repeated. “What do you mean, was?”
“Only that there might have once been a cave, but that it got filled in, or collapsed. It isn’t important Just a mind that deals with details functioning in its usual picky way. Forget I said it. The important thing is that you don’t know whether or not the cave is real.”
“No, I don’t. And I don’t see how it matters.”
Dr. Belter lit a cigarette and shook the match out before he spoke again. “I don’t know,” he said at length. “Does it matter?”
“What are you getting at?” Jack asked suspiciously.
Dr. Belter smiled at him. “Well, it just seems to me that you’ve attached a lot of importance to that cave. After all, you did go so far as to tell the chief of police that it definitely doesn’t exist. That tells me a couple of things.”
“Such as?” Now there was definite hostility in Jack’s voice.
“First, that you think there is a cave. If you were really sure that there was no cave, and that the legend was only a legend, why would you want to try to talk Norton out of searching for it? After all, if you’re sure it doesn’t exist, then you don’t have to worry about it being found, do you?”
“What’s the second thing?” Jack asked, without conceding the first.
“Why, that’s easy,” Dr. Belter said with a grin, leaning forward over his desk. “You’re not only sure there’s a cave, but you’re afraid of what might be found in it.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard of in a long time,” Jack said angrily.
“Is it?”
Jack knew he was reacting more out of fear than out of anger, and he wondered why. What was he afraid of? Then he decided he wasn’t afraid of; he was afraid for. He was afraid for Sarah.
“It’s Sarah I’m worried about,” he said nervously.
“Are you?” the doctor asked, and Jack thought he heard a mocking tone in his voice. “Let’s talk about that for a minute then. Exactly what are you worried about? Are you worried that Sarah has been terrorizing little children, then shoving them into a cave? That’s what I would call one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard of. For one thing, take a look at Sarah’s size. She’s not big, is she? In fact, she’s small for her age, and a bit underdeveloped.” He noticed the look of anger that was coloring Jack’s face and held up a hand. “Oh, come on. I didn’t say she was abnormally small or underdeveloped. Physically she’s well within the normal range. But on the small side of the average, rather than the large side. Now tell me, do you really think a girl the size of Sarah could do much to a girl the size of Kathy Burton? Kathy Burton, from what I’ve found out, was big for her age, and somewhat athletic. So, considering that she’s also a year older than Sarah, I don’t see much chance that Sarah could have done anything to her. Anne Forager and Jimmy Tyler I don’t know about. They’re both younger than Sarah, and a bit smaller. But Kathy Burton wouldn’t have taken any guff off of Sarah.”
“I understand that children with … mental problems … sometimes show remarkable strength,” Jack said.
“You’ve been watching too many movies. Oh, sure, it can happen, but it’s rare, and it only happens for short periods of time, under what we call hysterical conditions. The same things happen with so-called normal people. The mother who lifts the car off her crushed child? Those things can happen. Under severe stress, the body simply shoots itself up with adrenalin, and you have a surge of strength. But it’s rare, and it’s for very brief periods of time. Seconds, not the time it would take to do what you’re suggesting.”
“I’m not suggesting a thing,” Jack said coldly.
“Aren’t you? I think you are.” I listen carefully, you know. It’s my profession. And here’s what I heard you saying. Not directly, mind you, but by implication. And all because Elizabeth said she saw Sarah playing with someone who looked like Jimmy Tyler.
“You see Sarah dragging children into the woods, beating them, and then taking them and dumping them in a cave somewhere. Am I right?”
Jack shifted in his chair with discomfort. The doctor had stated his thoughts too closely. “Go on,” he said, not at all sure he wanted to hear any more, but feeling that he must.
“Well, if you don’t mind my saying so, that theory