Cooper Anderson walked to his car, mentally checking one task off his list.  Hed made solid contact with Kurt Hummel.  Cooper forced himself to contain any optimism until he had more information. This still had a strong chance of being a dead end.

Cooper had been searching for his baby brother for years.  Ever since hed figured out that Blaine hadnt actually been on a school trip to the UK; that his parents had done something unforgiveable.  Between his wife, their beautiful twins, and his desperate need to find Blaine, much of the goofy cheer that had been Coopers trademark had faded, giving way to maturity and responsibility.  Jessi told him that while she missed silly him, she appreciated the man hed become as well.

Apparently, acute loss of innocence was a good look for him.  His acting career had finally taken off.  Cooper was a popular supporting actor, working well with more famous names without trying to steal scenes.  Though he tended to, anyway.  His agent told him if he was a little less attractive he could be the next William H. Macy.  Cooper replied that since theres already one of those, why would he want that? And as it turned out, he didnt have to. In a few weeks the new movie would be released and hed find out if he was leading man material.

Cooper had recruited a number of private detectives to look for Blaine over the years. But the paperwork was a muddled mess.  FUBAR one of the detectives had told him, suggesting that Cooper would do best to just accept the loss.  Cooper found himself a different PI after that.

One of the more successful trackers was a recent hire.  A friend of Coopers had referred the woman, though Cooper initially considered her unlikely to be of help. It didnt take her long to change his opinion.  And while she was certainly one of the most unusual investigators hed worked with, Cooper couldnt fault her results.

She got back to him within a week of being hired with proof that his brothers acquisition paperwork showed evidence of being buried.  It was legal, Doris Sylvester had told him, but it made the trail difficult to track.  She explained how hiding that kind of thing was easy enough to do if you were already in the system and used actual paper, leaving the details out of the computer system.  Doris seemed confident that shed unravel it, and pursued the case with dogmatic intensity. Cooper couldnt help but feel some encouragement. Shed already turned up more than any of the other people hed hired, and she hadnt once talked to him about giving up.  Coopers faint burst of hope slowly died as a month passed without a word from the intrepid P.I.

All of that had changed two weeks ago.  Doris called him out of the blue to inform him that she had a potential trail.  It was weak, she warned, but she knew hed want to hear if she twigged to anything at all.  Cooper had sent Doris a healthy bonus and told her to bring him whatever she found.  Then hed canceled his appointments for the day, gone home, and cuddled with Jessica and the kids all night.  His wife really was his rock, and had supported him throughout his search, grieving with him at every false trail over the brother shed never met.

Doris had caught up with him three days ago between movie interviews at a coffee shop.  She had a folder with her, which was more evidence than Cooper had seen since he started his search. He accepted the coffee she pushed across to him.  "Tell me."

She nodded, appreciating the down-to-business attitude. Who had time for niceties?  Doris opened the folder, showing a faded, stained, proof of purchase with Blaines black and white photo and designation number listed.

Cooper stared. "Where did you find this?"  A number, he finally had Blaines number.  That was huge.

"Where is irrelevant.  What does matter is that it appears your brother was purchased approximately 5 years ago by this hotel.  I travelled there with a picture to see if anyone recognized him, but no one did. The managers dont pay a lot of attention.  I went down and interviewed the slaves, but theyre only kept to 25 years of age then sold off.  There was no one was left who could remember him." 

It wouldnt have occurred to Cooper to even ask the slaves, and it should have. Hed had to change his previous beliefs about slavery fairly abruptly.  It was easy when you found yourself staring at the face of every short male with his head bowed and wearing a collar, wondering if that was your little brother.

"You dont by any chance have a guess what type of function he would have had at the hotel?"  Tell me hed been a room cleaner, or in laundry.

Doris sighed. Shed decided against bringing that up unless he asked.  "That particular hotel only buys service-slaves." 

Cooper lost his grip on his coffee, not noticing when Doris caught it before it could fall to the floor.  His brother?  Sweet, bright-eyed, intelligent, gifted Blaine had been made into a sex-toy. God, hed only been 15y when their goddamn parents had sold him.  Cooper couldnt breathe.  If there had been any remote chance hed someday forgive his parents for what theyd done, that possibility had officially flown right out the fucking window.

"Doris," he choked out, trying desperately to keep himself under control. "Tell me you have more for me." 

"I have more for you." 

Oh, thank God. Cooper forced himself to listen.

"Like I said, no one there remembers him, but the manager who directly purchased Blaine was listed on the receipt.  She was significantly easier to track down then a misplaced slave and she actually did remember him.  She was more than willing to talk to me for a nice bottle of wine.  Ive emailed you the receipt."

Copper waved that off.

"The woman remembered him because she hadnt realized he was gay when she first bought him and had gotten some heat over that mistake.  She didnt know where he might have gone from there; shed quit by the time he was sold.  But that was confirmation that I was on the right track. And since she knew his approximate age on the year he was purchased, I now have a timeline on exactly when Blaine would have resided there.  In addition, she told me what batches of financial reports I should check to find a miscellaneous sale.  Doris briefly stopped talking when the server brought her sandwich.

"I broke into the hotels records a few nights ago and went through them until I found all the miscellaneous charges in that time frame and crosschecked those for a potential buyer."

"Couldnt you have just asked to see the records?"

"Oh probably, but that would take time. And theres always a chance theyd say no.  This was much more efficient."  She stopped talking in favor of working on her turkey and avocado on whole wheat lunch.

"Okay." Cooper decided to let that go. "And..." Cooper encouraged Doris to continue, forcing himself not to rip the sandwich away.

Doris pushed the folder across the table over to him. "And, I think I found him."