at her but at the portrait of the little girl. She, too, stared up at it for a moment.
“What do you mean?” she countered. “You mean to her? Who knows? Who even knows if there really was a girl such as Dr. Belter was talking about And even if there was, there’s no way of knowing if that’s the girl.”
“If there was a girl, that’s the girl,” Jack said positively.
Rose looked quietly at him, trying to fathom what was going on in his mind. “You sound so sure,” she said at last.
Jack’s lips pursed, and he frowned a little. “Yes,” he said slowly. “I do, don’t I. And you know what? I am sure. I can’t tell you why, but I’m sure there was a girl and that that picture is the girl. And it terrifies me.” Then they heard the sound of a car coming up the drive, and Jack stood up to go to the front door. While he was out of the room Rose examined the portrait once more, and thought about the legend.
What nonsense, she thought. What utter nonsense.
Ray Norton closed his notebook and smiled at Elizabeth. “I wish all witnesses were like you,” he said. Once more he ran through Elizabeth’s recounting of what had happened that afternoon.
“And you’re sure you didn’t hear my wife calling to you?” he said.
“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said. “But we didn’t. In fact, we were both listening for her. Kathy said she’d have to go in if Mrs. Norton called her, even though we were early, I’m sorry we didn’t hear her.”
Ray Norton nodded noncommittally. Norma hadn’t called to the girls as they passed the house, hadn’t even seen them. Ray liked to throw a curve now and then, just to see if a witness would change his story. But Elizabeth hadn’t. They’d been alone, and they hadn’t seen anybody or anything unusual, but of course, as Elizabeth explained, they hadn’t been looking for anybody, either. Except while they were passing the Nortons’, they had been engrossed in talking about Jeff Stevens.
“And you didn’t turn around and wave?” Ray said once more.
“I cut across the field,” Elizabeth said. “So I couldn’t have seen Kathy anyway. The woods would have been in the way.”
“Okay.” Ray sighed. He looked at Jack. “I’ll have that drink now, if it’s still around. I probably shouldn’t, since I’ll have to go into town, but I hate things like this.” He caught Rose’s frown and remembered that Elizabeth was still in the room. “Not that anything has happened,” he added hastily. He took the drink that Jack was offering, gratefully. “Thanks.”
“Can I ride into town with you?” Jack asked. “As a newspaperman, not as a friend. I’d like to be on top of this one, after what I took from Martin Forager. Besides, I still have all of this afternoon’s work to catch up on.”
“Fine with me,” Ray said, draining the drink. “But I can’t guarantee what time you’ll get back.”
“I’ll find a way,” Jack said. He went to find a coat, and while he was gone Ray looked up at the portrait.
“It looks just like you,” he said to Elizabeth.
“I know,” Elizabeth said. “But it isn’t it’s somebody else. She’s not at all like me.”
Rose and Ray Norton stared after her as she left the room.
“Now what did that mean?” Ray said, puzzled.
“Don’t ask me,” Rose said. “She and Sarah found an old Ouija board up in the attic. Maybe she’s been talking to ghosts.”
“Right,” Ray said with mock seriousness. “I’m sure that’s what it is.” Jack returned, his coat buttoned up to his chin.
“See you when I see you,” he said, and kissed Rose perfunctorily. The two men left the house, and seconds later Rose heard Ray Norton’s car grinding away down the driveway. Not knowing why, she fixed herself another drink.
Ray Norton pulled the car up in front of the Port Arbello Courier, but didn’t turn off the engine.
“Looks like you got burglars,” he commented, pointing to a shadow moving across the drawn curtain of Jack Conger’s office. Jack smiled.
“Looks like Sylvia is trying to catch up on my work, is what it looks like.”
Ray Norton shook his head ruefully. “Sure wish I could get a secretary like that. At the station they don’t even want to do their own work, let alone mine.”
“Yes,” Jack said easily, “it is a problem, isn’t it. On the other hand, Sylvia can do my work better than I can, and your girls can’t do your work