over the crucifix. The pallid sunlight
flowed into the church through colored
glass.
Across town a group of men had gathered in
the Kirkwood bar and were entertaining
themselves by buying drinks for George
Atzerodt. Atzerodt was one of Boothтs
co-conspirators. His assignment for the
day, given to him by Booth, was to kidnap
the Vice President. He was already so
drunk he couldnтt stand. "Would you say
that the Vice President is a brave man?"
he asked and they laughed at him. He
didnтt mind being laughed at. It struck
him a bit funny himself. "He wouldnтt
carry a firearm, would he? I mean, why
would he?" Atzerodt said. "Are there ever
soldiers with him? That nigger who watches
him eat. Is he there all the time?"
"Have another drink," they told him,
laughing. "On us," and you couldnтt get
insulted at that.
Anna and her mother returned to the
boarding house. Mary Surratt had rented a
carriage and was going into the country.
"Mr. Wiechman will drive me," she told her
daughter. A Mr. Nothey owed her money they
desperately needed; Mary Surratt was going
to collect it.
But just as she was leaving, Booth
appeared. He took her motherтs arm, drew
her to the parlor. Anna felt her heart
stop and then start again, faster. "Mary,
I must talk to you," he said to her
mother, whispering, intimate. "Mary." He
didnтt look at Anna at all and didnтt
speak again until she left the room. She
would have stayed outside the door to hear
whatever she could, but Louis Wiechman had
had the same idea. They exchanged one
cross look, and then each left the
hallway. Anna went up the stairs to her
bedroom.
She knew the moment Booth went. She liked
to feel that this was because they had a
