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"You heard the crying," Leslie reminded her firmly

"Yes," Nikki adrinned at her and ducked behind the barricade Nikki swore, looked around, then followed her quickly

A few feet along the alley, they hit what looked as if it had once been a shaft

"Look," Leslie said excitedly to Nikki

They could see where the opening had been covered and the cover nailed shut "I think," Leslie said thoughtfully, "that this is an old subway entrance In use sometime around 1915 See, you can just see a hint of tile there…"

"Possibly," Nikki agreed

Leslie started pulling at one of the boards that covered the opening To her aered backward "Someone has pulled up that board before," she said

"Leslie, we really need to call the police," Nikki said

"Wait…just let"There are stairs!" she said excitedly "It is an abandoned subway entrance"

"Great, now let’s go"

"Just let et a better view," Leslie implored

She knelt down and rested her left hand on one of the boards that was still in place, leaning down to get a better view The board gave way, and she gasped and went careening forward

"Leslie!" Nikki yelled as she rab to save her

Too late Leslie hit the stairs and began to roll When she reached the botto that broke her fall

"Leslie!" Nikki yelled again

"I’ht!" she shouted back "I’ht over the wall This area had been boarded up, as well, in an effort to keep anyone fro here and there, and at soed to throw eht on the barrier It was old She was sure that it had been put up decades ago Shops, houses, the street itself, ain since the entrance had originally been abandoned and covered Beyond the boards, she knew, there would be darkness An old tunnel, dangerous, unused She closed her eyes for ato remember the old subway ht where it should have been--and very close to the bases House

She started to rise, then re at the bottoht doard

It appeared to be a bundle of old clothing

Suddenly she realized that there was an unpleasant scent in the air

The scent of decay…

She reached down, her light still trained on the bundle of clothing

It was then that she realized she was looking at the body of a dead woman

18

J oe’s heart was in his throat when he arrived on the scene

The street was croith police cars, the coroner’s wagon and a dozen detectives He arrived with Robert Adair, who ie At first, Joe couldn’t even find Leslie, there was soby one of the police cars, with Nikki beside her She didn’t appear to be hurt or even fazed In fact, she looked incredibly cal her by the ar her eyes "Okay," he said, and he cast a reproachful glance toward Nikki "Explain to me how you happened to be down at the bottom of an abandoned subway entrance"

She stared at him, opened her mouth to speak, then paused as if to rephrase her answer "I just…found it The boards were loose, so I took a peek"

"Like hell," Joe muttered "Excuse me I need to see if they’ll letthe entrance to the alley happened to be the guy Joe had talked to a few nights earlier He sent Joe through to Robert Adair, as down at the foot of the stairs One of the detectives tried to stop hiht for Joe to come down

The body was badly decayed, and insects and other scavengers had obviously been dining on it for a while

The ME stood, dusting his gloved hands "She’s been down here a long tiht weeks Soot a serious rat problem here"

"But it’s definitely a woes of twenty-five and thirty-five She was about five and a half feet tall, maybe a hundred and twenty pounds"

One of the detectives nervously joked, "Hell of a way to lose weight, huh?"

"All right, all right," Robert said "Cause of death? Can you tell ulation Her own scarf"

"Is it one of the prostitutes?" another officer asked

The ME shrugged "Guys, as you can see, I don’t have a lot to ith here I’ll get you facts as fast as I can"

"Right," Robert said, then swore "Hell, we knew they had to be soirl"

Or Genevieve O’Brien? Joe thought

"Unless it’s Genevieve O’Brien," so his own fears