The Shut Mouth Society Read Online Free PDF Page A

screeched out of the parking lot. “Why do you always answer a question with a question?”
    “ What are you in such a huff about?”
    Evarts sighed in exasperation. “How well do you know Douglass?”
    “ How—” She scooted around in the seat to face him more directly. “Douglass peer-reviewed one of my books. We’ve run into each other at conferences and seminars. Lincoln enthusiasts are a tight clique.”
    “ You didn’t sound like a Lincoln enthusiast in your lecture.”
    “ Don’t judge me on a single lecture. I admire the way Lincoln grew in office.”
    “ Why would Douglass warn you about your safety? Do Lincoln enthusiasts threaten each other?”
    She laughed. “Only in print.” She used her thumb to pull a little slack in the seat harness. “It seemed strange to me too, but I know him well enough to give his warning some credence. How well do you know Douglass?”
    “ Evidently better than you.”
    “ Really?”
    He liked that she seemed surprised. “Really. We spend several evenings a week together … at least when we’re both in town.”
    “ Douglass socializing with a cop? I find that out of character.”
    “ We share an enthusiasm for backgammon and Macallan single malt scotch.”
    “ Backgammon? Isn’t that a gambling game?”
    Evarts concentrated on merging onto the San Diego Freeway. “Yes, at least the way we play.”
    “ Douglass is rich.”
    “ So? We don’t play for big stakes. It’s the contest that counts.”
    “ And the Macallan’s?”
    “ Of course.”
    She made her calls as he drove over the Mulholland Pass and into the San Fernando Valley. After she finished, she stuffed the cell phone into her purse and said, “I don’t like putting things in my eye.”
    “ What?”
    “ You asked why I wore glasses.”
    Evarts didn’t respond immediately. After a few miles, he said, “Listen, it seems like we got off to a bad start. Can we call a truce?”
    “ Fine by me.”
    “ Okay, then. Do you have any idea how those papers might put you in danger?”
    “ If genuine, they’re valuable, but the people who would want them have money.” She thought a minute. “How do you know that last page is encrypted code?”
    “ I worked for Intelligence in the military. Trained to recognize codes.”
    “ Did you break this one?”
    “ No time.” Evarts honked at a car that had abruptly swerved into his lane. Traffic was starting to get bad. “But it shouldn’t be too hard if it’s really from Lincoln’s time. We know the Civil War codes.”
    “ Where’re we going?”
    Evarts had just passed the exit for the Ventura Freeway. “Highway 126. Less traffic this time of day. Have you ever encountered something like that last page before?”
    “ No, but Douglass didn’t send that by mistake. He wanted us to have a copy.”
    “ He wanted you to have a copy. And I’m the guy with code-breaking experience. Why would that be?”
    For once she didn’t answer with a question. In fact, she didn’t answer at all for many miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic. Finally she said, “If genuine, the Cooper Union notes are invaluable, but from what I saw, not controversial. The speech was in countless newspapers and pamphlets, and I saw nothing in the notes that deviated from the historical text. The only thing that could pose a threat is that last page.”
    Evarts had already figured that out, but he would need to wait to examine the code more closely. “Tell me about this Cooper Union speech.”
    “ That I can do. Abraham Lincoln said that the Cooper Union address made him president. That and a Mathew Brady photograph taken the same day, but we’ll leave that for later. Lincoln had become somewhat of a national figure two years earlier during the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Although he lost the race for the Illinois Senate seat, the debates were published nationally. In the latter part of 1859, he received an invitation to speak at Cooper Union in Manhattan. Despite his fame from the