The Carolyn Chronicles, Volume 1

by Derek Ciccone

  She felt refreshed as she ran up the marble stairs and into the Main Terminal. It was the biggest place she’d ever seen—more people than were in her whole entire school … and stars on the roof!

  But it wasn’t all good—more police. Lots of them. And they were getting closer. And closer. Her first instinct was to Run, Carolyn, Run! But maybe she had a better idea. She would play possum—one of her favorite games. Just stand where she was, as still as possible, and the adults wouldn’t even notice her. They never look down, unless it was to look at their phones.

  She stood like a statue in the middle of the terminal, people walking right by her … really fast. But then a big man didn’t see her at all, and plowed right into her, knocking her to the ground. He looked down at her with a mean look on his face. “Watch where you’re going, kid,” he said and kept walking. Carolyn didn’t understand—she wasn’t going anywhere, so how could she watch?

  A much nicer lady came by and helped her up. She yelled at the mean guy with words she wasn’t allowed to say. Then asked Carolyn, “Are you hurt?”

  “I don’t feel pain.”

  Her face crinkled. “What do you mean you don’t feel pain? You been drinking or something.”

  “Two glasses of water on the rocks … but I don’t know why they call it rocks if it’s just ice.”

  She held out her arm for the woman. “What are you doing?”

  “Do you wanna pinch me to see that I really can’t feel pain? People don’t believe me at first.”

  What is this? One of those scams so you can sue me?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  The woman pushed Carolyn’s arm away. “I’ll take your word for it. And whether you can or can’t feel, that was just straight rude what that asshole did. Where your parents at?”

  “My dad is going to Nashville to coach hockey, and my mom died.”

  “Sorry to hear that. So what are you doing here?”

  “I was trying to go to Boston, but now the police are after me.”

  “Join the crowd, honey. And a little piece of advice—if they catch you, don’t say nothin’ until you talk to your lawyer, got it?”

  “I think so.”

  “Good—now if I were you, I’d get my cute little ass out of here before they haul you off.”

  Carolyn ran. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she was going to get as far away from the police as possible. She felt like a balloon that was about to pop. But this time she was the one who ran into someone.

  It was a woman in a yellow rain coat and matching hat, which covered her long, graying hair. “And where are you going in such a hurry, Carolyn?” she said.

  “The police are after me, and I need to get to Boston,” she spoke rapidly, but then thought of something. “Hey—how did you know my name?”

  “You’re a pretty popular person right now—you are all over the TV.”

  “If the police get me they’re going to send me to jail, and all you get in jail is bread and water. And it’s not the soft bread that my mom used to make my sandwiches with—it’s the hard kind that you use to feed the ducks.”

  “That doesn’t sound so bad. I thought you enjoyed feeding the ducks?”

  “How would you know that?”

  “I just figured all little girls like feeding the ducks … I know I did.”

  “That must have been a really long time ago.”

  She laughed. “Yes it was.”

  “It was nice meeting you, Mrs …”

  “You can call me EJ.”

  “I’m sorry for running into you, EJ, but I have to go.”

  “I don’t think you’re going to get very far—the cops are crawling all over this place.”

  “Then what should I do?”

  “Maybe I can help. Take my hat and put it on.”

  “Why would I put a rain-hat on when it’s sunny out?”

  “Sometimes sunny days can turn dark and stormy without warning. And I’ll bet you didn’t think to bring an umbrella with you.”

  “My mom used to remind me when it was going to rain, but she’s not here anymore.”

  “Mothers are always with us in spirit. And if not, then they send a helper.”

  “You sound like my Aunt Dana.”

  EJ smiled. “Seems like your aunt is a very smart lady.”

  “My dad says they broke the mold after they made her.”

  EJ’s smile turned into laughter. “You’re quite a unique character yourself.” She looked up to notice the police moving in their direction. “It’s now or never, Carolyn. What are you going to do?”

  Carolyn couldn’t feel pain, but she could feel a nervousness in her stomach, which tightened with each step the policeman took toward her.

  “Stay next to me and keep your head down. If anyone asks, you’re my granddaughter.”

  “How much do fake granddaughters get paid?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I pretended to be Lilith’s daughter on the train, and she gave me forty dollars, and then another twenty to say the right thing.”

  “I’ll be paying you in a much higher currency—freedom.”

  “Will I need a fake name? When Billy and I went to Montreal after Calvin burned himself, I was Abigail Foley.”

  EJ thought for a moment. “How about we call you Beth?”

  She perked up. “Hey—that’s my mom’s name.”

  “No wonder it suits you so perfectly—but no more time for talk. We need to boogie.”

  Carolyn stood as close as possible to EJ as they calmly walked out of the Lexington Avenue exit and, sure enough, the once sunny day had turned into a torrential downpour. The rain was pounding off the concrete sidewalk and walkers found shelter under wind-whipped umbrellas. A loud thunderclap boomed through the sky and Carolyn almost jumped out of her little body.

  They stood on the sidewalk, Carolyn feeling rare hesitancy. “Okay, here’s what you’re going to do, Carolyn. Are you listening?”

  She nodded.

  “See that man and woman trying to hail a taxicab?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “They won’t see you. So when the cab stops for them, go right around them and jump in. They might be mad, but you can only be so mad at a kid. And then shut the door before they can get in.”

  “We could share it.”

  “What did your parents tell you about talking to strangers?”

  “That I shouldn’t do it.”

  “Strangers can be dangerous, and even if you think they’re nice it might just be an act. So I don’t think they would want you sharing a taxi with strangers.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  “When we walked out of Grand Central I slipped an address into the pocket of your jeans. Once you’re inside the taxi, take it out and hand it to the driver. Tell him you want him to take you there. He’s going to act like you’re too young for him to drive you, but I also put some money in your other pocket. Take it out and hold it up so he can see, then say, ‘Is my money old enough for you?’ He’ll take you where you want to go, trust me.”

  She looked Carolyn in the eye. “Got it?”

  She nodded, but looked unsure.

  “You better go then before the police figure out where you are.”

  EJ began to walk away, and Carolyn said, “Whoa—you’re not coming?”

  She smiled at her. “I can’t be seen with a fugitive from justice like yourself. Now do what I said.”

  Carolyn followed orders. She tramped through the rain, beat the couple into the back of the taxi, said sorry, and slammed the door in their face. The driver protested her age, but just like EJ said, he accepted the money.

  He looked at the address. “You sure you want to go here? No offense, but you don’t strike me as an El Barrio kinda girl.”

  “EJ said that’s where I should go.”

  “Who’s EJ?”

  “She’s my friend who helped me escape from the police.”

  He flashed a curious look. �
�No friend of yours is sending you to this place—where is she? I want to talk to her.”

  Carolyn pointed out the window to where she had been standing, but she was gone.

  Chapter 54

  They met at the information booth in the center of the Main Concourse, known for the four-faced brass clock that sits atop it. Chuck and Dana were already there, due to their proximity—Chuck arriving from the airport, and Dana from her New York office—while Billy just arrived after commuting from New Canaan; his travels further delayed by having to check Nails into doggy daycare.

  Also present was Detective Rizzo of the NYPD, who got them up to speed. There was still no sign of Carolyn, but she had taken the train to Grand Central, just as they suspected. They knew this because she had actually been reported missing by a woman named Lilith Curtain.

  It was a strange story, to say the least. Lilith had met Carolyn on the train and claimed that she was her daughter to make an ex-boyfriend jealous, for which she offered Carolyn $40 for her role in the caper and paid for her round-trip train ticket—this explained why she didn’t use Dana’s pass, which they were still convinced was in her possession.

  Once arriving at Grand Central, Carolyn grew dehydrated and explained to Lilith her condition that causes her to overheat. So before parting ways, Lilith offered to buy Carolyn a bottled water at a Hudson News store on the lower level, to help her cool down. But when she went to hand her the bottle, she realized that she was gone. She became concerned and alerted the authorities.

  Detective Rizzo continued, “Obviously, this was prior to the alert coming in from Connecticut, and the officer on duty found Ms. Curtain to be a little ... to use his word ... kooky. So it was thought she might be making it up for attention.”

  An unbalanced woman claiming Carolyn to be her daughter, Billy’s antenna was up, “And you’re positive this Lilith woman is on the up and up? How do we know she didn’t abduct her?”

  “She cooperated fully. Her story had no inconsistencies and I found her believable. She does have a previous arrest for the stalking and assault of her ex-husband’s girlfriend, but nothing that would lead us to believe she harmed Carolyn in any way.

  “Once we received the alert about a potential missing child we connected the two—Ms. Curtain had provided us Carolyn’s first name, but we didn’t know her full name until that point—it allowed us to confirm her presence in New York and set our search parameters.”

  “And what has the search led to?” Billy asked.

  “We have the train station locked down, and her picture is out at all the media outlets. If she was to have left the station, are there places in the area that she’s familiar with? Some place she might go?”

  Which meant he believed she left the station—bad news.

  “When we travel here by train, we sometimes go to Bryant Park and the library, which is a short walk. She’s been to Dana’s office in Soho on several occasions, but I don’t know if she’d know how to get there from the train station, or that she’d know the address,” Chuck said.

  Rizzo nodded, as if processing the information.

  “I am still convinced she’s headed to Boston,” Dana said.

  “We have it covered,” Rizzo said. By the look on his face, it wasn’t the first time she’d brought it to his attention. “We have staked out all potential trains to Penn Station, and Penn Station itself. If she tried to get there we will catch her.”

  “Unless she didn’t go by train,” Dana countered. “It is Manhattan, there are many forms of transportation.”

  Billy hoped that one of those wasn’t to latch on to the wrong person. He could hear the creepy voice in his head, where are you going little girl? Would you like a ride? She was lucky that this Lilith didn’t turn out to be dangerous.

  A uniformed police officer hurried to Rizzo. “We spotted her on the surveillance tapes. Found a few shots with her and Lilith Curtain, and also of the girl moving through the Main Concourse by herself.”

  “Anything unusual about it?” Rizzo asked.

  “Just that she seemed scared—like she was running from someone or something.”

  “What would be unusual about that?”

  “The sharp change in her demeanor. She appeared calm in the company of Lilith Curtain. It was as if something had spooked her in between then, and the later footage we saw.”

  “It’s logical,” Rizzo said with a half nod. “She had a companion in Lilith. But now she was suddenly alone and likely regretting her decision.”

  “If this Lilith was such a security blanket, why did she leave her?” Dana asked.

  “Especially when she was in need of water, and she had agreed to purchase it for her,” Billy added.

  “That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Rizzo said.

  Billy again wondered if she had actually “escaped” her captor, this Lilith, and was seen on the video making a run for it. But there were many police she would have passed—security is very heavy these days in places like Grand Central—and she would have known to go to one of them for help.

  Having captured Carolyn on video, confirming that she was here, should have been good news. But Rizzo looked concerned. He spoke to the officer, “If she were still in Grand Central, I assume we wouldn’t be having this conversation. So where did she go?”

  “We have street-level surveillance video showing her leaving the terminal, out of the Lexington Avenue exit … and entering a taxi.”

  This was not good news, and Rizzo’s face confirmed it. If she left by foot they could expand a net over a couple block radius, but now she could be anywhere. Billy thought of the hospital escape where the cab returned her and Ryan to the original pickup spot. He hoped history would repeat itself.

  “She’s going to Boston,” Dana said again.

  It fit Carolyn’s profile. Once she got her heart set on something nothing was going to stop her. Her plan to take the train might have hit a roadblock, but she would find another way. And since a six-year-old doesn’t have a proper sense of distance, she might not understand the difference between planes, trains and automobiles, when it comes to the most efficient way to get to her destination.

  “We are tracking down the driver of the cab. We should then be able to locate where he dropped her off and move the search accordingly,” the young officer said.

  “Would she have money to pay for a cab?” Rizzo asked. “Lilith Curtain said she paid her $60 in total, but that won’t get you very far in Manhattan. And it certainly won’t get you to Boston.”

  “She took my wallet with her. I don’t carry much cash, but it contains my credit and ATM cards,” Dana said.

  Rizzo inhaled a deep breath—that was not the news he wanted to hear.

  Billy looked at Chuck, and if it was possible to see a six-foot-six man shrink into a spec of dust, that’s what he was witnessing. Billy understood what he was thinking—the same thing he’d be thinking if it was Anna or Maddie out there. She had been running away from something, but with all the many “dragons” lurking in the big city, he just hoped she wasn’t running right toward one of them.

  Chapter 55

  The taxi pulled up to the curb and Carolyn got out. She waved to the nice driver as he drove away. She held onto her rain hat—it felt like the wind would blow it away.

  People hurried by, almost stepping on her. She started walking down the street, but then turned around and started walking the other way. It felt like the world was spinning and she didn’t know which way to go. She wished her mom was here, she would know what to do, or Aunt Dana, even though she would be really mad at her for taking her wallet.

  But then she heard a familiar voice. “Carolyn—over here.”

  “EJ—you came,” she called out with relief.

  She was sitting on the steps of an apartment building, ducking down like she was hiding. Carolyn ran to her, splashing through the puddles.

  “Are you playing hide-and-go-seek? I like that game. Can I be it?”

&nbs
p; “It’s just important that nobody sees you talking to me.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re just going to have to trust me on that. What do you say we get you inside and get some dry clothes on you?”

  The door creaked as it opened and Carolyn followed EJ into the apartment building. They walked up two flights of stairs. As they reached the top step, Carolyn felt like she was overheating again.

  EJ opened another creaky door, and they walked into an apartment. “What do you think?” she asked.

  “It smells like the basement in our barn house.”

  “It’s been a while since anyone has been here, so that’s understandable.”

  “Do you live here?”

  “I live all around. In many places.”

  “Like Taylor Swift?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know who that is,” EJ said, removing her yellow rain coat, and shaking the water out of her gray-streaked hair.

  “You don’t know who the greatest singer ever is?”

  “The greatest singer ever happens to be Janice Joplin.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “I guess we’re even then,” she said with a pleasant smile.

  Carolyn started feeling woozy. EJ noticed, “Are you okay?”

  “I don’t feel good.”

  She rested her hand on Carolyn’s forehead. “You’re burning up.”

  “It’s because of the CIPA. When I do too much I overheat and get bad fevers.”

  “Anhidrosis … yes, I’m very familiar with that. And CIPA.”

  “Really? I usually have to explain it to people. Let them pinch my arm.”

  “I knew someone who had it, so when the news reports mentioned that you did as well, I thought we might need this.” She held up a large bag of ice in each hand. “I picked them up on the way over.”

  She took Carolyn into the bathroom, and began dumping the bags of ice into the tub. Then ran a cold bath.

  Carolyn knew the drill and began taking off her clothes. Ice baths were the best remedy when she began to overheat. But she would stay in them for hours if they let her, since she couldn’t sense the low temperatures. So they usually had to make her get out before her lips turned purple, and she traded anhidrosis for hypothermia.