“But we should search the area first,” Jacob said. “Just to make sure. If we pass a policeman on the beat here, we can tell him and have him spread the word that we are looking for her.” We turned back along Canal in the direction we had come. “Of course, we could be worrying for nothing,” Jacob said, trying to sound bright and confident. “Nell could have arrived at your house by now, at my place, at anyplace as the whim took her. It is impossible to know how her mind works. I have been out on assignments with her before and she has been off in all directions, like a dog chasing a rabbit.” He attempted a smile and I could tell it was himself he was trying to convince, more than me.
I wasn’t sure what we were going to achieve by searching the area. Clearly Nell wouldn’t still be walking around the area alone in the dark and damp. And it wasn’t like Hester and Essex Streets and those livelier areas north of here, where shop fronts would still be open and street life still going on. If anyone lived around here, they had their front doors locked and their blinds drawn. I had to run to keep up with Jacob. He was striding out like a man on a mission. We turned up the first side street and then back to Canal. Singing floated to us from corner saloons. Drunken men staggered past us. Dogs barked. Cats slunk into alleyways. We tried the next side street and the next.
“This is a futile project, Jacob. How can we hope to find her this way? She could be anywhere in New York by now. And if someone had kidnapped her, we could be walking right past and not even know.”
“Don’t say that.” He shivered. “I need to feel that I have done everything I can do. We may just meet a street urchin or a woman of the night who has seen something.”
“All right. Press on, then,” I said gallantly although my feet by now were throbbing. Ladies’ shoes are not made for tramping over cobbles for hours. Pointed toes may be all the rage, but they are not designed for comfort. I glanced down enviously at Jacob’s big workman’s boots.
We passed Mostel’s again and searched the area around it, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. We crossed the Bowery and kept going. Two ladies of the night lurked in a doorway. We asked them.
“We ain’t interested in missing girls, honey,” one of them said. “We only notice if a gentleman like yourself goes past. What’s she done, run away from her old man?” They broke into peals of laughter. We trudged on, discouraged.
We were coming to the place where Canal Street changed direction, after it crossed Division. Surely Jacob didn’t intend to scout it out all the way to the East River? Then suddenly we heard the clatter of boots and two small boys ran past us. I grabbed at one, hoping that it might be one of Nuala’s boys.
“Here, let go of me, I ain’t done nothing,” he yelled in fright.
“We aren’t going to hurt you,” Jacob said. “We’re looking for a lady. We thought you might have seen her around here. A tall lady in black, nicely dressed?”
“Ain’t seen no one like that,” the other boy mumbled.
I glanced down at the object he was attempting to hide behind his back. “What have you got there?” I asked and made a grab for it. He tried to jerk it away and the ostrich plume came off in my hand.
“Where did you find this?” I demanded. “I thought you said you hadn’t seen the lady. This is her hat.”
“We ain’t seen no lady,” the first boy said. “We found the hat on the ground. Finders keepers. We was taking it home to our mom.”
“Can you take us to where you found the hat?” Jacob said. “Then I’ll give you fifty cents as a trade for the hat. Is that fair?”
“Okay, mister. It was down here.” They led back along Canal then down an alleyway where the houses from two streets backed onto each other. There were coal bunkers and all manner of sheds and shacks and outhouses and it smelled bad. We picked our way cautiously in almost total darkness.
“Right about here, mister,” the bigger boy said. “It was just lying here, just like that. Tom kicked it and we thought it was a dead bird or something and didn’t think much of it. But then we saw the ribbon and he picked it up.”
“You’ve been very helpful,” Jacob said. “It belongs to our friend. Here’s the fifty cents. And if you happen to see the lady we’re looking for, tell her where we are, will you?”
“Sure thing, mister.” The boys grinned and ran off with their bounty.
Jacob and I stood looking at the hat.
“She wouldn’t have taken her hat off in this weather,” he said.
“If she was being led away against her will, she might have let the hat fall to the ground as a clue,” I said.
Jacob nodded. “She might indeed.” The words came out as a whisper. We were both whispering. It was that sort of place. “On the other hand,” he went on, “she might be around here—hurt or . . .”
He didn’t need to say any more. We started looking. I wished we had a lantern with us. The darkness was almost complete. We peeked behind coal bunkers and sheds and called her name softly.
“She could have been thrown inside any of these,” Jacob said, his voice rising in annoyance. “Nell! It’s us. It’s Jacob,” he said, more loudly now.