While we learned a great deal from watching Mrs. Greenhow during the day, I knew there was more to be learned by watching her at other times too. If she was entangling herself with generals and senators, she wasn’t doing it at dinner parties but in more secret places.
So one night, I set myself the task of watching her. I told Tim what I was doing, and he offered to do it instead, but I insisted. If caught, it would be far easier for me to come up with a plausible story than it would be for him. Besides, I was finding the closeness of our hotel room a bit excessive, and spending a few nighttime hours outside on my own would be welcome.
As I suspected, after dark had fully fallen, Mrs. Greenhow slipped out the back door of her house and down the street. I tailed her, calling upon my old tracking techniques, and fetched up only a few blocks away in front of a familiar house that belonged to Senator Wilson.
A door opened, feeding a slice of light into the darkness, and she disappeared inside. I had no idea how long I’d be waiting, but in the meantime, I’d have plenty of time to think as I lurked in the dark.
I thought first of Graham DeForest, who I’d tracked so long ago. Last I’d known, Pinkerton had put him on a long-term assignment in southern Illinois, traveling between the small towns on the railroad to suss out any evidence of sabotage, the region being such an important gateway to Missouri and Kentucky, not to mention Arkansas and Tennessee. Communication hadn’t been good, and we weren’t encouraged to communicate without a solid purpose in any case. Still, he’d been a good friend, and I hoped against hope he’d make it through this war alive. Doubt flickered in my mind: perhaps he’d make it, and I wouldn’t. No one could know.
The breezeless summer evening turned into pitch-dark night, and I watched and watched. The progress of my targets was easily tracked by watching the light and shadows in each room, the movement of curtains, things that were obvious to anyone who was watching. If they assumed no one was paying attention, they were fools. Perhaps he was a fool anyway. If she was seducing him in exchange for military secrets, only one fool was required. She clearly didn’t care whether people talked about her; she had the town wrapped around her finger. The society ladies sometimes whispered behind their fans about her reputation, but they always, always went to her parties.
The shadow I knew to be Mrs. Greenhow passed in front of the window and drew near the shadow I believed to be the senator, until one could not be told apart from the other. I thought of Little Rose. Did she wake in the night, wondering where her mother was? Or was there a servant close by who would respond to her cries more quickly and care for her better? I tried to put thoughts of Little Rose out of my mind. More than Mrs. Maroney’s daughter Violet, her welfare haunted me. If I succeeded in my mission, her mother would go to prison—or worse. I couldn’t let that get in my way.
Dawn was touching the sky when Mrs. Greenhow emerged from the house, drawing her shawl over her head like a hood, to hustle quickly through the semidarkness. I didn’t bother to shadow her back home. I already knew what I needed to know and headed back to the hotel to share it with Tim.
He was still asleep when I arrived. I thought he might take the bed in my absence, knowing I’d be out all night, but he was curled in his nest of blankets on the uncomfortable couch. The couch wasn’t tall enough for his long body, and he’d drawn up his knees toward his stomach, giving him an odd aspect, half giant, half boy. He’d gripped a handful of the blankets tight in one fist. His other hand dangled, open, off the side of the couch, reaching for nothing.
For long moments, I stood over him, watching. He looked innocent this way, but we’d both left innocence behind long ago. Would he do what was necessary, what Mrs. Greenhow did, in order to obtain secrets? Would he take her in his arms, take possession of her naked body, give her possession of his? I didn’t like how that idea made me feel. And yet, I knew I myself would do anything necessary for the sake of our nation. I could not ask less—or more—of him.
I didn’t wake him. Instead, I walked soundlessly to the bed and lay my head down on the pillow. Eventually, I sank into a restless sleep, my head and heart full of confusing ideas.
After weeks, Tim and I reached a shared conclusion. We could learn nothing more from mere social contact, but we knew there was a very good chance Mrs. Greenhow had something to hide. Any such evidence would have to be found in her house, and we would have to find it ourselves.
And so, we made a plan. The next time she hosted a gathering at her lovely mansion at Thirteenth and I Street, we would find a way to search the house. Anything we found, we would leave in place, then take our next steps based on what we had discovered. If we found nothing, we would be no worse off than we already were, wondering every day if our mission was a fool’s pursuit or if we were only a heartbeat away from making a substantial difference in the future of this terrible war. Could we save lives? Or were we just marking time, following a blind alley? Something bolder had to be done if we were to find out for sure.
We managed to sneak away separately. First I left, pretending to search out water to clean a spot on my skirt, and then he melted away from a conversation and stepped backward through an open door at an opportune moment. Our destination was a small office, unlocked, near the back bedrooms. My heart hammered in my chest.