“You mean Mr. Fitzgerald, I presume?”
“That’s probably the name he goes under,” said Owen, realizing that it was not unlikely that Mr. Hines, being a fugitive from justice, had assumed an alias. “Does he reside here?”
The woman regarded her excited visitor with cold suspicion. “Before I answer any questions, sir, I must know who you are and what business——”
Owen, without waiting for her to finish, displayed his badge, at sight of which her manner changed.
“Oh, is that the kind of a man Mr. Fitzgerald is?” she exclaimed. “Well, I’m not surprised to hear it. I took a dislike to him the first time I saw him.”
“Oh, then he does live here?”
“No; but he comes here quite often to visit one of our boarders, sir—a Mr. Worthington—and it’s up to his room that he’s gone now.[Pg 51]”
“And is Miss—— Is anybody else up there with them?” inquired Owen, with great eagerness.
“Yes, sir; Mr. Worthington’s sister from New York. She arrived here yesterday, and has the room next to her brother’s. She’s up in her room now—the second-floor rear—and——”
Without waiting to hear any more Owen rushed up the stairway, and paused before a closed door, from behind which the deep voice of Jake Hines could be plainly heard.