not I told you it was weird. It seems like your other four boys were found dead in public areas.”
Bronski suddenly knew what was coming. “Tell me about them,” he said softly.
“I got reports from all over the place—Washington State, Kansas, Texas, and Florida. The bodies were found in parks, playgrounds, vacant lots, that sort of thing.”
“And?”
“And nothing. No marks on them, no signs of foul play or violence. Nothing. The coroners ruled the same in all the cases.”
“ ‘Unknown natural causes?’ ”
There was a short silence, then he said, “What’s going on, Carl? If you know something about all this, you better let the rest of us in on it.”
“Just give me the names and dates, Bill,” Bronski said, ignoring the other man’s question. It would take far too long to begin explaining it now.
Once again, the desk sergeant began reciting names, places, and numbers.
At last Bronski hung up the phone and faced the others. “More pieces,” he said. “It seems Randy isn’t the only runaway in Group Twenty-one, and we’ve got some more deaths.”
Sally stared bleakly at the list of names the computer had generated. Of the original forty-six, all the girls—twenty-two—were dead. Of the twenty-four boys, the nine oldest, including Randy Corliss, were listed as runaways, and four were dead. The name of the oldest boy on the list who had neither died nor run away was Jason Montgomery. As for the other eleven boys, ranging in age from six months to seven years, nothing was known.
“But that doesn’t mean they’re okay,” Bronski said softly. “I sent out only the names of the oldest ones, the ones who could have disappeared and been considered runaways. If a kid under seven turns up missing, we usually assume foul play.”
“Maybe now you’ll raise the age limit,” Lucy said. Then, seeing the hurt in Bronski’s eyes, she quickly apologized: “Carl, I shouldn’t have said that. You’ve been wonderful I had no right to—well, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, Lucy. And I’m not really blameless, am I? Maybe if I’d believed you right away—”
“Never mind,” Jim Corliss broke in. “None of us needs to say any of those things to each other. What we need is a plan. What do we do next?”
Instinctively, they all turned to Bronski.
“It’s daylight,” he said. “I think we’d better get Randy up and see if he can show us where he was.”
“You mean go back there?” Lucy cried. “No! You can’t make him do that.”
Jim took her hand and held it tightly. “Lucy, it’ll be all right. Carl and I will be with him. And we won’t do anything.”
“We have to know where he was, Lucy,” Bronski added.
Lucy opened her mouth as if to protest further, then shut it again, nodding her head. “All right,” she murmured.
She went to the bedroom where the two boys were still sleeping, and, being careful not to disturb Jason, woke Randy. He looked at her sleepily, but let himself be led to the living room. Bronski explained to the little boy what he wanted him to do. “Do you think you can?” he asked.
Randy looked uncertain. “I don’t know” he finally admitted. “I was scared, and it was dark, and I don’t know how far—” He broke off, as if sensing that perhaps no one really believed the story he had told last night.
“I can find it,” he said. “I know I can.” He disappeared into his room and dressed, then returned to the living room. Five minutes later, together with his father and Sergeant Bronski, he was on his way back to the Academy.
Sally Montgomery, Lucy Corliss, and Mark Malone silently went back to the stack of reports.
Two hours later Mark Malone began to recognize the answer that was buried deep within the records.
“Damn,” he said softly. “God damn it to hell.”
Chapter 27
THE CAR MOVED SLOWLY AHEAD, and Randy Corliss, sitting between his father and Sergeant Bronski, fidgeted nervously. It seemed to him that they were wasting time. The bridge, he was sure, was still way ahead. He twisted in his seat and peered out the back window. He could still see the diner.
“It’s farther up the road,” he said. “I couldn’t see the diner at all, so it has to be way up ahead.”
“Things seem farther at night,” Bronski told him. “Besides, you weren’t on the road—you were in the woods, so you wouldn’t have been able to see as far.”
“I just don’t think it was this close.” They came to a bend in the road, and a