Suffer the Children

by John Saul

  “Fix me one, too?” Sarah asked her, and when Elizabeth looked at her strangely, Sarah went on, “We drink at Ocean Crest, too.”

  She sat down and waited until Elizabeth handed her a glass and took a chair opposite her.

  “Look, Elizabeth,” she said. “I know you thought I said a horrible thing when I made that crack. But you have to understand some things about me. I know what happened out in the woods, and I know it was a horrible thing that Dad did to me. But it’s over. I mean, it’s really over. I’ve been through it all—the pain, the anger, the resentment, everything. And yes, I joke about it now. For a long time that incident with Father was the end of my life. But it isn’t any more. It’s over with, and in the past It’s like it happened to someone else, and if I joke about it I guess it’s just one of the tools I use to deal with it. My kidding about it can’t hurt Dad; he’s dead. And there isn’t any reason that it should hurt you, either.”

  “It just seems so—so—” Elizabeth groped for the right word, and couldn’t find it.

  “Macabre?” Sarah suggested. “I suppose it is, but believe me, it’s better for me to joke about it than sit in silence and brood on it So let me be myself, all right?” She smiled, and Elizabeth returned the smile uncertainly.

  Elizabeth and Sarah returned to the little study after dinner, where they sat sipping brandy and enjoying the fire.

  “Do I really look like Mother?” Sarah asked suddenly. Mrs. Goodrich had insisted on calling Sarah “Miz Rose” even after Elizabeth had explained that it was not Rose but Sarah, home for a visit Mrs. Goodrich had remained unconvinced.

  “Quite a bit, really,” Elizabeth said. Then an idea occurred to her. “You know, all of Mom and Dad’s old photo albums are up in the attic. Why don’t we go up there and find some pictures of Mother when she was your age? Maybe the resemblance is greater than I can see. And we can dig out all the toys we had when we were kids.”

  “I detect the fine hand of Larry Felding at work,” Sarah chuckled. “But I’ll give you credit You did that very well. And I suppose I can’t put it off forever. Let’s go up. Maybe something will jog my memory.”

  The two women went up to the door that blocked the stairs to the attic and found it locked.

  “I hope we don’t have to break it down,” Elizabeth said. “I haven’t been up here in years, and I don’t have any idea where the key is.”

  Sarah suddenly reached up and ran her fingers along the ledge above the door. A moment later she had put the key in the lock and the door was open.

  “How did you know about that?” Elizabeth said curiously. “I certainly didn’t know there was a key up there.”

  “I don’t know,” Sarah said with a shrug. “I suppose I must have seen someone put it up there years ago, or something. Who cares? Let’s see what’s up there.” She reached for the light switch and started up the stairs.

  “Well, for heaven’s sake,” she said when they were in the attic. “Will you look at that.”

  “At what?” Elizabeth said. It just looked like an attic to her, and she didn’t see anything odd about it.

  “That corner,” Sarah said, pointing. “It’s so clean. Attics are supposed to be dusty.”

  It was true. In one corner, where an old picture was propped facing the wall, there was no dust anywhere, not even on the floor.

  “That is odd, isn’t it?” Elizabeth said. “I can’t imagine this old place is so tight There must not be any vents in that spot.”

  “You don’t suppose Mrs. Goodrich comes up here to clean, do you?” Sarah said.

  Elizabeth shook her head. “She hasn’t been upstairs in years. Anyway, why would she clean just one corner? Well,” she went on, shrugging the mystery away, “Let’s get to it, shall we?”

  They started going through the attic, and found a box marked “Sarah.”

  “Here it is,” Elizabeth said triumphantly. “Prepare to face your past.” Sarah touched the box reluctantly, as if it might be hot. Then she seemed to get a grip on herself.

  “No time like the present,” she muttered, and opened the box. Inside was a jumble of clothing, children’s books, and toys. She lifted each item out, and they all seemed familiar to her. She recognized some of the clothes as having been favorites, and held others up in disgust.

  “Ugh,” she said. “Remember this?” It was a brown scarf, and Sarah was holding it by two fingers. “I used to hate wearing this, it was so itchy. Why do you suppose Mother didn’t just throw it away?”

  “It wasn’t Mother,” Elizabeth said. “It was Dad who insisted on keeping everything. I think the whole history of the Congers is probably up here somewhere.”

  Sarah snorted. “With the history we have, you’d think they’d have wanted to bury it, not store it,” she said. “Isn’t there supposed to be some sort of curse on us or something?”

  Elizabeth looked at her sister curiously. “I didn’t know you knew about that,” she said slowly.

  “Oh, sure,” Sarah said. “Didn’t you know? It’s all written up in my records, first at White Oaks, then at Ocean Crest. What nonsense. Secret caves and everything.”

  “Ray Norton’s still looking,” Elizabeth said.

  “Ray Norton?” Sarah said, without any particular interest “Who’s he?”

  “The chief of police. Every year he comes out here, searching around in the woods and the embankment.”

  “Well,” Sarah said, “I wish he’d find something. Then maybe I could remember those last few weeks and get on with it.” She reached into the bottom of the box. “What’s this?”

  She held up a doll, one arm of which was broken off at the shoulder. It was an odd doll, old-fashioned, and dressed in a blue dress with ruffles down the front and around the hem. On its head, framing the faded porcelain face, was a tiny bonnet.

  “I don’t remember this,” Sarah said. “Where do you suppose it came from?”

  Elizabeth examined it carefully, and an odd feeling came over her. Then she realized that it was the right arm that was missing. Fifteen years ago it had been a child’s right arm that Sarah had dragged across the field from the woods.

  “I don’t know,” Elizabeth said, quickly putting the doll down. “I’ve never seen it before either.”

  She heard the doorbell sound two floors below, and felt a strange sense of relief at being called out of the attic. She didn’t know why, but the doll had affected her more than she thought it should have.

  “Who could that be?” she said. Then, when Sarah started to rise, she spoke again. “Ill get it,” she said. “Why don’t you see if you can find the doll’s other arm? It looks terrible without it.”

  Elizabeth left the attic and hurried down the stairs. She paused before she opened the door. “Who is it?” she called.

  “Ray Norton,” a voice came back to her.

  Elizabeth opened the door and let the police chief in. As soon as she saw his face she knew something was wrong. The blood had drained out of it, and there was a strange look in his eyes.

  “What is it?” she said. “Has something happened?”

  “Is Sarah with you?” Norton asked.

  “She’s upstairs,” Elizabeth replied. “We’ve been poking around the attic. What’s happened?”

  “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you,” Norton said. “Can we go into the study?”

  “Of course,” Elizabeth said. “Shall I call Sarah?”

  “No,” Norton said. “I’d like to talk to you alone.”

  “All right,” Elizabeth said. “Go ahead. I just want to run up and tell Sarah I’ll be a while. Will it take long?”

  “No.” The old policeman shook his head and started down the hall.

  A minute later Elizabeth joined him in the study and closed the door behind her.

  “You’ve found something, haven’t you?” she said. “In the woods.”

  “We found something,” Norton agreed. “But it wasn’t in the woods. The construction workers broke through the roof o
f the cave today.”

  “The cave?” Elizabeth said blankly. “You mean the cave in the legend? But I thought—we all thought it didn’t exist.”

  “I know,” Norton said gently. “But it turns out it does exist.”

  “Was—was there anything in it?”

  Norton nodded mutely; then, after a pause during which he seemed to be trying to decide how much to tell her, he spoke.

  “I know Sarah was supposed to be here for a couple of days, but you’d better take her back to the hospital in the morning,” he said.

  “Tomorrow morning?” Elizabeth said. “Why? What did you find?”

  “A mess,” Norton said. “There were four skeletons in the cave, and the remains of a dead cat as well. We’ve already identified three of the skeletons. All three of the kids that disappeared fifteen years ago. And Jimmy Tyler’s skeleton was missing a right arm.”

  “You said four skeletons,” Elizabeth said softly. “Who is the fourth?”

  “We don’t know, Norton said. It appears to be much older than the other three. All we know so far is that it was another child, probably a girl.”

  “I see,” Elizabeth said.

  “Anyway,” Norton said uncomfortably, “for now we’re keeping it quiet But by tomorrow afternoon the word will be out, and this place will be crawling with people. Reporters, photographers, thrill-seekers. The whole works. And I don’t think you’d want Sarah subjected to all that.”

  “No,” Elizabeth said shortly. She paused and her eyes met those of the police chief.

  “Mr. Norton,” she said. “What’s going to happen?”

  “I don’t know,” Norton replied. “I’ll know better tomorrow, when I’ve had a chance to talk to the coroner and the district attorney.” He stood up nervously, wanting to leave. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t stay,” he said. “I really shouldn’t have come at all, but I knew Sarah was here, and I just wanted to …” He trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

  “I know,” Elizabeth said. “And I appreciate it Thanks for coming out.”

  She accompanied him to the front door and watched until she saw the taillights of his car fade away down the driveway. Then she snapped the porch light off and slowly climbed the stairs up to the attic.

  As she climbed, she tried to think what she was going to tell Sarah.

  28

  Sarah slept restlessly that night, and woke several times. It didn’t seem fair that she would have to go back to Ocean Crest in the morning, but she supposed that Elizabeth was right and she shouldn’t stay in the house with only Mrs. Goodrich. Not that she thought anything would happen, but still, she wasn’t used to being on her own, and Ocean Crest had agreed to let her come only because Elizabeth would be with her all the time. And now Elizabeth had to go out of town for the day. She punched at her pillow and tried to go back to sleep.

  When she first heard the noises from over her head, Sarah was sure she was imagining them. When they persisted, she began listening. Someone, she was sure, was moving around in the attic. She got out of bed and slipped into her robe, then went to Elizabeth’s room. The bed was rumpled but empty. Sarah went to the attic stairs and listened. Movement. Silence, then more movement. She started to go up to see what was going on, then changed her mind. Instead she returned to her room, but left the door slightly ajar. She sat on the edge of her bed and lit a cigarette. The cigarette was almost finished when she heard the sound of footsteps coming down. She went to her bedroom door and peeked out Elizabeth was coming out of the attic. Sarah watched her close the attic door and return the key to its place on the ledge above it. Then Elizabeth returned to her own room and closed the door. The house was silent, and Sarah returned to her bed.

  When she came down the next morning, Elizabeth was waiting for her in the dining room. There was a pot of coffee and a plate of blueberry muffins. Elizabeth smiled.

  “This is nice, isn’t it?” she said. “I hardly ever use the dining room any more. I seem to rattle around in it by myself. But this takes me back. Coffee?”

  Sarah nodded and sat down. She stirred at her coffee. “What were you up to last night?” she asked suddenly.

  Elizabeth looked at her in surprise. “Last night? Nothing. I just went to bed. Why?”

  Sarah decided not to confront her sister with what she had seen the night before. Apparently Elizabeth didn’t want to admit to having been in the attic.

  “I don’t know,” Sarah said, shrugging her shoulders a little. “I just thought I heard something in the attic. I thought maybe it was you.” She watched her sister carefully, looking for something that would tell her Elizabeth was holding back information. But Elizabeth looked genuinely puzzled.

  “In the attic? I didn’t hear anything. But then, I sleep like a log. What time was it?”

  “I don’t know. Late. One or two, I suppose. I couldn’t sleep, so I was smoking a cigarette. I could have sworn I heard someone moving around up there.” She grinned at Elizabeth. “I thought maybe it was you, still looking for the missing arm.”

  “Well, it wasn’t me,” Elizabeth said. “Unless I’ve started sleepwalking. Did you take a look?”

  “No. I decided not to. Attics in the middle of the night aren’t my cup of tea.” She buttered a muffin and ate it. “I wish I didn’t have to go back this morning,” she said.

  A cloud seemed to cross Elizabeth’s face. “I’m sorry too,” she said abruptly. “But it just can’t be helped. There’s some legal thing that’s come up, and I have to attend to it today. Apparently they can’t continue with the construction till it’s taken care of.”

  Elizabeth had decided to come as close to the truth as possible without telling Sarah of the discovery of the cave the previous day. “I suppose we ought to get started pretty soon,” she said.

  They finished breakfast in silence.

  Dr. Lawrence Felding watched the two women park the car next to his and slipped the file on his desk into the top drawer. He put on an expression of surprise as Sarah and Elizabeth entered his office.

  “What are you doing here?” he said. “Have I lost a day?”

  Disappointment was apparent in Sarah’s dark eyes, but she tried to keep her voice light.

  “I got kicked out,” she said. “Actually, something came up and Elizabeth has to be out of town for the day. So here I am.”

  Felding put on his best puzzled expression. “Why don’t you go get rid of your suitcase, and I’ll have a chat with your sister,” he said.

  “The usual ten minutes?” Sarah asked.

  “Give me twenty, so I can get all the details.” Felding grinned. The grin disappeared as Sarah left his office.

  “Sit down,” he said to Elizabeth. “I had a call this morning from the police chief in Port Arbello. Horton?”

  “Norton,” Elizabeth corrected him. “Ray Norton. He came out to see me last night. I guess you weren’t surprised when we drove up, then.”

  “No,” Felding said. “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”

  “Bad news?” Elizabeth repeated.

  “Norton discussed the whole mess with the district attorney up there. He wants to prosecute.”

  “Prosecute?” Elizabeth enunciated the word as if she’d never heard it before.

  “The D.A. seems to think he can build a case against Sarah. It seems they’ve been storing that arm all these years, and it fits one of the bodies they found.”

  “Jimmy Tyler’s,” Elizabeth said softly. “I was afraid of that. When Mr. Norton told me about it last night I assumed that must be whose arm she brought out of the woods that day. But it never occurred to me that they’d still have it.” She looked up, her eyes appealing to Felding for some reassurance. “But I still don’t see—I mean, everybody knows that Sarah was—was—” She faltered, not wanting to say the word.

  “Insane?” Felding finished for her. “Of course they do. And, of course, that will be the plea if they try her, and there isn’t a chance in the world that she won’t
be found innocent on grounds of insanity. But they say they have to go through the motions, in order to close the case.”

  “But what good will it do?” Elizabeth flared. “It won’t bring those children back to life, and it won’t help Sarah. My God, it’ll be awful for her!”

  “I know,” Larry Felding said uncomfortably. “But I don’t see any way to avoid it If she hadn’t made so much progress over the years there wouldn’t be any trial. She’d be judged unfit to stand. But, unfortunately, she isn’t. Right now she’s of pretty sound mind.”

  “Except she still can’t remember what happened that day,” Elizabeth pointed out. “How can they try her for something she can’t even remember?”

  “Well, there isn’t much we can do about it. What we have to do now is tell her.”

  “Tell her?” Elizabeth breathed. It hadn’t occurred to her that Sarah would have to be told, but of course she would. Elizabeth tried to get used to the idea. “When?” she asked.

  “I think now,” Felding said. “It’s going to be all over the papers by this afternoon, and she’s going to know then anyway. I thought it might help if you were here when I told her.” He smiled and added, “You know, it might just jolt her into remembering what happened. It might turn out that she didn’t have anything to do with it.”

  Elizabeth chewed her lip. “That’s true, isn’t it? God, wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

  A few minutes later Sarah came back to Dr. Felding’s office.

  “I’m glad you waited,” she said to Elizabeth. “I was afraid you might leave without saying good-bye.” Then she noticed the strained looks on both Elizabeth’s and Dr. Felding’s faces, and she sank into a chair.

  “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?” she said, her eyes flashing from one to the other. “You didn’t have to go out of town today, did you, Elizabeth?” Sarah looked at her sister accusingly. “Well, what is it?” she cried. “Please, tell me what’s happened.”

  Larry Felding told her what had happened. What had been found in the cave, and what was going to happen in the days to come. As she listened, the blood drained from Sarah’s face.