thought it over carefully before deciding to go ahead. And now it was too late—he had already begun.
“You’re right, of course,” he said uncomfortably. “And believe me, if I thought there was any other way of going at this thing I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now.”
“I don’t see what you hope to accomplish,” Norton said.
“You mean you don’t want to see.” Belter’s reproach was mild. “What I’m suggesting,” he said, his voice hardening, “since you want me to spell it out, is that I think there’s a distinct possibility that Jack Conger might be involved in all this mess.”
“I don’t see how,” Norton observed. “You yourself admit that he was in your office when at least one and possibly two of the disappearances took place.”
“That’s not quite true. We don’t actually know when the disappearances took place. All we know, really, is when and where the children were last seen. And, as it happens, they were all seen on or near the Conger property. As for when they actually met with … whatever it is they met with, we don’t know, do we?”
Norton reluctantly agreed. “Just what are you proposing? That I charge Jack Conger with killing three children? Granted, I suppose we could use your files to establish a record of previous assault, but where does that get us? Without any bodies, and with you yourself acting as a witness for an alibi, there isn’t a chance in the world of making it stick.”
“And, of course,” the doctor added, “you don’t think he had anything to do with it.”
“No,” Norton said flatly. “I don’t.”
Dr. Belter leaned back in his chair and folded his hands across his stomach. “Then what do you propose to do?”
“Nothing,” Norton said. “Come spring, I’ll have those woods searched again, and I’ll have a good search made for that cave. Other than that, I propose to see what happens next If any more children disappear, I’ll reassess the situation. But if you want my opinion, I think it’s over with.”
“You really think Sarah did it all?” the psychiatrist asked in disbelief.
Norton nodded. “I’m no shrink, but for my money she did it. And I’ll stick to that opinion till I have something more solid to go on. The word is already all over town that Sarah Conger went berserk—those aren’t my words, but they’re the ones that will be used—and she’s going to be put away. And in a town like Port Arbello a story like that counts for a lot. The town will calm down, and when the word gets out that Sarah’s been taken wherever you take her it’ll calm down even more. I don’t propose to stir it all up again, and I don’t propose to have the whole town talking about something that happened to Jack Conger a year ago. I assume I can count on you not to tell anyone else what you’ve told me?”
“That goes without saying,” Belter said stiffly. “But do me a favor, will you? Talk to Jack Conger. Don’t grill him, just talk to him. You don’t even have to do it officially.”
“Why?” Norton demanded.
Belter smiled thinly. “Just to prod him. You might be absolutely right—he may have nothing to do with all this. But then again, he might. In any case, my professional opinion is that he’s pretty near the end of his rope emotionally. If you let him know that you’re aware of that, it might make him nervous. Nervous enough to make himself get some help before something happens that he is mixed up in.”
“I’ll think about it,” Norton said noncommittally. “If there’s nothing else, I have a lot of work to do.” He stood up, and the two men shook hands formally and coldly. When the police chief had left the house Dr. Belter thought for a while about the two folders in his office and the look on the policeman’s face as he’d left. Norton, he knew, would not be coming for the files. And he wouldn’t press the matter himself. Tomorrow he would seal Jack Conger’s folder and put it away in the dead files, the special cabinet he kept for the records of patients he didn’t think he’d be seeing again.
Suddenly weary, he turned and went upstairs to help Jack, who was just finishing with the packing. He looked as though he’d been crying.
“I’ll give her a shot,” Dr. Belter said, “and she won’t even wake up. You can be at school tomorrow morning if you