“ ‘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 to me and never waver, and from now on, please keep in touch with me. Realize that I am your good friend.’

“We had reached the tombs and I showed him Rebecca’s headstone. Of course he knew the full story. We went into the little chapel. I was distressed to see so many leaves. I would have to tell Allen to sweep it out.

“ ‘I’m the man of this place now,’ I said, my voice echoing off the limestone walls. ‘I’ll have to run it from Europe. That won’t be an easy feat.’