Blackwood Farm - Anne Rice [207]
“ ‘No, I know nothing of her. I’ve never heard her name. I was judging from your story. All the elements were there to drive me to my conclusion that her tastes were nocturnal. Why else would she have agreed to split the usage of the Hermitage with Quinn, he for day, and she for night, were she not fond of the swamp after dark when few people like it save those who hunt for alligators, I suppose? As for the rest of her habits, she seems vicious and violent, and Quinn showed an enormous amount of courage in confronting her. I would imagine she left here very surprised last night.’
“ ‘She looked triumphant,’ I said. ‘She’d made me out to be a lunatic.’
“ ‘But you’re not a lunatic,’ said Stirling.
“ ‘No, you’re not,’ said Aunt Queen. ‘I’m immensely relieved. You’re not. But Stirling, you speak of her as though she’s a species of creature.’
“ ‘I didn’t mean to do that,’ he said. ‘That was unwise of me. I meant to disclose a feeling of impersonality by using that word, I suppose. As I said, I was trying to judge purely from the things you told me. I believe she’s a menace to Quinn and she’ll keep toying with him if you remain here. The important thing is to go away.’
“ ‘Nash, what do you think?’ Aunt Queen asked.
“Of course Nash demurred. It wasn’t really his place to comment, but Aunt Queen pressed him, as he had met Petronia and he had witnessed some of what had gone on.
“ ‘Quinn seems more than sane,’ Nash explained in his deep commanding voice. ‘I have to agree. As to the trip to Europe, I think it’s a marvelous idea. Now, Petronia, I must say that her theories on reincarnation gave me pause. She claimed herself to have lived in ancient Pompeii as we have discussed, and she spoke of witnessing the eruption of Vesuvius, and I must confess that I experienced a faint, what would you call it, a faint . . .’
“ ‘Disorientation,’ I said immediately.
“ ‘Yes, exactly, I experienced a disorientation while she was talking, as though she were a hypnotist. It wasn’t entirely comfortable. And it left me with a feeling of confusion that I didn’t much like. I would never have mentioned it, except that you’ve asked me. But I can say in conclusion that Petronia seemed otherwise to be charming and perhaps, perhaps a little sly.’
“ ‘How so sly?’ asked Aunt Queen.
“ ‘When a person hypnotizes a whole room, yet never acknowledges it, there is a slyness there,’ said Nash. ‘Don’t you think?’
“I was very impressed with these statements. I had expected Nash to claim neutrality, and I loved him now more than ever before.
“Lunch was concluded, but not before I had eaten all the veal and pasta on Goblin’s plate, with his respectfully requested permission, and Jasmine and Big Ramona cleared away both dishes and table so that we could sit and talk.
“Aunt Queen made the necessary calls to set our plan in motion. Nash averred that his suitcase had never been unpacked. And tipsy as I was, I asked if I could drive Stirling around Blackwood Farm to show him the old pastures and a little bit of the swamp that one could see from the road. Before we would drive I would take him down to the cemetery to see the tombs and the old church.
“I could see that neither Nash nor Aunt Queen wanted me to be alone with him, but they couldn’t very well object to it, and as soon as we were alone, headed down to the cemetery, I understood quite fully why.
“ ‘Listen to me,’ Stirling said. ‘I don’t want to frighten your Aunt Queen or say things to her that will make her suspect my sanity as she now suspects yours. But I believe completely that you saw this creature dumping bodies in the swamp and I mean every word of it when I ask you to promise that you will never, never return to Sugar Devil Island at night.’
“ ‘You’ve got my promise,’ I said. ‘If it hadn’t been for Rebecca’s dream, I would never have been there in the first place.’
“ ‘That is a story unto itself,’ he said, ‘and for now I can’t comment on it, but reaffirm your promise