THE LAST BOY Read Online Free

hard.”
    “I’ve thought. I’ve thought of everything, don’t you know!” She was now bawling openly.“I remember him, of course I do! He's that nice little boy with the blond hair. With those curls. Big brown eyes. Always jumping around,” she blubbered.
    Molly got her pocketbook which lay by the door where she hadfirst dropped it. She rummaged through it and found some crumpled tissue. She wiped her eyes and then held one out to Cheryl. “Here.”
    The girl loudly blew her nose. She kept her gaze lowered, studying the damp tissue, afraid to meet Molly's eyes.
    “Look, either someone took him or he got out on his own, right?” Molly tried to reason with the girl.
    “No one took him.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “I’m positive! We keep the front door locked. We always do. That's the rule. Nobody could get past me.”
    “So how did he get out?” she asked, as much for her own benefit as the girl's.
    “I don’t know. I just don’t know!”
    “Where exactly is Mrs. Oltz?”
    “I called her. She said not to do anything. That she’d be right over.”
    “Well, I’m calling the police,” said Molly.“Where's the phone?”
     
    Molly was just hanging up when Mrs. Oltz came storming through the front door. She was holding an icepack to the side of her face that was swollen like a balloon. Her eyes were tiny, angry slits cut into the white sea of her fleshy face. Her gray hair stood in wiry knots.
    “What's going on here?” thundered Mrs. Oltz, her words garbled through a twisted mouth wadded with cotton. “What the…?” She took in the scene of the littered floors.
    “That's just what I’d like to know!” said Molly advancing on her. “Where's my boy?”
    “You didn’t pick him up?”
    “What the hell do you think I’m doing here?”
    “Well then somebody else must have picked him up.”
    “Who?” asked Molly.
    Mrs. Oltz turned on Cheryl.“Well, who?”
    The girl shook her head and started to cry again.
    “I leave you for a few minutes,” said Mrs. Oltz,“and look what happens! And look at this mess!”
    The girl was now sobbing uncontrollably.
    “Please!” Molly tried to inject.
    “Just let me handle this,” Mrs. Oltz threw up a hand to silence Molly. “I’ll get to the bottom of this.” She turned back to Cheryl. “Now stop your sniveling, girl.”
    Cheryl cried louder and Mrs. Oltz grabbed her and shook her. Molly was dumbfounded. She thought Mrs. Oltz was going to slap her. Why did I leave Danny here, thought Molly, why?
    “When did Danny Driscoll leave?” she demanded.
    “But he didn’t! Let go of me!” Cheryl tried to struggle free.
    “Well, he couldn’t just disappear,” said Mrs. Oltz, releasing her grip.“You kept the door locked, like you were supposed to, right?”
    Cheryl nodded.
    “I want to call the other parents,” Molly said.“The police are on their way.”
    “The police? The police?” Mrs. Oltz looked daggers at Molly, then turned on Cheryl.
    “ I called them,” said Molly defiantly. Just then a patrol car screeched up in front.
     
    “Come on, let's just all calm down.” Officer Richie Pellegrino held up his hands. All three women were shouting at once and he couldn’t understand a word. “There's probably a real simple explanation.” He was a short, barrel-chested man with a belly that arched over the wide belt holding his equipment. The cop looked vaguely familiar to Molly. She had met him somewhere, somehow in the past, but for the moment couldn’t place him.
    “Okay,” said the cop,“Who was on duty here?”
    “I was,” said Cheryl.“And I saw every parent who came in.”
    “Then he should still be here!” Molly jumped in.“His jacket and lunch box are still here. Look!” She held them up.“But he's not!”
    “What about the father?” asked Pellegrino.
    “There is none,” said Molly not missing a beat.
    “Grandparents. Other relatives who might—”
    “No, no.”
    “Or a—”
    “No! I’m the only one.” Molly jabbed a