The Edge of Sleep

by Wiltse, David

  “Nawp.”

  “How would you know? They could have a whole orphanage with them. The only way to know is when you clean up the next day.”

  “You’d know then?”

  “Kids are messy, they leave their own traces. You might know. They leave things behind, candy wrappers, comic books ...”

  George scoffed. “Lots of people eat candy.” He looked directly at the trooper, trying to grab his focus, grinning dismissively about his wife’s maunderings.

  “So you’re saying you might have had a single man with a young boy here in the past two weeks?”

  “I’m saying we could have and not known it.”

  “You wouldn’t want to take that to court.” George chuckled. “It’s not proof.”

  “I’m sorry,” Reggie said, smiling. “Did you want proof, officer?”

  “No ma’am, that’s not necessary. We just need some information.”

  “If I’m not being helpful. I’ll just let you keep dealing with my husband. He can handle it, can’t you, George?”

  “You bet.”

  “I just run the place, is all. I check them in, I check them out. I oversee the rooms, the cleaning ...”

  “You’re being very helpful,” the trooper said. “Do you have any single males staying here now?”

  “We always have single men,” George said. ‘That’s most of our business. Travelers, salesmen, we get them all the time.”

  “We have three at the moment, to be precise,” Reggie said. “Cabin two checked in yesterday afternoon and is leaving tomorrow.”

  “Did you see him check in?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Was he alone?”

  “He was. He was also short and rather heavy. I don’t think he’s ever lifted a weight in his life.”

  “We think the man we’re looking for would have been here for at least a week already.”

  “Cabin one is a single man ...”

  “He’s too old,” George said impatiently.

  “Too old for what?”

  “For whatever the trooper wants him for. He’s close to seventy if he’s a day.”

  Reggie looked to the trooper, her eyebrows raised. “That’s probably older than we’re looking for,” the trooper admitted. There was a trace of apology in his voice, but Reggie was not going to accept it immediately.

  “Maybe if we knew what he did we could be more help,” she said.

  “He can’t tell you that,” George said.

  “Right now we just want him for questioning.” the trooper said.

  “What did I say?” George gloated. “They never tell you. They’re not allowed.”

  “You said that you had another single man here?” the trooper asked.

  “Cabin four,” George said quickly, trying to regain the initiative. “He’s an ugly duck. Mean looking. Sullen, you know? Doesn’t like to talk. I’d say he might be your man, but he doesn’t have a kid with him.”

  “I have no trouble talking to cabin four.” Reggie said. “I find him rather pleasant. I don’t think he’s what you want at all, officer.”

  The trooper tried to hide his impatience. He had half a dozen more motels to hit before the day was over, including a Ramada and a Howard Johnson’s, both of which seemed more likely to be productive than this tiny operation.

  “How long has this gentleman been staying here?” the trooper asked.

  “A couple days,” said George. “He slinks in and out at strange hours. I’ve got no idea what he’s doing, but I don’t like the looks of it.”

  “He’s been here three days precisely.” Reggie said. “He’s leaving Thursday and he’s visiting his daughter, who just had a baby girl and doesn’t have a spare room to put him up. The daughter’s name is Gweneth.”

  “He doesn’t care,” George said. “He doesn’t care what the baby’s name is, either. Try to stay relevant.”

  “The baby’s name is Kendra. I don’t know where they got that one. People just seem to make names up these days.”

  “She doesn’t know how police business works,” George confided to the trooper.

  “Well, like I said, we think this man has probably been checked in for at least a week already.”

  “That would be cabin six,” Reggie said.

  “Have you listened to anything the man’s been saying?” George demanded. “Have you heard a single word?”

  “Cabin six has been here eight days. They don’t want to let us in to clean the room ...”

  “Really?” The trooper showed real interest for the first time.

  “It’s a woman,” George said. “Cabin six is a woman.”

  “And a man.” Reggie added. “A big man.”

  “You’ve never seen him.” George turned to the trooper. “She’s never seen him, he’s sick, well, not sick, he has this vision problem so they have to keep the shades down and the door closed all the time, which is why they don’t want us in to clean the room ...”

  “I have seen him,” Reggie said. “It was night and it was dark, but I saw him getting into the car. He looked huge.”

  “But he’s definitely with a woman?”

  “A very nice woman,” George said.

  “He only goes out at night,” Reggie said. “Like he’s a vampire or something.”

  The trooper replaced his dark glasses.

  “Well ... ”

  “And they may have a boy in there with them.” Reggie said.

  “I just have to apologize for her ...” George started. The trooper held up a hand to quiet him.

  “How’s that?”

  “They might have an elephant in there with them,” George scoffed, “but she hasn’t actually seen it.”

  “Why do you say they might have a boy with them?” the trooper asked. When Reggie hesitated, he removed his glasses once more and smiled at her. He was better looking than she had first realized, Reggie thought.

  “There was a child’s toothbrush in the bathroom,” Reggie said.

  George erupted with scorn. “A toothbrush? That’s it? Did they have any boy’s clothes? Any comic books, any kid’s shoes, any anything? I got to apologize to you, officer. She just doesn’t have a clue.”

  “He wasn’t there, so he was wearing his clothes,”

  Reggie said uncertainly. She could tell by the trooper’s face that it wasn’t enough.

  “The only clothes he had? I don’t think so.”

  The trooper replaced the glasses and started for the car door.

  “I don’t believe the man we’re looking for would be traveling with a woman,” he said. “If you wouldn’t mind just giving me the names of those single men you’ve got, we’ll run them through the computer.”

  George escorted the trooper to the office to find the names of the registered guests, but Reggie did not accompany them. She had crossed her arms over her chest and was standing her ground in the courtyard, studying cabin six. She was still there when the trooper returned, opened his car door, and slid behind the wheel.

  “Well, if you should happen to get a single male, powerfully built, with a nine- or ten-year-old boy with him, give us a call, will you?”

  “You bet,” said George. “First thing. Should we ask for you personally?”

  “That won’t be necessary.” the trooper said, groaning inwardly at the thought. “Just call the state police and they’ll send a detective out to check things out. Okay?”

  “You bet.”

  As the trooper drove off he tried to imagine how many calls they would get answering that description. He was glad he wasn’t going anywhere with his son this weekend. Half the divorced fathers in the state were going to be investigated if they had the misfortune to sleep overnight with their children. It wouldn’t make any difference to someone like these motel owners if the child was a boy or a girl, either, he thought. The switchboard would be ringing off the wall with a description that vague. This was worse than a wild-goose chase. This was a needle in a pin factory.

&nbs
p; “He seemed a little slow to be much of a cop,” George said to Reggie as the patrol car pulled away. “Nice guy, but not too bright.”

  “They don’t pick them because they’re bright,” Reggie said. Her eyes were still on cabin six as if she could see through the walls. “You don’t see many college professors driving around in squad cars and asking questions.”

  “He was bright enough to know the difference between a woman and a man,” George scoffed. “They never go after women for this kind of thing.”

  “What kind of thing is it?”

  “Whatever it is,” George said, his voice rising defensively. “Obviously something dangerous. Obviously something violent. They’re after a big hulk, right? Women don’t commit violent crimes ... They get you in other ways.” He waited for Reggie to rise to the bait, but she was ignoring him.

  “They needle and nag you to death,” he said, watching for her reaction. She continued to study Dee’s cabin. It wasn’t nearly as much fun if she didn’t fight back. George kept at it but without much enthusiasm. “They get illogical and silly. That’ll drive you nuts in the long run, believe me. That’ll kill you just as dead as a slug in the head if you have to put up with it long enough. It’s amazing I’m still on my feet at all.”

  “What about the toothbrush then?” she asked suddenly, still not looking at him.

  George laughed cruelly. She had the mind of a child. A girl child.

  “I don’t know,” he laughed.

  “What are they doing with a child’s toothbrush?” she demanded. She turned abruptly to glare at him as if he owed her an explanation. “Answer me that, if you’re so smart.”

  She had been listening to him, he realized with relief. It troubled him when she genuinely paid no attention to him; it made him feel alone and foolish. She could pretend to ignore him as much as she wanted as long as he knew she was really listening to him. It was when she truly shut him out that he couldn’t stand it.

  “I don’t know, maybe she has sensitive teeth.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Although she had thought that at first herself, it now seemed a woefully weak explanation.

  “They don’t have anything else that belongs to a child,” he said.

  “And why does the husband go out only after dark?”

  “You know why.”

  “I know what she’s told you,” Reggie said.

  “That’s good enough for me,” said George.

  “I know it’s good enough for you. But you’d believe anything your girlfriend told you.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  “Not for lack of trying on your part,” she said.

  “Might as well talk to the trees,” he said. He turned back toward the office. “Might as well howl at the wind. Just trying to explain things to you has given me a sore throat,” he said. He put his hand on his neck and coughed exploratorily. “It really is sore,” he said. “I’m going in ... You coming?”

  “You’re not getting a cold, are you?” She would have to nurse him for a week. He was such a baby when he was sick.

  “I need some of that tea and honey and lemon juice you make,” he said.

  As if she had a special recipe, she thought. It was just tea and honey and lemon juice, as simple as that, and for forty years he’d acted like it was a magic potion that only she could make. So he wouldn’t have to. So he could lie back and moan and fill a paper bag with used tissues and act like he was paralyzed. As if he needed much of an excuse.

  “I’ll make you some,” she sighed.

  As they walked toward the office, George put his arm over her shoulders and Reggie allowed it to stay that way.

  Dee felt wonderful. Her head was swimming with plans and notions. There didn’t seem to be anything she couldn’t aspire to, nothing she couldn’t accomplish. The world was her oyster, and she already had the pearl. He stood before her now for inspection, his hair newly washed and slicked down so that the part looked as if it had been drawn with a ruler, his ears cleaned, his teeth brushed and smelling of mint.

  “Hands.” she said, and Bobby held out his hands, fingernails up, while Ash hovered nervously behind him. The boy’s skin was softly pink and still slightly wrinkled from his bath. The nails were clean and the cuticles were pushed back to show neat half-moons of white. He had started to chew his fingers last week, but Dee had quickly put a stop to that. No boy of hers was going into the world with his fingers always around his mouth, his nails bitten off; it reflected so badly on her. As if she didn’t know enough to break him of his bad habits. As if any boy of hers had any troubles to make him gnaw at himself in the first place.

  “Oh, Tommy, aren’t you the handsomest little man?” she crowed. “Aren’t you just my perfect, perfect little boy?”

  She fell to her knees and drew him to her in an embrace. She hugged as she believed in doing all things, fully and energetically. Dee hated it when people held back from her, when loved ones tried to pull away or didn’t give of themselves as freely as she did. She had been forced to have a little talk with Tommy about that, too, but he understood her now. His little arms went around her back and squeezed her tight until Dee determined it was enough.

  She pulled away suddenly and squinted at him, her head tilted to one side.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

  Ash held his breath and Bobby’s eyes widened with fright. His mouth fell open.

  “Who do you love?”

  “I love you. Dee,” Bobby said quickly. “I love you.”

  “Did you see his face, Ash? What a scared little rabbit you looked like. Tommy. As if you had anything in the world to be scared about. Don’t you know that Ash and I will always be here to take care of you?”

  Bobby cried from relief as much as fright. He thought he had made another mistake, he thought she was going to punish him again. It came like that, so swiftly, mysteriously, like a hurricane that roared at him out of a blue sky. He tried so hard to please her, to give her exactly what she wanted, but still the raging storms came no matter what he did, and they came more frequently and more violently all the time.

  He forced a smile on his lips but he couldn’t stop the tears that came spontaneously, nor the running of his nose. He tried to sniff so she wouldn’t hear; she hated when he was messy and sloppy and trouble.

  “I know you will,” he said, pushing his smile even wider.

  But this time she found his tears endearing. She kissed them from his cheeks, cooing as his mother had done in the past that seemed so long ago. He could never predict her and never be sure he had placated her. He was safe only after she had used the wire on him, when he lay in the tub with Ash tending to him, for Dee always slept then, falling onto the bed with exhaustion. And sadness. Ash said. Disappointment and sadness that Bobby had caused. For he knew he had brought it on himself. He understood very little else about it, but he knew it was his own fault.

  Dee was on her feet again, pulsing with the need to be on the go.

  “Well, let’s get you dressed,” she said. “We’re going out.”

  As Dee pulled on his shorts, held his trouser legs for him to step into, buttoned his shirt, Bobby tried desperately to control his fear. Things were always worse when they returned from a trip. Her expectations were higher when they were in the presence of other people; her plunge into despair and disappointment more precipitous, the beating more savage.

  As Dee worked his socks onto his feet, Bobby looked down at the place in her hair where her scalp showed through the part and the dark roots grew before they turned blonde. Behind her. Ash stood, smiling encouragement, but Bobby could see that he, too, was nervous as his big friend rubbed the palms of his hands against his thighs.

  Ash could set Dee off, too, and his nervousness was a bad sign. Dee missed nothing. Bobby was convinced. Ash thought she could read his mind and Bobby was not sure she could not. She certainly picked up on the slightest thing, and Ash’s nerves could cause her to turn on Bobby as surely as
any mistake of his own. When the atmosphere was not right. Dee looked for a cause and the cause was always the boy.

  She finished tying his shoes and looked up.

  “What’s wrong?” she demanded.

  “Nothing, Dee.”

  “You don’t look very excited about going out.”

  “I am! I really am!”

  “I plan these treats for you, you know. It’s not easy for me to work and take care of our home and turn right around and go out again. But I’m willing to do it for you.”

  “Thank you. Dee.”

  “All I ask is a little appreciation and some proper behavior.”

  “Yes, Dee. I’ll be good.”

  “I know you will. You’re my perfect little angel. I know you won’t let me down ... And don’t you look handsome? Doesn’t he look handsome, Ash?”

  “He’s so handsome.”

  Dee winked conspiratorially at Bobby. “As if he would know. Who’s handsome, Ash?”

  “Tommy is handsome.”

  “Who else?”

  “Cary Grant is handsome. Gregory Peck is handsome. Robert Taylor is handsome.”

  Dee chuckled, still enlisting Bobby on her side. Bobby smiled uncertainly.

  “Well, you’ve got those right,” she said, then, to Bobby, “All those old movies. And who’s the handsomest of them all?”

  “Gregory Peck.”

  “Almost right.”

  “Cary Grant?”

  “The handsomest of them all is our own Tommy,” Dee said. She lifted Bobby’s hand over his head like a champion.

  Ash grinned and applauded. “I know,” he said.

  Dee was at the door. “I’ll get the car,” she said.

  Ash moved Bobby with him into the bathroom out of the line of sight from the door.

  “And don’t muss his hair.”

  Dee was gone. Bobby stood passively as Ash removed the spread from the bed. They did not speak because there seemed to be nothing to say. With Bobby wrapped in the bedspread and cradled in his arms. Ash turned off the light and rushed into the darkness outside. The television continued to flicker in the empty room.

  Reggie felt awful, as if she had scarcely enough energy left to breathe, and yet she couldn’t sleep. The cold had raced through her throat and head and settled into her lungs with such vehemence that she thought she had received not only her share of the illness but George’s share as well. He had whined for a day, drunk his tea with lemon and honey, then passed the germs on to her as he did so many other things, leaving her with all the work, confident that she would deal with it. She was up with the cough half the night, hacking fruitlessly against a phlegm that would not loosen. George had turned to the sofa as a bed, determined to get his night’s rest despite Reggie’s discomfort, so Reggie was upstairs in bed alone, propped up on several pillows into a semirecumbent position, drowsing between outbursts from her chest. At that hour there was little to do besides look out the window at the night. Her eyes hurt too much to read, her brain rejected television. She watched the stars, trying to find the constellations her father had pointed out to her decades ago when the nights were darker and stars larger and more brilliant. And she watched cabin six. Because she could, she had but to turn her head to the side to see it; and because she wanted to.