Eddie Morris pounded on the front door of The Oaks and waited. No lights went on and no sounds were made. He shouted, pounded again, stepped back, and contemplated the front windows, and then put his shoulder to the door. The Oaks’ front door was an antique. More than one traveler with an eye to valuable old things remarked about it in passing. It was nearly a half foot wider and a foot taller than the average modern door. It was made of thick oak wood and the front of it was handcarved. The years had weathered it, but age had only made it stronger. Eddie thought he might as well have tried to move a solid wall.
He went to the nearest front window on his right. The windows were the old six-panel type, so when he broke one panel with his flashlight, he was only able to get his hand in to search for the window lock. He couldn’t reach it, so he broke all the frames and then kicked in the narrow wooden crossbars. Now he was able to step through it carefully. He came down in what he thought to be a sitting room. The furniture was barely visible, until he put on his flashlight and looked about.
“HELLO!” he called, hoping to get some reaction from Mary Oaks’ daughter. Hearing nothing, he continued on through the room and out to the hallway. He explored everything around him, looking into other rooms, shining his beam down to the kitchen and coming back to find what he thought must be the basement door. He was surprised at the hasp and open lock that dangled from it. Did they think someone might enter the house from the basement?
As soon as he stepped in, he found the light switch and turned it on. He paused for a moment to think about the odors and the dim glow of the inadequate ceiling fixture. What the hell is going on? he wondered and started down the steps slowly. When he reached the bottom and turned around, he held the light in the direction of Mary Oaks’ body. He went to her quickly and knelt down beside her. The moment he took her hand into his, he knew she was dead.
He let her body fall over completely so she’d be on her back and shined the light on her face. Her eyes were still wide opened, a look of total surprise and horror locked into them. He searched for wounds and found the stain of blood down the side of her mouth. Other than that, there was nothing on her body to indicate what had happened.
He stood up and looked around. When the light of his flashlight fell on the dresser, he saw what looked to be footprints in the heavy layer of dust. For a moment he studied that and then directed the light up the wall. He traced the beams all around the basement, but he saw nothing. Puzzled, he remembered the box.
The blanket was absolutely disgusting. It reeked of urine and other odors. There were the remains of some food in the dishes and bowls beside the box and traces of food in the box itself. Did they have some kind of pet down here? he wondered and looked for any signs of an animal. There were no bones, no boxes of dog or cat food. The body of a dead rodent just to the right caught his eye. He looked at it and ran the light up into the far corner, where he saw what looked to be other dead things—decayed bodies of field mice, small rats, even a snake.
Damn, he thought, looking back at Mary Oaks’ body. Must’ve been an accident. She fell off that dresser somehow. Better call it in, he thought, and went back up the stairs. When he got to the kitchen, he thought about Mary Oaks’ daughter again. Perhaps she was out. She certainly would have heard him shouting and walking through the house.
He picked up the receiver of the wall phone and called the station. Sam Cobler answered the phone himself. As soon as he said hello, Eddie went into a detailed description of events.
“No sign of foul play?”
“Looks like she fell off a dresser. I found her footprints on the top of it in the dust. Imagine she hit her head. The daughter’s not around, so you’d better put out a call on that.”
“OK, we’ll send up an ambulance. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. That’s one helluva street.”
“You don’t have to remind me,” Eddie said.
After he hung up, he unzipped his jacket and looked about the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of water and leaned back against the sink, staring ahead down the corridor. It was then that he heard the slight tap, tap, tap, coming from somewhere above him, deeper in the house. He listened as hard as he could for a few seconds. Then he put the glass down quietly and moved out of the kitchen. When he reached the stairway, he stopped and listened again, but now he didn’t hear anything. Even so, he directed his flashlight up into the darkness and followed the beam to the second level. Once there, he located a light switch and illuminated the corridor. He listened again. This time he was sure—there was a distinct tapping coming from further in; so he headed toward it.
The periods of hallucination and hysteria had begun to merge in Faith. She had taken to crawling around the floor of the room and stopping randomly at a spot. There she would sit and sing and talk to herself until the urge to move came on her again. She wouldn’t cry out or call. Her mouth had become so dry, that her lips cracked and her tongue felt hard and brittle like old leaves.
In her nervousness she had pulled and tugged on her clothing and hair. Her blouse was torn at the collar and unbuttoned, some of the buttons having been ripped off. Her hair, wild and disheveled, puffed out around her head as if filled with static electricity. The palms of her hands and her knees were raw from the crawling. When she sat back against the wall, she held her hands on her lap, as though they were on fire, keeping the fingers opened and bent, the palms up. She stared forward, her eyes glassy and empty, her face bland. She looked like someone beyond pain, now in a stage of numbness and on the border of unconsciousness.
Occasionally, her hands would drop to the floor. When that happened, she would form her small, soft fists and pound with slow, methodical up and down motions devoid of much enthusiasm. It was this sound that Eddie Morris had first heard. The house carried it through its structure, amplifying it slightly in the ceiling beams.
Even so, she didn’t hear Eddie’s footsteps or realize he was just outside the door. He stopped and listened again. This time he heard her shuffling about and moaning, so he directed his light on the door. He went to it and knocked.
To her it was like thunder. She stopped her movements and sat back. He knocked again and called. She stood up and leaned against the wall to steady herself. Before she went to the door, she cupped her hands and brushed back her hair.
“Hello?”
“Daddy?” she said.
Eddie heard her and tried the handle. He saw that the door was locked and the key was gone. He rattled the knob and knocked once more. She turned the knob from the inside.
“It’s the police,” he said. “Can you open this door?”
“I’m locked in here, Daddy. I’ve got to get out to tell Mary about the baby. Hurry.”
“It’s the police, Officer Morris,” Eddie said, pressing his face to the door. “I’m going to force this door open. Step back.” He waited a moment and again tried to open one of The Oaks doors by slamming his shoulder against it. Like the front door, it barely budged. “Dammit. Hold on,” he said and turned about to look for something to pry it open.
He remembered seeing some tools in the kitchen, so he hurried back downstairs and got a hammer and a long screwdriver. When he returned, he listened again before he started and heard some soft sobbing. “Hold on,” he called and worked the screwdriver in between the door and the jamb near the lock. He pounded it with his hammer and then began to pry and pull. The tooth of the lock came undone and the door flew open.
The sight stopped him cold. Faith hadn’t realized how many times she had scratched her face. She looked like a caged animal that had turned on itself. Her torn clothing, the wild hair, the crazed look in her eyes, and the terrible odors in the room all made him step back.
“What the hell happened?” he asked.
“She doesn’t know,” Faith said in a loud whisper. “We’ve got to tell her.”
“Look,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but there’s been an accident in the basement.”
“Yes.” She nodded her head quickly. “In the basement … he’s been getting out.”
“Huh? Do you know something about what happened down there?”
“We’ve got to tell Mary,” she said, pronouncing each word very distinctly. “Now.”
“OK. Just take it easy. Come on,” he said, “let’s get you into the bathroom first where you can clean up. All right?” He went to reach for her and she screamed. She embraced herself and cringed. His arm froze in the air. For a few seconds he didn’t move a muscle. “Take it easy,” he said. She pressed herself back against the wall and glared at him. “Jeez,” he muttered. “Listen, I’m not going to hurt you. Relax. I’ll get you help. Don’t you want to come out and get a drink or something? How long have you been in here?” he asked her and recalled Bobby O’Neil telling him Faith wasn’t in school today. “Huh?” She shook her head.
“Your name’s Faith, right?” he said smiling. “I’m Eddie Morris. You know my wife. She’s one of your teachers—Mrs. Morris.” She simply stared at him. “Is there someone you’d like me to call? Someone who can come to stay with you?”
“Where’s Mary?”
“Mary? Mary’s … er … Mary got hurt in the basement. That’s why you should come out.”
“Hurt? He hurt her? He hurt her, too? Oh, God …” She brought her hands to her cheeks.
“Who? Who hurt her? Did you see someone hurt her or threaten her?”
“The Devil,” she whispered.
“Huh?”
“He is the Devil. She was right. I’ve got to tell her before it’s too late.”
She moved around the room, edging toward the door, eyeing him closely as she did so.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, stepping back to make her feel more secure. The moment he did so, she ran by him out the door and down the corridor to the stairway. He took another look around the room, at the boarded windows and the bed with the Bible on it, and shook his head. “This is really something,” he muttered and went out to see where the crazed teenager had gone.
By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, she was on her way to the basement. He heard her pounding down the old wooden steps. He wondered if he should call in to tell the chief to bring Myra Goodman up with him so there would be a woman to help out. But then he thought, Myra wasn’t working tonight; that’s why the chief answered the phone himself.
He followed Faith into the basement, deciding it wasn’t good to leave her alone down there, even for a few moments. She was already in an hysterical state. Who knew what this sight would do to her? Why was she locked in that room, anyway? he wondered as he went down to her.
He found her kneeling by Mary’s body, holding her hand and talking to her.
“You were right. You were right all along,” she said. “Now we’ve got to go and find him. He’s out there. Come on, Mary. Come on.” She waited a moment and then said, “Mother … you were right. Mother …”
He knelt beside her, afraid to touch her for fear of how she would react. She looked at him and then she looked back at Mary. Through the hole in the fieldstone wall, he could hear the siren of the ambulance in the distance.
“She’s been hurt badly,” he said as softly as he could. “Looks like she took a bad fall. She was standing on this dresser, I think. I imagine she was trying to get to something up there,” he said and gestured toward the ceiling. Faith followed his gesture and then stood up quickly, glaring at the ceiling. She backed up and held her arms extended as though to protect herself.
“MAYBE HE’S UP THERE!” she screamed. “HE’S UP THERE!”
“What? Who?” Eddie stood up quickly and ran the light over the ceiling. “What’s up there? Tell me.”
“The baby,” she said.
“Baby? What baby? How could a baby be up there?” he asked incredulously, but directed the beam into the dark corners anyway.
“He crawls. He climbs. He calls to me through the floor,” she said in that loud whispering voice. “He blows through the boards and touches my hand. He touches my hand!”
“There was a baby down here?” Eddie looked at the box and the raggedy blanket. “Living down here? Whose baby?”
“Mary!” Faith said, kneeling beside the body again. She took Mary’s hand. “Get up. You’ve got to get up!”
“She’s not going to get up, Honey,” Eddie said gently. “Please, talk to me. What baby?”
His kind tone, his soft expression, and his height and size reminded her of her father when she was young. She wished she could be that young again and there could be some sunlight on the house. She closed her eyes and waited for the magic. It could come. If you wanted it hard enough, it could come.
“Daddy,” she whispered.
“I’m listening,” he said. If she wanted to call him Daddy, that was all right. As long as it led to her explaining things. “What baby are you talking about, Faith? Whose baby was down here?”
“Mary’s baby,” she said, looking down at her mother. “My … broth … brother.”
“What? Your mother had a baby? How old is the baby? Was it a boy?” he added quickly.
“Yes.”
“How many years old is he?”
“He’s a little more than four,” she said. She spoke like someone under hypnosis.
“And she kept him …” Eddie looked around again. Then he looked at the hole in the wall. “He got out? He’s been getting out. That’s it, isn’t it? That’s it,” he said. “Incredible. Why did she do this? Has he always been kept down here? My God, he has, hasn’t he?” he said before she could respond.
He heard the ambulance pulling up to The Oaks.
“Let’s go upstairs,” he said, reaching out for her this time. “You need some medical treatment, Honey. Come on.”
“I’m afraid,” she said.
“No. Don’t be. I’ll go up with you. Come on.”
“Promise?”
“Sure.”
“And take me for rides again and be with us …”
“I will.” He brought her to her feet. She looked down at Mary sadly and shook her head.
“Mary’s asleep. Mary’s with God,” she said and then she smiled. Even though it was a good smile, it gave him the chills to see it. “That’s all she ever wanted anyway,” she said.
He led her away and up the stairs, turning back only once to look at the box and the hole in the fieldstone wall.
He told the paramedics to take care of her first. There wasn’t much for them to do with Mary Oaks. He waited out front for Sam Cobler to arrive and then he took him through the old house and the mystery it had hidden.