“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.”
Gideon didn’t really agree with Devoss, but the man wasn’t completely wrong, either. “I can’t speak for the women, Mr. Devoss, but I do know someone needs to find them and get them released from jail. With your permission, I would like to take a few days to go to Washington City and do just that.”
For a moment, Devoss simply gaped at him, and Gideon knew a moment of satisfaction at having struck his employer speechless. Only one small moment, though, before Devoss’s expression turned thunderous again.
“Why do you need to go to Washington? Surely, they have attorneys there who can see to this matter.”
“I know they do, sir, but”—he hated admitting this to Devoss, but he had no choice—“my mother is also among the missing prisoners.”
“Your mother?” Devoss echoed. “Hazel is a suffragette? I can’t believe it!”
Devoss and Gideon’s parents had been friends their entire lives. Gideon had even suspected Devoss would have courted his mother after his father died if she’d given him any encouragement at all. Gideon waited for the ramifications of his revelation to sink in.
“And she’s missing, you say?” Devoss said, his anger dissipating a bit.
“Yes, sir, and naturally, I feel I must go to her assistance.”
But Devoss’s anger had only dissipated a little. “I can’t stop you, Bates, but I also can’t approve of this conduct. I’ll expect you back in three days.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And if you’re not back in three days, you may consider yourself dismissed from the firm.”
• • •
Why was she sleeping in the outhouse? Elizabeth wondered in that last shadowy moment between sleep and wakefulness. Then she opened her eyes and the memories came rushing back. She was in the Occoquan Workhouse, which only smelled like an outhouse.
She pushed the filthy blanket away from her face and rose up on one elbow. The straw mattress crackled beneath her. It had provided little in the way of comfort except as a scant barrier against the chill of the stone floor. At some point during the night, she had finally fallen into an exhausted sleep, but it hadn’t done her much good. All around her the rest of the women were also beginning to stir in their cages.