Then my first two fingers slipped into an...
Then
my first two fingers slipped into an indentation
that was almost certainly an eyesocketAnd since
I was sure it had been Adriana's skull Jack had
crushed -
All's ending as well as can be at this end of the
island, I told Nan MeldaAnd 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 - tiffany heart lock necklace 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 white leather chanel handbag 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 chloe bag white leather padlock asked
Wireman jabbed the harpoon in his hand like a
daggerI grabbed one out of his belt
and did the sameI don't know how long it would
have worked over the long haul, though - they were
like mad dogs
Wireman replaced the silver-tipped harpoon he'd
used on Emery in his belt"Speaking of the long
haul, we might consider another storage container
for your new dollWhat do you think, Edgar?"
He was rightSomehow I couldn't imagine Perse
spending the next eighty years in the barrel of a
Garrity flashlightI was already wondering how
thin the shield between the battery case and the
lens housing might beAnd the rock that had
fallen out of the cistern wall and cracked the
Table Whiskey keg: had that been an accidentor
a final victory of mind over matter after years of
patient work? Perse's version louis vuitton diaper bags of digging through
the wall of her cell with a sharpened spoonhandle?
Still, the flashlight had served its purposeGod
bless Jack Cantori's practical mindNo - that was
too chintzy
"There's a custom silversmith in Sarasota,"
Wireman said"Mexicano muy talentosoMiss
Eastlake has - had - a few pieces of his stuffI
1088
bet I could commission him to make a watertight
tube big enough to hold the flashlightThat'd
give us what insurance companies and football
coaches call double coverageIt'd be pricey, but
so what? Barring probate snags, I'm going to be an
extremely wealthy manCaught a break there,
muchacho
"La lotería," I said, without thinking
Help me tip Emery into the cisternI really don't want
to touch it
"I'll help with Emery," I said"You hold onto the
flashlightWireman? Let's do chanel tote t