Heartstopper by Joy Fielding Read Free Book Online Page A

computer?”
    “You know how much time these kids spend on the Internet. Maybe she met some guy in a chat room.” For the second time that afternoon, John found himself thinking about Kerri Franklin. Hadn’t she met her Dr. Crosbie in exactly that way? At least, that was the local scuttlebutt. Amber had come home from school one day, breathless with the news that her English teacher’s husband had left her for Delilah Franklin’s mother, and you’ll never believe how they met!
    “I didn’t think to check her computer,” Howard said. “I don’t even know her password. Do you?” he asked his wife.
    She shook her head. “Maybe the boys know.”
    Immediately Howard pulled his cell phone out of the pocket of his tan-colored windbreaker. He punched in a series of numbers and waited. “Noah, do you know your sister’s password?” he asked without preamble. “Yes, of course, for the computer,” he said impatiently. “She won’t kill you,” Howard assured him. “But
I
might if you don’t tell me what it is right now…. Okay. Thanks. I take it she hasn’t called?” He snapped the tiny phone shut, then returned it to his pocket. “Her password is
Jell-O
, and there’s been no word.”
    “I’ll need her e-mail address.”
    Again Howard looked to his wife to supply it. She did so with a hollow voice that seemed to be coming from another room altogether.
    “I’ll have one of our guys look into it first thing in the morning.”
    “Is there anything we can do tonight?”
    “Well, it’ll be getting dark soon, but I’ll have a police cruiser take a look around.” John noted a flash of disappointment streak through Judy’s eyes. “And I’ll snoop around a little myself,” he added quickly, trying not to picture the sunset he’d been looking forward to. He understood that most people, especially people in a small town like Torrance, liked to feel they were dealing with the person in charge. In charge of what? he wondered, scratching at his upper lip. When was the last time he’d felt in charge of anything? “Does she have any favorite haunts? Places she likes to go?”
    “Merchant Mall,” Judy said. “But it’ll be closed now.”
    “And Chester’s,” Howard added, naming the ham-burger-joint-cum-pool-hall that was a popular hangout for many of the area’s teens.
    “I’ll check it out.” John had never liked Chester’s. It was managed by Cal Hamilton, a former bouncer from South Beach, whose wife was always covered with bruises. “Are any of her things missing?”
    “Her clothes are all in her closet,” Judy said. “Her CDs, her makeup, everything is where it always is. Except for her school stuff and her purse, which she would have had with her. You don’t think something awful’s happened to her, do you?” she continued in the same breath, unable any longer to prevent the question that had been circling their heads, like a menacing crow, from swooping into their laps.
    How do you answer a question like that? John asked himself. “I don’t know,” he said, opting for honesty. “I hope not, and certainly there’s no evidence to suggest anything bad has happened.” Except, of course, that she’s been missing for more than twenty-four hours, he thought, but didn’t say. Their ashen faces told him they were thinking the same thing.
    Still, the reality was that most missing teens turned out to be runaways. They surfaced eventually, not terribly apologetic, some even indignant, and always rathersurprised by all the fuss their disappearance had caused. But this didn’t seem to be the case here. From everything the Martins had just told him, there was no reason to believe Liana had run away. She was a popular, well-adjusted teenager with lots of friends and few worries. Of course, the parents were often the last to know if there were any real problems, and so he’d have a few officers start interviewing Liana’s friends privately, and he’d personally stop in at Chester’s before