woods or the embankment. But now, with the construction work going on and the area bustling with activity, it had lost its threat, and she found she enjoyed going there.
She found Ray Norton sitting with his back to a tree, patiently watching the work.
“May I join you?” She smiled.
The old policeman looked up in surprise. “Well, look who’s here,” he said. “Since when are young Congers allowed to play out here?” His eyes were twinkling, and Elizabeth laughed softly.
“Not that young any more,” she said. “And besides, it’s all different since they took over.” She made a gesture that encompassed all the men and machinery around them.
“Hmph,” Norton snorted. “If you ask me, it was better the way it was.”
“I don’t know,” Elizabeth mused. “I know I shouldn’t say it, but I’m kind of glad it’s all happening. For the first time in my life I feel comfortable out here.” She stared out to sea for a moment, then spoke again.
“Mr. Norton, do you suppose there ever really was anything out here?”
“For instance?” Norton countered.
“Oh, the cave, I suppose. I know you’ve been searching for it for years, and you’ve never found it, but you think it’s here somewhere, don’t you?”
“I don’t know,” the old man said. “For a long time I didn’t believe it was here, then I did believe it Now I don’t know what I think. I guess when you get to be my age that’s normal. At least I hope it is, because it’s the way I am.”
“Will you be coming back?” Elizabeth asked him. “I mean, when all this building is done and there are people living here. Will you still come out each spring to look around?”
Norton shook his head. “I doubt it For one thing, I’ll be retired by this time next year. And for another, this place just won’t be the same. If I don’t find what I’m looking for this year, I won’t find it.”
Elizabeth stood up and patted the old man on the back.
“You’ll find it,” she reassured him. “Whatever it is, if it’s here you’ll find it.” She glanced at her watch. “I’ve got to get going,” she said. Norton looked at her curiously.
“Sarah’s coming home today,” she explained. “Just for a visit, to see how it goes. But it’ll be the first time in fifteen years.” She paused, then winked at Norton. “And I didn’t even clean up the kitchen,” she added. “I thought it would be homier that way.” She turned and started back through the woods, picking her way carefully through the brambles. Twice she caught her foot. She’d be glad when it was all cleared away.
The old policeman watched her until she had disappeared into the trees, then turned his attention back to the workmen.
So she’s coming home, he thought. Well, that’s nice.
If he was going to find anything after all these years, he was going to find it today. He made himself comfortable and kept on watching. It was all right; he didn’t have anything better to do. When he thought about it Ray Norton realized that he hadn’t had anything better to do for fifteen years.
Three hours later, as Ray Norton looked on, one of the pile drivers setting the foundations for the apartment complex broke through the roof of the upper cavern. The light of day shined dimly down on the gates of hell.
27
Ocean Crest Institute, which had dropped the word “Mental” from its name several years ago, sprawled over twenty-five acres of woods and lawns on a bluff above the Atlantic. It looked as much like a resort hotel as its management could make it, and it was able to keep its costs within reason only through the grace of an enormous endowment that had accumulated over the years from the bequests of wealthy families grateful for the care and discretion that Ocean Crest had shown their members whose eccentricities had gone beyond the harmless. No bars marred the view from the windows of Ocean Crest; instead, bulletproof glass had been installed in the units that housed those patients deemed to be dangerous. Sarah Conger had lived in one of those units for four years, never knowing that she could not have left by one of the windows. She had never tried. Residents of Ocean Crest rarely tried to leave; if they ever wandered off, it was usually through confusion, not a desire to escape.
After the first four years Sarah Conger had been moved out of the security unit and into