“Can you tell me the name and address of her employer? And of the girl and her mother?” Vicki asked.
“Yes, I’ll write them down for you. But you won’t be able to see Mary and Mrs. Scott. They’ve gone off on a trip. Lucy is away, too.”
So Dorn had learned, Vicki reminded herself. She asked:
“Do you know when she’ll be back?”
“She wasn’t sure herself, when she called me up to say good-by. Why don’t you ask at the women’s hotel where she’s been living? Maybe she left word. It’s the Hotel Alcott.”
“The women’s hotel?” Vicki felt confused. “I thought Lucy had been living with Mary and Mrs. Scott?”
“Well, she did until recently. I’m not sure how recently. Lucy and I aren’t in constant touch.” Jill Joseph explained that the Scotts’ household was a small one, and Lucy had felt she was crowding them.
Vicki could not remember whether Mr. Dorn had reported where Lucy lived. She’d had the impression, and perhaps the Bryants did, too, that Lucy lived with the girl and her mother with whom she was now traveling. Well, Vicki thought, she’d clear up this point.
“If I telephone Lucy’s employer,” Vicki asked, “couldn’t they tell me when she’ll be back?”
“I think she gave up her job at the Interstate Insurance Company, though you can ask them.”