“No, you don’t understand. She’s been arrested again, and this time she’s been sent to jail for three months!”
“Where did you hear this?”
“I got a telephone call this morning from someone at the Woman’s Party headquarters in Washington. They said forty-one of the demonstrators had been arrested yesterday, and that the judge sentenced them to three months in the district jail.”
This was a much longer sentence than the women had ever received before, but still not cause for alarm. “I assume my mother was among them.”
“They haven’t telephoned you?”
“No, but perhaps they tried to reach me at home. I don’t understand. I thought the demonstrators had been released yesterday. That’s what the newspapers said.”
“They were released, but they went right back to the White House, and the police arrested them again. At least that’s what they told me on the telephone.” David was a tall man, but he suddenly seemed to shrink, as if all the air had gone out of him.
“Sit down and we’ll sort this out.”
“Poor Anna. The thought of her locked up in some awful jail . . .” He rubbed a hand over his face.
Gideon took David’s arm and forced him toward the closest chair. “Sit.”
He sank into it wearily. He looked like he’d been running his fingers through his fair hair. Or maybe he just hadn’t combed it yet this morning. “I didn’t want her to go. I knew something like this would happen.”
“Of course something like this would happen,” Gideon said. “The women get arrested regularly, and just as regularly, they get released.”
“They didn’t release that woman, what’s her name? The one who’s on the hunger strike.”
“Miss Paul. But she’s one of the leaders. They won’t keep Anna.”
“How do you know? They’ve never sentenced any of them to such a long term before.” David looked up at him, despair clouding his pale blue eyes. He was a complete mess. He hadn’t even shaved yet. “We have to get her out, Gideon. If anything happens to her, it will kill Mother.”
“Nothing is going to happen to her. My mother is with her, and she’ll look after her. They’ll probably be released today in any case. I’ll telephone some attorneys I know down there and find out what’s going on.”
“Would you? I’d be very grateful.”
They both started when someone knocked on the door. The clerk who had escorted David stuck his head in. “Mr. Bates, there is a telephone call for you from Washington City. They said it’s very important.”
“That’s probably headquarters calling to tell you about the arrests,” David said.
Gideon followed the clerk out to the front office, picked up the candlestick telephone from the desk and held the earpiece to his ear. “Hello? This is Gideon Bates.”
The operator connected him to a member of the Woman’s Party, who told him what he already knew.
“They were sentenced to three months in the district jail, but they aren’t there,” she concluded.
“Then they’ve already been released.”
“No, they haven’t been released. They’ve been taken somewhere else, but we don’t know where yet.”
“Someplace else? You mean they’re still in custody?”
“As far as we know. We have our attorney working to locate them.”
Dear Lord, this was ridiculous. Couldn’t anyone down there do anything right? “You know that I’m an attorney.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Tell whoever is in charge now that I will be taking the first train to Washington. You may expect me at headquarters later today.”
Gideon took a moment to get control of himself before he went back to David.
David jumped to his feet the instant Gideon stepped into the conference room.
“They told me the same thing they told you, that the women were sentenced to three months in jail. Did they tell you where they’re being held?”
David frowned in confusion. “I told you, the district jail.”
“Well, they aren’t there, and the women at headquarters don’t know where they are.”
“What does that mean?”
“I have no idea, but it can’t be good. I’m going straight to Washington to see if I can get this straightened out. I’ll telephone you the moment I know anything.”
“I’ll go with you!”
“No, I think it’s better if you stay here, at least for now. I’m not sure who will be the most help, and I might need you to see some people here in the city. While you’re waiting to hear from me, try to find out where Mrs. Belmont is.”
“That harpy! This is all her fault. If she hadn’t given the Woman’s Party all that money—”
“For God’s sake, don’t say that to her! She might not be married to a Vanderbilt anymore, but she still has plenty of influential friends, and you’ll crawl to her on your hands and knees if you have to.”
David pulled a face, but he nodded. “I’ll do whatever I must to save Anna.”
“Good. Now go home and try to keep your mother calm. You’ll hear from me soon.”
Gideon opened the door to the conference room to find his clerk, Smith, ready to knock. “Mr. Devoss would like to see you, sir,” he reported with a great deal of apprehension.
“Does he know I have a client waiting?”
Smith nodded. “That’s why he wants to see you.”
Gideon drew a calming breath and marched down the hall to the large office where the senior partner held court. The clerk in Devoss’s outer office nodded and indicated he should go right in.
Devoss sat behind his enormous desk looking like a thundercloud about to explode.
“You wanted to see me, sir?” Gideon said with as much confidence as he could muster.
“Givens tells me you left a client alone in your office to take care of some personal business.”
“David Vanderslice came to inform me that his sister has been arrested with the suffragettes in Washington City.” Devoss knew David well. All the old families knew each other well. Devoss was even some kind of cousin to the Vanderslices, Gideon recalled.
“David allowed his sister to demonstrate with those women?” Devoss asked, outraged. “What was he thinking?”
“I don’t—”
“And what did he think was going to happen if she paraded herself in front of the White House with those unnatural females? He’s lucky she was only arrested. At least she’ll be safe in jail.”
“That’s the problem, sir. Even though the women were sentenced to three months in the district jail, they’ve been taken someplace else, and no one knows where they are.”
“What do you mean, no one knows? Someone knows. This is the American justice system we’re talking about. Prisoners don’t just disappear.”
“These prisoners apparently have, sir.”
“That’s preposterous, and if they have disappeared, it’s their own fault. They have no business challenging the United States Government. Why would women want the vote anyway? Men have taken perfectly good care of them for centuries. They can’t believe they could do a better job of it.”