Eerie Read Online Free PDF Page B

and submissively tucked inside their folders.
    He eyeballed her suspiciously, and Hailey looked innocently back at him.
    â€œBit of excitement,” he said holding his hands out.
    â€œIs everyone alright?”
    â€œMostly.”
    She handed him the folders, and he actually counted them. Right in front of her. Did he really think she would take one, she wondered, half offended and half amused that he’d underestimated her speed-reading skills.
    â€œHailey, I have to make a quick call, and it’s a mess in there,” he said apologetically. “Can you look through these mugshots out here for a few minutes? Make a note of anyone that looks familiar, okay?”
    She nodded obediently as he waved a card in front of an invisible sensor. The door clicked open, and he disappeared inside.
    As Hailey opened the binder, a television mounted to the ceiling in the corner of the lobby blared the morning news, which began with the channel logo flipping around on the screen with some bonging drums and a few dramatic notes from a shrieking horn. Enter the perfectly coiffed and annoyingly chipper morning news anchor.
    Her voice was hard to ignore, and Hailey winced when she introduced their top story.
    â€œGood morning, everybody. First up, a gruesome discovery in the parking lot of a local business last night has residents on edge, and just in this morning—a second local woman missing in as many days. Melissa has more.”
    Hailey leaned forward, breathless.
    â€œThat’s right, Megan, you’ll recall that workers at the Hullachan Irish Pub, a favorite watering hole for many in this area found the bloody shoe of one of their waitresses in the pub’s parking lot last night. Since then, no one has seen or heard from the owner of that shoe—Holly Hartley. And this morning, another 19-year-old girl—vanished. The search for both South Side women continues. Take a listen.”
    The video cut to an interview with a woman wearing a suit and a badge, which hung from a lanyard around her neck.
    â€œAt this point, we have no reason to believe the two incidents are related—”
    â€œThat statement from the Pittsburgh Police only adds to the intrigue surrounding these vanishings.”
    Hailey was nauseous.
    She felt like a four-year-old, plugging her ears with her fingers in the middle of a police department, but she couldn’t bear to hear anymore.
    Another girl missing?
    Staring at the mugshots in her lap, she listened to herself breathe. She counted twenty-seven intentionally loud breaths before Detective Toll finally poked his head into the lobby and motioned her in.
    â€œSorry about that,” he said, holding the door for her.
    â€œWas it something to do with Holly? Or this other girl that’s missing?”
    Hailey pointed to the TV.
    â€œNo,” he sighed as he led her through the squad room. “News can’t get anything right. This other disappearance they’re chasing is a 20-year-old known drug user with a history of near-fatal OD’s. She’s probably passed out in a motel again.”
    â€œOh.” Did that mean they weren’t looking for this other girl? Hailey wasn’t sure if she felt more compassion for the drug user or relief that the police weren’t diverting any energy from their search for Holly.
    â€œAnyone look familiar?” He pointed at the binder.
    Hailey shook her head.
    Leading her into his office, Toll motioned her to a chair facing his desk, which was a good old fashioned mess, piled with papers and photos and folders and notebooks with yellow sticky notes everywhere.
    He sat down and blew his cheeks full of air.
    â€œSo tell me about last night.”
    â€œI already told the officer last night—there . . .it was . . .” Hailey sighed, her mind racing, her heart keeping pace. She shook her leg but resisted the urge to bite her thumbnail as she filled him in on everything from stuffing