Cries of the Children(23)

She counted things off as she pulled them out. There was even a special kid’s cereal for Lorraine’s breakfast and a few puzzles and toys.

“We’ll hide out for a while,” Bettina said, “at least until it is safe for us to leave.”

“But why?” Lorraine said. “Won’t the police come to talk to me?”

Bettina shook her head.

“They’re working very hard,” she lied, hating herself for the necessity of it, “but they feel you are safest here with me. That man you saw might want to hurt you.”

She took Lorraine by the shoulders.

“Listen to me carefully, child,” she said. “The streets are dangerous. I can’t let anything happen to you. Why, if those boys in the subway had hurt you . . .”

“They didn’t,” Lorraine said in a small voice, “but you are.”

Bettina pulled her hands away and gazed at them with a stricken expression. She hadn’t realized how tightly she was gripping Lorraine’s arms.

“I’m sorry!” she cried. “But this is so important! We have to hide out here for a while. The police will contact us when they find your family, but in the meantime we have to stay safe. That man on the street must never find you.”

Lorraine nodded, but she felt uneasy. Something about Bettina’s words seemed wrong, and it wasn’t just the fact that she wanted to hide out. But Lorraine decided not to let it worry her. She accepted the fact that she was safe here, away from that loathsome man on the street below.

Whoever he was, she never wanted to go back with him.





11


TATIANA SAT WITH an elbow propped on the kitchen table, her cheek resting against her fist. It was late evening, a time set aside for homework.

She pouted down at the workbook that was opened before her.

“I hate subtraction,” she grumbled. “I hate math.”

“That’s just first-grade math,” Olivia pointed out. “Wait until you’re in third grade. Then it really gets hard.”

Steven was sitting at the table too, looking through a book about the Civil War. He glanced up now.

“Maybe I can help you, Tatiana,” he said.

“Everybody calls me Tati,’ “ the little girl told him with a smile. “Okay, help me.”

Steven closed the book and turned around in his chair until he could see Helga working in the kitchen.

“Helga, do you have anything we can count?” he asked. “Like beans or raisins . . .”

“I want raisins!” Tati interrupted.

“They aren’t for eating, Tati,” Olivia said.

“Who asked you?”

Helga opened a cupboard and took down a mason jar.

“Sorry, no raisins,” she said. “I have some peas.”

She handed them to Steven.

“Just don’t make a mess,” she warned.

Steven promised they wouldn’t, and opened the jar. He dumped a small mound of peas on the table.

“We can use these for the examples,” Steven said. “What’s the first problem?”

Down the hall, in the den, Rachel looked up from the papers she was marking and said, “Isn’t that sweet? He’s helping Tati, just like a big brother.”

Eric laughed. “If he was like any big brother I’ve ever known, he’d be teasing her.”

“That just proves he’s special,” Rachel said.

“He’s a remarkable, all right,” Eric said. “I’m interested in meeting his parents and finding out what kind of people they are. He—”

The doorbell rang, and Eric went to answer it. A stocky bearded man with aviator glasses introduced himself.

“I’m Detective Mark Bristol,” he said, opening a wallet to show a gleaming gold badge. “I’m here in reference to a woman named Nina Blair.”

“I’m Eric Freleng,” Eric said. “Please come in.”

As he led Bristol into the hallway, he turned and said, “Nina was here earlier this morning. Has something happened?”

“I’m afraid so,” Bristol said. “Ms. Blair has been killed in a suspicious accident.”

Eric brought him into the living room and introduced Rachel. He offered the detective a seat, but the man remained standing.

“What happened to her?” Rachel asked.

“We’re not sure,” Mark said. “A neighbor found her just outside her barn.”

He sighed, but his expression never wavered from deadpan.

“We identified the body through dental records,” he said.

“Dental records?” Eric said in surprise. “Was there a fire?”

“It seems she was doused with an incredibly caustic chemical,” Mark answered. “There wasn’t much left of her but her skeleton.”