler gulped nervously. “I really don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Ezra!” Jack shouted.
His partner came down the stairs, holding an oil lamp in his hands. “Yes?”
“Any sign of Davis yet?”
“No, there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the house but this butler.”
“Ezra, I want you to go on and search the bedroom. Carefully check the closet and dressers to see if Davis has packed anything recently. He only had a few minutes to get ready before running for it.”
“Will do,” he replied. He disappeared up the flight of stairs.
Garrett soon came down the same hallway. He held his lamp up close to his friend’s pale face. “You’re looking ill. Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?”
“I will in due time,” Jack said resignedly. He put the lamp back down on the table and sat down on the steps. “Our friend here is playing us for fools.”
Garrett looked over the butler with a wary eye. “Maybe I should take him down to the jail and let him do some hard thinking. What do you think?” He pushed the butler roughly in the shoulder.
The butler looked at both of them in bewilderment, licking his lips. “Please, I’ll tell you the truth - Mister Davis left only a few minutes ago.”
“Who came here to warn him?” Garrett asked with a growl.
“We were awakened by Mister Stevenson. Mister Davis then asked me to help him quickly pack some clothes and afterwards he left accompanied by his friend. There’s really nothing else that I can tell you.”
“Ezra!” Jack shouted. “Find anything up there?”
“No!” Ezra shouted back. He came back down the stairs to join them. “The bedroom was highly disarranged. It appears he packed in a hurry.”
“He only took a small bag with him,” the butler added. “I assumed he was not going to be gone long.”
Jack sighed. “It looks like our quarry has fled the coop. We had better go back to talk to Miss Edmonds.” He wasn’t surprised that Davis managed to escape. They had ridden to the City Watch as fast as they could, but they had been hampered by his wound and Ezra having to guard Edmonds.
“What should we do with our friend here?” Garrett asked. “Maybe a few nights in jail will help bring back a few more memories.”
“Forget it,” Jack said flatly. “There’s not enough time to worry about him.”
“Just remember who runs this town,” Garrett spat angrily at the butler. He then turned on his heels and marched out of the front door.
Ezra supported Jack as they left the house. With Garret’s help, he then helped his partner back up on his horse, easing him up onto the saddle. They rode back to the City Watch building as fast as they could.
Jack gritted his teeth as they went down the muddy streets. His arm hurt more than he expected for the minor wound that it was, but he was already beginning to feel better after the initial shock had worn off.
The Watch was mostly empty this time of night, with only a skeleton crew left to guard the prisoners inside. The rest of the men were making rounds to pick up the brawlers and town drunks. Ezra helped Jack from his horse and they followed Garrett inside into the office. The office was the same as they had left it, with Miss Edmonds sitting in the chair and one of Garrett’s men standing at the door guarding her.
She looked up at them and smiled with smug satisfaction. “I guess Davis has gotten away from you.”
Garrett sat down behind his desk and faced Edmonds. He said sharply, “We’ll see about that.” He then lit a cigar and blew the smoke across the room. “Sam,” he motioned to the constable at the door, “I want you to go down to the Secret Service and warn them about Ethan Davis and James Stevenson. We will want the patrols to be on the lookout for him. They will be traveling lightly, and if searched, they will be carrying U.S. Government papers. They must be stopped before they make their way down South.”
With an impassive face, the man jotted down a brief note and then walked out of the room.
Jack sat himself down and pulled the wrappings on his arm tighter. “Miss Edmonds, perhaps you would be kind enough to tell us where Davis went.”
She shook her head and spoke firmly. “Why should I tell you that? I would be happy to see those papers delivered.”
“It would be better for you if you did tell us.”
“I was supposed to deliver those papers,” she said angrily. “If I can’t, then maybe Davis can. At least my job would be done, even if someone else had to do it.”
It was Jack’s turn to shake his head. “Maybe you don’t understand the position you are in. If you haven’t noticed, this country is at war. The government won’t look kindly at a spy and traitor. More than likely, you’ll be hung by your neck until you are dead.”
She didn’t appear to take Jack’s threats seriously. “They couldn’t do that. I’m a woman.”
Garrett chuckled. “Have you ever seen a hanging Miss Edmonds? It’s a nice little dance you’ll do up there after the trapdoor has been dropped. I’ve been to a few myself, and the crowd gets most excited at a hanging. I imagine the newspapers will cover it for quite a while. Plenty of people will come to see the show when a woman gets the rope.”
She looked nervously back and forth between Jack and Garrett.
Garrett continued on and said, “I remember one time the hangman messed up. The poor fool was led up the stairs, crying and pleading his innocence. They put the rope around his neck and let him drop. The damn rope broke and he ended up landing on his ass. The worst part is they had to do it all over again. Now would you like to have something like that happen to you?”
“The captain is right,” Jack said. “It won’t make any difference to them if you are a woman or not. A traitor is a traitor any way you look at it. If you tell us where they have gone, maybe Garrett can work something out and help you.”
She licked her lips. “I suppose it doesn’t matter if I tell you or not; you will never catch Davis in time. I was just acting the part of a courier and was supposed to retrieve the papers on behalf of the State of Virginia. Davis was aware of that, since he was dealing directly them. He was to be paid when I received the papers. He was supposed to keep furnishing us with information as long as he could.”
Jack looked at her sternly. “Courier or not, they will want someone to pin the blame on. You will make a good substitute for Davis if he can’t be found.”
“Look, Miss Edmonds,” Garrett said, “I don’t want to turn you over to the Secret Service unless I have to do so. They will arrest you and bring you to the Capitol Prison.”
“So?” Edmonds said defiantly.
“I understand they don’t have special facilities for women, so it will be an uncomfortable place to stay. If you tell us where he went, then I can stop you from getting put away there.”
She looked suspiciously at Garrett. “Why would you do that?” she asked.
“Because Davis is more important to us right now, and with my delicate sensibilities I don’t want to see a woman hanged.” He smiled at her. “Just tell me what I need to know, and you will be home within a week. You will have to stay here for a few days, and then I can get a pass for you to leave the city. As long as you never come back here, you will be safe.”
“Would you really do that for me?” she asked in disbelief.
“I have a soft spot for women. Why spend your time in that prison and face the possibility of being tried for treason?”
She sighed and looked at Garrett directly. “I’ll give in if you swear my freedom is guaranteed.”
“I can make that promise.”
“Very well, I will tell you. I was supposed to deliver the papers at Harper’s Ferry. There was the fear that if I tried to travel directly south I would be intercepted by a Federal patrol.”
“Why would they make you go to Harper’s Ferry?” Jack asked. “That’s still under Federal control.”
“If they vote to secede, the Virginia State Militia is planning to take the armory there by force.”
Garrett looked pleased. “Good. Now you just wait there Miss Edmonds and I’ll get you your very own room. You can spend a few days here and then you will be freed.” He threw his cigar on the floor and stood up to grind it out. “Jack, now you should go see a doctor.”
“I will,” the detective said, “but first Ezra has to deliver a message for me. Go on and tell Miss Hanson of her brother’s death. Tell her that we will be stopping by in the early morning before we leave for Harper’s Ferry.”
“I will,” Ezra said, getting up to leave.
“I’ll go back to the office after I see the doctor. We have to get some things together first.”
His friend nodded. “Are we going after Davis and Stevenson?”
“There’s nothing else to do.”