The Dead Room Read Online Free PDF Page B

her eyes still flashing. She might be rich, but she could be tough when she needed to. “The thing is, prostitutes murdered by their johns usually turn up somewhere. A homeless man who freezes to death is found on the pavement. But these girls disappeared off the streets without a trace—just like Genevieve. Do you think aliens are beaming these people up, Mr. Connolly? I don’t. I think there is a serial killer at large in New York who knows how to dispose of bodies so they’ll never be found. I thought it was disgraceful when I first heard about the disappearances and the apparent lack of concern on the part of our government on the local and even the state level. Now? I’m incensed. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not angry with the poor cop just trying to work his beat. I’m furious that someone doesn’t step in and say, ‘These people count!’ And now I haven’t heard a word from Gen in so long, and every day I’m more and more worried, and though it doesn’t seem that I have any power, I do have money.”
    â€œAll right, let’s look at this from the beginning. Your niece was a social worker, yes?”
    â€œYes, here in the city,” Eileen murmured. “Up until a little more than a month ago. She found it terribly frustrating….” She inhaled deeply. “And not just the job itself. In my family, we were supposed to make—or marry—money. Both my brother and I were terribly hard on Gen, and all she wanted to do was make life easier on those who didn’t have the same advantages we did. The frustration and red tape got to her, as well, but…none of that’s what matters now. This is the point, this is why I think there’s a connection. She’d been working to help prostitutes in the same area where prostitutes have been disappearing into thin air. Don’t you see? I’m sure she knew some of those missing girls!” Eileen herself seemed ready to explode at that moment.
    â€œDo you know any particulars on why she quit her job?”
    Eileen waved a slender, elegant hand in the air. “Irritation with the system. She wanted to get workfare programs going…she wanted to help some of the girls keep their children. She is really an extraordinary human being, Mr. Connolly. Oh, I am so frustrated. No one seems to believe that I know that something’s really wrong. The police can’t—or won’t—do anything.”
    â€œI do understand your frustration,” Joe told her, “but you have to understand that the police are seriously frustrated themselves. The point is, these are disappearances. There’s nothing for them to go on. And the people who have disappeared—in this particular situation—have lived transient lifestyles, which makes it very hard, as well. They can question those closest to the victims—if that’s what they are. They can question people up and down the streets where the victims were last seen. They’ve harassed known pimps to the point that their behavior borders on the illegal. But absolutely no one so far has seen anything to indicate foul play. Meanwhile, the police still have murders, rapes and robberies to deal with, crimes with sadly obvious victims. There’s only so much they can do when they have no victims, no murder weapons, no blood trails, no evidence of any kind.”
    â€œBlood trails?” Eileen said, her eyes snapping. “They have to find out what’s going on and stop it before we discover that we’re in a river of blood! And before my niece is discovered lying dead somewhere. But they’re not going to find out what’s going on because, as you say, they have to deal with the blood they do see on the streets. I’m not calling our police incompetent. They try. Sergeant Adair has, I believe, been ordered to find the explanation for these disappearances, no matter what. They’ve searched