| 2:43a |
@@@@@And this isn't much of a
grave, but you may
@@@@@And this isn't much of a
grave, but you may not be in it much longer, my
dear
"May I keep your bracelets? There might be more to
doI was afraid I had another thing coming
"Edgar?" Wireman sounded worried"Who you talking
to?"
"The one who really stopped her," I said
And because the one who really stopped her did not
tell me she would have her bracelets back, I kept
them on and began the slow and painful work of
1085
getting to my feetDislodged bone-fragments and
bits of moss-encrusted ceramic showered down
around my feetMy left knee - my good one - felt
swollen and tight against the torn cloth of my
pantsMy head was throbbing and my chest was on
fireThe ladder looked at least a mile high, but
I could see the dark shapes of Jack and Wireman
hanging over the rim of the cistern, waiting to
grab me when - if - I managed to haul myself into
grabbing-range
I thought: There's a three-quarter moon tonight,
and I can't see it until I get out of this hole in
the ground
xiii
The moon had risen fat and yellow above the
eastern horizon, casting its glow on the lush
jungle growth that overbore the south end of the
Key and gilding the east side of John Eastlake's
ruined mansion, where he had once lived with his
housekeeper and his six girls - happily enough, I
1086
suppose, before Libbit's tumble from the pony-trap
changed things
It also gilded the ancient, coral-encrusted
skeleton that lay on the mattress of trampled
vines Jack and Wireman had uprooted to free the
cistern capLooking at Emery Paulson's remains, a
snatch of Shakespeare from my high school days
recurred, and I spoke it aloud: "Full fathom five
thy father liesthose are pearls that were his
eyes
Jack shivered violently, as if stroked by a keen
wet windHe actually clutched himself
Wireman bent and picked up one thin, trailing arm
It snapped in three without a soundEmery Paulson
had been in the caldo a long, long timeThere was
a harpoon sticking through the shelly harp of his
ribsWireman retrieved it now, having to work the
tip free of the ground in order to take it back
"How'd you keep the Twins from Hell off you with
the spear-pistol unloaded?" I asked
Wireman jabbed the harpoon in his hand like a
daggerI grabbed one out of his belt
and did the same |