“So you understand that when I say I need you to let me see her, my very life depends on it.”
He sized me up in a long gaze that I refused to meet, knowing there could be pity in it. I couldn’t stand to see him pity me. But he saw my resolve. “Yes. I understand.”
“And?”
“Bring me a pen.”
? ? ?
The Old Capitol Prison, like the nation it served, was divided. The top half of the largest building was naked brick, but from the central line down to the ground, it was whitewashed. Long, low outbuildings, also white, flanked the square prison yard. It seemed quieter and more civilized than Castle Thunder, but I knew I was a biased observer. The difference was that in Castle Thunder, I had braved terror to see my friend, while at Old Capitol, I would flinch at no wrong as long as it was being done to my enemy.
They brought me to the door of the room and ushered me in. It was only a normal door, a normal room. No bars, no cages. She even had a window, with a view down to the street. The sun was so bright outside and the room so dark, I could see only her outline, but I knew her shape by now.
“Another lady to see you,” said the young soldier.
Even before my eyes adjusted to the light, I knew Rose by her voice, as she instantly rejoined, “Her? She’s no lady.”
I stepped into the room and signaled to the young soldier to leave us. After a short hesitation, he did.
Mrs. Greenhow turned and saw me, and cold fury warped her features. “You shanty fast trick,” she said. “Conniving bitch.”
It wouldn’t do to fly off the handle. If I used anger later in my dealings with her, it needed to be deliberate. I surveyed the room to delay my answer. The lady herself wore a fine gown, deep-blue silk with a skirt as broad as a bell, the same one she had worn that morning when I saw her carted off. Behind her was a bench. To my horror, I saw that a small figure was sitting on the bench, and she too was dressed for a parlor, not a prison.
“Little Rose,” I said. “I did not think to see you here. Are you well?”
“Don’t speak to her,” snapped her mother. “Cover your ears, Rose.”
The little girl complied. I wished she were gone from the room, but if this would be my only chance to speak with Mrs. Greenhow, I could not beat around the bush.
The spy went on, “Speak to me, if you must. And I imagine you think you must. Lapdog of the Union law. Whose are you? Whose dog?”
“No one’s.”
“We are all someone’s dog, I suppose,” she said. “Even me.”
“I would not say that.”
“No, you wouldn’t. You never say anything untoward. You never say anything at all.”
“Madam, I say a great deal.”
“Empty words and outright lies. You said you were my friend.”
“As you said you were mine.”
She said, “But only one of us was lying about everything. Annie Armstrong. That’s not your name, is it? I’d bet you’re not even married to that man you said is your husband.”
“Was.”
“What?”
Despite my best efforts, my voice broke as I spoke the words I had not yet had to say out loud. “Was my husband. You killed him.”
“I did not.” She appeared genuinely surprised to hear the accusation, her denial sincere, but I would expect nothing less from her than complete perfection in her lies.
“You did. You told someone you suspected he was a spy, and they found him in Richmond, and they hanged him.”
She folded her arms. “Of course I suspected him. And yes, I reported it. But I didn’t have him killed. When you told me he’d been called to a base in Mississippi, that was the last news I gave my handler, because that’s all I knew. I liked Armstrong, whoever he really was. Why would I do such a thing?”
“Because you’re our sworn enemy. Because we are powerful agents for good, and you can’t stand that.”
“Good?” She laughed, throwing her hands up. “All you mudsills believe yourselves saints. It’s disgusting. At least I know I am a sinner.”
“And now the world will know. I’d like to give you the chance to confess your wrongs.”
“Oh, are you a priest now too?”
“Not that kind of confession.”
“You’ll have no hope of either kind. I know when to keep my mouth shut.”
“You seem to have gotten quite far by opening it. Among other things.”
She bristled. “I did what I needed to do for my country. So did you. What’s the difference between us?”
“I don’t drag my child down into the darkness with me.” I pointed at Little Rose, still with her hands over her ears, patiently following her mother’s command.
“Don’t you dare.” Leaning forward, she brandished her finger at me, her cold fury growing hot. “I love my daughter. I’m trying to make a world where she can be happy.”
“I think the happiest of all were the men you seduced.”
“Shut your mouth. Shut it right now.”
“If you can’t bear to hear things told aloud, I wonder that you could bear to do them in the first place.”
“You disgust me,” she said, her voice a strangled shout. “Get out. I always knew there was something wrong with you; loneliness rises from you like a stench.”
It was the truest thing she said, and it hurt more than anything else. I wanted to sob from the wound, but that was also what she wanted, so I had to deny her.
I cried plenty, back in my room, Tim’s discarded socks still in the corner and the ashes of my father’s burnt-up telegrams in the fireplace.