The Stolen Ones by Richard Montanari Read Free Book Online Page B

door.’
    ‘There are new tenants moving into Robert’s house?’
    ‘I’m pretty sure,’ she said. ‘Aren’t there?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Jessica said. ‘What makes you think someone is moving in next door?’
    ‘Well, I heard someone in there. I heard talking.’
    Jessica glanced at Byrne, then back at the woman. ‘When did you hear this?’
    The woman thought for a few moments. ‘A couple of days ago. Maybe a week. I just remember thinking to myself that it was a good thing, you know? That the place would be occupied. Less likely for it to be broken into, things like that.’
    ‘You heard talking coming from this house?’ Jessica asked, pointing to Robert’s house. ‘You’re certain it was coming from here?’
    ‘Well, I was until now.’ She gestured to the row house on the other side. ‘I know that Kate and Jennie – they’re the two girls who live on the other side – are not home during the day, so it couldn’t have come from there. So, yeah, I’m sure.’
    Jessica made the mental note. ‘Could you tell if it was the radio or television, or maybe a CD?’
    The woman shrugged. ‘No. Sorry.’
    ‘Not a problem,’ Jessica said. She handed the woman a card. ‘If you think of anything else, please give us a call.’
    ‘Sure thing.’
    Jessica and Byrne walked down to the avenue, around the corner, then down the alleyway behind the houses. When they got to Freitag’s house Jessica looked closely at the seal over the back door. It was intact. She took the seal out of her pocket, the one she had cut off the front door when they arrived, and held it up next to the sticker on the back door. She compared signatures. They were identical.
    There were bars over the windows, and seals on the only two doors.
    ‘So how did she hear anything coming from this place?’ Jessica asked as they walked back to the car.
    ‘Good question,’ Byrne said. ‘On the other hand, it’s a wonder she hears anything at all with that brood.’
    As they reached the corner the rain picked up again. Jessica was frozen to the bone.
    ‘Let’s get this stuff to the ID Unit, and then over to documents,’ she said. ‘Then we’ll go talk to Freitag’s former co-workers at CycleLife.’
     
    While Byrne bundled the material into the trunk of the Taurus, Jessica closed the front door to Robert Freitag’s home, turned the key in the lock. She peeled a fresh sticker, smoothed it in place, signed it.
    She stood on the front steps for a few moments, looking both ways down the street, at the dozens of row houses, the scores of lives. She wondered what secrets were hidden in these houses, how many of them dreams, how many of them nightmares.

8
     
Sixteen years earlier
    ‘I heard something,’ Bean whispered. ‘I know it.’
    ‘No you didn’t.’
    ‘I did
so
, Tuff.’ Bean threw off her covers, sat on the edge of her bed. ‘I did hear something. In my
ears
.’
    Tuff flipped on the nightstand lamp. Part of her lot in life was taking care of her little sister when she got scared, which seemed to be all the time these days. She glanced at the clock. It was after midnight. If Mom saw the light under their door they were
so
dead. ‘What did you hear?’
    Bean shrugged.
    ‘Okay, then. Where did it come from? Under the bed?’
    Bean shook her head.
    ‘Outside?’
    ‘No.’
    Resigned, Tuff sat up, fluffed a pillow behind her. ‘Then where?’
    Bean pointed one small finger in the direction of the closet.
    Tuff looked at the closet, back. This was their routine, and had been almost every night since Bean turned four, nearly six months earlier. That’s when the fear began. That was when their father had died in an accident at his work. That’s when their mother started hiding the brown bottles in the house.
    ‘There’s no one in there, Bean.’
    Bean nodded feverishly, meaning:
Oh yes there is, there most certainly
is
someone in there.
    Tuff got up, put on her slippers, padded over to the window, made a dramatic effort