Suffer the Children (36 page)

“What?” the doctor asked when the old woman fell silent. Mrs. Goodrich shot a glance toward Rose. “What was she carrying?” the doctor pressed.

“It—it was an arm,” Mrs. Goodrich said. “It’s in the kitchen. I left it there when I took Miss Sarah up to the bathroom.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Ray Norton breathed. He looked helplessly at the doctor, wondering what to do. Dr. Belter realized he would have to take charge for the moment.

“You’d better come with me,” he told the police chief. “I don’t see what good it will do right now, but we’d better have a look at it.”

The two men went to the kitchen and unwrapped the bloodstained towel. Ray Norton felt his stomach rebelling at the grisly sight.

“A child,” Dr. Belter said. “It’s the right arm of a child.”

Norton nodded dumbly. “How old?”

Dr. Belter shrugged. “Hard to say, but it looks like a small child. No more than eight or nine.”

“The same age as Jimmy Tyler,” Ray Norton said softly. “And the blood hasn’t coagulated yet.”

“It couldn’t have happened very long ago,” the doctor said. “It must have been this afternoon.”

They rewrapped the arm and returned to the study. Ray Norton looked at the Congers uncomfortably.

“I know this is going to be hard,” he said, as gently as he could, “but I’m going to have to ask you some questions.”

“I know,” Jack said dully. “Can Dr. Belter take Rose upstairs? I think she ought to lie down. I saw everything she saw.”

“Of course,” Norton replied, signaling the doctor to take Rose from the room. He waited till they were gone, then sat down opposite Jack.

“What happened, Jack? Take your time. I know it must have been awful, but I have to know what happened.”

“I don’t know. We got home from White Oaks, and Sarah wasn’t in the house. We searched, and then Elizabeth said she might be in the barn. She was going out to look, and when she got to the porch, she screamed. Rose and I went out to see what was wrong, and … we saw her.” He winced a little, seeing the gruesome scene once more. “She was covered with blood, and she was dragging that—that thing. God, Ray, it was awful.”

“She was coming out of the woods?”

“Yes.”

“Well. I know this isn’t going to be pleasant for you, but I’m going to have to put together a search party. If Sarah found that thing in the woods, we’ve got to find the rest of the—” He broke off, not wanting to say what was in his mind.

“My God,” Jack whispered suddenly, “I forgot.”

Norton jerked his head up.

“It’s Jeff Stevens,” Jack continued softly, staring helplessly at the policeman. “He’s missing too.”

Norton stared back at Jack in disbelief. “Jeff Stevens?” He repeated the name as if he’d never heard it before. “The kid in the old Barnes house?”

Jack nodded dumbly.

“Shit,” Norton muttered under his breath. Then: “Are you sure?”

“It’s all the same,” Jack said hopelessly. “He was in
this area, he didn’t show up at home. Just like the others.”

Norton stood up. “I’ll call his parents. I wonder if his father will want to be part of the search party.”

“I suppose,” Jack said. “We have to find out what’s happening, don’t we?” He paused a moment, then went on. “I’ll come along too, Ray. The least I can do is help look.”

Norton shook his head. “Not you,” he said. “You’ve been through enough.”

He went to the telephone and began making a series of calls. By the time he was finished, Carl and Barbara Stevens were on their way over and a search party had been organized. He looked out the window toward the woods. It had begun snowing, and it seemed to be falling harder each minute.

As he watched, the woods slowly disappeared into the snowstorm.

They searched the woods, first in the fading light of dusk, then using lights, but they found nothing. If there was a trail, the snow covered it, and as the night wore on the storm grew. After four hours they gave it up. The search party returned to the house on Conger’s Point, but soon they began drifting back to town. There was nothing to be accomplished on the Point. In town, where there were no Congers to overhear, the people of Port Arbello could talk.

In the house on Conger’s Point, only Ray Norton and Dr. Belter remained. They sat in the study with Jack Conger, and the three of them talked. There was no talk of whether something should be done with Sarah; only of what should be done. Jack Conger was tired. He was tired and he felt terribly alone. He sat with the doctor and the police chief only because it was his daughter they were discussing, his family. But he was beyond caring what they decided to do. He would do whatever had to be done. He poured himself another
drink and seated himself by the fire. He envied Rose, who lay sedated and asleep upstairs.

Dr. Belter was just finishing a long explanation of the details of Sarah’s illness. When he was done, Ray Norton lit his pipe, something he rarely did, and leaned back.

“Well, I just don’t know what to do,” he said at last. “I’m going to have to tell people something, you know.”

Dr. Belter smiled tightly. “Tell them what you want. If you ask me, which I suppose you’re about to do, I don’t have any answers. I wish that search party had found something. But they didn’t, and we can’t change that.”

Norton nodded his agreement. “Let me ask you a question. Is it possible,
at all possible
, for Sarah to have killed the children?”

“I don’t know,” Dr. Belter said hesitantly. He didn’t like to deal in possibilities. He had seen so much that he was inclined to think that practically anything was possible. He saw that his answer was going to be unacceptable to the chief of police, so he weighed his words carefully.

“Let me put it this way. I have to say that, yes, it is possible for Sarah to have killed all three of the missing children. I say that not because I think she did, but because at the moment we don’t have any alternatives to choose from. If I were you I’d keep searching. If this snow lasts through the winter, I’d continue looking in the spring. Somewhere out there is the rest of that body, and maybe two more bodies besides. And I certainly don’t think that you can charge Sarah with anything on the basis of one arm. I admit, it’s ugly. I admit, at the moment we don’t have much else to think. But you should also be aware that if you try to claim that Sarah is responsible for the dismembering of one chlid and the disappearance of two others, nothing is going to happen. Any psychiatrist you find will tell you the
same thing I will. Sarah is not responsible for what she does. She is almost hopelessly schizophrenic. I say almost because with her kind of disorder there is always a chance that she’ll come out of it. But even if she does, there’s no guarantee that she’ll be able to tell you what happened. She probably won’t remember. Frankly, if I were you I’d keep the case open.”

“And what about Sarah?” Ray Norton said uneasily, “What if she is responsible?”

“I don’t think there’s too much question about Sarah’s future. I’m sure that after the last couple of days the Congers will agree that it’s time she was institutionalized. It’ll be the best thing for her, and the best for them. They can’t go on living as they have been.” He looked to Jack, and Jack nodded his agreement.

“When?” Jack said.

Dr. Belter thought it over. “Tonight, I think. I don’t see any reason why your wife should have to go through it. It isn’t easy to see your child leave your house for the last time. And it will be better for Sarah, too. I can take her to White Oaks for tonight, and we can talk tomorrow about the best place for her.”

Jack nodded mutely. He wondered why he didn’t feel anything, but he didn’t.

“I’m sorry,” Ray Norton said. They had moved into the hall, and Ray was standing uncomfortably by the front door, wanting to get away. “If there’s anything I can do …” His voice trailed off as Jack shook his head.

“Thanks, Ray,” he said. “I don’t know. I guess I’m feeling numb.”

Jack started up the stairs to pack a suitcase for Sarah, and Ray Norton put his hand on the front door.

“Wait a moment, please,” Dr. Belter said softly to the police chief.

Norton’s hand dropped from the doorknob, but he didn’t meet the psychiatrist’s eyes. For the last hour he
had heard a lot of things he hadn’t wanted to hear, and he was embarrassed. He was acutely aware that there was such a thing as knowing too much about your friends, and he had a distinct feeling he was about to hear even more. He was right. Dr. Belter led him back to the study and quickly filled him in on every detail of the Conger cases, both Sarah’s and Jack’s.

When the doctor was finished Ray Norton stared at him, unable to conceal the animosity he was feeling toward the man.

“Just exactly why are you telling me all this?” he asked. “It seems to me that what you’re doing is unethical at best and probably illegal at worst.”

Dr. Belter stared at the fire in front of him. He was very much aware that what Norton was saying was true. What he was doing was both unethical and illegal, but he had thought it over carefully before deciding to go ahead. And now it was too late—he had already begun.

“You’re right, of course,” he said uncomfortably. “And believe me, if I thought there was any other way of going at this thing I wouldn’t be doing what
I’m
doing right now.”

“I don’t see what you hope to accomplish,” Norton said.

“You mean you don’t want to see.” Belter’s reproach was mild. “What I’m suggesting,” he said, his voice hardening, “since you want me to spell it out, is that I think there’s a distinct possibility that Jack Conger might be involved in all this mess.”

“I don’t see how,” Norton observed. “You yourself admit that he was in your office when at least one and possibly two of the disappearances took place.”

“That’s not quite true. We don’t actually know when the disappearances took place. All we know, really, is when and where the children were last seen. And, as it happens, they were all seen on or near the Conger property.
As for when they actually met with … whatever it is they met with, we don’t know, do we?”

Norton reluctantly agreed. “Just what are you proposing? That I charge Jack Conger with killing three children? Granted, I suppose we could use your files to establish a record of previous assault, but where does that get us? Without any bodies, and with you yourself acting as a witness for an alibi, there isn’t a chance in the world of making it stick.”

“And, of course,” the doctor added, “you don’t think he had anything to do with it.”

“No,” Norton said flatly. “I don’t.”

Dr. Belter leaned back in his chair and folded his hands across his stomach. “Then what do you propose to do?”

“Nothing,” Norton said. “Come spring, I’ll have those woods searched again, and I’ll have a good search made for that cave. Other than that, I propose to see what happens next If any more children disappear, I’ll reassess the situation. But if you want my opinion, I think it’s over with.”

“You really think Sarah did it all?” the psychiatrist asked in disbelief.

Norton nodded. “I’m no shrink, but for my money she did it. And I’ll stick to that opinion till I have something more solid to go on. The word is already all over town that Sarah Conger went berserk—those aren’t my words, but they’re the ones that will be used—and she’s going to be put away. And in a town like Port Arbello a story like that counts for a lot. The town will calm down, and when the word gets out that Sarah’s been taken wherever you take her it’ll calm down even more. I don’t propose to stir it all up again, and I don’t propose to have the whole town talking about something that happened to Jack Conger a year ago. I assume I can count on you not to tell anyone else what you’ve told me?”

“That goes without saying,” Belter said stiffly. “But
do me a favor, will you? Talk to Jack Conger. Don’t grill him, just talk to him. You don’t even have to do it officially.”

“Why?” Norton demanded.

Belter smiled thinly. “Just to prod him. You might be absolutely right—he may have nothing to do with all this. But then again, he might. In any case, my professional opinion is that he’s pretty near the end of his rope emotionally. If you let him know that you’re aware of that, it might make him nervous. Nervous enough to make himself get some help before something happens that he is mixed up in.”

“I’ll think about it,” Norton said noncommittally. “If there’s nothing else, I have a lot of work to do.” He stood up, and the two men shook hands formally and coldly.
When
the police chief had left the house Dr. Belter thought for a while about the two folders in his office and the look on the policeman’s face as he’d left. Norton, he knew, would not be coming for the files. And he wouldn’t press the matter himself. Tomorrow he would seal Jack Conger’s folder and put it away in the dead files, the special cabinet he kept for the records of patients he didn’t think he’d be seeing again.

Suddenly weary, he turned and went upstairs to help Jack, who was just finishing with the packing. He looked as though he’d been crying.

“I’ll give her a shot,” Dr. Belter said, “and she won’t even wake up. You can be at school tomorrow morning if you like. It might make things easier. For you and your wife, if not for her. Frankly, I doubt she’ll even be aware of what’s happening. I’m sorry, but I imagine all this will make things worse for her.” Then he smiled, seeing the expression on Jack’s face. “Don’t forget,” he went on, “we don’t really know what goes on in the mind of a child like Sarah. Often I suspect that a child’s schizophrenia is much harder on the family than it is on the child. A person’s mind generally takes
him where he wants to go. Sarah will be all right. Maybe not by your standards, or by mine, but she’s living where she wants to live. All we can do, really, is wish her well.”

“But what’s going to happen to her?” Jack asked dazedly. He picked up his child and began carrying her downstairs. He knew it would be the last time.

Dr. Belter waited until they had reached the front door before he answered Jack’s question.

“It’s hard to say,” he murmured at last “With Sarah, only time will tell what’s going to happen. All I can advise you to do is go on with your life. There’s literally nothing you can do for Sarah.” At the look of pain in Jack’s eyes, he relented. “I didn’t say forget about her. By all means go on loving her. But it’s time to stop living your lives around her. You and your wife and Elizabeth are still a family, you know.”