Suffer the Children Read Free Page B

Anne was with some friend, and that was that Until she came home. Now we’re trying to find out what happened.”
    “Has a doctor seen her?”
    “She’s there now. I should find out what he has to say later this afternoon. What I need to know from you is if you were home yesterday afternoon.”
    “Not until five or five thirty. Why?”
    “I was hoping you might have seen something. Anne says she walked back to town from here, or very close to here. From the mud, it looks like she must have been near the embankment.”
    “Or the quarry.”
    Ray’s eyebrows rose. “Of course. The quarry. I’d forgotten all about it.”
    “I wish I could,” Rose said. “I wish I could fill it in.Someone’s going to get killed out there someday, and I don’t care what Jack says, it’s going to be our fault.”
    “Oh, come on, Rose. That old quarry has been there forever and nobody’s ever come to grief there yet Besides, the fishing is the best in town. Fill that old quarry in and half the kids in Port Arbello would be on your back.”
    “We could consider building them a swimming pool and letting them do their fishing in the stream,” Rose said acidly. “I don’t think anyone realizes how dangerous that place is.”
    “Well, be that as it may, we don’t know where Anne was. She could have been at the quarry, she could have been on the embankment, or she could have been anywhere else. We won’t know until she starts talking.”
    “If she starts talking …” Rose mused, wondering immediately if it had been wise to voice the thought She glanced at Ray and saw compassion in his eyes. Well, they were old friends, and he had long been aware of the Congers’ private torments.
    “If?” Ray inquired gently.
    Rose shrugged. “She may not, you know. If something happened to her, something she doesn’t want to remember, she might simply block it out of her mind.”
    “Unless the doctor determines she’s been raped,” Ray said, “I can’t imagine what it could be. And, frankly, I just don’t think she’s been raped. Not here. Not in Port Arbello.”
    Rose smiled thinly. “Things like that do happen a lot more often than anyone hears about.”
    Ray shook his head doubtfully. “If you want my opinion, I think Anne stayed out a lot later than she was supposed to, and has thought up a nice story to get herself out of the punishment she deserves. If she were my child …”
    “Which she’s not,” Rose pointed out.
    Ray chuckled. “No, she isn’t, is she? But I am thechiefof police, and I have a job to do. Is that what you’re saying?”
    “That’s what I’m saying.” Rose smiled. “Let me call Elizabeth. Maybe she’ll know something you don’t.”
    She went to the door of the study and called her daughter. She was pouring them both a second cup of coffee when Elizabeth Conger came into the room.
    She was about thirteen, but had none of the awkwardness of most children of that age. Ray noted that the resemblance to the old portrait was remarkable indeed. The same eyes, the same silky blond hair, and, if the hair had been combed differently to flow freely over her shoulders, the same features. Elizabeth wore a ponytail, with bangs in front, the blond hair almost blending into the pale skin that was set off by her incredible sky-blue eyes.
    Behind Elizabeth another child, Sarah, hovered silently. Two years younger than Elizabeth, Sarah provided an odd contrast to the older girl. She was dark, and her eyes seemed to sink deeply inside her, as if she lived in another world. Her hair was cropped short, and was as dark as Elizabeth’s was blond. And, while Elizabeth was dressed in a neatly pressed mini-skirt and ruffled blouse, Sarah wore blue jeans and a plaid flannel shirt.
    Elizabeth came into the room and smiled at Ray.
    “Hello, Mr. Norton. Did you finally catch up with Mother? She’s been overparking again. If you want to take her now, I can have Mrs. Goodrich pack a bag for her.” She sat down, enjoying