Chapter 7
Washington DC, 1863
Jarrod left his boss's office and went straight down to the lock-up, his pass in his hand. The guard there took it and followed Jarrod in to where Matt Parker was in a cell, the only prisoner there. He looked terrified. "Jarrod – "
The guard stayed but held back toward the door. Jarrod came closer to his friend. Jarrod suddenly felt about 15 years older than he was – more 35 than 19, more a man with a lot of experience under his belt that he really didn't have. "Matt, what happened?" Jarrod asked.
Matt looked at the guard and then back at Jarrod. "Does he have to hear us?"
"I'm not your lawyer yet," Jarrod said. "You can't tell me anything confidential, and yes, he has to hear us. Tell me what you can tell me. Tell me what you don't mind the brass hearing."
"Jarrod, I had no idea she was a spy," Matt said, almost blubbering. "I really had no idea. I didn't even think I told her anything worth her knowing, but they've got me on espionage, Jarrod. They're gonna hang me!"
"Not yet, they're not," Jarrod said. "I'm doing what I can to be appointed your attorney, but I have to tell you, I'm being investigated, too."
"You?"
"I knew her, too, Matt. I could be in here with you before long."
Matt looked even more terrified. "They can't! You didn't do anything! I know you didn't!"
"And I know I didn't, too," Jarrod said. "Don't worry about me. I'll handle me. What you have to do is go back over everything you ever said or did with Julia Saxon. You have to be prepared to defend every word."
"What do they say I did? What do they say I told her?"
"I don't know yet. If they let me defend you, I'll find out, but it could take a while to sort out my role in this, not to mention yours. You might be in here for a while, so put the time to good use. Calm down and think."
Matt sighed, running a nervous hand through his hair. "Julia's gone, isn't she?"
"Off the face of the earth," Jarrod said. "She knows she'll be shot if she's caught, so she's probably gone south."
"Oh, Jarrod," Matt moaned. "I fell for her. I fell hard. I really loved her and I thought I could make her love me if I just – "
Jarrod cut him off. "Matt, don't say anything about your relationship with her just yet. Anything you say now, anything at all, could end up going against you, so you just keep those kinds of thoughts to yourself until either I get appointed as your lawyer or somebody else does."
"All right," Matt said. Then he reached through the bars for Jarrod's hand. "Jarrod – "
Jarrod took solid hold onto his friend's hand, and in that instant, he hated Julia Saxon, far more than he had ever loved her.
"Jarrod, will you write to my family, tell them what's happened?" Matt asked. "If it comes from you, even if you don't end up being my lawyer, it'll be more of a comfort to them."
Jarrod nodded. "I'll write them tonight. They're transferring me up to Ft. Stevens and I won't be seeing you again unless they let me be your lawyer, Matt. You just hold on tight, keep your mouth shut, and I'll do what I can for you when I can."
"I know you will," Matt said. "Thank you. I know you will."
XXXXXXXX
Stockton CA, 1978
"How did they catch on to Julia Saxon to begin with, Jarrod?" Heath asked.
"It turns out she wasn't even suspected of espionage when she and I were together," Jarrod said. "It wasn't until Matt that they started looking at Julia. Matt was pulled in from the field because they suspected he was getting too close to the people he was keeping an eye on. It happens to people in the field – that's why they never let any given agent stay out there too long. Once Matt started talking about Julia too much, one of the war department's spies was assigned to follow Julia and Matt for a few days. Some of the things Matt was working on seemed compromised, and when our man caught Julia meeting with a known Confederate spy, that's when Matt was arrested."
"Why didn't they pick Julia up right there?"
"I don't know," Jarrod said, "but knowing the war department, they wanted to leave her on the loose so she'd lead them to other men she'd gotten information out of. She got one step ahead of them, though. They never caught her, and at the end of the war they just forgot about it all."
Jarrod was starting to fade. "Jarrod, you really need to get some sleep," Nick said. "We can take this up again tomorrow."
Jarrod shook his head. "No. There's not a lot more to tell, not a lot you don't already know. I did get cleared of any charges of my own. I got transferred back to the war department and I did get appointed as Matt's attorney. As you know, I was able to prove that he hadn't really told Julia anything damaging and he was acquitted. The things they thought Matt had compromised really weren't compromised at all, or at least they couldn't prove they were or that Matt had anything to do with it."
"But it ate at him and it ate at him and he killed himself."
"I'm not sure what was eating at him – the espionage charges, or the fact that Julia betrayed him," Jarrod said. "He really fell in love with her, hard. I got the transfer I wanted to the colored cavalry, and Matt ran his enlistment out on guard duty at Ft. Stevens."
"What happened to Julia?" Heath asked.
Jarrod sighed. "I heard from her one more time."
XXXXXXX
Washington DC, 1863
Jarrod was packing up his personal items in his office at the war department – nothing much, a cigar case, some matches and a small book of contact information. He was due to head out to western Virginia the next day, to take charge of a colored cavalry unit. Matt Parker was on his way to Ft. Stevens. Julia Saxon was nowhere to be found.
Someone brought him a telegram. Jarrod was just about to tell the courier to take it to his boss, that he wasn't assigned here anymore, but something made him open it. He read it.
She had taken a huge risk, sending this to him at the war department, but there it was. He looked to see where it might have come from, but it turned out it just came from Washington. She was here, somewhere. The telegram didn't say where. All it said was "It was real." That was it, no name on it or anything, but he knew it was from Julia.
"What was real?" his boss asked when Jarrod gave him the telegram.
"I think she actually did love me," Jarrod admitted. "That's why she gave up on me when Matt came into the picture."
"You're sure this is from her?"
Jarrod swallowed. "We talked about it a couple times – whether what we felt for each other was real or was it the war doing things to us. I told her it was real. She'd be the only one who would say it back to me."
"And how are you with it now? Are you through with her?"
"Thoroughly," Jarrod said and meant it. "I have been since Matt came along and she changed her attentions to him. If you look at this, you can see she's still in Washington, and I'm off to western Virginia tomorrow. We're done. Absolutely done."
His boss said, "We'll take up looking for her again, in case she's hanging around Washington. I should let you know that while Matt Parker is in the clear – it's just for now."
Jarrod straightened, shocked. "What do you mean, for now?"
"We didn't bring all the charges we could have. There were a couple of matters he worked on that we didn't have evidence to try him on, but they're still under investigation." Before Jarrod could object, his boss said, "This is a military matter, Jarrod. It's a court martial offense, in wartime. If our investigation brings Matt Parker back into our purview, we'll bring him back in."
"If you do, I would like to be his counsel again," Jarrod said. "Or do I assume that I too am still under investigation?"
"No, you're cleared. If Matt is brought back in, we'll get you back out of Virginia and let you defend him."
"Does he know he's still under investigation?"
"No, and you're not to tell him."
Jarrod hated that, but he nodded, and he hoped there would be no further charges.
He left the building and headed for his room, to pack up and be ready to move out to Virginia. And that's when he saw her, on the street near his building, standing there in his path, her eyes only for him. He stopped.