"Fa ... mmmm . . ."
"How did you get this?" I asked, pulling another document from the box. "How did you get him to do it? It has something to do with all the rest of it, doesn't it? I'm going to find out, Grandma. I'm going to learn every nitty-gritty detail and I'm going to expose all of it," I declared.
Her eyes went as wide as they could and for the first time since I had known her, I saw real fear burning in them. She shook her head vigorously.
"Naaaaa."
"Yes, Grandma, yes. The precious Logan name will be dragged down into the gutter where it belongs. You may have wealth and property, but you're no better than the most common criminal and neither are those who assisted you in this."
"Fammmmmm."
"Oh, you're trying to tell me you did this for the family again, is that it?"
She nodded.
"You were just protecting all the others?" I asked with a cold smile. Once again, she nodded vigorously. My smile evaporated. "That's the biggest lie of all, Grandma Olivia. Whatever you've done, you've done for yourse
lf, to keep your precious high and mighty position in the community, or your precious reputation. Or you did things to get revenge or hurt those who didn't give you the love and respect you thought you deserved. Don't throw the word 'family' at me. Family is just your excuse for evil. I know that now."
She stopped shaking her head and stared. I put the documents back into the metal box.
"I don't know the end of the story, of course, but I will get to the end," I promised.
I closed the box and put it under my arm again.
"As I look at you now, I realize you are only just beginning to get what you deserve, Grandma. I almost pitied you. I almost did what you hate: I almost felt sorry for you, but you don't have to worry about that anymore. I can't find enough forgiveness to sympathize one iota with you. You're home free there, Grandma," I said.
"When I finish this, I'm going to tell the doctor to put you in the infirmary where you belong. You told me not to hesitate when the time came, didn't you? You were so brave then. Well, Aunt Sara, Cary and I will see to it and even Judge Childs will not resist."
I paused.
"I assume he knew about this too, didn't he?" I asked, holding up the box. She stared a moment, closed her eyes and then opened them and shook her head. "He didn't? Why not? You mean there was something he would have denied you after all? Were you afraid of that?"
She nodded and then started to shake her head and reach out for me, but I stepped back.
"There is nothing you could say, nothing, no words, no thoughts, nothing that would justify what you have done and the pain you have caused."
I turned and she cried out in her distorted way, uttering a guttural scream that reverberated through my body. With all her remaining strength, she propped herself up and then cried out again, but I turned my back on her and marched out of the room, the echo of her horrible sound shut away behind me.
As soon as I left her, I went downstairs to the office and called Cary,.
"I want you to come and get me, Cary," I said. "I need you to take me someplace."
"When?"
"Right now," I said.
"What's going on? You sound so strange," he said.
"Will you do it?" I replied. "Sure, but--"
"Thank you. Just be patient with me and I'll explain everything in time, okay? Please," I added.
"Okay, Melody," he said. "I'll come."
After I finished talking to him, I took a deep breath, went to the telephone book, looked up the number and called my father. His wife answered.
"May I please speak with Mr. Jackson?" I said. "Whom may I say is calling?"