“I reckon I’m going to hunt the motive first. I can’t see why anyone would want to steal a little orphan boy, when the homes and asylums are full of darling children waiting to be adopted. Philip is a lovely child, but not the loveliest I have ever seen. Of course, I suspect this Mr. Cheatham, but he is in Louisville this minute. I am going to ascertain if he has been on a trip recently and look into his financial standing. I am also going to Peewee Valley to see some old friends of Miss Ellett. Miss Ellett is a peculiarly reticent person and it is very difficult to get information from her as to her early life. She does not intend to conceal anything, but the only way to get any information out of her is to worm it out. She had very few friends owing to her mother’s long illness and the peculiarities of her stepfather. Colonel Trask’s family at Peewee Valley were her only intimates.”
“She chose well while she was choosing,” said the police captain. “Well, Miss O’Gorman, you seem to leave very little to the local police force to do. Your name, combined with your methods, make me think you must be some kin to the famous O’Gorman whose place can never be filled. Am I right?”
“My father,” said Josie softly.
“Well! Well! Well!” he cried, jumping up from his desk and shaking the girl by both hands. “I’ve worked with O’Gorman on many a case. My, he was a wonder! I think you look like him.”
Josie blushed with delight. Most girls would not like to be told they resembled a funny looking little man with a blobby nose, but Josie was as pleased as though the police captain had told her she must be related to Mary Pickford. Anything at all connected with her beloved father was almost sacred to the girl. When someone told her she looked like him, or resembled him in traits, she had a better opinion of herself all day.
“Well, O’Gorman’s daughter will know how to coöperate,” said the captain, “and that is more than can be said of most detectives. They are always so anxious to get the credit that they will let the criminal escape rather than see someone else capture him. O’Gorman was in the business for the joy he got out of righting wrongs. He never waited to be thanked and sometimes not even to be paid. I’ll be bound he died a poor man.”
“Not a rich one,” said Josie, “but if I live to be old there’ll be enough to keep me out of the poorhouse and if I die young, enough to bury me decently and start someone else in life.”
“Spoken like your father!” laughed the captain. “He never told an inquisitive person to mind his own business in so many words but he usually let him know where to ‘get off’.”
“I didn’t mean—” faltered Josie.
“I know you didn’t mean, but you just did, and I respect you all the more for it.”