Free Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark Page B

was the nicest person,” Lila breathlessly told a widening group of people who were fascinated by the fact that only a couple of days before the twins were stolen, she had been in contact with their mother. “Mrs.Frawley is real class, in a quiet, nice way. And she really knows quality. I told her that the same dresses cost four hundred dollars each in Bergdorf’s all season, and that at forty-two dollars, they were a steal. She said that was still more than she wanted to spend, and I showed her a lot of other stuff, but she kept coming back to those. Finally she bought them. She kind of laughed when she was paying and said she only hoped she’d get a good picture of her twins in the dresses before something got spilled on them.
    â€œWe had a nice chat,” Lila reminisced, dragging out every detail of the encounter. “I told Mrs. Frawley that another lady had just been in, buying matching outfits for twins. They couldn’t have been hers, though, because she wasn’t sure what size to get. She asked my opinion. She said they were average-sized three-year-olds.”
    Lila caught the noon news on Wednesday morning as she was getting ready to leave for work. Shaking her head in sympathy, she stared at the video of Margaret and Steve Frawley racing down the street to a neighbor’s home, and then a few minutes later, running to another house farther down the block.
    â€œAlthough neither the family nor the FBI will confirm it, it is believed that this morning the Pied Piper, as the kidnapper calls himself, has communicated his demands for paying the ransom by calling the Frawleys on their neighbors’ phones,” the CBS anchorman was saying.
    Lila watched as a close-up of Margaret Frawleyshowed her anguished expression and the deep circles under her eyes.
    â€œRobinson Geisler, chairman of C.F.G.&Y., is not available to answer questions as to whether or not a transfer of funds is in process,” the reporter continued, “but if that is the case, it is clear that the next twenty-four hours will be crucial. It is the sixth day since Kathy and Kelly were taken from their bedroom. The kidnapping took place around nine P.M . last Thursday night.”
    They must have been in their pajamas when they were taken, Lila thought as she reached for her car key. It was a thought that teased her as she drove to work, and stayed with her as she hung up her coat and ran a comb through the mop of red hair that had been tousled in the windy parking lot. She pinned on her WELCOME TO ABBY’S—I’M LILA badge, then went to the cubicle where the accounting was handled.
    â€œI just want to check my sales from last Wednesday, Jean,” she explained to the accountant. I don’t remember the name of that woman who bought clothing for twins, she thought, but I can tell by the receipt. She bought two sets of matching overalls and polo shirts, underwear, and socks. She didn’t buy shoes because she didn’t have any idea of size.
    In five minutes of thumbing through receipts, she had found what she wanted. The receipt for the clothes had been signed by Mrs. Clint Downes, using a Visa credit card. Should I get Jean to phone Visa now and get her address? Lila wondered. Don’t be a fool, she told herself, as she hurried onto the sales floor.
    Later, still unable to shake the feeling that she should follow up on her uncomfortable hunch, Lila asked the accountant to try to get the address of the woman who had purchased the identical outfits for three-year-olds.
    â€œSure, Lila. If they give me any grief about releasing the address, I’ll say that the woman may have left a package here.”
    â€œThanks, Jean.”
    At Visa, Mrs. Clint Downes was recorded as living at 100 Orchard Avenue, in Danbury.
    Now even more uncertain of what to do, Lila remembered that Jim Gilbert, a retired Danbury cop, was having dinner with her mother that night. She’d ask him about it.
    When