Page 71 of Because I Could Not Stop for Death

She opened the window and stuck her head out. “Buford is good at following. He is keeping a delivery wagon between our carriage and that of Mr.Johnson’s. I’m sure Mr.Johnson has no idea we are behind him.”

I folded my hands in my lap. I was alone with Emily in the carriage. I went along with her like I always did, but how could I trust her when I knew either she or her sister stole my brother’s diary? I considered saying something about it, but it seemed the more pressing issue at hand was the fact that we were following Mr.Johnson. I asked, “And what are we going to do when we catch up with him?”

“I haven’t settled on that part yet.”

I bit the inside of my lip. She had better settle on it soon, because I had a feeling that Mr.Johnson would not like it if we showed up unannounced.

The small window between the driver’s seat and the carriage opened, and we heard Buford’s voice. “It looks to me like he’s stopping at the Washington Monument. You want me to follow him?”

Emily’s skirts made a ruffling sound as she scooted closer to the window to be heard. “Yes, don’t lose him!”

The wagon jerked as Buford snapped his switch in the air to encourage Betty Sue to trot faster.

A moment later, the carriage rocked to a stop. I peered out the window and saw the foot of the Washington Monument twenty or so yards away. I could only make it out because of the gas lampposts throughout the public grounds. The sun had long set.

“What do we do?” I asked in a hoarse whisper.

She opened the carriage door. “We get out, of course.” Without waiting for Buford to help her, she hopped out of the carriage.

Even with my trust in Emily waning, I groaned and followed her.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Emily stood under a lamppost in her beautiful gown, and the black velvet ribbon in her hair caught the light. My heart seized, for in my mind, for just a moment, she looked like a ghost.

“Willa, do not stand there and stare. Come on,” she said.

I looked back at Buford and Betty Sue.

“We will wait right here for you, miss. Don’t you worry about that.”

I nodded and ran over to Emily. When I reached her, I said, “I don’t know if we should be out here at night. Being out after dark can be dangerous, especially in such a large city.” I glanced around as if someone was going to jump out of the trees at any moment.

“Buford is here. We’ll be fine.” She picked up her skirts. “This is not the best outfit for tracking a killer, but there’s nothing to be done about that.” She started toward the Washington Monument. The marble gleamed in the moonlight. The stone tower that had meant to be an obelisk and the tallest structure in Washington stopped at 156 feet in the air.

I had read about the monument in the paper when construction stopped last year because there was no money left to build it. After seeing the majesty of his home in Mount Vernon, it felt like an insult to Washington that the monument to his greatness would go on unfinished. Perhaps in this way it was a symbol of where the country was at the moment, half finished.

“Come now, Willa. The monument will be here to admire during the daytime. We have to find Mr.Johnson.” She disappeared around the base.

With fear gripping my heart, I ran after her. If anything happened to Emily, I would never forgive myself, and I doubted her family would be very forgiving either.

On the other side of the monument, two men stood under a lamppost. I immediately recognized the larger of the two men as Mr.Elmer Johnson.

There were still piles of dirt and debris around the monument as if the men who had been constructing it just walked away from the build site when the money ran out. Emily hid behind a metal barrel just ten feet from the two men. How she got there without being seen, I didn’t know.

I knew why she moved. I couldn’t make out anything the men were saying from where I stood at the base of the monument. I grimaced. Emily might have been able to sneak over to the barrel in her crinoline and hoop skirts, but there was a good chance that I would trip over my own two feet when I tried.

Emily waved at me to join her. The two men turned away from us and were facing the Mall. I took that to be my chance. Lifting my skirts again, I ran to Emily’s side and ducked behind the barrel next to her. I caught my breath.

“Shh,” she whispered. “Stop breathing so hard. They’ll hear you.”

I put a hand to my chest and willed myself to calm down. I thought that I was breathing hard due to my anxiety about what we were doing rather than from exertion or running. The itchy wool from the hotel maid’s uniform felt rough against the palm of my hand.

Emily peeked around the barrel in one direction. I looked around it in the other. The men had turned again, and I saw that they both faced the monument. To my surprise, the man next to Mr.Johnson was Black. He wore a brown suit with a black scarf tied at his throat. His beard was trimmed and grizzled with gray as was his hair.

“You have done good work for us,” the man with Mr.Johnson said. “But the death of the boy has brought too much attention to our work. We will have to leave Amherst.”

“You can’t change course now. There are too many who know Amherst is the place to come. It would be impossible to reach everyone running north.”

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