A DOLL-FACED young girl was working the exit ramp to the subway at Forty-second Street. Soft brown hair in pigtails down the sides of her face, body buried in a quilted baby-blue jacket.
"Mister? Can you help me? I'm trying to get together enough money to go home."
"Where's home?"
"In Syosset- on Long Island."
"That's where I'm going. Come on, I'll give you a ride." She bit her lower lip. "Twenty bucks."
"What?"
"Twenty bucks. And you can ride me wherever you want, okay?" Before I lost Belle, I would have taken her with me. Called McGowan.
I walked out into the street.