[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
got, get me a handful of flashlights, and tell me where the hell these stairs
go. Coop, go back and get the floor plans. Hoof it.
Mercer was on Mamdouba s phone with the chief of detectives office. Get
Emergency Services here. Send me some patrol cars. Close off the streets
around the museum& . Theywhat ? Don t tellme they can t. They do it to blow up
Snoopy and those rubber cartoon characters for the Thanksgiving Day parade.
Shut it down tighter than a crab s ass. You got subway entrances north and
south of the place. Block em off.
I ran back to our workroom and grabbed the maps off the top of the desk.
What s wrong with you, man? Why the hell didn t you tell us there s a secret
staircase in there? You think Clem came over here from London to play games?
Someone grabbed her right from under our noses. Use your brain. Mike stormed
back to the staircase. What does this lead to and who had access to it?
Mamdouba was in his fourth mood swing of the night. The displeasure that had
turned to defiance and then briefly become hysteria had now sobered to misery.
It s not a secret. There s no reason for anyone to know about it. It s, uh,
it s vestigial.
I left my thesaurus at the station house. Help me.
Mamdouba had called the security command center and alarms were screeching
overhead and echoing in the vast hallways beyond.
Vestigial.Useless, like your appendix. Built a century ago, when these
corner towers were constructed. They ve been out of use ever since elevators
were put in. The steps are narrow and dark and dangerous. Nobody uses them.
Now Mercer was talking to the head of the hostage negotiation squad: That s
the point. We don t know who s got her or where she is. It s not premature.
You damn well better have a team up here because if we find the girl and she s
alive, I m gonna need all the help I can get. Pronto.
Three guards rushed into the room, the leader looking to Mamdouba for
information and direction.
That flashlight. Toss it, Mike said.
Do it. Mamdouba nodded his head.
Mercer took another flashlight out of the second guard s hand and threw it to
me, grabbing a third for himself.
Page 167
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
I m going up. You go down, Mike said to Mercer. I started to follow them
into the darkened stairwell but Mike shouted at me to go back. You re only
trouble, blondie. Stay here with the guards and man the phone. Chief of D s on
the way.
Mamdouba was playing with a panel of light switches on the landing. I could
hear the click as he flipped them but no lights came on.
His office had erupted into total chaos as guards responded from stations all
around the museum. The one who seemed to be their leader was giving them
orders to fan out and start scouring every crevice of the building, looking
for a short, dark-skinned woman with black hair. They were not licensed to
carry weapons, so most of them had only their flashlights in hand.
Within minutes, three patrol cars had arrived at the museum. A uniformed
sergeant and three cops were the first to get to Mamdouba s office. Hey, Al,
what gives?
You know anything about the murder investigation, the girl who was found ?
Chapman s case? Seen it in the papers. Body in the back of the truck
somewhere in Jersey. You caught the guy tonight? Who s missing?
I gave them the briefest version of the events to get them going. The
sergeant sent two guys to follow Mercer and Mike, while he and his driver
remained with me.
What s her scrip?
I tried to be patient as I told them what Clem looked like, so they could
send out a radio broadcast to the other officers arriving at the museum, as
well as to those patrolling the neighborhood.
Name?
I spelled it for him while the driver took notes.
Odd one.
Inuit.
What?
Eskimo.
APB the North Pole, Al. The sergeant laughed, as concerned about the
situation as Mamdouba had been at first.
Mike and a young cop came back into the room. You want to get reamed at
Compstat next month, Paddy? Stand here making stupid friggin jokes while
you re about to notch up one more murder count in your precinct. Get me every
man available in Manhattan North.
Now you re joking. It s just a museum.
You ever been up on five, Coop? Or beyond it, to the attic?
I shook my head in the negative as Mike went on. We re gonna tear it apart
upstairs. You won t believe what it looks like. You could rent out rooms to a
dozen people and no one would know they re living up there. Or dead. There s a
zillion cubbyholes and lockers and cases. Where s Mercer? Anyone with Mercer?
Call him, Coop.
I dialed his phone from Mamdouba s desk and was sent into his voice mail. He
must have reached the basement already, where his cell phone wouldn t work. I
tried Zimm s extension and got no answer.
Do you know who else is working in the basement? I asked Mamdouba.
Several of the team were here until an hour ago. Gaylord, Poste, Bellinger,
Friedrichs. They were all up here. But it s late, they may be gone. Zimm, I
told him not to leave until he heard from me, in case I needed any last-minute
errands completed tonight.
Mike was giving orders to NYPD cops, who were arriving in pairs every five
minutes or so, and to the bewildered security guards. You see anything alive
and moving under this roof, corral him or her and bring em&
He looked at me, not knowing what to say.
IMAX theater. Off the main lobby.
Paddy. He turned his attention to the sergeant. Interns, grad students,
science dorks, janitors. Nobody leaves. What did they see, what did they hear?
Bones. I want anyone who knows where the bones are.
Mamdouba muttered softly, They are everywhere, Mr. Chapman. Upstairs and
Page 168
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
down.
The sergeant had a police walkie-talkie and was communicating with his men on
the street. Somebody at every entrance, every doorway. Dumpsters in the
courtyard, check em. Flood the place with whoever shows up.
Can you turn off that damn system already? Mike was on the phone with
headquarters again. The internal alarms had been clanging for twenty minutes.
If there was anyone who had not realized there was an emergency, he had
already met the taxidermists.
Mercer was practically panting when he came back into the office. Door from
the staircase doesn t open on three. On two is an office like this one. Lock
must be a hundred years old. Shouldered into it and it gave way. Dusty, empty,
nothing in the closets except bottles full of lizards. First floor s a
bookshop. Took it all the way down to the basement.
Where the exhibition offices are? See any of the
No, you heard Clem. Can t get there from here. It s spookier than shit.
Herps. Mamdouba again.
What?
Snakes. Herpetology. They re all dead, Mr. Wallace.
You still do not want to be in there. Tank after tank pythons, constrictors,
anacondas all in some kind of alcohol solution.
You see anyone?
Nope. This one s a labyrinth of storerooms and closets. Racks of metal
shelves on wheels with specimens. I left the cop who followed on that side.
Call him some backup, will you? Still as a tomb. He s checking out every inch
of it.
Did you get over to ?
The exhibition area? Yeah. Had to climb back up to the lobby and over to
where we ve been in before. Got the kid to go
Zimm?
Yeah. Told him what happened and sent him
How d he react to the news about Clem?
Seemed appropriately freaked out. I have him doing a sweep to see who s
still here, round them up. I ll go back to meet him and let him take us
through every back alley he knows down there. Sarge, I need guys to open every
door.
Did Zimm say he knew Clem would be here tonight?
Mike, I didn t stop to do an interview. I m trying to find her alive, okay?
Anyone else there?
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]