|
And he had been the Devil, I knew he was. I'd start trembling ifwe did not go into action.
"How do we save all this for Dora, and where?" David said.
MCome on, the cabinets and the notebooks, let's put things in order,find the Wynken de Wilde books, let's make a decision and a plan.""Don't think about bringing your old mortal allies into this," Isaid suddenly, suspiciously, and unkindly, I have to admit.
"You mean the Talamasca?" he asked. He looked at me. He washolding the precious Book of the Hours in his hand, its cover asfragile as piecrust.
"It all belongs to Dora," I said. "We have to save it for her. AndWynken's mine if she never wants Wynken.""Of course, I understand that," he said. "Good heavens, Lestat,do you think I still maintain contact with the Talamasca? They couldbe trusted in that regard, but I don't want any contact with my oldmortal allies, as you call them. I never want any contact with themagain. I don't want my file in their archive the way you wanted yours,remember. 'The Vampire Lestat.' I don't want to be remembered bythem, except as their Superior General who died of old age. Nowcome on."There was a bit of disgust in his voice, and grief, also. I recalledthat the death of Aaron Lightner, his old friend, had been "the finalstraw" with him and his Talamasca. Some sort of controversy hadsurrounded Lightner's death, but I never knew what it was.
The cabinet was in a room before the parlour, along with severalother boxes of records. Immediately I found the financial papers, andwent through them while David surveyed the rest.
Having vast holdings of my own, I'm no stranger to legal documentsand the tricks of international banks. Yes, Dora had a legacyfrom unimpeachable sources, I could see that, which could not betouched by those seeking retribution for Roger's crimes. It was allconnected to her name, Theodora Flynn, which must have been herlegal name, as the result of Roger's nuptial alias.
There were too many different documents for me to assess the fullvalue, only that it had been accumulated over time. It seemed Doramight have started a new Crusade to take back Istanbul from theTurks had she wanted to. There were some letters ... I couldpinpoint the exact date two years ago when Dora had refused all furtherassistance from the two trusts of which she had knowledge. As for therest, I wondered if she had any idea of the scope.
Scope is everything when it comes to money. Imagination andscope. You lack either of these two things and you can't make moraldecisions, or so I've always thought. It sounds contemptible, butthink about it. It's not contemptible. Money is power to feed thehungry. To clothe the poor. But you have to know that. Dora hadtrusts and trusts, and trusts to pay taxes on all the trusts.
I thought in a moment's sorrow of how I had meant to help mybeloved Gretchen桽ister Marguerite梐nd how the mere sight ofme had ruined everything, and I'd retreated from her life, with all mygold still in the coffers. Didn't it always turn out Hke that? I was nosaint. I didn't feed the hungry.
But Dora! Quite suddenly it dawned on me梥he had become mydaughter! She had become my saint just as she'd been Roger's. NOWshe had another rich father. She had me!
"What is it?" David asked with alarm. He was going through acarton of papers. "You've seen the ghost again?"For one moment, I almost went into one of my major tremours,but I got a grip. I didn't say anything, but I saw it ever more clearly.
Watch out for Dora! Of course I would watch out for Dora, andsomehow I'd convince her to accept everything. Maybe Roger hadn'tknown the proper arguments. And Roger was now a martyr for all histreasures. Yes, his last angle had been the right angle. He'd ransomedhis treasures. Maybe with Dora, if properly explained. ...
I was distracted. There they were, the twelve books. Each in aneat thin film of plastic, lined up on the top shelf of a small desk,right near the file cabinet. I knew what they were. I knew. And thenthere were Roger's labels on them, his fancy scribbling on a smallwhite sticker, "W de W.""Look," David said, rising from his knees and wiping the dustfrom his pants. "These are all simple legal papers on the purchases,everything here is clean, apparently, or has been laundered; there aredozens of receipts, certificates of authentication. I say we take all ofthis out of here now.""Yes, but how, and to where?""Think, what's the safest place? Your rooms in New Orleans arecertainly not safe. We can't trust these things to a warehouse in a citylike New York.""Exactly. I do have rooms here at a little hotel across from thepark but that....""Yes, I remember, that's where the Body Thief followed you. Youmean you didn't change that address?""Doesn't matter. It wouldn't hold all this.""But you realize that our sizable quarters in the Olympic Towerwould hold all this," he said.
46/163 首页 上一页 44 45 46 47 48 49 下一页 尾页
|
