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"Sure," he said, and then he couldn’t help hiht, did you? I bet you just made sure you had a clean shirt in the car" She s about me, you know"

"Apparently, it’s not a matter of can or can’t I simply do"

She started toward the stairs, then turned around, her eyes carefully assessing the basement It correlated in size exactly to the servants’ pantry--the dead rooain--above it

"What is it?" he asked her

"Everything is uneven down here, have you noticed?"

"It’s hundreds of years old What would you expect?"

She was still studying the walls Then she shivered suddenly, hugging her arht?"

He shrugged "I guess Probably h"

"Right But still, there are all kinds of shafts and tunnels"

"Want reat," she told hiet to work What’s your plan for the day?"

"I’o back over the last-known movements of every prostitute who disappeared and see if I can find any connection to Genevieve O’Brien," he told her

"That’s a busy agenda You’ll still be able to find et you maps," he assured her

"Will you drop ht want to shower and change again first You’re wearing a little too much brick dust to be fashionable"

She looked down at herself and laughed "Okay I’ll hurry"

She was hu as she ran up the stairs

Melissa and Tandy--as leading the tours that day--were told about the discovery but sworn to secrecy While Joe waited for Leslie, he found hi her speech to a group of college students froine a very different place," she began "When the story of New York first began, the action was here, don Tionquin-speaking natives still reigned New York was first taken by the Dutch The Dutch West India Co post here in 1625 Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch colonial governor, was a tyrant He closed the taverns at nine, for God’s sake When the English caht and renamed the city--which had been called New Amsterdam--New York, after James, Duke of York, and brother of Charles II We stand near the Five Points area of the Sixth Ward--the area roughly bounded now by Broadway, Canal Street, the Bowery and Park Row Disease and death were a hallmark of the poorer, more densely populated areas People used ponds and ays to due And with poverty came violence and finally rebellion

"This city is one of the places where liberty began, where battles were fought and riots surged When you walk out the door, you’ll see the vital, high-stakes city of today But I hope that by the tis House, you’ll also have a better understanding of the city beneath and all the sins buried by time"

The city beneath

Buried sins

The words haunted Joe How many people disappeared, simply vanished, as if they’d never been? The rivers were too iffy--sohts held them down and bobbed to the surface, and New York City wasn’t an easy place to dig holes where they wouldn’t be seen

The city beneath

But where to begin looking?

Leslie was grateful that her job allowed access to areas of the library whereHastings House were in good order

She waded through a lot of infor the years, having been a school and an office building, aes had been added over the years that the building’s true contours had alotten Only the threat of deht the true persona of the place to light Additions, later ornaly researched and reht back

At last she reached the early history of the house Built by a sea captain in the late 1700s, it had been left to his niece, Elizabeth, at his death

Her heart quickened; she had never expected it to be this easy

Elizabeth had married a merchant, Jacob Martin Martin had reister coe twenty-one, was presuister by a priest who had not wanted to assu Mr Martin "Jacob claimed earlier that his wife deserted him and their babe for Gordon Black, a sailor who often came to port but has not appeared since In his haste to remarry, he has convinced the elders that Elizabeth must have perished on the journey, else she would have returned to take their babe, young Sarah I fear that for a man to be so certain of his wife’s death, he may have been witness to it He appears, however, to be a pillar of our dear parish, and it is she, Elizabeth, who is scorned, dead or alive, by the men of character around us"

"Poor Elizabeth," she whispered, shaking her head sadly She paused aas if her heart had suddenly become very heavy Matt, were you with me? Did you try to tell me first? I can see Elizabeth, talk to her Why can’t I see you, talk to you?

"All right," she murmured aloud "You wanted me to help Elizabeth, and I swear I’ll do h…let me help you Andto herself Tiet back to work