Floating Staircase(61)

“I could just tell. He had trouble communicating, trouble expressing himself, and his overall skills were way below the average ten-year-old. He spoke in fits and starts, like a tractor engine trying to turn over in cold weather. We’d go over simple math problems, and he’d become frustrated and hide under the kitchen table. Sometimes he could be lured out with cookies, but other times he would stay under there until after I’d left for the day. In fact, that’s sort of how we got our relationship going, the boy and me, and I would bring him candies and dole them out to him at the beginning of each session.”

“How was his relationship with his mother?”

“She loved him very much. But she was a shattered person herself—I’d always thought something traumatic had happened to her at some point, perhaps when she was a child—and she had difficulty rearing Elijah.”

“What about David Dentman, Elijah’s uncle? How was his relationship with the boy?”

“I hardly saw the man,” she said. “I came by weekday afternoons, mostly when Mr. Dentman was out at work.”

“But you’d met him before?” I said.

“Yes.” There was a timorous hitch in Althea’s voice. “Two days in a row, toward the end of my month at the Dentmans’ house, David Dentman answered the door after I’d knocked. I knew who he was of course—little Elijah had spoken of his uncle to me on a number of occasions—but this was the first time I’d seen the man.”

She expelled a bout of air, the sound like someone squeezing an old accordion. Then she frowned, wrinkles like estuaries running from every direction down her face. “He was very cold to me. He just opened the door and said, ‘Elijah’s not feeling well today.’ I had my mouth half-opened to ask whether or not the boy’s illness was a serious one that required his uncle to stay home from work, but he shut the door in my face before I had a chance to ask the question.”

“That sounds about right,” I agreed. “You said it happened twice?”

“The next day I returned to the house and knocked on the door. Once again, Mr. Dentman answered and spoke the same exact words to me through the crack in the door—that Elijah was not feeling well. He said it like he was reciting dictation from memory. But this time I was ready for him, and I was able to speak before he closed the door on me. ‘I’m sure you’re aware the county only allows for a minimal number of days for a child to be ill if he’s going to receive a home tutor,’ I said. This was only half true—the kid could have his sick days just like anyone else—but something in that man’s presence alarmed me. After that first day, I’d spent the whole night thinking about the boy. When Mr. Dentman said the same thing on that second day, I knew something was wrong, and I wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easy.”

“What’d he say?”

“He looked me over from that crack in the door. And not until he opened the door wider did I realize just how big he was. Broad shoulders and thick arms. I realized, too, that he had almost a baby’s face, tender and soft in places, which didn’t seem to fit with the rest of his body. Something about his face made me feel sorry for him, I remember.”

“Yes,” I said. “I’ve met him.” Although unlike Althea, I’d recognized nothing in David’s face that had made me feel sorry for him.

“He told me to come back tomorrow, that Elijah would be feeling well tomorrow. ‘I’ll certainly be back,’ I told him. ‘Elijah and I have a lot of catching up to do.’ See, I’d intended for those words to hold more meaning, and maybe they would have for someone brighter than Mr. Dentman, but I don’t think he understood the message I was tryin’ to send.”

“That’s probably a good thing. My impression is he wouldn’t take well to veiled threats.”

“Needless to say, I came back the next day, and it was like the previous two days had never happened. David was gone, and Veronica answered the door when I knocked. Elijah was there, and we went through his lessons with the same practiced replication we’d done every day beforehand.”

“How did he act?”

“Quiet and introverted as he always did but not the least bit under the weather.” She knew where I was headed and said before I could ask my next question, “Looked him over quickly for bruises, too, of course. We’re taught to do that if we feel something may be unusual. Even if it’s just supposition.”

“Did you notice anything?”

“Not a thing,” she said, and I felt a sinking sensation at the core of my being.

“But I was still curious,” Althea went on. “Before the day was over, I said to Elijah, ‘Well, it seems like you’re feeling better. Were you sick the past two days?’ He just stared at me with those big eyes of his and didn’t answer, which wasn’t unusual if you knew the boy. He would sometimes ignore you deliberately. It wasn’t his fault; as I’ve said, he was beyond my ability to help. He should have been seeing a specialist.”

“Did you ever suggest that to anyone?”

“I did,” she said quickly—so quickly, in fact, that she had to gasp for breath before continuing. “I went straight to the supervisor of the board. But before any next step could be taken, the cancer had different plans for me, and I had to withdraw my tenure. By that time, summer was already here. That’s a bad time to get things passed through the board, seeing how they enjoy their summer vacations as much as—if not more than—the students. And before the next school year—”