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“Neither have you,” Beatrice said, “and you’re a good father”

“How ie asked

Beatrice s with my brother and his wife until we find Amanda”

Lionel seereat kid,” he said, and seemed almost embarrassed by his pride

“And Amanda?” I said

“She’s a terrific kid, too,” Beatrice said “And she’s way too young to be out there on her own”

Ahborhood three days ago Since then, the entire city of Boston, it seemed, had become obsessed with her whereabouts The police had put more men on the search than they had on the s four years ago The ed no city business would take precedence over her disappearance until she was found The press coverage was saturating: front page of both papers each ht, hourly updates inserted between the soaps and talk shows

And in three days—nothing Not a hint of her

Amanda McCready had been on this earth four years and seven months when she vanished Her ht, checked in on her once around eight-thirty, and the next , shortly after nine, had looked in at A but sheets dented with the wrinkled ihter’s body

The clothes Helene McCready had laid out for her daughter—a pink T-shirt, denione, as was Amanda’s favorite doll, a blond-haired replica of a three-year-old that bore an eerie resemblance to its owner, and whole

Helene and Amanda lived on the second floor of a three-decker, and while it was possible Amanda had been abducted by someone who’d placed a ladder under her bedrooain entry, it was also unlikely The screen and sills had shown no signs of disturbance, and the ground at the foundation of the house bore no ladder marks

What was far more likely, if one assumed a four-year-old didn’t suddenly decide to leave hoht, was that the abductor entered the apart the lock or prying the hinges loose from the jamb, because such actions were unnecessary on a door that had been left unlocked

Helene McCready had taken a hell of a beating in the press when that inforhter’s disappearance, the News, Boston’s tabloid answer to the New York Post, ran as its front-page headline:

COME ON IN:

Little Amanda’s Mom Left Door Unlocked

Beneath the headline were two photographs, one of Amanda, the other of the front door to the apartment The door was propped wide open, which, police stated, was not hoas discovered theof Amanda McCready’s disappearance Unlocked, yes; wide open, no

Most of the city didn’t care h Helene McCready had left her four-year-old daughter alone in an unlocked apartment while she went next door to her friend Dottie Mahew’s house There she and Dottie watched TV—two sitco Suzanne Somers and Tony Curtis After the news, they watched half of Entertainht Weekend Edition and then Helene returned home