The Forgotten Eden (51 page)

“
1016 South Queens Court,” Jack replied softly.

“
Excellent! Next, I need you to keep in mind that each of these keys is important in its own right. The largest one goes to the front door of the house on 1016 South Queens Court. The smaller house key goes to the basement door. The older one goes to an immense desk down inside the basement. Will you remember all of this?”

“
Yes. I won’t forget any of it.”

“
I believe you won’t,” Dr. Mensch agreed, grimacing slightly.

Jack could tell this wasn’t entirely due to his physical condition. Profound sadness emanated from the professor.

“
Now, put the keys inside your shoes and get them back on your feet before anyone notices,” Dr. Mensch instructed. “Then, I’d like to discuss my latest dreams. Would you mind?”

“
No. If that’s what you’d like to discuss,” said Jack, carefully placing the keys inside the loafers’ compartments before slipping them back on his feet.

“
It is, indeed,” said the professor, drawing a deep breath. “They are all the same, these dreams. In each one, I’m lying on my back in a field of colorful flowers. The sky is as brilliant as I’ve ever seen it, with soft clouds floating past where I’m resting. There are birds everywhere, and their wonderful songs make me want to get up from where I’m laying and go investigate. Once I think this, immediately I’m walking through a pristine meadow.

“
All of a sudden, I’m transported at incredible speed to an immense courtyard of gleaming gold, filled with fountains, ponds, and waterfalls of such splendor I’ve never seen anywhere in my travels throughout the world. Just as I think nothing can improve upon this magical vision, an amazingly beautiful woman, dressed in a lavender gown of exquisite silk, with flowing hair as white as snow and eyes pure blue as any sapphire I’ve ever seen, steps up to me.

“‘
Welcome, Oscar!’ she tells me. ‘Welcome to the place that will soon be your home!’

“
Well, I don’t know what to say to this gorgeous female in response to such an unusual greeting. But it doesn’t matter to her. At least that’s what she tells me. ‘What matters most,’ she says, is that I’m about to be ‘rewarded for a work well done.’

“
I’m quite confused, so I ask her what she means by this. She refuses to let me in on her secret. Instead, she tells me that I need only to trust her and do her bidding before my life on earth is over. I tell her I’m not ready to die, and I offer arguments as to how this can’t be true, that I still have much left to do on earth. She smiles and waves me off. In fact, in
every
dream she then tells me the very same thing. I must deliver a message to a dear friend of hers on earth. If I just do this, she will see to it that I prosper in her world in such a way that will make all my earthly accomplishments seem mundane….”

He paused again, looking at Jack intently, his eyes aglow with excitement. This only heightened the fear and horror building within Jack. He didn’t want to hear what he knew instinctively the professor was about to say. It simply wasn’t possible.

Dr. Mensch smiled and nodded as if reading his thoughts.

“
This beautiful girl told me to tell the young gentleman for whom her message was expressly intended, that she misses him terribly...that she needs him,” he said. “She will do
anything
that’s necessary to once again play a major role in his life. Surely you already know this message is for
you
, Jack!”

A bead of sweat formed along Jack’s hairline, and as his heart raced and his palms grew clammy, he thought for sure he would pass out and join the professor as a patient in the very same hospital.

“
So, she
is
real! I see it written all over your face. This ‘Genovene’ is
real
after all!”

Dr. Mensch eyed Jack intently again as he waited for him to confirm this statement. Jack felt a strong urge to do just that, in such a way that would warn the professor about the deceitful nature of Genovene. But when he tried to speak, he couldn’t. The mere shock of what he’d just been told left his tongue thick and heavy, while his throat closed to where he could only cough nervously.

“
Do you need a drink of something?” the professor offered. “I certainly didn’t wish to upset you with this information. I suppose you’ve enjoyed an intimate relationship of some sort with her, based on your reaction. She’s definitely—how do you say down here in the south? Ah, yes. She’s definitely quite a
peach
, eh?”

Jack continued to cough and struggle to catch his breath, and he allowed the professor to give him a drink from a glass of water sitting on his nightstand.

“
Perhaps you’re upset at the news I may not be here among the living much longer. Is that it?”

As partly correct, Jack nodded.

“
I’ve lived a good life, which for the most part is without regrets. Whatever I would’ve looked forward to exploring during my final years on earth would likely be prevented anyway. Can you imagine what those who did this to me would do if presented another opportunity?”

He lifted his trembling hands to point at his face once more.

“
But why fret? Genovene has promised to make it worth my while to leave early. She has even gone so far as to assure me that my research will not be lost or forgotten. And, now you have the necessary keys, just as she told me you did. Jack,
you
are the one who will finish my work.”

The professor paused again, casting a wary glance behind Jack, which made him look over his shoulder as well. As far as he could tell, no one else listened nearby. The only distraction he could detect was the on-duty nurses’ footsteps echoing in the hallway as they made their evening rounds several doors away from Dr. Mensch’s room.

“
It’s time for you to go, my young friend,” said the professor. “Remember what I’ve told you and don’t forget the address, ‘1016 South Queens Court’.”

“
I won’t forget. I promise,” said Jack, looking back over his shoulder to the empty doorway. What did Dr. Mensch sense that he couldn’t? It made him uneasy, but he didn’t want to further upset this man whom he so admired. “Get some rest, Doc. I’ll be by to see you again real soon—maybe tomorrow.”

He stood up to leave, smiling down at the professor who raised his hand to wave goodbye.

“
1016 South Queens Court,” Dr. Mensch reminded him.

“
Don’t worry, Doc, I’ve got it,” said Jack. He delivered a grin and wink he thought would even make his grandfather proud, and turned to leave the room. “1016 South Queens Court,” he whispered to himself as he walked through the doorway and down the hallway past the nurse’s station, on his way to the elevator....

***

Jack shook himself from the trance, shocked to find his left hand bleeding. The skeleton key’s sharp point had pierced the skin on his palm, held fast by his tenacious grip. He grabbed an old handkerchief from the truck’s glove compartment, when the only alternatives were the map or his T-shirt. Jeremy opened the driver’s side door and climbed back into the truck just as Jack finished wrapping his hand.

“
What in the hell happened to you?” Jeremy asked lightheartedly, but with a look that let Jack know he was concerned about the injury. He started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. “Man, I tell you, little brother. I can’t leave you alone for long, can I? You’ve got a knack for finding your way into mischief, one way of another—that’s for goddamned sure!”

He smiled and gave Jack a hearty slap on the shoulder before turning his attention to the road, ready to resume their journey north on I-81.

“
It’ll be all right,” said Jack. “Is Grandpa okay? What did he have to say about our situation?”

“
Well, he’s fine.” Jeremy glanced at him and then returned his gaze to the road ahead. “He’s been worried sick, not knowing where we disappeared to and all. As far as our abduction’s concerned, I told him pretty much everything that’s happened so far. And, I told him to keep a good perspective on things when the shit hits the fan later this morning. I figure all we can bank on at this point is that we’ve got a significant head start.”

“
Where are you planning to take us, Jeremy?”

“
Canada,” he replied, and Jack knew he was dead serious. He probably knew their destination the very instant he escaped Bo Cochran’s grasp. “Grandpa and I developed a special code for an occasion such as this long ago.

“
I told him you and I were going to chill out with a couple of bottles of Cuervo Gold before we decided what to do next,” he continued. “That told him we were headed way up north without tipping off anybody who might be listening in on his line, and you’ve got to believe the wiretaps are active at his place these days. It’s the opposite of what they’d expect, since Cuervo Gold comes from Mexico. If I’d told him we planned on sipping a few bottles of Moosehead, he’d have known Mexico was our destination, instead. I’d say it’s pretty cool that after five years we finally got to use the idea. Thank God he hadn’t forgotten it!”

Jeremy glanced briefly at him again.

“
So, what do you think, Jackie? I realize we’ll have some major challenges getting through the guard patrols along the Canadian border, but we’ll figure out a plan to deal with that shit, I’m sure. Are you ready to hole-up for a while in the real land of ‘sky-blue waters’? Not to mention, I’ll bet we’ll run across some lovely French-speaking darlings if we make it far enough north…. How about it, bro?”

Jack didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he focused his attention on his throbbing left palm and the three keys he now held in his right hand. He felt his brother look over at him, and the weight of Jeremy’s stare grow heavy. He finally turned to face him.

“
Well?”

“
I think it’s a bad idea, Jeremy, going to Canada. A
very
bad idea,” he said. “We need to go home. We need to go back to Tuscaloosa, and do it
now
!”

“
What?
Are you on crack??
”

Jeremy pulled the truck over to the shoulder of the highway and slammed on the brakes. A cloud of dust surrounded the vehicle in the pre-dawn light.

“
What in the hell are you
thinking??
”
he demanded furiously.

The response and look of puzzled horror to go along with it wouldn’t have been any different had Jack said he underwent a recent sex change operation and pulled his pants down to prove it. He knew this. Rather than be drawn into an all-out argument, he simply showed him the keys in his right hand.

“
So?” said Jeremy. “What the fuck do
those
have to do with anything?”

“
They belonged to Oscar.”

“
What??
Where in the hell did you get them from?”

“
From him,” Jack explained. “He gave them to me the night he died. Actually, that’s not exactly true, as I originally got them when I found him lying on his living room floor. When I tried to give them back to him in the hospital, he made me keep them. They go to an address near school, and he told me I needed to finish something he was working on.”

“
Why
‘
you
’
of all people?”

“
I don’t know for sure,” Jack replied, frowning, stung by his brother’s insensitive remark. “It has something to do with Genovene. He told me she came to him in a dream and foretold his death. Did you ever tell him anything about her?”

“
No. Never,” said Jeremy, his angry look melting quickly into somber bewilderment.

Jack went on to explain all that Dr. Mensch told him. He then revealed everything Agent McNamee had shared with him, including the mysterious package the professor supposedly received from overseas and the unusual events taking place around the world.

Once finished, they both sat in silence. Jack waited patiently for his brother’s response, while Jeremy looked out toward the open road before them, as if picturing what it would be like if they reached the other side of the Canadian border safely. He turned toward Jack with a sly smile on his face.

“
You know, Jackie, to go back home to Tuscaloosa is nuts,” he said. “‘Asinine’ is a better way to put it. But for some goddamned reason, I’m thinking we should do it anyway. Maybe it’s because of how much Oscar meant to me. Like a father...the ‘dad’ I never knew. Or, it’s the intrigue I’ve always felt about Genovene and her unique place in history—at least our
family’s
history. Hell, it could be both reasons, to be honest. Regardless, have you ever known me to turn down an invitation to a good party, or back down from a necessary fight?”

“
No, I can’t say I have,” said Jack, snickering.

Jeremy chuckled with him, and Jack could tell by his ardent eyes it was no longer a question as to whether or not they were going home. Strictly a question of how quick could they do it.

“
All right, Jackie. We’ll go back home,” said Jeremy. “You’re going to have to trust me on how we do it, though. Okay? I mean, can you bite your tongue at least until we reach Alabama?”