Pay the Ghost Page #2

the ice cream truck,

he was right next to me.

Have you tried calling him?

He's seven years old,

he doesn't have a phone.

Sir, do you live around here?

Maybe he just went home.

- Charlie!

- Mike what's wrong?

- Is he here?

- What's wrong, what's wrong?

Where's Charlie?

Where's Charlie!

I was holding his hand,

I looked everywhere!

What are you telling me?

Are you saying you left him?

Jesus Christ, Mike!

Charlie!

- Charlie!

- Charlie!

- Charlie!

- Charlie!

Charlie,

where are you?

Charlie!

Can you hear me?

Any problems at home?

Any reason why Charlie

might wanna run away?

No.

Okay.

We've issued an Amber Alert,

sent Charlie's stats

out over the wire.

Every cop in Arizona'll

look out for him.

Usually these cases are

solved within 24 hours.

So, try and sit tight.

Go home to your wife,

we'll be in touch.

Good night.

Good night, sir.

Anything?

Kristen?

How could you lose him?

Charlie!

Charlie...

Oh.

Where have you been?

Do you see it?

See what, Charlie?

At the window.

There's nothing there.

Look again.

Dad!

Dad!

Hi, you've reached

the voice-mail of

Kristen Lawford.

Please leave me a

message, and I'll get...

During a

late night travel.

Where does Ichabod Crane

find himself,

but in Sleepy Hollow.

With just the very name,

Irving establishes

the mood and tone,

foreshadowing the

horror which is to come.

Thanks.

How are you holding up?

Can't motivate myself.

Can't motivate my students.

You know, Charlie would've

been in second grade now.

All I had to do was protect him.

Isn't that what a father does?

He protects.

I couldn't even do that.

Mike, listen to

what you are saying.

You can't keep

beating yourself up.

It won't bring him back.

My son isn't dead.

I feel him.

And until I know

what happened to him,

I am not going to

stop looking for him.

Would it help if you took

another leave of absence?

No.

Please, I need this.

Just try to hang

in there, Mike.

Taxi!

Taxi, yo!

Mike Hi, Rhonda, new fliers.

Mike, we still have

that pile from last time.

Is Detective Jordan around?

Uh...

He's kinda busy right now.

I'll just be a second.

Hi, Mike Lawford's coming in.

Detective Jordan

Jesus, Mike, you can't just

come into my office

any time you want to.

On October 30th of last year,

there was an offender.

Colin O'Malley, he was

released from Rikers Island.

He served 15 years

for kidnapping,

abducted a neighbor's

kid on 10th and Avenue A.

I'll double check that.

October 28th, Maxwell Porter

was released from Sing Sing.

- They let this guy go,

- Mike...

Three days before

Charlie disappeared.

- He only did seven years.

- Mike...

Seven years!

For abducting and molesting

an eight year old

boy on Stanton.

I will double check it, Mike.

You'll double check it?

Yes!

Every, and I mean every

registered offender,

in every borough and

surrounding county

has been double

and triple checked.

Now you know this.

Now, I'll take a

look at these names

just in case we

missed something.

But the fact still remains,

that you're the last person

to be seen with your son.

Oh, my God.

You keep pointing

the finger at me

'cause you haven't found

jack sh*t all year.

Well, in three days

it's Halloween again!

And every child will be out,

and every predator knows it,

and one of them took my son.

And this is what you

guys do, isn't it?

'Cause you're too f***ing

lazy to do your jobs.

Lazy?

This is Charlie's file, Mike.

And this is just

what's on paper.

Computer's got at

least 20 times that.

Each week I put

it out over NCIC.

Child abuse squad,

human trafficking, FBI.

I am in constant contact

with all of them.

NYPD may be a lot

of things, Mike,

but one thing we

are not is lazy.

Now is there anything else?

Find my son.

Charlie!

Hey, hey, stop!

Hey!

Charlie!

Charlie!

Charlie!

Hey, wait!

Charlie!

Stop!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Let me in, let me in.

Charlie. Charlie!

Charlie!

Charlie.

Charlie!

Excuse me.

Hello?

Hi.

Uh, outside, on the wall,

it says, "Pay the Ghost."

What are you talking about?

Uh, the graffiti.

"Pay the Ghost."

Does anyone know

what that means?

Cover the fires!

Cover them.

What was that?

Nobody knows.

She always comes out

just before Halloween.

What does

"Pay the Ghost" mean?

I saw it written outside.

Come with me.

What does it mean?

Just what it says, I guess.

Time's up, you need to leave.

Kristen.

I really...

I really need to talk to you.

It's not a good time.

I've got some client

designs I gotta finish.

Please.

So, when I saw it,

on the wall, the graffiti,

I remembered something

that Charlie said to me,

on that day, just before he...

- Yep.

- He asked me,

"Dad, can we pay the ghost?"

Okay.

So, what are you

telling me, Mike?

I mean, we're in a city that's

full of graffiti, right?

Did he ever say

anything like that to you?

Kristen, have you

been hearing anything,

or seeing anything

that might make you

think or feel that

Charlie might be

trying to communicate with you?

I don't know what's

happening to me,

but I really think that Charlie

might be reaching out to me.

Okay, I can't

do this with you.

Kristen...

- I can't do this.

- Kristen, please!

Kristen!

- Kristen!

- I can't do this.

I know how it sounds,

but isn't it possible?

Have you seen him?

Have I seen him?

I see him every day.

I see him on the street,

I see him in the subway,

I see him in his little school

when I pass his friends.

I see him when

I'm in the grocery store.

But every time I get closer,

it's not him.

It's never him!

You had to take him

to that stupid fair.

- He was my boy.

- I know.

- He was my son.

- I know.

- He was...

- I know.

Then why didn't you protect him?

Look how tall that guy is!

Smile, Dad.

You having fun?

This is awesome.

Yeah, it is.

Kristen.

Are you all right?

I need to talk to you.

Um, I think you were

right about Charlie.

I think he is trying

to reach out to us.

Come on in.

What if I'm imagining it?

Maybe this is all in my head,

maybe it's just...

No.

You didn't imagine it.

You didn't.

It's real.

I've been doing some research.

Pick a date.

Any one.

Charlie's birthday.

Perfect.

These are all the

children who went missing

on July 15th in New York City

over the last six years.

Most of them have been found.

Now let's try your birthday.

Most of these children, too.

But if you try Halloween?

Only about half of

the missing children

have been recovered.

Why are you showing me this?

What if all of these

missing children,

on Halloween, in New York City,

what if they're all connected?

What if there's

something behind it?

How would we find out?

I have the address

of Alexis Moldanado,

she disappeared on

Halloween two years ago.

I think we should go

talk to her family.

Hello?

Hello?

Excuse me.

Mister Moldanado?

We wanted to ask you

about your daughter.

You see,

our son is missing, too.

Just give me some

f***ing money, man.

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