Walking a Fine Line: Day 6

Word Count: 36,339

Summary of Events:

Joseph sought out the taxi with the license plate number he'd memorised as he walked to and from his workplace, and watched traffic go by out the windows over several days. Finally finding it, he questioned its driver and was quite glad that the driver remembered Mr. Varley and the address he'd asked to be taken to. After work, Joseph went to the address — as it was on his way home — and found it was a small apartment building where Mr. Varley was listed as a tenant. Going up to Mr. Varley's unit, Joseph found he wasn't home and was going to try and break in when he was knocked out. Upon regaining consciousness, Joseph was suspected as a robber by Mr. Varley's neighbours, but Mr. Varley insisted Joseph was a friend, and asked Joseph to pretend he was to the police, which Joseph agreed to only so that his family wouldn't lose his income. Once the police, having been persuaded, had left, Mr. Varley showed Joseph into his apartment and made him some tea before informing Joseph that his name was actually Charlie McElligott, that he was from Philadelphia, and going on to explain why he'd come to Chicago…

Except of the Day:

“You may not have heard of him, but there’s a fairly wealthy man by the name of Marion Bradley in Philadelphia,” Mr. Varley explained. “His money comes mainly from industrial works and the railway. He was away on business when a lone crook broke into his house and stole a valuable collection of jewellery. Mrs. Bradley heard the robbery in progress and courageously confronted the crook, but the crook beat her and… and did horrible things to her, before getting away.”

Mr. Varley looked shaken, suggesting to Joseph that it might be best not to ask what else the crook had done, but to simply guess that it was along the lines of what Joseph had suspected Mr. Varley had meant to do with Theresa when he’d sought to guide her away from the park.

“Despite the robbery’s being carried out in darkness,” Mr. Varley continued. “Mrs. Bradley was able to determine that her attacker was tall, lean, and had auburn hair. The police publicised this, hoping for a lead. Someone gave them my name as fitting the description, so they put out a warrant for my arrest.”

Taking up the teapot, Mr. Varley filled the two cups with what looked to be not so strong of tea as Ma liked, for which Joseph was grateful, as he didn’t like strong tea, it was almost as bad as coffee.

“When my parents saw this they questioned me extensively,” Mr. Varley went on, his voice catching in the last word. “My alibi was weak. I had been alone that evening, trying to find my wallet. On my way home from school that day I’d seen a couple children trying to get a cat out of a tree, so I stopped to help them. I thought that while doing so I’d lost my wallet, but I didn’t find it there, and I still haven’t found it. I think someone pinched it. I didn’t ask anyone to help me look for it, and I should’ve, as then I would’ve had someone to affirm where I was.”

Joseph drew his tea toward himself and added a bit of sugar to it, doing his best to stir the sugar in quietly, although Mr. Varley seemed to be focusing on preparing his tea and recovering his composure, as he seemed near to tears.

“What’s worse,” Mr. Varley said, his gaze fixed on the tea. “Is that the police later found a couple of the pieces of jewellery hiding in the snow in my parents’ backyard. So when my parents told the police about my missing wallet, they declared it would be found at the crime scene, but they’ve failed as much as I have to find it.”

Taking a sip of his tea, Joseph wished he could have some milk in it, although it wasn’t too bad overall.

“The police also showed a picture of me to Mrs. Bradley that my parents gave them,” Mr. Varley added. “And she told the police emphatically that I was the man.”