Moore had always been an ace. He had been an ace speaker, an ace detector, an ace actor, an ace person. His love for Bailey had been - as the Americans say - a ‘bluff’. A falsehood. He always followed my mother.
He was very faithful to my mother, that I can say. On the Good Friday of 1934, my mother talked to him alone in the courtyard. Since then, he has been drawn to us and what we do and what we know. At first, no one could trust him. He was just so despicable. His aura on Bailey invincible. I do know my mother to trust him more than she trusted me. But then it’s past and Moore is a charmer.
‘Why is your mother so cross with you?’
‘Oh, she is just… exhausted by me.’
‘Why?’ Bharathy asks.
‘Because I killed her husband.’
‘Well, it was due to Cooper wasn’t it?’
‘And I killed her daughter.’
‘She told you to kill her.’
‘And I also killed his son.’
‘What?’
Bharathy shouts in her whispers.
My mother is asleep in the back seats of the carriage. Moore is silently driving us through this rain. I raise my voice a little louder.
‘When I was seven years old, and Bailey was merely five years or four, we had a brother. A charming little prince was born. His skin was whiter and shinier, his hair gold, his eyes bluer than the sky, and his lips all so fruity red. He was perfect. We named him Edward. If you see him, you will fall in love with him. He was charming. He could know you by just a look. He could make you trust him by just a few words that he might have spoken. He could fall for you, just the same. And oh Lord, bless his emotions. He was all so happy when you were happy. He was all so gloomy in your doom… he was just so like you. Yes, that is the truth, he was, as if a mirror.
He shined. In a world of darkness, he spread his glow. I was just so… envious. So afraid to be lost with the travel of time. I just wanted to become him.
So once on the night of the Eve. We were all laughing. We were all so happy. I was particularly since I had been planning this for months. I just didn’t know where the thought once flourished, I- was almost sorry for him. But then came the moment, and I did not hesitate. I pushed him from the northern tower. He fell in the well. Everyone thought him dead. But Priscilla knew what happened. My father thought she was mad with grief. But she wasn’t. She had seen me, clutching his
neck and forcing his life out of the mere body. He was just so young. He never had the chance to survive.’
Bharathy is silent, ‘You are so cruel.’
‘I could be cruel, but I can never be cruel to you.’ I whisper.
The sky thunders. In front of us is a gloomy dark building. It is haunted, they say, and it must surely be.
‘We have arrived.’ Moore announces.
