My Little Experiment (James Gillies)

Chapter 7: Tag

Detective Murdoch looked over the old notes with Inspector Brackenreid and George Crabtree. The three have been at the case for over an hour before George holds up a note.

"Sir, this is it! It's got to be." Both Murdoch and Brackenreid look over at Crabtree expectantly.

"When Gillies was sending you those dolls, he dressed up as that blonde woman, remember? The address he gave is still here. It's at that hotel that he had Veronica Bowden in. It's the Empire Hotel. Could he be back there?"

"That's a good lead, George. Gillies used that hotel more than once and that's where we found him. We need to get down to that hotel now." Murdoch says and the three instantly head out.

Upon reaching the hotel, Murdoch goes up to the front and looks at the man in desperation. He pulls out the picture of James Gillies and holds it in front of him. "Sir, have you seen this man? Is he here in the hotel? There should have been a woman with him."

The man looks at the photo and shakes his head. "No sir, I can't say I have. Who is this?"

Murdoch lets out a sigh at the negative response. "James Gillies. He's wanted for murder and kidnapping."

The man lets out a whistle and shakes his head again. "No sir, I haven't seen him before. I'd tell you if I did."

"Thank you for your time." Murdoch mutters and walks away. Crabtree and Brackenreid look at one another before following Murdoch out of the hotel, catching up to him outside. 

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" Inspector Brackenreid asks and Murdoch shrugs his shoulders. 

"I really don't know, sir. I wouldn't think he'd lie to us."

"Is it a misdirect?" Crabtree asks and Murdoch looks to him with an eyebrow raised. 

"What do you mean, George?"

"Well, what if coming back to this hotel was a misdirect? He knew you'd find this hotel on file, so you'd come to check here first. What if it isn't this hotel he's getting at?" George questions and Inspector Brackenreid frowns.

"Meaning what, exactly?" 

Murdoch begins to think and he looks at George, figuring out what he was meaning. "There's other hotels in Toronto. Maybe the clue Gillies was talking about was directing us to a hotel, even if it's not the Empire. There's at least three other hotels throughout the city. He could be with Breanna in one of those."

Inspector Brackenreid let out a sigh. "This just got a whole lot more complicated. Let's focus on the hotels closest to us so we aren't running around like chickens with our heads cut off."

"What's the hotel closest to us besides this one?" George asks. Murdoch looks around, thinking hard before turning back to them.

"The Queens Hotel. Its a few streets away from the station house." He says and the other two nod to him.

"I'll get other men out to have the other hotels be on the lookout for James Gillies," Inspector Brackenreid says. "We'll go to the Queens Hotel and try to track him down."

The three men left the Empire Hotel, making their way over to the Queens Hotel as quickly as they could. When they arrived, people were buzzing about for lunchtime, making it quite crowded as the three approach the receptionist, who was busy drying off a cup.

"Sir," Detective Murdoch approaches. "Has this man been in this hotel recently? There would be a woman with him."

The man pauses what he's doing and looks at the picture, raising an eyebrow at him. "And who are you?"