Part 58 (1/2)

”Garwain,” said Lestat. ”And when Goblin began to appear, did it ever seem to you that it might be the ghost of Garwain?”

”No,” she said sullenly. ”If it had been Garwain's ghost, it would have come to me me because I loved it! It would never have come to Quinn! Quinn killed it! Quinn took all Garwain's blood. Goblin was just Tarquin wanting a twin because he knew he should have had one, and he killed one, and so he made up Goblin out of nothing, and he used all his craziness to do it. He was crazy from the start.” because I loved it! It would never have come to Quinn! Quinn killed it! Quinn took all Garwain's blood. Goblin was just Tarquin wanting a twin because he knew he should have had one, and he killed one, and so he made up Goblin out of nothing, and he used all his craziness to do it. He was crazy from the start.”

”No one thought it might be the little one's ghost?” Merrick asked very gently.

”No,” said Patsy in the same sullen voice. ”Garwain, my Little Knight --that's what's written on the stone.” She looked up at me. ”And how you screamed at that funeral! How you screamed and screamed! I didn't even look at you for a whole year. I couldn't stand it. I only finally did because Aunt Queen paid me to do it. Pops wouldn't give me a nickel. Aunt Queen paid me all the time you were growing up. It was a clean deal. Don't tell you about the twin, don't make you feel guilty about the twin, don't tell you you killed the little twin, and she'd take care of me, and she did.”

She shrugged. She raised her eyebrows and then her face relaxed somewhat, but the tears still fell.

”Aunt Queen gave me fifty thousand dollars,” she said. ”It wasn't what I wanted, but she gave me that to get started, and to hold you, and so I did. Just one time. And she got Pops and Sweetheart and everybody on her side. You were the one they cared about. Don't ever tell Quinn he had a little brother who died. Like I didn't have a son? Don't ever tell Quinn about little Garwain. Don't ever let him know that he drained all the blood from that helpless little baby. Don't ever tell Quinn that awful story, like it was your story. And so now you come in here and you ask me, did you have a twin. You want to know, and Aunt Queen's dead, and thanks to Grady tipping me off about the bonus and what was in her will, I know it's got nothing to do with telling you anything. So there you have it. And I guess you know now. You know why I've hated you all these years. I guess you can figure it out finally.”

I rose to my feet. As far as I was concerned we had discovered what we wanted to know. And I was too shocked and exhausted to say a word to Patsy. I hated her as much as she hated me. I hated her so much I couldn't look at her.

I think I uttered my thanks, and with my two friends I started to leave the room.

”Don't you have something to say to me?” Patsy asked as I reached the door.

Cindy looked so miserable.

”What?”

I.

inquired.

”Can you imagine what I went through?” Pasty asked. ”I was sixteen years old when that happened.”

”Ah,” I replied, ”but you're not sixteen years old now, that's what matters.”

”And I'm dying,” Patsy said. ”And no one in all my life has ever loved me the way that people love you.”

”You know, that's really true,” I responded, ”but I'm afraid I hate you the way that you hate me.”

”Oh, no, Quinn, no,” said Cindy.

”Get away from me,” Patsy said.

”That's what I was doing when you stopped me,” I answered.

300.

48.

BEFORE I COULD so much as think about what I'd heard I had to hear it from Big Ramona and from Jasmine as well, and so I went down the stairs and found them in the kitchen with Jerome and Tommy and Nash. They were around the oak table having a late supper of red beans and rice, and of course invited me to join them.

”I have to know something,” I said, not accepting the chair that was offered. ”Patsy just told me I had a twin brother who was buried in the Metairie Cemetery. Is this true?”

Immediately I received my answer. I could see it in their faces and read it from their minds. Then Big Ramona said, ”Patsy's got no call to be telling you that now. She's got no call at all.” She started to get up.

I gestured for her to sit down.

”And Goblin,” I said. ”Did you never think Goblin could have been the ghost of that little twin brother, Garwain?” I asked.

”Well, yes, we thought it,” said Big Ramona, ”but what would have been the good of saying that to a little child, and then to a growing boy, and then to a young man who was off in Europe having a fine time, with Goblin disappeared and not making any more trouble, and then to a fine man come home to a peaceful household?”

I nodded. ”I understand,” I said. ”And it was a smaller twin? A little tiny one?”

”She's got no call for worrying you with all of that,” said Jasmine sharply. ”Everything's an excuse with that girl. An excuse or a lie. Only reason she carried on about that tiny twin is she wanted everybody to feel sorry for her.”

Nash rose to take Tommy out, but I gestured for them to go on with their supper. I could see that Tommy was curious but I didn't see the harm in it. Why keep the secret a moment longer? Nash looked concerned, as he so often did.

”And n.o.body did feel sorry for Patsy?” I asked.

There was silence all around. Then Big Ramona said, ”That Patsy, she's a liar. Sure, she cried over that little twin. She knew it was going to die. It's easy to feel sorry for something that doesn't have a chance, something that's not going to live a week. It's a lot harder to be a real mother. And Aunt Queen did feel sorry for her and gave her money to start her band. And then she didn't stick around to --.”

”I understand,” I said. ”I just wanted to know.”

”Aunt Queen never wanted you to know,” said Big Ramona gently. ”Like I said, there was no call for anybody to tell you. Pops and Sweetheart didn't want you to know either. Pops always said it was best forgotten. That it was morbid, and he used another word too. What was that other word?”

”Grotesque,” said Jasmine. ”He said it was morbid and grotesque and he wasn't telling you about it.”

”He just never found a good time to tell you,” said Big Ramona.

”Sure we thought Goblin was that twin's ghost,” said Jasmine, ”some of the time, at least, and some of the time we didn't. And I guess, most of the time, we didn't think it mattered.”

Big Ramona got up to stir the pot of beans on the stove. She heaped some onto Tommy's plate. My son, Jerome, had peach cobbler all over his face and his plate.

”Now, if when you'd come home from Europe,” Big Ramona said, ”Goblin had been a big nuisance again, maybe we would have told you about that little twin --you know, to have some sort of exorcism. But you never mentioned Goblin again.”

”And then out of nowhere he came,” said Jasmine with a catch in her throat, ”and he made Aunt Queen fall.” She started crying.

301.

”Now don't you start with that,” said Big Ramona.

”It's my fault what happened,” I responded. ”I'm the one who brought him up and made him strong. Whether he was a ghost or spirit doesn't have a whole lot to do with it.”

”Then it's not your fault either,” said Big Ramona. ”And now we have to get rid of him.”

I felt a faint breeze in the air. The blades of the overhead fan started to whirl though the fan had been turned off. Jasmine and Big Ramona both felt it.

”Stick together,” I said, ”and don't look at him, or at any of his tricks. Now I have to go and talk to my friends. I have to talk to them about getting rid of him.”

A plate came off the pantry shelf and was smashed on the floor. Jasmine moved shakily to get the broom. Big Ramona made the Sign of the Cross. So did I.

Nash put his arm around Tommy. Tommy seemed thrilled. Little Jerome ate his peach cobbler as if nothing was happening.

I turned and left the room.