“It’s not a secret, if that’s what you mean. It made the papers here and there, usually in the gossip lines. I’ll admit to a weakness for them, at the end of the day—sometimes I sit in bed with whatever dreadfuls or magazines I can find, so long as the stories have nothing at all to do with the war. And I’ll read them cover to cover, even if they aren’t very good or very interesting. Just … spare me from the casualty reports, troop movements, and mentions of the Mason-Dixon. ” She sighed. “A few months ago I saw a paragraph or two, that’s all—no more than that, surely—saying that you’d moved up north and taken up detecting. ”
“I wonder who wrote it. I wonder why anyone knew, or cared. ”
Sally shrugged and said, “People are nosy; it isn’t any more complicated than that. You were a celebrity—a golden child, weren’t you? And then … you weren’t. Actually”—she smiled— “I thought it was interesting. I read about your exploits when I was younger—when we both were. You were such a character, like someone lifted from one of my dreadfuls. ”
Maria eyed the diminutive officer, and estimated that she was likely in her mid-forties. A bit older than herself, but not much. “It’s been a long war,” she said.
“That is has. ” The captain was eyeing Maria back. For a moment, she didn’t say anything. Then she came to some conclusion, and pulled her chair forward so they could speak more closely. “It seems unlikely, but…” she began quietly.
“But?” Maria leaned in closer.
“But you might be just what I need right now. So improbable … but sometimes that’s the way the world works. Maybe the unexpected is all we can count on, given the state of things. But tell me the truth: Why did the Pinkertons send you to me? Answer that first—and depending on your answer, perhaps I’ll give you the keys to the kingdom. ” Then she cast a brief glance at the door, and added in a mumble, “I can’t keep them much longer. Not here, and not like this. I have to give them to someone. ”
Almost too eagerly, Maria replied. “I’m here because a scientist in Washington, D. C. , made a machine designed to think like a man, but much faster and much more efficiently. The
machine can’t lie; it can only report its calculations, and it says that neither the North nor South will win the war—but both sides will lose to a coming plague. ”
“The wheezers…” Sally breathed, her lips scarcely moving to form the word.
“Up North they call them stumblebums, or sometimes lepers—or some variation. I’ve heard guttersnipe lepers and goldenrod lepers; and I’ve heard them called pollen-heads too, though I don’t know where that designation comes from. ”
“I do. And if you like, I’ll show you—but it isn’t pretty: Around the nostrils, ears, lips, and other orifices … the wheezers collect a yellowish, grainy substance that accumulates uncomfortably unless it’s washed away. ”
“Dear God. ”
“I said it wasn’t pretty. But tell me more about this machine. ”
“Well, it was saying we should end the war, and turn the full attention of both governments toward addressing this mutual threat—at least, until someone tried to kill the man who made it. Someone, somewhere, does not want the Union or the CSA to hear its analysis. ”
Sally nodded unhappily. “Must be someone who makes quite a lot of money off the conflict. ”
“You might as well assume; no matter how hard I try, I can’t imagine any other excuse big enough. One of the first things I learned as an operative was to chase the money. See where it flows, see where it pools. See who’s pouring it out, and who’s collecting it. ”
Conspiratorially, the captain asked, “And what have you learned so far? About the money behind the attempted murder, I mean. ”
“Precious little,” she confessed. “I only just arrived in D. C. last night, in time for an awkward briefing and a change of clothes. ”
“Why was it awkward?” Sally asked.
Maria mentally weighed the truth against the potential cost. But she’d gotten this far by being straightforward, so she stayed the course. She kept her voice as soft as possible, while still making herself heard. “Because Abraham Lincoln is the man who hired me. It was a real shock, let me tell you. ”
Sally’s eyes went wide. “No doubt!”
“But this is what I believe, Captain: Lincoln is working to end the war; he’s struggling to protect this innocent scientist, whose family was kidnapped—though the Pinks are working on that, and I’m told that the missing people have been recovered. The former president is investing a great deal of his personal fortune in a peaceful future, and he’s leveraging every ounce of his remaining reputation to bring this war to a halt. He believes in the machine and the man who built it, but his resources are limited. He no longer commands the federal army, so now he can only buy agents like myself—unless he wants to rely on the Secret Service, which he apparently doesn’t. ”
“But he asked for you?”
“To no one’s greater surprise than my own. ”
Sally put her elbows down on the desktop and frowned thoughtfully. “Now that I’ve had a moment to consider it, I’m not sure I’m surprised at all. You’re perfect for his purposes, just like you’re perfect for mine. ”
Genuinely confused, she asked, “How so?”
“Southern in sympathy, from sheer habit if nothing else, but carrying the clout and the badge of a Northern authority. I think Lincoln gambled on you, hoping that you still care enough about the South to help him defeat it, just in time to save it. And save the rest of the world, too. ”
“That’s a grim thing to say. Particularly grim coming from you, Captain. How much of your own fortune have you lost to prolonging the war—cycling these boys back out to the front?”
“All of it, and then some. At present, the hospital operates on research grants and foreign investment funds, mostly doctors and universities overseas who want to know the secret of our survival rate. I have nothing left of my own, and when the war ends, I do not know what will become of me. But the war does need to end. And you know as well as I do that the CSA is a sinking ship. The only question left is how far it will fall, and how many can be saved before it’s lost altogether. ”