“ ‘Don’t bring her into this, she’ll be a nuisance,’ I said.

“Jasmine was already awake and sitting there silently passing judgment.

“ ‘I’m going up to write out a complete plan for the renovations, then I’m going to rest before I go to Mona,’ I said.

“ ‘Darling, it’s midnight. You must talk to me before you leave to see Mona,’ said Aunt Queen.

“ ‘Vow to me that you’ll allocate the funds for the Hermitage. It’s nothing compared to the money we spend all the time on Blackwood Manor. Oh, I can’t wait to see the Hermitage redone. But then I myself have the money, don’t I? I forgot that. I can afford it. How amazing.’

“ ‘And this splendid reinvention of a place you mean to share with a man who dumps bodies to alligators?’ she responded.

“ ‘Maybe I was wrong. Maybe something else was happening. I only know that it won’t hurt to carry out my own scheme for renovations and now he’s no obstacle, don’t you see? An hour ago he was a giant stumbling block to all I dreamt of for the Hermitage. He was an invader. Now he’s part of the scheme. He asked for nothing that I didn’t want already. Aunt Queen, he watches us. He knows you walk around the house in the morning. You need the guards with you. He’s cunning.’

“The expression on her face was dreadful. I think I had taken all the bubbles out of the champagne and all the alcohol out of it also. Sober and miserable, she stared at me. Then she slowly ate a spoonful of sherbert as though it were the only thing keeping her alive.

“ ‘Oh, my darling boy,’ she said. ‘Jasmine, are you listening?’

“ ‘How could I not listen?’ said Jasmine. ‘Someday, when I’m old and gray, we’ll have Quinn’s portrait on the wall, and I’ll be shuffling in front of the tourists talking about how he disappeared into the swamp and never came back—.’

“ ‘Jasmine, stop it!’ I declared. ‘Aunt Queen, I’m going up. I’ll kiss you good-bye before I take off to see Mona. I won’t go till tomorrow afternoon. I know I can’t drive in this condition. Besides, I have work to do.’

“Goblin and I ran upstairs together.

“I turned on the computer, in spite of Big Ramona sound asleep in the bed, and fortunately, as I clicked away, she never woke up.

“Goblin took his chair beside me. His face was blank, and he didn’t try to touch the keyboard. He watched the screen as I worked.

“I didn’t speak to him. He knew that I loved him. But he knew as well that I was yielding to the blandishments of an ever broadening world.

“Yes, I feared the stranger, but now the very devil had potently excited me. I was going mad.