The Edge of Sleep (24 page)

“It was a special hospital for people like me. You wouldn’t go there if you was just sick. Dee worked there. She was allowed to take us out sometimes, and once she just didn’t take me back. We ran away.”

“You love Dee, don’t you?” Bobby asked.

“Of course,” Ash said, amazed by the question.

“I don’t,” Bobby said. Ash gasped and put his finger to his mouth. “She’s mean.”

“Dee loves you. Tommy. She loves you. Of all the boys in the world she could have had, she chose you.”

“That’s just something she told you.”

“It’s true. She picked you. Tommy.”

“My name is Bobby.”

“I know. But pretend, okay?”

“Why do I have to?”

“Because Dee wants you to be her Tommy.” The big man shrugged at the obvious inevitability of it all.

“She hates me,” Bobby said.

“She loves you. She really does. I know.”

“Why did she hit me so much?”

Ash stared at the closed door for a moment, trying to recall the right answer.

“Well, that’s because it’s for your own good. There are some things children have to be taught, and that’s the best way.”

“You wouldn’t ever hit me, would you, Ash?”

Ash was stung by the suggestion. “Oh, no. I wouldn’t hurt you. Tommy.”

“I would never hit you, Ash.”

Bobby leaned against the big man and felt Ash’s arm move awkwardly around his shoulders.

“I wouldn’t ever hurt you,” Ash said. “I promise.”

“Then why does Dee?”

“It’s her job as a parent.” Ash spoke slowly, trying hard to say it all correctly. “A parent owes her child discipline, which teaches it what its boundaries are. It’s one of the ways for a mother to show her boy she loves him enough to do the right thing for him.”

Ash nodded, pleased that he had gotten it right.

“She’s not my mother. Why doesn’t she do it to her own boy?”

“They took her boy away from her,” Ash said.

“Who did?”

“It was so unfair,” Ash explained. “She was so, so sad. She almost died, she was so sad when they took her Tommy.”

“What did you do?”

“I wasn’t there. She told me about it.”

“Why did they take him?”

Ash studied the door again. “They didn’t understand about discipline.”

“Where did they take him to?” the boy asked.

Ash shrugged. “They gave him to the State.”

They fell into a silence. Bobby leaned more fully against Ash, taking comfort from the man’s size and warmth. He felt a security with the man’s arm on his shoulders not unlike the sense of invulnerability he got when he cloaked himself in his special blanket at home. He had long ago dubbed the blanket bulletproof and in times of stress he would wrap it around himself and peer out, immune to the dangers of the outside world. He tried to burrow into Ash now, seeking the same haven of instant safety. The big man pulled him tightly into his body with the arm on his shoulders and with his other hand he rubbed Bobby’s head.

“How did you kill your family?” Bobby asked after a time.

Ash seemed prepared for the question, as if he, too, had been thinking about it.

“I stabbed my mother and father while they were asleep and I smothered my brother and sister.” he said matter-of-factly.

Bobby thought for a moment. He finally said the only response he could think of. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“I know. That’s why I never sleep.”

“You wouldn’t do it again, now that you’re grown up, would you?”

“I take my pills and I never sleep.” Ash said.

“I know, but even if, let’s say you forgot your pills, you still wouldn’t kill anybody else, would you. Ash?”

Ash turned his head away from the boy and studied the crack where the floor tiles joined the wall.

“Would you. Ash?” the boy insisted. “You wouldn’t, would you?”

Ash’s silence grew. Bobby felt the uneasy quality of hesitation in the big man. It seemed to transmit itself directly through his body into the boy’s own.

Bobby tried to look at his friend, but Ash turned his head away, hiding his face.

The door opened abruptly and Dee stood there, her eyes bright and shining.

“There he is!” she cried. “There’s my darling boy!”

George stood in the motel driveway chatting with the state trooper as if he were a long-lost friend. Reggie watched from the office window until her curiosity got the best of her and she stepped onto the porch. George turned his back slightly, subtly keeping her from the conversation. As if it were some kind of clubby man’s thing, she thought. Both George and the trooper had a foot propped up on the squad car’s front bumper. The trooper had both hands tucked into his broad gun belt and George had stuck his in his hip pockets. They looked to Reggie as if they were trying to emulate a scene from a western movie, two old pardners in the saloon with their boots resting on the brass rail.

George looked annoyed when she approached them but Reggie was certain she detected relief in the trooper’s face. I’ll bet George has talked the man’s ear half off by now, she thought. Posing like some macho jerk, as if he had anything in common with a cop. Pathetic, she thought. Little boys to the end, all of them.

The trooper dropped his foot as she neared them and came to a rough approximation of attention. He dipped his head in greeting.

“Ma’am.”

“Ah. Reggie,” George exuded. As if he hadn’t seen her all the time. “Officer here’s asking for our help.”

“He’s certainly come to the right man,” Reggie said, scarcely able to keep the sarcasm from her voice.

“I told him I’d do all I could,” George said.

Poor trooper then, Reggie thought. He’s no help around here. I’d like to see how he could help anyone else.

“We’re looking for a man,” the trooper said. “I was just telling your husband, he’s a big man, unusually strong, probably well developed as if he’d been pumping iron.”

George was already shaking his head negatively as if each descriptive phrase merely served to put the suspect farther away from the motel.

“He’d be alone,” the trooper said. His attention had drifted from Reggie, back to George.

“Nawp,” said George, studying the ground now as if he could see the man’s face in the gravel.

“Or might have a boy with him.”

“Nawp,” said George.

“How old a boy?” Reggie asked. The trooper looked at her reluctantly.

“Doesn’t matter,” George said. “No boys here.”

“Nine years old.” said the trooper. “Have you had any boys here in the last two weeks?”

“Nawp,” said George, shaking his head.

“I couldn’t say for sure,” Reggie said.

“We haven’t had any,” George said. “I’d know it.”

“Not necessarily, dear,” Reggie said sweetly. She paused until she had the trooper’s full attention. He removed his dark glasses for the first time. His eyes were a pale brown. Reggie decided he was cute in a traditional sort of way, but not impressive.

“How’s that?” the trooper asked.

“I’d know it,” George said. “We haven’t had any.” But he had lost the trooper to Reggie.

“Sometimes they come in late at night, no reservations, just pull in. If that one’s asleep”—she indicated George with a move of her head that said he was often sleeping—“I don’t always go out to the cabin with them. I just give them a key. If they’re early risers they just drop the key in the slot when they get up and off they go. They could have kids with them.”

“Nawp.”

“How would you know? They could have a whole orphanage with them. The only way to know is when you clean up the next day.”

“You’d know then?”

“Kids are messy, they leave their own traces. You might know. They leave things behind, candy wrappers, comic books ...”

George scoffed. “Lots of people eat candy.” He looked directly at the trooper, trying to grab his focus, grinning dismissively about his wife’s maunderings.

“So you’re saying you might have had a single man with a young boy here in the past two weeks?”

“I’m saying we could have and not known it.”

“You wouldn’t want to take that to court.” George chuckled. “It’s not proof.”

“I’m sorry,” Reggie said, smiling. “Did you want proof, officer?”

“No ma’am, that’s not necessary. We just need some information.”

“If I’m not being helpful. I’ll just let you keep dealing with my husband. He can handle it, can’t you, George?”

“You bet.”

“I just run the place, is all. I check them in, I check them out. I oversee the rooms, the cleaning ...”

“You’re being very helpful,” the trooper said. “Do you have any single males staying here now?”

“We always have single men,” George said. ‘That’s most of our business. Travelers, salesmen, we get them all the time.”

“We have three at the moment, to be precise,” Reggie said. “Cabin two checked in yesterday afternoon and is leaving tomorrow.”

“Did you see him check in?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Was he alone?”

“He was. He was also short and rather heavy. I don’t think he’s ever lifted a weight in his life.”

“We think the man we’re looking for would have been here for at least a week already.”

“Cabin one is a single man ...”

“He’s too old,” George said impatiently.

“Too old for what?”

“For whatever the trooper wants him for. He’s close to seventy if he’s a day.”

Reggie looked to the trooper, her eyebrows raised. “That’s probably older than we’re looking for,” the trooper admitted. There was a trace of apology in his voice, but Reggie was not going to accept it immediately.

“Maybe if we knew what he did we could be more help,” she said.

“He can’t tell you that,” George said.

“Right now we just want him for questioning.” the trooper said.

“What did I say?” George gloated. “They never tell you. They’re not allowed.”

“You said that you had another single man here?” the trooper asked.

“Cabin four,” George said quickly, trying to regain the initiative. “He’s an ugly duck. Mean looking. Sullen, you know? Doesn’t like to talk. I’d say he might be your man, but he doesn’t have a kid with him.”

“I have no trouble talking to cabin four.” Reggie said. “I find him rather pleasant. I don’t think he’s what you want at all, officer.”

The trooper tried to hide his impatience. He had half a dozen more motels to hit before the day was over, including a Ramada and a Howard Johnson’s, both of which seemed more likely to be productive than this tiny operation.

“How long has this gentleman been staying here?” the trooper asked.

“A couple days,” said George. “He slinks in and out at strange hours. I’ve got no idea what he’s doing, but I don’t like the looks of it.”

“He’s been here three days precisely.” Reggie said. “He’s leaving Thursday and he’s visiting his daughter, who just had a baby girl and doesn’t have a spare room to put him up. The daughter’s name is Gweneth.”

“He doesn’t care,” George said. “He doesn’t care what the baby’s name is, either. Try to stay relevant.”

“The baby’s name is Kendra. I don’t know where they got that one. People just seem to make names up these days.”

“She doesn’t know how police business works,” George confided to the trooper.

“Well, like I said, we think this man has probably been checked in for at least a week already.”

“That would be cabin six,” Reggie said.

“Have you listened to anything the man’s been saying?” George demanded. “Have you heard a single word?”

“Cabin six has been here eight days. They don’t want to let us in to clean the room ...”

“Really?” The trooper showed real interest for the first time.

“It’s a woman,” George said. “Cabin six is a woman.”

“And a man.” Reggie added. “A big man.”

“You’ve never seen him.” George turned to the trooper. “She’s never seen him, he’s sick, well, not sick, he has this vision problem so they have to keep the shades down and the door closed all the time, which is why they don’t want us in to clean the room ...”

“I have seen him,” Reggie said. “It was night and it was dark, but I saw him getting into the car. He looked huge.”

“But he’s definitely with a woman?”

“A very nice woman,” George said.

“He only goes out at night,” Reggie said. “Like he’s a vampire or something.”

The trooper replaced his dark glasses.

“Well ... ”

“And they may have a boy in there with them.” Reggie said.

“I just have to apologize for her ...” George started. The trooper held up a hand to quiet him.

“How’s that?”

“They might have an elephant in there with them,” George scoffed, “but she hasn’t actually seen it.”

“Why do you say they might have a boy with them?” the trooper asked. When Reggie hesitated, he removed his glasses once more and smiled at her. He was better looking than she had first realized, Reggie thought.

“There was a child’s toothbrush in the bathroom,” Reggie said.

George erupted with scorn. “A toothbrush? That’s it? Did they have any boy’s clothes? Any comic books, any kid’s shoes, any anything? I got to apologize to you, officer. She just doesn’t have a clue.”

“He wasn’t there, so he was wearing his clothes,”

Reggie said uncertainly. She could tell by the trooper’s face that it wasn’t enough.

“The only clothes he had? I don’t think so.”

The trooper replaced the glasses and started for the car door.

“I don’t believe the man we’re looking for would be traveling with a woman,” he said. “If you wouldn’t mind just giving me the names of those single men you’ve got, we’ll run them through the computer.”

George escorted the trooper to the office to find the names of the registered guests, but Reggie did not accompany them. She had crossed her arms over her chest and was standing her ground in the courtyard, studying cabin six. She was still there when the trooper returned, opened his car door, and slid behind the wheel.

“Well, if you should happen to get a single male, powerfully built, with a nine- or ten-year-old boy with him, give us a call, will you?”

“You bet,” said George. “First thing. Should we ask for you personally?”

“That won’t be necessary.” the trooper said, groaning inwardly at the thought. “Just call the state police and they’ll send a detective out to check things out. Okay?”