Suffer the Children

by John Saul

  She waited till the study door opened before she spoke.

  “I hope no children disappear tonight,” she said coldly. “I won’t be able to vouch for your whereabouts.” She looked at him icily, but he didn’t flinch. She realized he was sober.

  “If it becomes necessary, Sylvia Bannister can tell anyone who’s interested where I’ve been tonight. And what I’ve been doing.”

  “I see,” Rose said quietly, absorbing what he was telling her. “I suppose I should have known. She’s been in love with you for years. I didn’t know it was mutual.”

  “I didn’t either, until recently,” Jack said. “Are we going to have a fight about it?”

  “Do you want one?” Rose countered.

  Jack smiled and sat down. “No, I don’t I’ve had enough of fighting, Rose, with you, with everything. If you really want to know, I didn’t want to come home tonight Sylvia sent me.”

  “Sent you?” Rose asked, her brows arching. “Was she afraid the neighbors would talk?”

  “No. She was worried about you. She likes you, you know.”

  “And I like her. But not so much that I’ll let her take my place.”

  Jack chuckled. “It wasn’t very long ago that you were thinking about leaving me.”

  “A woman has pride. If I left you it wouldn’t be so that you could marry Sylvia Bannister. You’d be so broke that you wouldn’t be able to marry anyone.”

  “I see, Jack said, standing up.” Somehow this conversation seems to have gotten out of hand. I have no intention of asking you for a divorce, at least not right now. So I think “I’ll go to bed.”

  “Not yet,” Rose said. She realized that it sounded like a command, and that Jack wouldn’t respond to a command. Not tonight She softened her voice. “Please,” she said. “Something happened tonight, and I don’t know what it means or what we should do about it.”

  Jack sank back into the chair he had been occupying. “You mean after I left?”

  Rose nodded. “I couldn’t sleep, and after a while I decided to get something to eat. I went down to the kitchen, and while I was there Sarah came in.”

  “So?”

  “I’m sorry. She came in from outside. She was dripping wet and covered with mud. Needless to say, I haven’t the slightest idea where she’d been, or why.”

  “What did you do?”

  “What could I do? I took her upstairs, bathed her, and put her to bed. I waited till she fell asleep, then came down here. I’ve been here ever since, trying to figure out what she could have been doing.”

  “Did she do anything in the kitchen?”

  “If you mean, did she make one of her scenes, no. But I had the strangest feeling. I was burrowing around in the fridge when she came in, and I didn’t hear her. I didn’t realize there was anyone there till I felt the draft from the open door. When I realized there was someone in the room, my first thought was to grab a knife. And that’s when I saw Sarah. She was standing by the knife drawer, and it seemed like she was trying to make up her mind about something.”

  “About what?”

  “I don’t know,” Rose said uncomfortably. Then: “Oh, yes, I do know. It seemed to me that she was trying to choose one of the knives. I’m probably wrong, but that’s the way it seemed.”

  Jack considered it, turning everything over in his mind, but he could come up with no answers.

  “Is she still in her room?” he asked.

  “Yes. I’d have heard her if she’d come down.”

  “Well, I don’t see what we can do tonight. Let’s go to bed, and look in on her. Then I’ll call Dr. Belter in the morning. I doubt if it’s anything serious, though. She was probably sleepwalking.”

  “No,” Rose said definitely. “She wasn’t sleepwalking, I’m sure she was awake, and I’m sure she knew what she was doing. And I’m very much afraid of what it might have been.”

  She was thinking of Kathy Burton and Jimmy Tyler, and Jack knew it. But he saw no reason to try to talk to her about it. It would be better to let Dr. Belter handle it in the morning.

  “Come on,” he said gently, “let’s go to bed.”

  As he led her upstairs, he realized that Sylvia was right. He did love his wife. He loved her very much. He hoped it wasn’t too late for them.

  23

  The next day, Columbus Day, dawned bright and cold, with a north wind rattling the house at the end of Conger’s Point. By nine o’clock the brightness was gone, and the gray skies blended into an almost invisible horizon with the leaden sea. There was a heavy swell running, and the surf pounded at the Point with a winter strength.

  “I know it’s a holiday,” Rose heard Jack saying into the telephone as she came down the stairs. “But I think it’s pretty important. She seems to have been sleepwalking.”

  Fifteen miles away, in his cramped apartment at White Oaks, Charles Belter was stifling a yawn. He came awake at the word and his brows knit into a frown. Sleepwalking? It didn’t fit the pattern. “Just what do you mean by sleepwalking?” he inquired. He yawned again, covering the mouthpiece of the telephone, and reached for his coffee. He was glad Jack Conger was at least aware it was a holiday, even if he didn’t intend to respect the fact.

  “Well,” Jack was saying, “I’m not really sure she was sleepwalking. It just seems to be the most logical explanation. She was wandering around in the rain last night.”

  Belter set his coffee down and straightened up. “In the rain?” he said. “You mean outside?”

  “That’s right.”

  “What time was this?”

  “I’d say about eleven thirty. Maybe midnight.”

  “How long was she outside?”

  “I don’t have any idea. We didn’t know she’d gone anywhere. My wife came down to get something to eat, and while she was in the kitchen Sarah came in. Soaking wet and muddy.”

  “I see,” Dr. Belter said. “Did she seem to be all right otherwise?”

  “I—I don’t really know,” Jack faltered. “I wasn’t home.”

  When there was no reply, Jack felt he ought to explain a little more. “I had to go out for a while,” he said.

  “What time did you get back?” Dr. Belter inquired, hearing something in Jack’s voice that made him want to pry a little.

  “I’m not sure,” Jack hedged. “Late. I guess around three.”

  “I see,” Dr. Belter said again. “May I assume you want to talk to me today?”

  “If it wouldn’t be too inconvenient for you. We think we’re going to have to make up our minds about what to do with Sarah, and we’d like to talk it over with you. And after last night it suddenly seems urgent.”

  It seems urgent to you, anyway, Dr. Belter thought. Aloud he said, “Suppose you and your wife come out here about one?”

  “Shall we bring Sarah with us?”

  Dr. Belter thought about it. “I don’t think so,” he said. “There really isn’t any need for it, and most of the staff is off today, so there isn’t anyone around to look after her while we talk.”

  “All right,” Jack said. “We’ll see you at one, then.” He hung up the phone and smiled at Rose. She did not return his smile.

  “One o’clock,” he said. “But he doesn’t want us to bring Sarah.”

  Rose looted doubtful. “I don’t know,” she said. “I hate to leave her alone.”

  “She won’t be alone. Elizabeth will be here, and Mrs. Goodrich.”

  “It just seems to me, with everything that’s been happening, it’s not a good idea to leave the children alone.”

  “I don’t call being left with Mrs. Goodrich being left alone. When I was a boy she used to watch me like a hawk when my folks were away. I think she had visions of the Lindberghs in her mind.”

  “That was a long time ago,” Rose commented. “She’s getting a bit old to be watching children.”

  “Not that old,” Jack said.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Rose said. “I suppose I wouldn’t worry, but with Sarah …�
� Her voice trailed off, and she poured some coffee into her cup. Jack pushed his toward her, but she ignored it.

  “It’ll be all right,” Jack insisted, and reached for the coffeepot.

  “What will?” Elizabeth asked. Jack looked up and smiled at his daughter. He looked for Sarah behind her, but she wasn’t there.

  “Where’s your sister?” he asked.

  “Still asleep, Elizabeth replied.” She didn’t want to wake up this morning, so I left her in bed. If you want, “I’ll go up and get her.” She paused, then repeated her question. “What’ll be all right?”

  “We have to go see Dr. Belter this afternoon,” Jack said. “Your mother’s a little worried about leaving you and Sarah alone while we’re gone.”

  “Won’t Mrs. Goodrich be here?”

  “Of course she will.”

  “Then why should you worry?” Elizabeth asked her mother. “I’m old enough to stay by myself, and I can take care of Sarah.”

  “I’m sure you can,” Rose said reassuringly. “Ordinarily I wouldn’t worry at all, but with the things that have been happening lately, I just want to be extra careful. That’s all.”

  Elizabeth smiled at her mother. “Well, stop worrying. Nothing’s going to happen.”

  It began drizzling at noon, and Rose wished she didn’t have to go out. She looked longingly at the fireplace in the study and thought about how nice it would be to simply curl up on the sofa and spend the afternoon reading. But she couldn’t. There were things that had to be done, and decisions that had to be made. But not right now. She sank down into the wing chair and stared moodily into the fire. She felt melancholy coming over her, and tried to force it away. She glanced up at the portrait, and found that her first thought was that it actually was a picture of Elizabeth. She reminded herself that it was not, and wondered once more who the girl in the portrait was. Could she really be the little girl that Dr. Belter had heard about? No, she told herself. The whole thing is silly. She stood up and straightened the picture. In the flickering light of the fire the child’s expression seemed to change a little; something in the eyes. She looked again and decided that her own eyes were playing tricks on her. Whatever she’d thought she had seen was gone.

  “Well,” Jack said from the door, “we might as well get going.”

  “Already?” Rose said. “We have plenty of time.” She wanted to put it off, and she knew it. She had a feeling about today, a feeling that today was going to be some kind of turning point. She wanted to put the interview with the doctor off as long as possible.

  “I know,” Jack said gently. “I’m not looking forward to it either. But it’s something that has to be done.”

  “Yes,” Rose sighed. “I suppose so. All right. Let me put on my coat. Are the girls downstairs?”

  “I think they’re in the playroom.”

  “Call them down, will you? I want to kiss them good-bye.”

  Jack looked at her curiously. “Rose, we’re only going to talk today. You’re acting like it’s the end of the world or something.”

  She smiled tightly. “I suppose I am. But call them down anyway, will you?”

  She began putting on her coat and heard Jack’s voice calling from the foot of the stairs. When she got to the front door the children were waiting for her.

  She kissed Elizabeth perfunctorily, then knelt by Sarah and put her aims around the child. She nuzzled Sarah’s cheek, and felt the little girl withdraw slightly.

  “You be good now,” she whispered. “Mommy and Daddy have to go out for a while.” She stood up again and smiled at Elizabeth. “We should be back by four thirty or five,” she said. “Please stay in the house.”

  “Who wants to go out in that?” Elizabeth said.

  “I know,” Rose agreed. “It’s awful, isn’t it?”

  “I wish it would snow,” Elizabeth said. “At least it’s pretty. This is depressing.”

  Rose smiled at her daughter’s use of the word. She was definitely growing up, if she was starting to find the weather “depressing.”

  She left the house with her husband and got into the car. She turned to wave to the children as they drove away, then began preparing herself for the interview with Dr. Belter.

  Elizabeth watched the car until it reached the Point Road, then closed the door. She was about to go upstairs when the phone rang.

  “I’ll get it,” she called to Mrs. Goodrich. “Hello?” she said into the receiver.

  “Who’s this?” a voice asked.

  “It’s Elizabeth. Who’s this?”

  “Jeff Stevens. What are you doing?”

  “Nothing. My parents had to go some place, and I’m taking care of Sarah.”

  “Oh.” Jeff sounded disappointed. “I thought we might go look for the cave,” he said.

  “The cave? I thought you didn’t believe there was a cave.”

  “I don’t. And if we can’t find it you’ll have to admit I’m right, won’t you?”

  “I don’t know,” Elizabeth said noncommittally. “I don’t see how our not finding it would prove it isn’t there. That doesn’t make sense. All it would prove is that we didn’t find it.”

  “If it’s there, we can find it You want to try?”

  Elizabeth thought about it “Why don’t you come over here?” she said. “Will your parents let you?”

  “They’re out playing golf,” Jeff said.

  “In the rain?”

  “It doesn’t bother them. They always play until it snows. Sometimes they even play in the snow.”

  “Weird,” Elizabeth commented.

  “Yeah,” Jeff said. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

  Elizabeth hung up the phone and went to find Mrs. Goodrich, to tell her Jeff Stevens was coming over. In the kitchen she could hear the sound of the old housekeeper’s television droning from the next room. Elizabeth tapped lightly on the door. When there was no response, she tried the door, and finding it unlocked opened it and looked into the room. Mrs. Goodrich was sitting in her chair, facing the television. She was sound asleep. Elizabeth smiled to herself and closed the door again.

  Twenty minutes later Jeff Stevens arrived, and Elizabeth led him to the back study. Sarah followed silently along behind, her wide brown eyes seeming to take in everything and see nothing.

  “This is where my great-great-uncle left the rabbit,” Elizabeth said, pointing to the wing chair.

  “And that’s the little girl who was supposed to have been killed?” Jeff asked, pointing to the portrait above the fireplace.

  “That’s Beth,” Elizabeth said, nodding her head.

  “She looks just like you,” Jeff said.

  “I know. But she isn’t me. I don’t like her.”

  Jeff grinned at her. “You sound like you know her.”

  “I do,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve talked to her.”

  “That’s dumb,” Jeff said. “You can’t talk to dead people.”

  “Yes you can,” Elizabeth insisted. “With the Ouija board.”

  “It didn’t say anything the other day,” Jeff said sarcastically. “All it did was spell out a name. And I’ll bet you did that.”

  “It was her,” Elizabeth said defiantly.

  “Well, if it’s all true, let’s go find the cave. If there is one, I’ll bet that’s where your friend Beth is.”

  “I don’t know,” Elizabeth said. “The cave is supposed to be on the embankment, and I’m not supposed to go there.”

  “I’m not either,” Jeff said. “But I’m not going to let that stop me. Are you chicken?”

  “No, but I just don’t think we should.”

  “You’re afraid we won’t find it and you’ll have to admit you’re wrong.”

  “All right, then,” Elizabeth said suddenly. “Let’s go.” She turned to leave the room, and Jeff smiled. It had worked.

  Elizabeth found her coat and put it on. “We’ll have to take Sarah with us,” she said. “I can’t leave her here by herself.”

 
; “What about the housekeeper? Can’t she watch her?”

  “She’s asleep. Besides, she wouldn’t know what to do if Sarah gets upset.”

  Jeff decided it was better to take Sarah with them than not to go at all.

  “All right,” he agreed. “Let’s go.”

  Elizabeth put Sarah into her coat and buttoned it up. Then the three children left the house.

  The rain seemed to have let up slightly as they crossed the field, and when they were in the woods the trees protected them from it almost completely. As they entered the woods, Jeff looked around.

  “Which way?” he asked.

  “There’s a path,” Elizabeth said. “You can hardly see it, but it’s there. Come on.” Her voice seemed suddenly different to Jeff, and he thought her eyes looked odd.

  Silently and quickly she led the way through the woods, and Jeff was amazed at her sure-footedness. Elizabeth seemed to know exactly where she was going, and where to put each foot in the tangle of roots and rocks that carpeted the path. Nor did she look back to see if the others were keeping up. Twice Jeff had to call to her to wait, and he stopped two more times to help Sarah, who was picking her way with great difficulty. And then they emerged from the woods and stood on the embankment. The rain had begun coming down harder now, and the wind whipped it into their faces. Below them the sea looked angry. Jeff felt himself shiver a little, and wondered if he should have talked them into this. The embankment looked as dangerous as his parents had told him it was.

  “Where do you suppose it is?” he said, hoping that Elizabeth would suggest that they give it up.

  “I’m not sure,” Elizabeth said. “Let’s try this way.” She led them along the embankment, and Jeff was about to suggest that it was too dangerous when Elizabeth suddenly started making her way down the face, following a path that Jeff couldn’t see at all. He watched her move surely from rock to rock and decided that if she could do it, so could he.