Diana Racine 02 - Goddess of the Moon

leapt. She glanced at Mrs. Shore, who returned a smile with a hand clasped across her chest. Headway, Diana thought. She talked to him some more about his drawing before she said, “May I touch your hand?” Again, he didn’t respond. Slowly, she reach ed for the hand closest to her.
    A t first touch, he recoiled, dropped his crayon, and pushed the air in her direction without touching or looking directly at her. His gaze circled the room―up at the ceiling, out the window, and down on the floor, then at his hands, wringing them, concentrating as if they harbored a secret only he knew.
    When he quieted, she asked again if she could touch him. He didn’t answer . She rested her hand on his forearm. He waved at her again, but she didn’t move away nor did he push her away . Other than trying to glean something from his touch, it was important to connect with Jamie physically, to create a bond.
    After some minutes without a negative response, Diana placed the dozen black and white photo s in Jamie Shore’s line of sight. “Jamie, do you remember seeing any of these people at the house next door the other day? ”
    Jamie’s head rotated from side to side as she flipped through the photos slowly. After one pass-through, she started over. This time he slammed his hand on a photo of a man , although his face was mostly hidden by the hood of a sweat jacket . Diana glanced at his mother and patiently waited. Then Jamie spoke in a panicked voice.
    “Man, man, man . Man, man, man. Brown coat, brown, brown. Man, man, window. Man, man, brown, brown .”
    Diana nodded at Lucier sitting quietly with Jamie’s mother, both rigid in their seats.
    “Bag, bag, bag, bag, Bongo, Bongo, bag, bag, Bongo, man, man, brown, brown, bear, beard, beard, man, man.
    “The man had a beard?” Diana said, glancing at Lucier and nodding. “He must have been a very old man with a white beard. Very old, Jamie.”
    “Red, red, red man, red man, beard, bear, bag, bag, Bongo bag.” Jamie stopped, as if a faucet had been turned off. He cast his gaze around the room at everything and at nothing, still wringing his hands , and finally settl ed his focus outside .
    Liz Shore stood up, a clue that the meeting was over. “I think that’s enough.”
    Elated to have culled such important information , Diana removed her hand from Jamie’s forearm. She felt sure she could glean more from the boy, but his mother knew best when to stop. “Thank you, Jamie. Thank you very much. You will help us find the baby.” But Jamie had gone somewhere Diana couldn’t reach, even with a touch. He returned his focus to the papers on his desk, picked up a crayon , and continued his drawing.
    The adults moved into the entry hall. “He knew the man carried a baby in the bag,” Lucier said. “How?”
    Liz nodded. “ Hard to tell . He picks up on things others would never see, almost as if he has extrasensory vision, and he remembers everything. Once it’s in that complicated brain of his, it’s there forever. A year from now, he’ll mention the man with the brown coat and the Bongo bag.”
    “Who’s Bongo?” Diana asked.
    “Bongo Bear is a TV cartoon show that’s been on for years.” Mrs. Shore shook her head. “ H is world is in another place, and he sees more of what we see and much we don’t see at all.”
    “So there are bags with Bongo Bear’s image on them?”
    “Bongo’s a marketing bonanza. Everything you can think of has Bongo’s image on it.”
    “Where have I been?” Diana said, although she knew. He r life had been restaurants, hotels and theaters, with only newspapers , TV, and magazines to keep her abreast of what was going on in the world.
    After a few words of thanks, Diana and Lucier left the Shore house and stepped into the bright sunlight.
    “Good job, Diana. He told you what he saw by correcting you. Excellent interrogation tactic. Something to remember.”
    Diana didn’t say anything.
    “What’s the matter?”
    “I can’t imagine being locked up inside myself like that, not relating to another human being, not even my mother.” She choked back the sadness but couldn’t stop the tears filling her eyes. “How hard that must be for Mrs. Shore, wanting to hold him, to share affection, to relate like parents do. Kind of like Rainman , huh ?”
    Lucier put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. “ Y eah, I guess so. He possessed a gift too, didn’t he?”
    “Yes, breaking the bank in Vegas.” The thought