Camellia by Diane T. Ashley Read Free Book Online Page B

breath. “What happens next?”
    He eyed the short man whom he named Mr. Brown for the color of his frock coat. He sported long brown sideburns, a bushy mustache, and a beard. If not for the bright yellow rosebud on his lapel, Jonah never would have given him a second glance. He supposed that was a good thing for a spy.
    “You’re going to New Orleans, a visit to your parents.”
    Jonah’s blood chilled. He didn’t like that this stranger knew so much about him and his family. “What will I do there?”
    “Ferret out information about the rebel defenses—their weapons, plans, the number of soldiers present—and pass it along to your contact.”
    “How will I know him?”
    The shorter man hesitated. Jonah thought he smiled, but it was hard to tell through the tangle of facial hair. “Your contact is not a man.”
    Jonah’s eyebrows climbed high. “A female spy?” What type of lady would involve herself in such a dangerous pursuit?
    “Why not? She’s Colonel Poindexter’s cousin, a widow who runs a school for the pampered daughters of rich Southern planters. That’s why the captain was involved in choosing you. He has an interest in selecting an honest man, someone who won’t betray his sister and can blend in with aristocratic society. You’ll elicit all the information you can and give it to Mrs. Dabbs. She’s responsible for getting the information to her brother. They’ll be written in code, so even if a letter is intercepted, she won’t fall under suspicion.”
    Wondering how he would avoid suspicion when delivering the information, Jonah nodded. When he had agreed to spy for the Union in June, he’d thought the general would send him out immediately. But that was before they received orders from President Lincoln to chase down the Missouri State Guard and stop them from consolidating a base in Missouri. They marched to Springfield, anxious to end the threat. But they had lost. Lost miserably. Catastrophically. So many men died. Even General Lyon was killed in a hail of bullets as he tried to rally his remaining men.
    “You’ll need to make haste to New Orleans. Even now the Federal navy is considering how to capture it. They need whatever information you can glean.”
    “I understand.” He remembered the day Poindexter summoned him. Remembered the drawn look on the man’s face. A colonel’s eagle had replaced the captain’s stripes on his shoulders, and his kindliness had all but disappeared under the weight of his new responsibilities. He gave Jonah the two phrases to memorize and sent him to Memphis to await further development.
    Jonah had felt like the prodigal son on his arrival two days earlier. Of course, the prodigal son wasn’t hiding dangerous facts from his family. Renée had prepared a feast, cementing his guilt because he knew the high prices she was paying for food, especially sugar from the plantations in the Caribbean. He’d barely been able to force down a morsel of the three-layered butter pecan cake topped with caramel icing. Or join in the happy conversation between Eli, Renée, and their three sons, Brandon, Cameron, and Remington. But no one seemed to notice anything odd.
    “Is that all?” He wondered why he could not have received this instruction from Colonel Poindexter, but Jonah was too anxious to end this meeting to ask.
    “Mrs. Dabbs’s school is on Camp Street. Arrange to meet her alone and say, ‘Mr. Lincoln could end all of this fighting if he would listen to reason.’ ”
    Jonah nodded.
    “Repeat the phrase, please.”
    He was not a child. Jonah opened his mouth to argue with the man but then hesitated. The knowing glint in “Mr. Brown’s” eyes stopped him. He was much more experienced at spying. “Mr. Lincoln could end all of this fighting if he would listen to reason.”
    “Good. She will say, ‘Yes, but I am afraid he is too stubborn to consider the desires of the South even though I write to him of my concerns.’ ” The other man looked at