The Dark Stairs R/I by Betsy Byars Page A

said, “that the reason you were at Bromwell was because you had something to do with your mother’s death. Is that correct? Do you remember?”
    Silence.
    â€œYour mother died as a result of a fall on the stairs.”
    In the silence that followed, Herculeah could imagine her mother and the Moloch looking up those long marble stairs together.
    â€œYour father claimed you pushed her.”
    Then the Moloch spoke. His voice was no longer the deep, frightening voice of a man, but a childlike sing-song. “I didn’t. I never would. I loved my mother. She was taking me on a trip.”
    â€œWhere?”
    â€œI don’t know. Far away. It was a secret. We couldn’t tell anybody.”
    â€œNot even your father?”
    â€œEspecially not Father.”
    â€œAnd then what?”
    â€œIt was night. We got to the head of the stairs. We looked down and Father was in the hallway. He wasn’t supposed to be there. He came home early.”
    â€œAnd then?”
    â€œThen my mother said, ‘Go to your room, Willie.’ That’s what she called me. And I always did what she said. I went in my room, but I waited at the door. I knew something bad was going to happen.”
    â€œAnd?” her mother prompted.
    â€œI heard Father saying things to my mother, bad things, and my mother answered, but I couldn’t hear what she said. She had a soft voice. Then I heard a scream, a terrible scream.”
    â€œYour mother?”
    â€œYes, and the scream went on and on. I knew she was falling down the steps. I ran out and my mother was lying right there. She didn’t move.”
    â€œWhat did your father do?”
    â€œFather pointed his finger at me and screamed, ‘You killed her. You killed your mother.’
    â€œI was ten years old, but I was as big and strong as a man, and something snapped in me. I said, ‘I did not. I did not kill her.’ And I started toward him. I was saying that I hated him and was going to kill him, and I would have. I would have picked him up and thrown him down the stairs, but the servants came out and overcame me.”
    In the pause that followed, Herculeah heard her mother say quietly, “And your father?”
    â€œFather was like a madman. He kept screaming, ‘He killed her. He killed her. He killed his mother. He tried to kill me.’”
    There was another silence. Then the Moloch said in a voice so low Herculeah had to move forward to hear him.
    â€œAnd that’s how I came to spend my life in Bromwell Asylum for the Criminally Insane.”

22
    THE DARK STAIRS
    Herculeah heard a shrill whistle from outside. She moved to the open window and glanced out.
    Through the dead limbs of the oak tree, she could see Meat across the street. She leaned out and made a shooing motion to get him to go away.
    He put one hand behind his ear as if to hear better. She waved him away again. She mouthed the words, “Go away!”
    Meat pantomimed the fact that the Moloch was in the house.
    Herculeah nodded.
    Meat pantomimed the fact that her mother was in there too.
    Herculeah would have nodded again, but she heard her mother’s voice in the hall below say, “Let’s go up there.”
    â€œUp the stairs? No.”
    â€œWhy? If we are ever going to find your father’s body, if you are ever going to put your mind at rest, we have to.”
    â€œMaybe he’s not dead. I heard somebody up there. Maybe I dreamed he was dead. If it’s him, he’ll say more bad things.”
    â€œIt’s not him.”
    â€œMaybe.”
    â€œCome with me. I need your help.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œYour father is dead, isn’t he?”
    â€œHe should be.”
    â€œThen he can’t hurt you anymore.”
    Silence.
    â€œThe stairs bother you, don’t they? Because of what happened to your mother. Are there other stairs in the house? A lot of these big old houses had stairs for the servants to