Samuel cuts to the chase. “Is this about Della?”
Gilbert looks Samuel square in the eye, which tells Samuel all he needs to know.
“She came to see me yesterday. About Cecily.”
“Who said anything about Cecily?”
Samuel throws the flats of his hands up in the air. “No one did. She just said she had a package she wanted me to take north. But I know her eldest is supposed to have died in the fire, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s what.”
Gilbert’s throat feels dry. “Della says you got a carriage that’s just about ready to be delivered.”
“A coach,” says Samuel. “I’m only driving it as far as Alexandria, but I could get her to the depot in Washington, if that helps.”
“When do you leave?”
“Tuesday.”
“We need something sooner than that.”
“I won’t travel with anyone who ain’t got free papers. And the man I use for them, he ain’t in town till Monday night.”
Gilbert brightens. “I can write her papers, if I got yours to work from.”
Samuel gives him a crooked smile. “When did you learn to write?”
“My wife’s mistress taught me,” says Gilbert, and when the image of Louisa Mayo, sitting at that kitchen table with her primer, comes to his mind, he pushes it away.
“Free papers are not so simple to produce as a pass,” says Samuel. “They’re court documents. So, you got to forge the affidavit, but also the certification. Needs to look like it comes from two different hands. Three, really.”
“I can do it. I know I can.”
Samuel leans against his workbench. “What about the fee?”
“Della says you charging a hundred dollars.”
“That’s right.”
“What are you doing with all that money?” Gilbert says, looking around the barn, like he expects Spanish dollars to start raining from the ceiling.
“You think my free papers are the only ones I ever bought?”
Gilbert has obviously struck a nerve.
“I got a family, same as you.”
“I hear you,” says Gilbert. “And I’m sorry if I caused offense. But Della and Cecil couldn’t get their hands on that kind of money if they tried.”
“People got ways.”
“Not these people,” Gilbert says sharply. “Della was dragged up to the whipping post this afternoon. And Cecil got thrown in the birdcage yesterday.”
Samuel winces. “For the business with the slave revolt?”
“That’s right.”
“Two boys here in this shop got hauled down there yesterday evening. Don’t know when they’ll be released. Especially with Mr. Murrow out of town.”
“It’s all a bunch of lies,” says Gilbert, thinking about the actors who came by the smithy looking for Kemp.
