Where was Bettina? she wondered.
I’m scared! I’m so scared! What am I gonna do?
Lorraine? I’m here now, Lorraine. Don’t be afraid.
The little girl kept herself rolled up in a shrimplike ball.
You’re back again? Marty?
It’s me.
Why did you do that? Why do you make scary things?
It wasn’t me this time, Lorraine. It was you. You did it to make him stop.
I didn’t!
I didn’t realize it until now, but you have the same type of power that I have. We are not all as strong as this.
No, no, no, no . . .
Don’t be afraid! It’s all over. He was hit by a car. He won’t hurt you again.
Lorraine’s thoughts were silent for a moment.
I . . . I killed him? she asked uncertainly.
He killed himself. He ran into the street. They’ll find drugs in his body and say he went insane. But you can’t ever let anyone know what happened here. It will ruin our plans.
But . . . but Bettina . . .
Bettina can’t know. She isn’t one of us. You aren’t supposed to be with her.
Who am I supposed to be with?
I don’t know. Lorraine, you have to get up. You can’t let the old lady see you crying. She’ll ask questions.
Lorraine was about to reply when the door suddenly burst open. Bettina came rushing in, accompanied by a young man carrying a boxed TV set.
“Oh, you’re safe!” Bettina cried, rushing to take the child in her arms. “Thank God, you’re safe.”
“Man, I never saw anything like that,” the delivery boy said. “It was like he was crazy or somethin’, yellin’ stuff about monsters in the building.”
Marty, will people come up here now?
But Marty was gone.
“You’re shaking like a leaf,” Bettina said. She looked at the child. “Did that man do something to you?”
“No!” Lorraine cried. She realized it came out too strongly, and to cover herself said: “I was looking out the window. I saw that man die!”
“Poor child,” Bettina said. “What a terrible thing for young eyes to witness.”
The delivery boy stepped forward. “Where do you want the TV? I gotta go back.”
Bettina waved her hand toward one corner. The boy unpacked the box and arranged the small set up on top of an old dresser. He left without a word.
“Are you sure nothing happened?”
Lorraine felt that Bettina knew she was hiding something. She held the woman tightly, wishing she could tell her everything, but knowing she never could.
Outside, someone else had heard the man’s strange talk of monsters. He was a very nondescript man: a plain pale face with small round glasses perched on a stubby nose; fine receding brown hair, mundane gray suit. He stood among the crowd of people waiting for the police to arrive at the accident scene. His eyes were focused on the apartment building from which the man had come running.
A few days ago he had foolishly lost a very important item. Now he was more than convinced he’d found it again.
“I know you’re up there,” he whispered, as if Lorraine could hear him.
He’d be glad to get her back and placed with the right family. Walter LaBerge had said this was his last chance to redeem the mistake he’d made. The man was absolutely determined not to blow it this time.
With determination marking his stride, he pushed his way across the street and entered the apartment building.
19
IT DIDN’T SURPRISE Samantha that she felt better just for having spoken to Wil Sherer. He was an eccentric, but she could tell he had a good heart and was dedicated to his work. If anyone could help her, it seemed he could.
The sun was setting as she drove to Barbara’s house, pink and purple cirrus clouds waving like banners over the mountains. It gave the blue spruce a violet cast. There was a dreamy quality to the landscape now, like something from a Victorian watercolor. But Samantha, filled with thoughts of her conversation with Wil, hardly noticed it.
Barbara lived on the second floor of a colonial house in a modest apartment furnished from catalogs. She didn’t spend much time there, always off on a date with somebody or other. Samantha remembered she had a dinner date tonight, and hoped Julie wasn’t getting in the way. She’d find that hard to believe, but a couple having dinner might think the very presence of a child was a nuisance.
She climbed the brick steps and pressed the top doorbell. A light came on over her head, and a moment later she heard footsteps on the stairs. Barbara opened the door.
“Hi!” she said. “How’d it go?”
“He’s going to help me,” Samantha said, following her up the staircase to the apartment.
“Oh,” Barbara said without much enthusiasm.