Children of the Storm

finger at Blenwell-and yet Blenwell is the one with the best reasons for wanting to hurt the Dougherty family.” He turned and faced her, repeated, “Blind, deaf and dumb. Well, blind and deaf, anyway. He's not dumb on the subject; he's quite vocal about Blenwell's innocence. Why in the devil's name is Saine so stubbornly unrealistic on this one, single point?”
        Miserably, she said, “I don't know.”
        “Nor do I.”
        She got up, too, but she did not pace with him. She felt that she didn't have the strength to pace, to do anything but hold herself erect as if she were waiting for a blow against the back of her head. If she started walking back and forth, her nerves would tighten up like springs and, in moments, also like springs, would go boing and snap into ruin. She just stood there in front of her chair, awkward, like a fawn learning to stand by itself, legs trembling, unsure, afraid.
        “There are two main possibilities,” Peterson said.
        “What possibilities?”
        “Saine may be ignoring Blenwell simply because he likes him as a friend and doesn't want to have to suspect a friend. That's unlikely. I think Saine would actively consider his own mother if the case called for it.”
        “And the other?”
        He looked at her, as if he wondered if he could trust her with his second supposition, then sighed and said, “Saine and Blenwell are involved in some mutual-well, enterprise, here on Distingue.”
        For a moment, she did not see what he was driving at, and when she did understand, she rebelled at the possibility. “You can't think that Saine and Blenwell are working together-against the children?”
        “I don't want to think it,” Bill said. “God knows, it's the most horrifying notion I've ever had.”
        “Rudolph is so concerned for Alex and Tina,” Sonya argued. “He's genuinely concerned, worried about their welfare.” She remembered how Saine, in one of those rare moments when he had let his guard down, compared Alex to his own son, now dead. Could such a man, possessed of such deep sorrow and containing it so well, actually perform the hideously sadistic acts that the madman had threatened, or even sanction them by a friend or associate?
        “As I said,” Bill repeated, “I don't want to believe it, not for a moment. But it's a possibility that shouldn't be overlooked. Kenneth Blenwell could have been the voice on the telephone. If he'd disguised his voice even slightly, no one in the family would have recognized him.”
        “But how could he be sure that Saine would be hired as bodyguard?” she asked.
        “Maybe he wasn't certain. Maybe they didn't know each other before Saine came to Distingue. But maybe Blenwell made Saine such a good offer that he couldn't turn it down.”
        Shocked, Sonya said, “Then you think that, maybe, Blenwell offered Rudolph a sum of money in return for a chance at the children-and that Rudolph, knowing what this madman had threatened to do, accepted the money and said okay?”
        “I suspect something of that nature might have happened,” Bill said, “but with a couple of important differences. Blenwell is the obvious main suspect. When he first came to Distingue, Saine probably saw that as clearly as we do now. Perhaps he exerted himself toward proving or disproving Blenwell's guilt-and proved it. Perhaps he went with it, first, to Blenwell, with the intention of clinching his suspicions. Perhaps Blenwell explained that he did not intend to kill the kids, that those threats had only been so much stage dressing to terrify the Doughertys. Perhaps he convinced Saine that all he wanted was to eventually scare Dougherty into selling the island. Then, perhaps, he offered Saine a sum of money to remain quiet about things. Saine, realizing the children never would be hurt, and being human enough to be swayed by cold cash, took the money and walked away.”
        She thought about it a while. “That's a possibility,” she agreed. “I can't ever see Rudolph letting anyone harm the kids. But I can see him making a deal if the kids will not be hurt-just barely see it. But at least its a little acceptable.”
        “Remember, we're still theorizing,” Bill said.
        “Well, let's hope we're right,” Sonya said. “If this is what has happened, then the kids are perfectly safe.”
        “Are they?”
        He stopped pacing, looking at her, his eyes full of