“He went out to a novelty shop and bought a whole bunch of silly stuff as souvenirs. Whoopee cushions and things like that. But Johnny, how could you know I lost my r ...”
“You were packing. The ring wasn’t sized right, it was a lot too big. You were going to have it taken care of when you got back. But in the meantime, you ... you ...” That puzzled frown began to return, then cleared immediately. He smiled at her. “You stuffed it with toilet paper!”
There was no question about the fear now. It was coiling lazily in her stomach like cold water. Her hand crept up to her throat and she stared at him, nearly hypnotized. He’s got the same look in his eyes, that same cold amused look that he had when he was beating the Wheel that night. What’s happened to you, Johnny? What are you? The blue of his eyes had darkened to a near violet, and he seemed far away. She wanted to run. The room itself seemed to be darkening, as if he were somehow tearing the fabric of reality, pulling apart the links between past and present.
“It slipped off your finger,” he said. “You were putting his shaving stuff into one of those side pockets and it just slipped off. You didn’t notice you’d lost it until later, and so you thought it was somewhere in the room.” He laughed, and it was a high, tinkling, tripping sound—not like Johnny’s usual laugh at all—but cold ... cold. “Boy, you two turned that room upside down. But you packed it. It’s still in that suitcase pocket. All this time. You go up in the attic and look, Sarah. You’ll see.”
In the corridor outside, someone dropped a water glass or something and cursed in surprise when it broke. Johnny glanced toward the sound, and his eyes cleared. He looked back, saw her frozen, wide-eyed face, and frowned with concern.
“What? Sarah, did I say something wrong?”
“How did you know?” she whispered. “How could you know those things?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Sarah, I’m sorry if I ...”
“Johnny, I ought to go, Denny’s with the sitter.”
“All right. Sarah, I’m sorry I upset you.”
“How could you know about my ring, Johnny?”
He could only shake his head.
7
Halfway down the first-floor corridor, her stomach began to feel strange. She found the ladies’ just in time. She hurried in, closed the door of one of the stalls, and threw up violently. She flushed and then stood with her eyes closed, shivering, but also close to laughter. The last time she had seen Johnny she had thrown up, too. Rough justice? Brackets in time, like bookends? She put her hands over her mouth to stifle whatever might be trying to get out—laughter or maybe a scream. And in the darkness the world seemed to tilt irrationally, like a dish. Like a spinning Wheel of Fortune.
8
She had left Denny with Mrs. Labelle, so when she got home the house was silent and empty. She went up the narrow stairway to the attic and turned the switch that controlled the two bare, dangling light bulbs. Their luggage was stacked up in one corner, the Montreal travel stickers still pasted to the sides of the orange Grants’ suitcases. There were three of them. She opened the first, felt through the elasticized side pouches, and found nothing. Likewise the second. Likewise the third.
She drew in a deep breath and then let it out, feeling foolish and a little disappointed—but mostly relieved. Overwhelmingly relieved. No ring. Sorry, Johnny. But on the other hand, I’m not sorry at all. It would have been just a little bit too spooky.
She started to slide the suitcases back into place between a tall pile of Walt’s old college texts and the floor lamp that crazy woman’s dog had knocked over and which Sarah had never had the heart to throw out. And as she dusted off her hands preparatory to putting the whole thing behind her, a small voice far inside her whispered, almost too low to hear, Sort of a flying search, wasn’t it? Didn’t really want to find anything, did you, Sarah?
No. No, she really hadn’t wanted to find anything. And if that little voice thought she was going to open all those suitcases again, it was crazy. She was fifteen minutes late in picking up Denny, Walt was bringing home one of the senior partners in his firm for dinner (a very