“No, that’s not candy,” Dan said, although of course it was: nose candy.
Paying no attention, the kid reached for the white powder with one hand. As he did, Dan saw bruises on his upper arm. The kind left by a squeezing hand.
He grabbed the kid around the waist and between the legs. As he swung him up and away from the table (the sodden diaper squeezing pee through his fingers to patter on the floor), Dan’s head filled with an image that was brief but excruciatingly clear: the Deenie look-alike in the wallet photo, picking the kid up and shaking him. Leaving the marks of his fingers.
(Hey Tommy what part of get the f**k out don’t you understand?)
(Randy don’t he’s just a baby)
Then it was gone. But that second voice, weak and remonstrating, had been Deenie’s, and he understood that Randy was her older brother. It made sense. Not every abuser was the boyfriend. Sometimes it was the brother. Sometimes the uncle. Sometimes
(come out you worthless pup come out and take your medicine)
it was even dear old Dad.
He carried the baby—Tommy, his name was Tommy—into the bedroom. The kid saw his mother and immediately began wriggling. “Mama! Mama! Mama!”
When Dan set him down, Tommy trotted to the mattress and crawled up beside her. Although sleeping, Deenie put her arm around him and hugged him to her. The Braves shirt pulled up, and Dan saw more bruises on the kid’s legs.
The brother’s name is Randy. I could find him.
This thought was as cold and clear as lake ice in January. If he handled the picture from the wallet and concentrated, ignoring the pounding of his head, he probably could find the big brother. He had done such things before.
I could leave a few bruises of my own. Tell him the next time I’ll kill him.
Only there wasn’t going to be a next time. Wilmington was done. He was never going to see Deenie or this desperate little apartment again. He was never going to think of last night or this morning again.
This time it was Dick Hallorann’s voice. No, honey. Maybe you can put the things from the Overlook away in lockboxes, but not memories. Never those. They’re the real ghosts.
He stood in the doorway, looking at Deenie and her bruised boy. The kid had gone back to sleep, and in the morning sun, the two of them looked almost angelic.
She’s no angel. Maybe she didn’t leave the bruises, but she went out partying and left him alone. If you hadn’t been there when he woke up and walked into the living room . . .
Canny, the kid had said, reaching for the blow. Not good. Something needed to be done.
Maybe, but not by me. I’d look good showing up at DHS to complain about child neglect with this face, wouldn’t I? Reeking of booze and puke. Just an upstanding citizen doing his civic duty.
You can put her money back, Wendy said. You can do that much.
He almost did. Really. He took it out of his pocket and had it right there in his hand. He even strolled it over to her purse, and the walk must have done him good, because he had an idea.
Take the coke, if you’ve got to take something. You can sell what’s left for a hundred bucks. Maybe even two hundred, if it hasn’t been stomped on too much.
Only, if his potential buyer turned out to be a narc—it would be just his luck—he’d wind up in jail. Where he might also find himself nailed for whatever stupid shit had gone down in the Milky Way. The cash was way safer. Seventy bucks in all.
I’ll split it, he decided. Forty for her and thirty for me.
Only, thirty wouldn’t do him much good. And there were the food stamps—a wad big enough to choke a horse. She could feed the kid with those.
He picked up the coke and the dusty People magazine and put them on the kitchenette counter, safely out of the kid’s reach. There was a scrubbie in the sink, and he used it on the coffee table, cleaning up the leftover shake. Telling himself that if she came stumbling out while he was doing it, he would give her back her goddam money. Telling himself that if she went on snoozing, she deserved whatever she got.
Deenie didn’t come out. She went on snoozing.
Dan finished cleaning up, tossed the scrubbie back in the sink, and thought briefly about leaving a note. But what would it say? Take better care of your kid, and by the way, I took your cash?
Okay, no note.
He left with the money in his left front pocket, being careful not to slam the door on his way out. He told himself he was being considerate.