Ariel

Fifteen

She managed to get hold of Erskine in the morning before the first bell rang. “Listen,” she said, “you have to tell me something.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Just tell me one thing. You remember when you were over at my house?”

“Which time?”

“The first time. When we found the picture.”

“So?”

“And you went into Caleb’s room.”

“So?”

“What did you do in there?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing, I said. I didn’t even go inside, I just looked from the doorway. Maybe I went in a step. Why?”

“Did you touch anything?”

“No.”

“Swear it.”

“Ariel, what’s the matter?”

She wanted to hit him. “Swear it,” she said. “This is important. Did you touch anything or didn’t you?”

“Jesus,” he said. “I solemnly swear I did not touch a thing in that room. Is that okay or do you want me to hunt for a Bible?”

She relaxed. “You really didn’t.”

“I just said I didn’t. What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Hey, wait a minute.” He grabbed at her coat. “What’s it all about, Jardell? Hang on.”

But she wrenched free from his grasp. “Later,” she said. “After school.”

Several times in the course of the day he tried to get her to explain but each time she put him off. She wanted to wait until there was more time. As they walked from school to his house he was elaborately casual, not even deigning to refer to the incident. They talked about other things. Then, when they were in his room, while he recovered his breath from his headlong charge up the attic stairs, she explained.

“Somebody did something in Caleb’s room.”

“Did what?”

“I don’t know exactly. It was hard to understand because she was so excited. Took his fish mobile down. Pulled some of his decorations off the walls. You absolutely swear you didn’t touch anything?”

“How many times do I have to swear? Don’t you take my word all of a sudden?”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “But she came home last night and I guess she went into his room and she gave out with a scream like the world was coming to an end and then she tore downstairs and started yelling. She wanted to know why I’d been in his room and I said I hadn’t been in there, which was true, the last time I went in Caleb’s room was ages ago. Before the time you went in there.”

“You weren’t in there since?”

She hesitated for an instant, then shook her head. “No, not since the time you opened the door. Remember I didn’t even want to look inside?”

“I remember. You turned your head away.”

“Right. I haven’t been in there since. I’ll stand outside the door once in a while but that’s all. Listen. I just thought of something. Was the fish mobile hanging over his bed when you were there?”

“How do I know?”

“I thought maybe you would remember one way or the other.”

“I barely remember what the room looked like, for God’s sake.” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I wasn’t really interested in looking at anything. I just wanted to get an idea what it felt like. You know, standing there and looking at the crib where it happened.”

“Where what happened?”

“You know, where he died. That’s all. But I didn’t notice anything, really.”

“Some of the wall decorations were on the floor. And the mobile was all broken. You would have noticed things like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Maybe. I suppose so.”

“She thought I did it. She was screaming like an insane person. If David hadn’t been there I think she would have tried to kill me or something.”

“What did you say?”

“I told her I didn’t do it. What else could I say? I don’t think she believed me. She had to pretend to but I don’t think she really believed me.”

“Weird.” He chewed on a knuckle. “What do you figure happened? You didn’t really think I did it, did you?”

“I didn’t know. I thought maybe you would fool around like that not knowing it would cause her to have a fit. But if you say you didn’t—”

“I swear I didn’t, Ariel.”

“I believe you. Maybe she did it herself. I’ll tell you something, I think she’s crazy enough.”

“Why would she do it?”

“Why do crazy people do things? I don’t know.”

“Maybe David did it.”

“Sure. He’s just the type. Maybe the bogeyman did it.”

“That’s a good idea,” he said. “I should have thought of that myself. Maybe the bogeyman did it.”

“Always a possibility.”

“Maybe Graham Littlefield did it. He strained himself tearing the room apart and that’s how he ruptured his spleen. Then the Funeral Man hit him with the car as a punishment.”

“We’ll have to tell that to Roberta... Maybe Veronica did it.”

He shook his head. “Not Veronica. Maybe Aunt Rhoda did it.”

“You mean Aunt Rhody.”

“Right, Aunt Rhody. Maybe the old gray goose did it”

“No, the goose is dead.”

“That’s the way it goes. And maybe the fucking wind did it, did anybody have the brains to think of that?”

“That’s what David said. But it couldn’t have happened that way. Everything was tossed around, the way Roberta described it. It would have taken a hurricane. No, somebody actually went and did it. Roberta thinks it’s me and if it wasn’t me it must have been the house.”

“Huh?”

“I told you she’s crazy. ‘The house is evil and it makes things happen.’ Quote unquote. You wouldn’t believe how crazy she is. Your parents are a pain in the ass—”

“No kidding.”

“—but they’re not crazy the way she is.”

“Well, maybe she’s right. Maybe the house did it.”

“Sure... Maybe—”

“Maybe what?”

She squeezed her hands together. “Maybe I did it,” she said softly.

“You...?”

“Maybe in a dream,” she said. “Maybe in my sleep.”

“I don’t think that makes any sense, Ariel.”

“Don’t you? I don’t know if it does or not. Sometimes I do things in my sleep that are weird.”

“You mean in a dream?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then how?”

“I can’t explain it.”

“Well, what kind of things do you do?”

“I don’t want to say.”

“Great.”

“I just don’t want to say, all right? Nothing worth talking about. Just weird things that I do during the night.”

“Now I’m really getting interested.”

“Well, don’t. And I have strange dreams. I don’t know. Maybe I got up one night to go to the bathroom and I went into Caleb’s room and did something and then went back to bed without knowing it. And when I woke up in the morning I didn’t remember anything about it. That’s possible, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so. But why would you do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then—”

“Well, somebody did it. Roberta said—”

“Maybe she did it herself,” he suggested.

“Who, Roberta?”

“Why not, if she’s as crazy as you say. You just said it was possible. And that makes as much sense as maybe you did it in your sleep. Maybe she did it in her sleep.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s see what’s on the radio, huh? I’m getting a headache from this conversation.”

“Okay,” she said...

And later she said, “Channing, the Funeral Man. Remember how we thought he was a detective?”

“Before I found out he was a lawyer.”

“I thought he was investigating me for murdering Caleb. I don’t know if I really thought that. But she thinks I killed him. She really thinks that.”

“Well?”

“Well what?”

He cocked his head, interested. “Well? Did you?”

“What?”

“Did you do it?” he said patiently. “Ariel Jardell, you have sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Did you, Ariel Jardell, murder your innocent baby brother?”

“Oh, sure,” she said. “I did it in my sleep.” They looked at each other for a moment, and then they both began to laugh.