Where are the children?

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

She didn't want to remember… there was only pain in going back. Once when she was very little, Nancy had reached up and pulled the handle of a pot on the stove. She could still remember how great torrents of bright red tomato soup had gushed over on her. She'd been in the hospital for weeks and still had faint scars on her chest.

… Carl had asked her about those scars… stroked them… 'Poor little girl, poor little girl…' He liked her to tell him about the incident over and over. 'Did it hurt very much?' he would ask.

Remembering was like that… Pain… only pain… Don't remember… forget… forget… Don't want to remember…

But the questions, persistent, far away… asking about Carl… about Mother… Lisa… Peter… Her voice. She was talking. Answering.

'No, please, I don't want to talk about it.'

'But you must. You must help us.' That persistent voice. Why? Why?

'Why were you afraid of Carl, Nancy?'

She had to answer, if only to stop the questions.

She heard her voice, far away, trying to answer… It was like watching herself in a play… Scenes were taking shape.

Mother… the dinner… the last time she saw Mother… Mother's face so troubled, looking at her, at Carl. 'Where did you get that dress, Nancy?' She could tell Mother didn't like it.

The white wool dress. 'Carl helped me pick it out. Do you like it?'

'Isn't it a bit… young?'

Mother left to make a call. Was it to Dr Miles? Nancy hoped so. She wanted Mother to be happy… Maybe she should go home with Mother… Maybe she would stop feeling so tired. Did she say that to Carl?

Carl left the table. 'Excuse me, dear'… Mother back before him…

' Nancy, you and I must talk tomorrow… when we're alone. I'll pick you up for breakfast.'

Carl came back…

And Mother… kissing her cheek… 'Good night, darling. I'll see you at eight.' Mother getting in the rented car, waving goodbye, driving down the road…

Carl drove her back to school. 'I'm afraid your mother doesn't approve of me yet, dear.'

The call… 'There's been an accident… Steering mechanism…'

Carl… 'I'll take care of you, my little girl…'

The funeral…

The wedding. A bride should wear white. She'd wear the white wool dress. It would do for just going to the Mayor's office.

But she couldn't wear it… grease stain at the shoulder… 'Carl, where could I have got grease on this dress? I only wore it to have dinner with Mother.'

'I'll have it cleaned for you.' His hand, familiar, patting her shoulder…

'No… no…'

The voice. 'What do you mean, Nancy?'

'I don't know… I'm not sure… I'm afraid…"

'Afraid of Carl?'

'No… he is good to me… I'm so tired… always so tired… Drink your medicine… You need it… The children… Peter and Lisa… all right for a while… Carl was good… Please, Carl, close the door… Please, Carl, I don't like that… Don't touch me like that… Leave me alone…'

'How should he leave you alone, Nancy?'

'No… I don't want to talk about it…'

'Was Carl good to the children?'

'He made them obey… He wanted them to be good… He made Peter afraid… and Lisa… "So my little girl has a little girl"

'Is that what Carl said?'

'Yes. He doesn't touch me any more… I'm glad… But I mustn't have medicine after dinner… I get too tired… There's something wrong… I must get away… The children… Get away

'From Carl?'

'I'm not sick… Carl is sick

'How is he sick, Nancy?'

'I don't know…'

' Nancy, tell us about the day Lisa and Peter disappeared. What do you remember about that?'

'Carl is angry.'

'Why is he angry?'

'The medicine… last night… He saw me pour it out… got more… made me drink it… So tired… so sleepy… Lisa is crying… Carl… with her… I must get up… must go to her… Crying so hard… Carl spanked her… said she wet the bed… I have to take her away… in morning… My birthday… I'll tell Carl…'

'Tell him what?'

'He knows… he's beginning to know…'

'Know what, Nancy?'

'I'm going away… take the children… Have to go away…'

'Didn't you love Carl, Nancy?'

'I should. He said, "Happy birthday."… Lisa so quiet. I promised her we'd make a birthday cake for me… She and Peter and I… We'd go out and get candles and chocolate for it. It's a bad day… starting to rain… Lisa may be getting sick

'Did Carl go to school that day?'

'Yes… He phoned… I said we were going to shopping centre… that after that I was going to stop at the doctor's to let him see Lisa… I was worried. I said I'd go to the Mart at eleven… after the children's television programme

'What did Carl say when you told him you were worried about Lisa?'

'He said it was a bad day… if Lisa was getting a cold, he didn't want her out. I said I'd leave them in the car while I shopped… They were excited about my birthday. They never had fun… I shouldn't have let Carl be so strict… my fault… I'll talk to doctor… have to ask doctor… about Lisa… about me… Why am I always so tired?… Why do I take so much medicine?… Rob made children laugh… They were so different around him… Children should laugh…'

'Were you in love with Rob, Nancy?'

'No… I was in cage… had to get out… wanted to talk to someone… Then Rob said what I said to him… Wasn't like that… wasn't like that…' Her voice began to rise.

Lendon's voice became soothing. 'Then you took the children to the store at eleven.'

'Yes. It's raining… I told children to stay in car… They said they would… Such good little children… I left them in back seat of car… Never saw them again… never… never…'

' Nancy, were there many cars in the lot?'

'No… No one I knew in store. So windy… cold… not many people…'

'How long were you in the store?'

'Not long… ten minutes… couldn't find birthday candles… Ten minutes… Hurry back to car… The children gone.' Her voice was incredulous.

'What did you do, Nancy?'

'Don't know what to do… Maybe they went to buy present for me… Peter has money… They wouldn't leave except for that… They're so good… That might make them leave… Maybe in other store… the dime store… Look in candy store… look in gift shop… hardware store… look back at car… Look, look for children…'

'Did you ask anyone if they'd been seen?'

'No… Mustn't let Carl know. He'll be angry… Don't want him to punish children

'So you checked all the stores in the shopping centre?'

'Maybe they came looking for me… got lost… Look in parking lot… Maybe they couldn't find car again… Begin calling them… Frightened… Someone said we'll call police and your husband… I said, "Don't tell my husband, please."… Woman told about that at trial… I just didn't want Carl to be angry.-.-.'

'Why didn't you tell this at your trial?'

'Mustn't… Lawyer said, Don't say Carl was angry… Don't say you argued on phone… Lisa didn't wet the bed… bed dry…'

'What do you mean?'

'Bed dry… Why did Carl hurt her? Why? Doesn't matter… Nothing matters… Children gone… Michael… Missy gone too… Look for them… have to look for them…'

'Tell us about looking for Michael and Missy, this morning.'

'I must look at the lake… Maybe they went to the lake… Maybe they fell into the water… Hurry, hurry… Something is underwater

'What was underwater, Nancy?'

'Red, something red… Maybe it's Missy's mitten… I must get it… Water so cold… I can't reach it… It's not a mitten… It's cold, cold

'What did you do?'

'Children aren't here… Get out… get out of water… so cold… the beach… I fell on the beach… He was there… in the woods… watching me… I saw him there… watching me…'

Jed Coffin stood up. Ray jumped forward convulsively. Lendon held up a warning hand. 'Who was there, Nancy?' he asked. 'Tell us who was there.'

'A man… I know him… It was… it was… Rob Legler… Rob Legler was there… He was hiding… looking at me.' Her voice rose, fell; her eyelids fluttered open, then closed again slowly. Ray paled. Dorothy inhaled sharply. So the two cases were linked.

"The amytal's about worn off. She'll be coming to soon.' Lendon stood up, grimacing against the cramped sensation in his knees and thighs.

'Doctor, may I speak with you and Jonathan outside?' Jed's voice was non-committal.

'Stay with her, Ray,' Lendon cautioned. 'She'll probably wake up any minute.'

In the dining-room, Jed faced Lendon and Jonathan.

'Doctor, how long is this to go on?' Jed's face was impenetrable.

'I don't think we should attempt to question Nancy any further.'

'What have we gotten from all this other than the fact that she was afraid of her husband; that she obviously did not love him and that Rob Legler may have been at the lake this morning?'

Lendon stared. 'Good God, didn't you hear what that girl was saying? Don't you know what you were listening to?'

'I only know that I haven't heard one thing that will help me discharge my responsibility to find the Eldredge children. I heard Nancy Eldredge blaming herself for her mother's death, which is natural in a case where a visit to a child in school results in a parent's death. Her reactions to her first husband sound pretty hysterical. She's trying to blame him for the fact that she wanted out of their marriage.'

'What impression did you get of Carl Harmon?' Lendon asked quietly.

'One of those possessive guys who marries a younger girl and wants the upper hand. Hell, he isn't any different than half the men on the Cape. I can cite you examples of guys who won't let their wives handle a dime except for food money. I know one who won't let his wife drive the family car. Another never lets his wife go out at night by herself. This kind of thing is common all over the world. Maybe that's why that Women's Lib bunch have something to beef about.'

'Chief, do you know what pedophilia is?' Lendon asked quietly.

Jonathan nodded. 'That's what I've been thinking,' he said.

Lendon didn't give Jed time to answer. 'In laymen's terms, it's a sexual deviation involving sexual activity of any type with a child who has not yet reached puberty.'

'How does that fit in here?'

'It doesn't… not completely. Nancy was eighteen when she married. But in appearance she could look quite childish. Chief, is there any way you can run a check on Carl Harmon's background?'

Jed Coffin looked incredulous. When he answered, his voice was trembling with repressed fury. He pointed to the sleet that was beating a steady, sharp staccato against the window. 'Doctor,' he said, 'do you see and hear that? Somewhere out there two kids are either wandering around freezing or they're in the hands of God knows what kind of kook and maybe they're dead. But it's my job to find them and find them now. We have one distinct lead to all this. That is that both Nancy Eldredge and a gasoline attendant have placed Rob Legler, a pretty unsavoury character, in the immediate vicinity. That's the kind of information I can do something about.' His voice bit off the words scornfully. 'And you're asking me to waste my time running a check on a dead man to prove some cockeyed theory.'

The telephone rang. Bernie Mills, who'd been standing unobtrusively in the room, hurried to answer it. Now they were talking about running a check on Nancy 's first husband. Wait till he told this to Jean. He picked up the phone quickly. It was the station house. 'Put the Chief on.' Sergeant Poler at the desk spat the words.

Lendon and Jonathan watched while Chief Coffin listened, then asked quick, short questions. 'How long ago? Where?'

The men looked at each other silently. Lendon realized he was praying – an inarticulate, fervent prayer that the message was not bad news about the children.

Jed slapped the receiver back into the cradle and turned to them. 'Rob Legler checked into the Adams Port Motel right here in town around ten-thirty this morning. A car we believe he stole has just been smashed up on Route 6A, but he got away. He's probably heading for the mainland. We've got an all-out search for him and I'm going over to direct it. I'll leave Officer Mills here. We'll get that Legler bird, and when we do, I think we'll really have the answer to what happened to those kids.'

After the door had closed behind the Chief, Jonathan spoke to Lendon. 'What do you make of this so far?' he asked.

Lendon waited a long minute before answering. / am too close to this, he thought. / see Priscilla at that phone calling me. Carl Harmon left the table after her. Where did he go? Did he overhear what Priscilla said to me? Nancy said her dress was smeared with grease. Hadn't she been saying in effect that she believed Carl's hand must have been smeared and when he put his hand on her shoulder, her dress got dirty? Hadn't she been trying to say that she believed Carl Harmon might have done something to Priscilla's car? Lendon saw a violent pattern forming. But what purpose would this knowledge serve with Carl Harmon in his grave?

Jonathan said, 'If your mind is running in the same direction as mine, going back to the disappearance of the Harmon children won't help us. You're thinking of the father.'

'Yes,' Lendon said.

'And since he is dead, we turn to Rob Legler, the man sent into the home by Carl Harmon and the one witness whose testimony convicted Nancy. How accurate is her statement about this morning under the amytal?'

Lendon shook his head. 'I can't be sure. It's been known that even under sedation some patients can resist and suppress. But I believe that she saw – or believes she saw – Rob Legler at Maushop Lake.'

Jonathan said, 'And at ten-thirty this morning he checked into a motel alone.'

Lendon nodded.

Without speaking again, the two men turned and looked out of the window in the direction of the lake.