Creepers by David Morrell Read Free Book Online Page B

shook his head like always and started back down the stairs. Myers had read every word of the paper before delivering it, but never would have admitted to the crime. This was his little game, and in a small way, it usually got Corelli's day off on the right track. Today the sight of the old man only depressed him.
    He made himself a second cup of coffee before scanning the newspaper. Shit, today was going to be a bad one. He'd known it the minute he woke up from the dream, and reading the deep sadness and loneliness in Ralph Myers' face cinched it. Well, the latest news would certainly take his mind off his own troubles. The inch-high headline "KID GRABBED FROM IND" assaulted Corelli from the front page. Opposite the lurid story was a blurry photograph of a young girl Corelli guessed to be six or seven. Her wide-eyed innocence was deceptive, for even in the grainy black-and-white picture a spark of mischief gilded her eyes. Her name was Lisa Hill. She looked like a nice kid. A smart kid.
    But not smart enough.
    He read the story, expecting the usual sensation-seeking drivel designed to hold a reader's interest during a morning subway ride. But as he read the details of Lisa Hill's "abduction" a second time, Corelli felt the muscles at the back of his neck tense. Lisa and her mother had been alone on the downtown platform, and witnesses on the uptown platform swore that at the time of the child's disappearance no one had come upstairs! Officials speculated Lisa had to have been taken up the two levels and out onto the street. Any other explanation was absurd.
    But not to Frank Corelli.
    It had happened again! He cupped his hand thoughtfully over his mouth, exhaled through the fingers while studying Lisa Hill's picture. The only difference between this and the Penny Comstock disappearance was that with Comstock there was no witness. Lisa Hill had been with her mother. Even if the mother didn't see anything, she was still at the scene of the crime. And that was a good beginning. But where to go from here?
    Corelli downed the coffee in one gulp, grabbed a cigarette, and pulled the phone book from the top of the refrigerator. Goddammit! The TA was a public-service organization. It was supposed to provide transportation and safety. But New Yorkers were beginning to pay extravagantly for the questionable privilege of exposing themselves to the danger and filth of the subway. Somebody was screwing up. Maybe it was Dolchik. Or maybe it went higher--to the TA executive offices on Madison Avenue. But whoever was at fault was callously overlooking the fact that the friends of Penny Comstock--and the parents of Lisa Hill--just might be wondering where the hell they were!
    The phone book listed one L. Hill on West Seventy-ninth Street. L for Louise, Corelli thought as he dialed. Maybe a widow. Probably divorced. The Upper West Side was full of divorced women with children, women using only a first initial, hoping to keep their sex and their vulnerability from the cranks and the perverts. After five rings the phone was answered.
    "Yes?" The woman's voice was lifeless.
    "Mrs. Hill?"
    "What do you want?" A touch of anger lifted her voice momentarily.
    "This is Detective Corelli of the New York Transit Police."
    "I've answered all your questions." The life drooped out of it again.
    "And I'm sure you've been very cooperative, but I'm with the TA--the people who brought you the subway?"
    "Thanks a lot," she replied, not missing the irony in Corelli's voice. "So what can I do for you?"
    "I'd like to talk to you about Lisa."
    Although Louise was beginning to get used to hearing her daughter's name on the lips of strangers, it was still painful. "I'm not sure I have anything more to say."
    "I could come over now, if it's convenient," Corelli cajoled. He'd be late for work, but Quinn would cover for him.
    "Does it have to be now? I'm--"
    "I'm afraid it does," Corelli said officially. The case was actually being handled by the city police and as such