Mortal Sin Read Online Free PDF

whimsical ceramic sculpture of a winged pig, poised for flight. Curious about its significance, Sarah tightened her grip on her coffee mug and met his eyes.
    “Three days ago,” she said, “my sixteen-year-old niece ran away from home.”
    “I see.”
    “I believe she’s somewhere on the streets of Boston. It’s not the first time she’s run away. The last time it happened, Remy—my ex-husband—and I were absolutely frantic. Two weeks after she disappeared, the NOPD arrested her for soliciting a police officer on Bourbon Street. Kit swore it was a mistake, but I don’t know what to believe. I know what happens to young girls out on the street, especially pretty ones like Kit. I’m terrified that if she gets desperate enough, she’ll do the same thing again. Only this time, she’ll pick the wrong man and end up—”
    She paused, shook her head to dispel the images playing in living color inside her brain. “I don’t know what to do. The police are useless. You know what they told me? That they’d enter her name into their database. If she gets arrested, they’ll give me a call. Meanwhile, she’s out there somewhere in this brutal cold. She’s sixteen years old, Father. Sixteen! And nobody seems to give a damn.” Cupping her coffee mug in both hands, she leaned forward. “I’m here because Josie said you could find her. She said you have experience with this kind of thing.”
    Silence filled the space between them. He cleared his throat. “This isn’t precisely the kind of thing I have experience with. I pull teenage prostitutes off the street and place them in a halfway house. I’ve never gone looking for a missing girl before.”
    “But Josie said you know the streets. You know where to look, who to talk to, what questions to ask. You’re it, Father. End of the line. I have nobody else.”
    Those amber eyes studied her at length. “What do you plan to do with her if you find her?”
    She brushed a strand of windswept hair back from her forehead. “Bring her home, of course. Bring her home and keep her there.”
    He steepled his fingers on the desktop. “Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but that doesn’t seem to have worked very well so far. What’s to prevent her from just running away again?”
    She stared at him for a moment, then she set down her coffee mug, hard, on the desktop. “I’m afraid Josie was wrong. I’m wasting my time here. I apologize for wasting yours.”
    “I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you. I’m just trying to find out how thoroughly you’ve thought this through.”
    “What’s there to think about?” she said in exasperation. “Damn it, do you expect me to just leave her there?”
    A clock ticked in the silence. He got up from his chair, walked to the window, and stood looking out. “The police won’t help you,” he said.
    “No. They made that abundantly clear.”
    Turning, he said, “You have to understand their point of view. If they did an active search for every runaway teenager, they wouldn’t have time to do anything else. There’d be anarchy. Chaos in the streets. Criminals would have a field day.”
    “That’s not much comfort,” she said, “when it’s your teenager who’s run away.”
    “No,” he said, leaning against the window frame and tucking his hands into his pockets, “it’s not. Do you have legal custody? Anything on paper saying the girl belongs to you?”
    “No. When Bobby decided he couldn’t handle her any more, he just dumped her on my doorstep. I don’t even know where he is.”
    “Bobby’s her father?”
    “Yes.” She grimaced. “My brother. Mister Responsibility.”
    “And her mother?”
    She drew a breath and squared her shoulders. “Ellie died when Kit was four years old.”
    “That complicates things. Technically, custody belongs to her father. That means what you’re contemplating could be construed as kidnapping if she doesn’t go with you willingly.”
    “That’s insane! Her father left her