Read Online Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark - Free Book Online

neighbor again?” Steve asked. “He has to be smart enough to guess that you’ve got that line tapped by now.”
    â€œSteve, criminals make mistakes. They think they’ve thought of everything, but they do make mistakes.”
    â€œI wonder if whoever has them is giving Kathy anything to keep her from going into pneumonia,” Margaret said, her voice breaking.
    Carlson looked across the table. Margaret Frawley’s skin was paper white. Her dark blue eyes were heavily circled. Every time she said anything, she would then press her lips tightly together, as though afraid of what she might say next.
    â€œMy guess is that whoever has the children wants to return them safely.”
    It was quarter of ten. The Pied Piper had said he would be in touch at ten o’clock. The three fell into silence. They could only wait.
    At ten o’clock, Rena Chapman, the neighbor who had cooked dinner for the Frawleys, raced over from her house. “Somebody on my phone says he has important information about the twins for the FBI,” she said breathlessly to the police officer on guard outside the house.
    Steve and Margaret at their heels, Realto and Carlson ran to the Chapman home. Carlson grabbed the phone and identified himself.
    â€œHave you pen and paper?” the caller asked.
    Carlson pulled his notebook and pen from his breast pocket.
    â€œI want seven million dollars transferred to Account 507964 in the Nemidonam Bank in Hong Kong,” the Pied Piper told him. “You have three minutes to make it happen. When I know the transfer is completed, I’ll call back.”
    â€œIt will be completed immediately,” Carlson snapped. Before he could finish the sentence he heard the click of the phone.
    â€œIs it the kidnapper?” Margaret demanded. “Were the girls with him?”
    â€œIt was the kidnapper. He didn’t refer to the girls. It was only about the ransom.” Carlson dialed Robinson Geisler’s private number at the executive office of C.F.G.&Y. Geisler had promised to be waiting there for instructions about the money transfer. In his precise, clipped voice, he repeated the name of the bank in Hong Kong and the account number. “The transfer will be made within sixty seconds, and we have the suitcases with the cash waiting to be delivered,” he assured the FBI agent.
    Margaret listened as Carlson next barked instructions to the FBI communications unit to try to triangulate the Chapmans’ phone line in the hope that they might pinpoint the Pied Piper’s location when he called back.
    He’s too smart for that, Margaret thought. Now he has the seven million dollars. Will we hear from him again?
    Carlson had explained to her and Steve that, for a commission, some overseas banks will accept wire transfers, then allow them to be moved again immediately. Suppose that satisfies him, she agonized. Suppose we never hear from him again. But yesterday Franklin Bailey heard the girls’ voices. They talked about seeing us with him on television. They were alive yesterday morning.
    â€œMr. Carlson. Right away. Another call. Three houses down.” A Ridgefield policeman on duty outsidethe Frawley house had rushed to Rena Chapman’s kitchen door and opened it without knocking.
    The wind blew Margaret’s hair into her eyes as she and Steve, their hands joined, ran behind Carlson and Realto to the house where a neighbor she had never met was frantically waving them in.
    The Pied Piper had disconnected, but called back less than a minute later. “You have been very wise,” he told Carlson. “Thank you for the wire transfer. Now get this straight. Your helpful friend, Franklin Bailey, must be standing in Manhattan in front of the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle at eight o’clock tonight. Tell him to wear a blue tie, and to have a red tie in his pocket. He must have the suitcases with the money and be carrying a cell