as could be. Most of their parents thought Ardelia was just about the greatest thing that ever happened to the Junction City Library.
‘I think it was what she took from Tansy that put her father’s wind up, and I think Deputy Power must have done a good deal of investigating before he ever went to see Ardelia at the Library. I don’t know what difference he noticed in Tansy, because the kids weren’t all pale and listless, like the people who get their blood sucked in the vampire movies, and there weren’t any marks on their necks. But she was takin something from them, just the same, and John Power saw it or sensed it.’
‘Even if he did see something, why did it make him suspicious of Ardelia?’ Sam asked.
‘I told you his nose was keen. I think he must have asked Tansy some questions – nothing direct, all on the slant, if you see what I mean – and the answers he got must have been just enough to point him in the right direction. When he came to the Library that day he didn’t know anything … but he suspected something.
Enough to put Ardelia on her mettle. I remember what made her the maddest – and scared her the most –
was how he looked at her. “I’ll teach you how to look at me,” she said. Over and over again. I’ve wondered since how long it had been since anyone looked at her with real suspicion … how long since anyone got into sniffin distance of what she was. I bet it scared her in more ways than one. I bet it made her wonder if she wasn’t finally losin her touch.’
‘He might have talked to some of the other children, too,’ Naomi said hesitantly. ‘Compared stories and got answers that didn’t quite jibe. Maybe they even saw her in different ways. The way you and Sam saw her in different ways.’
‘It could be – any of those things could be. Whatever it was, he scared her into speedin up her plans.
‘ “I’ll be at the Library all day tomorrow,” she told me. “I’ll make sure plenty of people see me there, too.
But you – you’re going to pay a visit to Deputy Power’s house, Davey. You’re going to watch and wait until you see that child alone – I don’t think you’ll have to wait long – and then you’re going to snatch her and take her into the woods. Do whatever you want to her, but you make sure that the last thing you do is cut her throat. Cut her throat and leave her where she’ll be found. I want that bastard to know before I see him.”
‘I couldn’t say nothing. It was probably just as well for me that I was tongue-tied, because anything I said she would have taken wrong, and she probably would have ripped my head off. But I only sat at her kitchen table with my drink in my hand, starin at her, and she must have taken my silence for agreement.
‘After that we went into the bedroom. It was the last time. I remember thinkin I wouldn’t be able to have it off with her; that a scared man can’t get it up. But it was fine, God help me. Ardelia had that kind of magic, too. We went and went and went, and at some point I either fell asleep or just went unconscious. The next thing I remember was her pushin me out of bed with her bare feet, dumpin me right into a patch of early-morning sun. It was quarter past six, my stomach felt like an acid bath, and my head was throbbin like a swollen gum with an abscess in it.
‘ “It’s time for you to be about your business,” she said. “Don’t let anybody see you on your way back to town, Davey, and remember what I told you. Get her this morning. Take her into the woods and do for her.
Hide until dark. If you’re caught before then, there’s nothing I can do for you. But if you get here, you’ll be safe. I’ll make sure today that there’ll be a couple of kids at the Library tomorrow, even though it’s closed.
I’ve got them picked out already, the two worst little brats in town. We’ll go to the Library together …
they’ll come . . . and when the rest of the fools find us, they’ll think we’re all dead. But you and I won’t be dead, Davey; we’ll be free. The joke will be on them, won’t it?”
‘Then she started to laugh. She sat naked on her bed with me grovellin at her feet, sick as a rat full of poison bait, and she laughed and laughed and laughed. Pretty soon her face started to change into the insect face again, that probos-thing pushin out of her face, almost like one of those Viking horns, and her eyes drawin
off to the side. I knew everything in my guts was going to come up in a rush so I beat it out of there and puked into her ivy. Behind me I could hear her laughin … laughin … and laughin.
‘I was puttin on my clothes by the side of the house when she spoke to me out the window. I didn’t see her, but I heard her just fine. “Don’t let me down, Davey,” she said. “Don’t let me down, or I’ll kill you. And you won’t die fast. ”
“‘I won’t let you down, Ardelia,” I said, but I didn’t turn around to see her hangin out of her bedroom window. I knew I couldn’t stand to see her even one more time. I’d come to the end of my string. And still
… part of me wanted to go with her even if it meant goin mad first, and most of me thought I would go with her. Unless it was her plan to set me up somehow, to leave me holdin the bag for all of it. I wouldn’t have put it past her. I wouldn’t have put nothin past her.
‘I set off through the corn back toward Junction City. Usually those walks would sober me up a little, and I’d sweat out the worst of the hangover. Not that day, though. Twice I had to stop to vomit, and the second time I didn’t think I was goin to be able to quit. I finally did, but I could see blood all over the corn I’d stopped to kneel in, and by the time I got back to town, my head was achin worse than ever and my vision was doubled. I thought I was dyin, but I still couldn’t stop thinkin about what she’d said: Do whatever you want to her, but you make sure that the last thing you do is cut her throat.
‘I didn’t want to hurt Tansy Power, but I thought I was goin to, just the same. I wouldn’t be able to stand against what Ardelia wanted … and then I would be damned forever. And the worst thing, I thought, might be if Ardelia was tellin the truth, and I just went on livin … livin almost forever with that thing on my mind.
‘In those days, there was two freight depots at the station, and a loadin dock that wasn’t much used on the north side of the second one. I crawled under there and fell asleep for a couple of hours. When I woke up, I felt a little better. I knew there wasn’t any way I could stop her or myself, so I set out for John Power’s house, to find that little girl and snatch her away. I walked right through downtown, not lookin at anyone, and all I kept thinkin over and over was, “I can make it quick for her – I can do that, at least. I’ll snap her neck in a wink and she’ll never know a thing.” ‘
Dave produced his bandanna again and wiped his forehead with a hand which was shaking badly.
‘I got as far as the five-and-dime. It’s gone now, but in those days it was the last business on O’Kane Street before you got into the residential district again. I had less than four blocks to go, and I thought that when I got to the Power’s house, I’d see Tansy in the yard. She’d be alone . and the woods weren’t far.
‘Only I looked into the five-and-dime show window and what I saw stopped me cold. It was a pile of dead children, all staring eyes, tangled arms, and busted legs. I let out a little scream and clapped my hands against my mouth. I closed my eyes tight. When I looked again, I saw it was a bunch of dolls old Mrs Seger was gettin ready to make into a display. She saw me and flapped one of em at me – get away, you old drunk. But I didn’t. I kept lookin in at those dolls. I tried to tell myself dolls were all they were; anyone could see that. But when I closed my eyes tight and then opened em again, they were dead bodies again.