Ransom Beach (Stephanie Chalice Thrillers Book 2) by Lawrence Kelter Read Free Book Online

description—her file was a fake. The hospital has a mandatory fingerprinting policy, but new employees have ten days to comply. It was her first day on the job."
    "Planned well in advance," Lido said.
    Ambler's cheekbones rose. "You ain't heard nothing yet." Ambler sipped at his water. "So, Mack goes through the emergency exit, hits the street, and looks for a vehicle tall enough for quick egress with a wheelchair—makes sense, right? Anyway, Mack spots an ambulette heading east and, in desperation, figures it's his only shot. He chases on foot to the river and sees a launch pulling away. He thinks he sees Manny in the launch, grabs the discarded ambulette and pursues it over the 59 th Street Bridge into Queens."
    Ambler had me on the edge of my seat. "Anybody got popcorn?"
    Ambler grinned.
    I'd gotten the gist of it and figured I could fill in the blanks and save a little time—not that Ambler didn't deserve his fifteen minutes, but come on. "So, Mack takes down Reyes, but doesn't find Manny. What was it—a double wearing Manny's shirt?"
    "A mannequin, a goddamn department store mannequin."
    "Wow, you're kidding, a decoy," Lido said. "So where'd the real kid go?"
    "We only figured it out a few minutes ago. When we questioned Mack in the hospital, he said there was a large uniform truck parked outside. It was a great cover—a uniform truck parked outside a hospital—who woulda thunk it? Mack didn't. Fortunately, Mack was familiar with the company name— Cintas, an institutional uniform service. We checked and found a truck had been reported stolen yesterday morning. Whoever planned this thought it well the hell out. They set the decoy in motion and hung back in the van until Mack took the bait."
    "I'm impressed. So drop the other shoe. Who is this kid and why did someone go to such lengths to take him?"
    "Here's where it gets interesting," Ambler said. "Manny is an orphan. He's the ward of Celia Thorne."
    "Thorne Cosmetics?" I asked.
    Ambler nodded.
    Celia Thorne was the reigning queen of the cosmetics world, a woman respected for her cunning and guile, but not for her warmth. She was the cosmetic's world equivalent of Leona Helmsley or Martha Stewart, women most New Yorkers love to hate. "What does the ice princess want with Manny? Does he hold the secret to ageless beauty?"
    "Maybe."
    "That's it, stop being so mysterious. Are you going to fill us in or not?"
    Ambler shook his finger at me in an admonishing manner. "As I said, Manny has the ability to learn, but because of his condition never initiates any communication. Did I mention that he's a mute?"
    Lido and I nodded at the same time.
    "Well, something strange began about a year ago. Are you familiar with the term hypergraphia?"
    Lido and I shook our heads.
    "It's a psychological term for a person who writes continuously, constantly recording information, thoughts, and what have you—it's a form of obsessive compulsive behavior."
    God bless the world of psychology—it felt the need to label everything. I wonder if they had a name for that—the need to describe and catalogue every single aspect of the human condition. Maybe they don't have anything better to do.
    "That was shortly after his last birthday, at which time Manny began scrawling constantly on large pieces of paper with crayon. At first, his tutor thought that he was spewing out gibberish—his penmanship was poor and his words made no sense—but then he realized that Manny was writing out cohesive thoughts. Moreover, he was writing them in French."
    French, did he say French? "Come on, Ambler, this is a hoax, right?" Is this 'Candid Camera'? Is Allen Funt waiting in the next room?
    "French, Detective Chalice, the boy writes in French. He does so without ever having had any instruction in writing. He writes in French—nonstop." Ambler glared at me. "Believe it or not."
    Lido looked at me and shrugged. We were both flabbergasted.
    Ambler finally opened the artist's portfolio and removed a large