Sweetsmoke (27 page)

    "Emoline?
But she died a few weeks ago."

    Like
I say, ma'am, this a different kind of message.

    Sally
Ann Crowe's expression changed to one of wonder. A great intake of air, and she
said, "From beyond the grave!"

    That's
so, ma'am.

    "Go
around back," she said and disappeared into the house closing the door in
his face. He walked around to the back, where he waited. She came out the rear
door and sat to face him, fussing with her hair, as if to fancy up before
receiving the message.

    "Tell
me, tell me about her message," said Sally Ann Crowe, and Cassius thought
that if she had been a child, she would have clapped her hands in anticipation.

    He
could easily have told her something simple and hurried away, but her
enthusiasm brought out the sadist in him.

    Well,
ma'am, it go back alla way to the whole reason you was goin to see Emoline in
the first place, said Cassius, needing her to fill in a few blanks if he was to
pull this off.

    "So
it's about Lawrence. He all right? He not killed?"

    Ah,
there, thought Cassius, something to work with. Sally Ann Crowe had visited
Emoline worried about her husband Lawrence.

    To be
sure. It about Lawrence.

    "Yankees
git him yet?"

    Emoline
say Lawrence be all right, said Cassius.

    Sally
Ann Crowe exhaled. "Emoline must've looked around Heaven for him, and seen
that he warn't there," she said quietly.

    "'Course,
never know where he end up."

    I do
believe that's it exactly, said Cassius. He was flush with power, a white woman
hung on his every word.

    They
give the special ones a high perch up there, and we both know how special
Emoline was, said Cassius.

    "Oh
yes."

    How
he enjoyed exalting Emoline. Sally Anne Crowe would never argue with a message
from beyond. Inside, he was as giddy as a child.

    But
you know Emoline, she may be gone, but she remembers the good folks she left
behind.

    "Dear
Emoline."

    She
tell me she want you to know she lookin out for the special ones.

    "Lord
have mercy, she is a good woman." Sally Ann Crowe smiled a heartbreakingly
innocent smile of pleasure. Oh my, he was enjoying this.

    She
lookin down on what's happenin right now, said Cassius.

    "A
woman of amazing gifts."

    Said she
been able to see through the mists and seen your Lawrence.

    "She
can see him, too?"

    Down
there on the battlefield, thinkin 'bout you.

    
"My
Lawrence?" she said looking mystified and Cassius missed the clue.

    Wishin
he was back here with you.

    "So
he could slap me around some more."

    Cassius
leaned back in surprise, and the giddiness abandoned him in a rush.

    "Didn't
get enough 'fore he left, so he learned new tricks in the war, come on back and
try 'em all on his dutiful wife," she said with revulsion.

    Lawrence
hit you? said Cassius, suddenly tentative.

    "Make
sure Emoline warns me when he's comin back. Best thing ever happened when he
went off to war, every night I pray some

    Union
Bluebelly gits him 'fore our boys finish teachin them Yanks a lesson so they
can all come on home without him."

    Emoline
will surely watch for you, said Cassius cautiously.

    "Lord
knows, somebody needs to."

    He was
more tentative when he said: I got this other message, you know a lady name of
Abigail Dryden?

    Abigail
Dryden had been the last appointment in Emoline's pages, the one scheduled for
the day after she was murdered.

    "You
think I'd know someone like that?"

    Cassius
held his tongue in the face of his second misstep.

    "I
seen that trollop bringin men in the back of her house, the first one not three
weeks after her Chester went off in his uniform. Abigail Dryden." Sally
Ann Crowe's cheeks had colored. "It worse when those quartermaster boys
come through. She just as well leave her back door wide open."

    Cassius
came to the belated conclusion that he would have made a poor seer. Emoline had
obviously collected more and better information before she waded in with
advice.

    Why
you think Abigail goes to see Emoline?

    "Women
things, of course, potions," said Sally Ann Crowe, then caught herself as
if she had revealed too much.

    Cassius
made an excuse to leave and found his way back through the empty alleys to the
dry goods. Logue had been right. He mentally scratched Sally Ann Crowe and
Abigail Dryden off his list. He considered Sally Ann Crowe's disapproval of
Abigail, and imagined that Sally Ann had her own competing business, paying back
her Lawrence by renting out his bed by the hour.

    O'Hannon
had a new customer, one Cassius did not recognize, but her clothes were fine
and her manner rigid, likely a newcomer to Little Sapling or Philadelphia
Plantation.

    "I
am so sorry it has taken so long, Mrs. Worthington, but the quartermaster was
in earlier to supplement the assessment he gets from the locals."

    Worthington
would make her from Little Sapling, the niece come down from Maryland.

    "Yes,"
said the planter woman, "we are fully acquainted with the quartermaster's
assessments."

    O'Hannon
laughed uncomfortably. "Well, apparently there are things that cannot be
gotten from a plantation."

    "How
disturbing," she said with wintry sarcasm.

    Frederick
came in behind Cassius. "I'll take care of you, Cassius."

    Out
in back, Cassius and Frederick loaded the carriage with some difficulty, as it
was designed to haul not goods but passengers. Frederick informed him that he had
a bottle for sale, but Cassius had brought nothing to trade and declined.

    Quartermaster
comes to dry goods for supplies? With the whole countryside to forage? said
Cassius.

    "Word
is, Whitacre and his men hunt for a spy. Other than that they wouldn't bother,
but quartermasters aren't issued ordnance the same as fighting troops so they
came for ammunition and rifles. Probably tried to assess them from the
plantations unsuccessfully. Now you sure you don't want that bottle?"

    So he
hasn't found his spy yet?

    "Not
so's I've heard. Apparently they've gone north looking for someone."

    Cassius
flicked the reins. Sam lifted his chin and stepped forward and Cassius knew he
needed to do nothing more as the horse was familiar with the way home. Whitacre
had gone after the telegraph operator. He wondered if Whitacre knew about W
York. Cassius felt the pressure mount, he needed to get to the telegraph
operator first.

    Mam
Rosie ventured out to assist Cassius as he unloaded the carriage, but he waved
her off. Pet came out the back door of the big house holding up the bottom
corners of her apron transporting a small treasure, walking briskly toward the
kitchen with her head down, lost in thought. Halfway there she raised her eyes
and stopped as she saw him. He smiled at her. Unable to disguise her dismay,
she stumbled to hurry back inside, releasing one corner of her apron, and a
dozen small green tomatoes tumbled to the ground. Then it was quiet but for the
buzz hum of insects and the fierce caw from a crow. He wandered over and
stooped to collect the tomatoes, wiping dirt from their thick skins with his
thumb, finding them too immature to be bruised. He left them in a pile by the
rear door and wandered back to the carriage. He returned to the unloading, and
shortly thereafter Quashee emerged from the rear door, stopped to note the tiny
green pile, and crossed through the vegetable garden to the carriage. His
deliberate indolence had brought him his reward.

    I
knew you were back when I saw Pet's face, said Quashee.

    She
was sorry not to see me in chains.

    You
mean she wishes you in chains, or she thought it might happen?

    Possibly
both, said Cassius.

    You
all right? said Quashee with marked alarm, and her eyes ran up to the
second-story window of Ellen's bedroom. The curtains did not move.

    Way I
see it, she told Ellen to send me hoping I'd follow Joseph into the bushes.

    But,
you been to dry goods before?

    Not
usually alone.

    And
she thought this time was different?

    Patrollers
all spread out after Joseph. She hoped I'd jump at the chance. Anything about
him yet?

    Nothing,
said Quashee.

    Maybe
he got away, said Cassius.

    Too
soon to know. Lot of patrollers. You see Savilla?

    Hard
for her, she hopes he gets away, but maybe that's bad for Sammy and Andrew. Old
Hoke could break up the family from spite. I don't think she sleeps, I hear she
fell exhausted yesterday in the fields.

    Terrible
to have children, said Quashee.

    Terrible?

    In
this life. Terrible to love something, all they do is rip it away, and that's
just 'cause they can, said Quashee.

    Never
heard you talk like that.

    Saw
it all when Master John-Corey died.

    Cassius
nodded, but said nothing. She looked off in the direction of the fields and the
harsh crow scolded them.

    How
is it for you inside? said Cassius.

    Work's
same as Master John-Corey's. Hard to care for invalids, they get mean, but the
bad parts are over quick and it's quiet awhile before she yells again. Missus
Sarah don't read aloud to her servant, and Pet don't want me near Missus Ellen,
thank you for that, so I got a bit of my own time. Pet won't help me none,
which when I think of it, is likely a blessing, but Nanny Catherine acts nice
and says Missus Sarah happier with someone to boss. Pet can't look at me. I see
her eyes red from crying, and can't help but feel sorry for her.

    She'd've
had you in chains bound for Louisiana.

    All
right, but I'm still sorry.

    Can't
say that I'm sorry, said Cassius, although he knew he was.

    She's
sneaking a look out Missus Ellen's window, carry something inside, said
Quashee.

    I
don't care—

    Go
on, don't be a fool.

    They
both carried sacks into the kitchen, and Mam Rosie gave them a significant
look, then stepped outside to leave them alone.

    I got
to get into the big house, said Cassius, stepping close to her and speaking
quickly and quietly.

    What,
being a fool ain't enough, now you got to be a crazy person? said Quashee, and
she also spoke quietly, matching his urgency.

    Got
to get something from Hoke's study.

    I'll
get it.

    No,
Pet's watching you just waiting for a mistake, she'll get you linked to a
coffle to follow Tempie. We make a signal after dark, you let me know when the
planters sleep and it's safe. That leaves you on your pallet so if I'm caught,
no one knows about you. The only way I do it, said Cassius.

    I
don't like it.

    Or I
come in when I think it's right.

    Her
expression revealed what she thought of that idea.

    What
kind of signal? she said.

    Where
do you sleep in the house?

    Attic
over Missus Sarah's bedroom, so I can hear her at night if she needs me.