Chapter 64
“Poor Daniel,” Jennalee sighed. “Ten, right?”
Harley blew out a sigh. “Yeah, ten.”
The ambulance passed them as they walked along. “Wonder if Noel will be okay,” Jennalee said as they neared the Hall housing the Oak, Pine, and Spruce rooms.
“Probably,” replied Harley. “He’ll recover and make Daniel’s life hell.”
“Won’t they put Daniel in juvenile hall?” Jennalee asked.
“First they have to decide he set the fire, and I doubt they’ll come up with that right off,” said Harley. “Fires have to be examined, evidence gathered. So far nobody can prove the kid was even in there except his mother, and once it clicks with her, which it might never do, she’ll clam up.”
“Even if the cops figure it out,” said Kendall, “a Sutherland isn’t going to be arrested. No way. Noel will play good parent, excuse it all, maybe even totally deny it, and if that fails, he’ll buy the kid out of it. The sad thing is the kid would be better off in juvie, but Noel will never let it happen. He’ll put on some front, then dish out his own punishment.”
“Why would Daniel do it?” Jennalee asked Kendall.
“He won’t talk so we can’t be sure he even did it, though hiding makes him look pretty guilty. And how else could it start?”
The three fell silent as they reached the Hall. “It’s scary,” Jennalee said. “You know? Important. Serious.”
She got no comment from the others. Finally, when they stood outside the Oak Room, Kendall sighed. “Okay, here goes,” he said and he opened the door. 19
The Oak Room felt cold and cavernous to Jennalee, which surprised her, considering her morning joy there with Chopin. Kendall opened the closet door. “Daniel? It’s Kendall again and I’d like to talk about things. Harley and Lee are with me, you know them, right? No parents. I haven’t told anybody I found you, except these guys. You know you can’t stay in there forever. Please come out.”
“Let us help,” Harley added.
After a minute out came Daniel, red faced and disheveled. He wore a white T-shirt over blue bathing trunks and was barefoot. His mouth was clamped shut and he looked as wary as a cat ready to claw.
“Let’s sit down, okay?” Kendall pulled chairs into a little circle, then sat, as did Harley and Jennalee. Finally Daniel stood behind the vacant chair.
“Come on, Daniel,” Harley said. “You’re with friends now. You’re safe.”
The boy looked tired yet ready to bolt, and when he finally sat, his body slumped. Jennalee felt so sorry for him, carrying the weight of such events. For a second she thought of her parents, relieved she had them instead of a Noel Sutherland.
“Can you tell us what happened?” asked Kendall.
Daniel shook his head so they waited. The boy was brown-haired and freckled with that same unfinished look Jennalee saw in the Malvern boys. His lips were pale, as would have been his face had he not been flushed. Finally, he began.
“He just wanted some excuse not to take us to the fireworks,” said Daniel. “Last year we went but left before the show because he got mad at some people. This time Cliffy had an accident and that did it. No fireworks.”
“Accident?” asked Kendall.
“Dad slapped him and we’re not allowed to cry and Cliffy didn’t, but he wet his pants and that made Dad worse.”
“Why’d he slap him?” asked Harley.
Daniel hesitated, like he didn’t want to tell on his brother.
“Why?” prompted Kendall. “It’s okay to tell us. This is all secret, everything.”
“He was holding himself, you know, down there. He does that when Dad scares him.”
“Jeez,” said Jennalee without thinking. Harley frowned at her.
“Okay,” said Kendall. “We understand why you were upset. You had every reason to be, so that’s okay, but what happened next? Did you start the fire?”
Daniel seemed to relax at this point, as if the weight of things had slid off his shoulders. He took a long moment, then said, “I don’t want a dad anymore. I can take care of Mom and my brothers. We’re happy when he’s not around, so I was going to kill him.”
Jennalee had a “Jeez” on her lips when she caught herself.
“That’s very sad,” offered Harley. “I mean, feeling that way. We’re sorry you were put in such a spot.”
“Tell us what you did, Daniel,” urged Kendall.
“Mom said we’d go swimming instead of fireworks so we got ready. Dad said he didn’t want to go. He never does. We got outside and I told Mom I wanted to go back and tell Dad Cliffy was sorry for upsetting him and she said okay, catch up with us after, so they left and I went back in.”
“Then what?” asked Harley. “It’s okay. Whatever you say is okay.”
Daniel drew a long breath and continued. “I’ve been taking matches from that basket in the lobby. I had six little books. And Dad likes newspapers so there were a bunch in his room. When I went back in, he asked what I wanted and I said Clifford was sorry. I wasn’t sure I’d do it, start the fire, until Dad said too little, too late, and went into the bathroom with a paper. He always takes forever in there so I knew I had time. I lit papers and put them under the curtains and the flames went right up. I lit the bedspread and little fires all over the room and watched until they joined up so Dad couldn’t get out. It was really smoky. Then I came over here.”
Nobody said anything. Jennalee glanced at Harley, then Kendall. She couldn’t imagine that much hate, and worse, that it had gathered inside this boy in just ten years.