Page 61 of Because I Could Not Stop for Death

“By name and physical description.”

I frowned. “If you’re right and this informant killed my brother, I deserve to know everything that you do about him. Henry was the only family I had.” My voice caught, and I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I deserve to know.”

He sighed. “There are mentions on the railroad that if you want to travel through Amherst on your way north, the person you need to talk to is the Reader.”

“Who is the Reader?” I asked.

“That’s what we don’t know, but it seemed to me that he was the one who told which runaways to go to which places. Sometimes, he told them places that would deliver them directly into the hands of the slave catchers.”

“Sometimes?” I asked.

“From what we can tell he didn’t do it every time. Perhaps that was so he could stay under the radar. He would pick and choose which runaways would go back south and those who could continue their journey to freedom.”

“He was playing God,” I gasped.

He nodded. “That is one way to look at it, yes. Perhaps he got pleasure from having power over people’s lives. As far as we can tell, there is no pattern to who he saved and who he damned.”

I shivered and then something he said struck me. “You keep saying we, but you told me that you are here in Washington of your own accord.”

Again, he didn’t meet my gaze.

“Are you part of the Underground Railroad?” I asked.

“No,” was his curt reply.

I frowned. “And you keep referring to the Reader as a man. If you know nothing about this person, how can you be sure it is not a woman?”

“This work is far too dangerous for a woman,” he said, as if even making the suggestion was insane.

I didn’t agree with this at all, but I didn’t think it was worth arguing the point with Matthew. “What compels the Reader to do this? Is he a Southerner? Does he have a connection to a plantation?”

“Greed. It is simple as that. From what we have learned, the Reader is paid handsomely by the slave catchers a portion of their fee every time he assists in apprehension.”

“So could it be that the runaways that he lets get away have bounties on their heads?”

“It’s possible.” He nodded as if he had not thought of this before.

“If the runaways are in contact with the Reader to find the next safe house, then it makes sense to me that they would have seen him. One that got away has to know what he looks like.”

“He is always wearing a mask when he tells them. He tells them also that his mask is for their safety because knowing who he is could be dangerous to them.”

I sighed. If Matthew and whoever the we he was working with had not been able to find the Reader by now, I didn’t know why I thought that Emily and I might be more successful.

“Will you be at the dinner party?” he asked, changing the subject.

I had been deep in thought. “What?”

“The Dickinsons’ dinner party. I ran into Austin Dickinson and he asked me to join.”

“You know Austin?” I asked.

He laughed. “Amherst isn’t that big, you know, and we had played together some as children. Boys’ games.”

I couldn’t help but wonder what those boys’ games had been.

“No, I won’t be at the party, and your comment reminds me that I have been away from the hotel for far too long. I am supposed to be writing the place cards for the event. If I don’t finish them in a timely manner, Mrs.Dickinson will be cross with me.”

“You should be there if I am. We are of the same class,” he argued.

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