Two days later, Casey arrived halfway through the dinner Damian was again sharing with her parents, to give them the news. She really hadn’t thought it would be this quick. When she had decided to come to Chicago, her reason hadn’t been just to find Jack Curruthers.
She still remembered her mother questioning her motives when she found her packing. “You’re going to help him, aren’t you?” she’d asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I like to finish something I start. And this isn’t finished.”
“That’s your only reason?”
“No,” Casey had admitted with a sigh.
Courtney had tapped her foot impatiently. “Well, don’t make me drag it out of you.”
Casey had sat down on her bed to explain. “I’m going to take your advice, Mama—to a degree. I’ll at least give Damian a chance to suggest marriage. But if he can’t do it on his own, then I don’t want him. So don’t interfere, Mama, and I mean that.”
Courtney hadn’t been too happy about that, but had agreed. And Casey had thought there would be ample time for Damian to figure out that she could make him a fine wife. It had even seemed promising when she’d caught him staring at her a number of times in that way of his that could set her insides to fluttering. But in the end, he seemed only concerned with finding Jack.
And now she’d found him.
She didn’t make excuses for joining them late and not sending a message this time. She simply sat down at their table and announced without preamble, “I’ve located Jack.”
Chandos nodded at her, not the least bit surprised by her swift success. Courtney huffed, “Well, I haven’t even begun my shopping,” to which Chandos chuckled and said, “What shopping?”
Damian wasn’t listening to either of them; he was incredulous, demanding, “Already? Are you positive?”
Casey shook her head. “Positive, no. I haven’t seen him yet myself. But he fits the description, as well as the time frame of his arrival in the city.”
“But how did you find him so easily, when I’ve had detectives working—”
“Don’t be hard on your detectives,” she cut in. “It was luck more’n anything else, and maybe asking things they didn’t think to.”
“Such as?”
“Well, I discovered that Jack had stayed at a hotel near the river. But he wasn’t there long, only a few days. Yet it was a definite path to follow, so I talked to anyone and everyone who would have had anything to do with him or his room while he was there.”
“My detectives had checked every hotel in the city,” Damian said. “If you had bothered to read the reports, you would have known that.”
“If I’d read the reports, I might not have been as thorough, might not even have bothered checking the hotels. But you aren’t listening, Damian. I said it was a matter of luck. Turns out Jack was taking all his meals in his hotel room, and the young man named Milton Lewis, whose chore it was to collect the trays afterward, was sick one day while Jack was there. Milton’s brother had filled in for him, with only one other hotel employee aware of it. Apparently Milton’d been sick quite a bit this last year and had been threatened that he’d lose his job if he failed to show up again, so he’d tried to keep his supervisor from knowing he wasn’t there that day.”
“And he’s the one who knew something about Jack?” Damian asked.
“He didn’t, no. And I only got the information about his not being there from a slip he made when I was questioning him. He certainly hadn’t been willing to admit his deception—his brother and him look a lot alike, which is the only reason he’d managed it.”
“So you got to talk to Milton’s brother, whereas any others questioning Milton never even heard about this brother?” Chandos guessed.
“Exactly,” Casey said. “Milton gave me his brother’s name and address, and I went to see him this afternoon. Seems Jack had gotten suspicious of the fellow’s nervousness. Jack would be, with so many folks searching for him. But the young man’s nervousness had nothing to do with Jack, of course, and to keep Jack from complaining to the supervisor, he was forced to admit the ruse the brothers were playing. Jack must have realized the man could help him, since he wouldn’t be there again, wouldn’t be one of the hotel employees who might get questioned about Jack, and so wouldn’t lead anyone to him.”
“But help him how?” Courtney asked.
Casey grinned. “Just goes to show how smart Jack is. He told the young man he’d say nothing about his taking over his brother’s job if he could find him a nice place to rent that he wouldn’t have to go through an agency to get.”
“And the young man did?”
“Oh, yes, he came back with an address that same day, he was so worried about it. Actually, it was his place. The young man figured it would be no big inconvenience for him to give it up and move in with his brother until he could find another rental himself. He just wanted to get Jack satisfied so he wouldn’t report the brothers. Jack wasn’t all that thrilled with the place and told him so, probably because it’s not in a high-rent area. But he must have figured it was too good to pass up, since chances were very low that anyone would be able to trace him to it, considering how he found it.”
“And he’s still there?”
Casey nodded. “According to the landlady. He’s going by the name of Marion Adams, probably hoping the ‘Marion’ would be misleading, in that it’s a name a woman could have as well—just in case anyone on his trail got lucky enough to check out the building he’s in.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Damian said as he stood up to leave.
“Morning,” Casey replied.
“Why?”
“Because Jack isn’t there right now,” she answered offhandedly. “I checked.”
That brought two immediate frowns from the men at the table. “You checked?” Chandos said first. “If you tell me you knocked on his door, I’m probably going to be locking yours, with you behind it.”
“Now, Daddy—”
“Didn’t you agree you wouldn’t try to apprehend Jack by yourself?” Damian said next. “I swear, Casey, that’s it, I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”
“Will you two stop?” Casey said in exasperation. “I have no desire to play the heroine here single-handedly. No, I didn’t knock. His room is on the third floor, right next to the stairs. The landlady had already told me he wasn’t in. She’s a nosy sort and keeps track of her tenants. But just to make sure, I threw an object up at his door, then waited out of sight on the second floor to hear if his door would open. It didn’t. I then retrieved the object so he wouldn’t wonder about it, and got out of there.”
“He could have returned while you were there and walked up behind you,” Damian pointed out, still not convinced she hadn’t been at risk.
Casey merely smiled and pulled down the thick gauze on the upper edge of her bonnet. It covered most of her face, and was thick enough to conceal her features.
“He could have,” she said. “But he wouldn’t have recognized me.”
“All right,” Damian conceded. “But I still don’t want to wait until morning. He’ll return at some point tonight, and I want to be there…” His voice trailed off when Casey started shaking her head. “Why not?”
“It’s too dark in that building, with only a single window at the far end of the hall from his room, and that facing another building only a few feet away, so hardly any light gets in there in the day. None would get in after dark. And the hall lamp on his floor is broken. He’s probably been coming up to his room with a candle lately. Also, there are only two exits from any of those rooms—the door, and the fire escape behind the building. I checked out the back. Too many places for concealment if he managed to get down that way. The fire escape also goes up another two floors to the roof. That’s too many possible ways he can go in the dark, too easy for us to lose him again. At least in the morning, in full daylight, he won’t find concealment easy.”
Damian sighed, giving up. Chandos grinned and told him, “She doesn’t leave much to chance.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Damian mumbled.