directory. Writing down the addresses, Matt went up to his room to leave his suitcase, then went back down to hail a cab.
The first house he went to was on South Grand. Asking the driver to wait for him, he walked up to the house and knocked on the door. It was answered by a man who appeared to be in his late seventies. His name was Andrew Marcus, but he had no brother named Lee.
The next address was an apartment on Olive.
“You have the right address in that Andrew Marcus used to live here,” the man said. “But he moved away last month.”
“Do you know where he moved to?”
“No, sir, I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. Oh, but I can tell you that he works at the Anheuser Beer brewing company.”
“Thanks,” Matt said.
Matt had seen small breweries before, but never had he seen anything as large as the Anheuser company. It was located in a huge building and bustling with activity. Large wagons moved about, some empty, but many loaded with big barrels of beer. In addition to the wagons, there were also several railroad spurs on which stood freight cars being loaded with beer.
When Matt checked in at the front office, he learned that Andrew Marcus was no longer an employee of the brewery.
“Do you know where he is now?” Matt asked.
“I don’t know,” the personnel clerk replied, “but I’ll bet Cain knows. Cain worked with Marcus. You’ll find him inside at the mash kettles. Cain and Marcus were both brewmasters.”
“Is it all right for me to go find Mr. Cain?”
“Sure,” the friendly clerk said. Getting up from his desk, he took Matt over to a large window, then pointed down onto the floor where there were several huge copper pots. “Do you see the tall fellow with the mustache there on the third kettle?”
“Yes.”
“That is Gregory Cain,” the clerk said. He pointed to a door. “Go through that door and down the steps.”
“Thank you,” Matt replied.
The door led to an open platform that was elevated above the level of the many mash kettles that occupied the floor. From there, one could see every mash kettle and every corner of the large room.
The room was filled with a very strong, but not unpleasant, aroma of barley, hops, and malt. It was also warm, as the mash was being cooked in the giant kettles.
Matt walked down the two levels of unpainted stairs, then up between the mash kettles until he found Cain. Cain was on a ladder, looking down into the kettle.
“Mr. Cain?”
“That’s me,” Cain answered.
“I wonder if I could—”
Cain held his hand up to stop Matt. Then, closing the top of the kettle, he climbed back down the ladder. Picking up a towel, he began drying his hands. Then he smiled at Matt.
“Yes, sir, what can I do for you?” he asked.
“My name is Matt Jensen, Mr. Cain. I’m looking for Andrew Marcus.”
“Well, I’m afraid you are a little late,” Cain said. As another man walked by, Cain called out to him. “Gary, we need a little more barley in number seven.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll get right on it, Mr. Cain,” the other worker said.
Cain turned his attention back to Matt. “Why are you looking for Andy?”
“First, I need to know if this is the right Andrew Marcus,” Matt said. “Does he have a brother named Lee?”
“Lee? Yeah, I think that’s his name. Andy used to talk about him a lot. He lives out west somewhere, Colorado, Texas, some such place. I know that Andy said he was a fool for buying a gold mine from some scoundrel out there. Or maybe it was a silver mine, I don’t rightly remember now.” The man chuckled. “Anyhow, he used to talk about how dumb his brother was for doing such a thing.”
“Then he is the one I’m looking for.”
“Is it something about his brother?”
“His brother is dead,” Matt said. “Before he died, he asked me to get in touch with his brother to let him know what happened.”
“Oh,” Cain said. “I’m sorry to hear that. Andy set a great store by his brother. Even though he went on about how dumb he thought Lee was to buy that gold mine, I think that secretly he admired and maybe even envied his brother for doing that.” Cain chuckled. “In fact, I think that’s why he took off for Phoenix.”
“Phoenix?”
“Yep. Andy went out there last month. He’s planning on starting a brewery out there.” Cain laughed. “I told him his brother probably had a better chance with the gold mine than he would with a brewery, but, like I said, I think it was his brother doing what he done that inspired Andy, so to speak.”
“Thank you, Mr. Cain. You’ve been very helpful.”
