One evening a week after his release, he came by to pick her up after work. He seemed himself again, soft-spoken and polite—the way she liked him—and she was glad. They drove out to Clear Creek, one of their favorite drives, and then back to Spring Street. Dorothy and Del were out, and they went to his room. It was the first time they had been really alone, without arguing, since his return, the first time there had been a chance to hold each other. It had been so long that she was frightened.

He must have felt her fear, because he pulled away.

“Whats the matter, Billy?”

“Whats the matter with you?”

“I’m scared,” she said. “That’s all.”

“What about?”

“It’s been over two years since we’ve been together.”

He got out of bed and dressed. “Well,” he grumbled, “that really turns me off”

The break came suddenly.

Billy surprised Marlene when he came by the store one afternoon, asking her to drive down to Athens and spend the night there with him. They’d pick up Kathy from school the next morning and drive back to Lancaster.

Marlene said she didn’t feel like going.

“I’ll call you later,” he said, “to see if you’ve changed your mind.”

But he didn’t call. And a few days later, she learned that Bev Thomas had made the trip with him.

Furious, Marlene called him and told him she wasn’t going to go on like this. “We might as well forget it,” she said. “There’s nothing there.”

He agreed with her. “Something might happen and I’m afraid you might be hurt. I don’t want to see you hurt again.” She knew that now she had to take him at his word, and she felt the pain of breaking with someone she’d waited for, more than two years.

“All right,” she said. “Let’s end it.”

What bothered Del Moore most about Billy was the lying. The boy would do stupid or crazy things and then lie to avoid the repercussions. Dr. Steinberg had told him not to let Billy get away with the lies anymore.

Del told Dorothy, “Hey, he’s not that dull-witted. He’s too bright to pull things that dumb.”

All he would get from Dorothy was the same answer: “Well, that’s not my Bill. That’s the other Bill.”

It seemed to Del that Billy had no skills or aptitude of any kind except painting. And he never took advice or listened to instructions. Del said, “Billy would listen to a total stranger before he would listen to someone who had his well-being at heart.”

When Del asked him who the people were that gave him information or advice, Billy would always say, “Some guy I know told me.” Never a name or explanation who “they” were or where he’d met “them.”

It irritated Del that Billy often would not even bother to respond to simple questions, preferring to silently leave the room or turn his back. Del also grew angry with Billy’s fears and phobias. He knew, for instance, that Billy was terrified of guns—even though the boy knew nothing at all about them. As far as Del was concerned, Billy knew nothing about anything.