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Walter said, “Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl when he goes to the bathroom?”
I groaned and was about to ask,Why?Then at the last moment it hit me. “Because thepis silent.”
That made Walter’s day. He clapped and rolled back in his chair, laughing out loud. “I knew you’d start catching on one day.”
I told Walter about my conversation with Juliana the night before. “It seems that these girls were all involved in The Girlfriend Experience. If that’s the case, then we might be able to make a connection to the Bannings or another client.”
Walter started working his magic on the computer.
I texted Emma Schrade’s mother one simple question.I was wondering if you found out anything unusual about Emma’s finances?
Dr. Schrade called me less than a minute later. “Yes, as a matter of fact. I was surprised to find out recently that she had almost twelve thousand dollars in a checking account.”
Her mother assured me Emma hadn’t made that kind of money singing at weddings.
I texted David Morton next. He also called me right back, and I went over the same question with him.
“We found fifty-six hundred dollars in cash hidden in her closet.” There was silence on the line for a minute. Then I heard David Morton blow his nose. He came back on the line and said, “We told Detective Stanton. Didn’t he share it with you?”
“No.” I kept the answer short. There was no telling what the New Rochelle detective thought was important.
I thanked David Morton, then checked back in with Walter. I told him what I’d found out. “It gives me some specific questions to ask Allie Pritz, once we talk to her.”
Walter asked, “When do you think that will be?”
“I’m hoping in the next couple of hours.”
Chapter60
LESS THAN TWOhours later, Terri Hernandez met me at a coffee shop near Washington Square Park. It was only a couple of blocks from the apartment where I believed Allie Pritz was living on Cornelia Street.
Terri said, “I went by NYU yesterday and talked to the registrar. The registrar tried to help, but the only solid information they had was that Suzanne Morton barely attended class and had a poor GPA as a result.”
I nodded, then said, “Why would she stop worrying about classes?”
“Because she wanted to be an actress and didn’t think she needed a degree?”
I shook my head. “Or she was making so much money with The Girlfriend Experience she didn’t need to stay in college. I know she hadn’t told her parents. They were clearly under the impression she was doing fine in school at the time she disappeared.”
We walked two blocks over to Cornelia Street. The building was a five-story walk-up with a beautiful stone facade. The fire escape was along the side of the building, landing in an alley.
It was still early enough that there was a chance we’d catch Allie Pritz snug in bed and surprised to find two New York City detectives knocking at her door. That might lead to someopen discussion. That was our favorite phrase for scaring someone into talking.
Terri walked up the eight steps to the entrance. She checked the door buzzers. “I don’t see her name, but there are six slots that just have numbers and no names.”
As I was considering what we should do, the door opened. A young man dressed in a sweatshirt looked at Terri and smiled. Then he held the door open for her. She just said, “Thanks,” and stepped inside. The young man barely looked in my direction as he rushed down the steps and started to jog down the block.
A moment later, Terri opened the door and let me in. Each of the sixteen mailboxes had names on them. I saw the namePRITZfor apartment 504.
When I was a kid, Seamus used to tell me you can learn a lot about a building from the condition of its stairwell. If the stairwell is kept clean and in good order, the whole building usually is in the same shape.
This stairway had the original hardwood handrail and steps. Each stair I took made a pleasing, hollow thud that echoed in the stairwell. We took the stairs all the way to the top floor. We stepped out of the stairwell on the fifth floor into a wide corridor with an apartment on each side. Light streamed through a tall window with access to the fire escape.
Apartment 504 was the one on the right. Terri knocked and stood in front of the peephole. Everyone knows that people are more likely to answer the door if a woman is knocking.
A woman’s scratchy voice asked, “Who is it?”
Terri pulled her ID from her purse. She held the badge up to the peephole and said, “NYPD. We need to speak to you for a moment, Ms. Pritz.”
