absolutely clear that there isn’t any emergency. I hope he did.”
Rose smiled. “He did. But then we had an emergency of our own. I suppose he told you about it.”
Dr. Belter’s face clouded. “Yes,” he said. “He did. Needless to say, that wasn’t one of the things we wanted to talk about, since it hadn’t happened when we decided to have this meeting, but I think—”
“Are you suggesting that Sarah had something to do with it?” Jack said coldly. “Because if you are—”
I’m not suggesting any such thing,” Dr. Belter said. “I doubt that we’ll ever find out exactly what happened with the van. George Diller was sure he set the brake. He might be mistaken. Sarah, of course, can’t tell us anything about it at all. But from my own observations of her, and from what Marie here tells me, I’m not going to suggest that Sarah released the brake. At least not deliberately. For one thing, saying Sarah released the brake implies several things. First, that she knew what would happen if she did. In other words, that she knew that if she released the brake the van would start to move, and that if the van started to move it would at best ram into the garage, hurting several of the children, and at worst plunge into the sea, killing everybody in it, including herself. Frankly, we’re not at all sure that in her current state of mind Sarah is capable of putting all that together. It’s possible that she is, of course, but her performance here doesn’t indicate it. Further, we don’t think she’s suicidal, and releasing that brake would certainly have to be considered a self-destructive gesture.”
“In other words,” Rose said, “you don’t think Sarah released the brake?”
Dr. Belter smiled wryly. “I wish it were that simple,” he said. “It’s entirely possible that she released the brake without the least idea of what she was doing. She may easily have been doing nothing more than displaying a fleeting interest in an object, with no concept of the possible ramifications of her actions. This, I’m afraid, is very much within the scope of her current behavior.”
There was a long silence as Rose and Jack digested what the doctor was saying. Jack shifted uncomfortably while Rose played with a glove.
“What you’re saying, Dr. Belter, if I read you right,” Jack said tightly, “is that my daughter is dangerous.”
Dr. Belter sighed and began again. “No, that’s not exactly what I’m saying.”
“Not exactly,” Jack repeated, “but close?”
Dr. Belter nodded slightly. “I suppose you could say that if you wanted to. What Sarah is, right now, is irresponsible. From what we have been able to observe, she is often totally unaware of the effects her actions could have. In other words, she acts without thinking. That can be a dangerous thing for anybody. For her, with the emotional struggles she is going through, it can obviously be disastrous. The incident with the van, I’ll admit, is an extreme example, but it is certainly illustrative of what could happen.”
“If she actually released the brake,” Jack said darkly.
“If she actually released the brake,” Dr. Belter repeated. “And, of course, we have no way of proving it either way. Believe me, nothing would make me happier than to be able to show that it was carelessness on George Diller’s part. It would be much more simply dealt with. But I can’t.”
“You said there’s more,” Rose said softly. “What else is there?”
“Marie?” Dr. Belter said, turning toward the teacher. “Why don’t you run through it?”
Marie Montgomery picked a file up from the desk and opened it.
“It’s all so minor, she said.” Really just little things, but when they’re added up, I think we have to pay attention to it. First, Sarah seems to be retreating further into herself. It isn’t anything major. It’s just that a couple of months ago she would almost always respond to her name the first time it was spoken. Now she never hears until it’s repeated, or if she does she seems to ignore it.
“Then there’s the matter of her concentration. It seems to be getting shorter. As a matter of fact, I have some figures on that, but, again, they aren’t anything major. What it boils down to is that she spends less time with any one thing than she used to. That in itself wouldn’t bother me particularly—attention spans seem to expand and contract like rubber bands around here—but with Sarah it isn’t as if she gets