The Curious Case of the Werewolf Read Free

lethal game, yourself, if memory serves. Spinner, no?"
    "Pace bowler."
    The baronet nodded. "Ah yes, I remember Eustace crowing about how fast you were."
    Alessandro raised both eyebrows at that, but didn't reply. Out of the corner of his eye, he observed the blond military man stand up from his table and make his way toward the door, moving behind and around the various chairs in the dining hall with precise little twists. He disappeared, not upstairs to his rooms as one might expect, but out into the cold night.
    "Fancy a little stroll, Phinkerlington?" suggested Mr. Tarabotti, pushing his plate away petulantly.
    The baronet, whose corpulence suggested he never fancied a stroll, little or otherwise, looked to his sister for salvation. She proved herself of no use whatsoever, a state evidently familiar to all around her, by saying, "Oh yes, Percy dear, do go. You know I shouldn't mind. Some of the other ladies were planning on a game of bridge in the drawing room. I shall be perfectly entertained there until your return."
    Baronet Phinkerlington's only possible excuse thus occupied with cards, the poor chap could do nothing but join Mr. Tarabotti on his perambulation.
    The hotel was situated near the northern edge of Luxor, the better to take in the view, such as it was: sand and dust on one side and the Nile River on the other. They turned away from the verdant embankment, with its cultivated palm-groves, and headed towards the desert in all its burnt glory. A harvest moon hung low over two sets of limestone mountain ranges, one near and one far. Mr. Tarabotti pulled out his antikythera and confirmed his suspicions – full.
    "Crikie, that darn moon's bigger than a bison's bottom."
    "Very poetical turn of phrase, Baronet." Mr. Tarabotti put the antikythera away and searched the quiet streets. It was prayer time, so they were mostly deserted; yet he could not spot the missing military man.
    They paused at the very edge of town. The baronet took out a large cigar, nipped the tip, and lit it with one of those new-fangled aetherospark distributors. "Tell you the truth, old man, we're here for Leticia's health."
    "Can't she withstand the damp?"
    "No, not that. Hers is a health that's not quite right about the head, if you comprehend my meaning. Ever since Eustace went over. Chit sees night crawlers everywhere and wakes up screaming. Thought we'd bring her here." He puffed on his cigar.
    "Because there are no supernatural creatures in Egypt?" Mr. Tarabotti moved out of the smoke, coughing delicately. Cheap cigar.
    "So they say, so they say. Like no snakes in Ireland. It's one of those things."
    "True enough. There hasn't been a werewolf south of Alexandria in living memory." Alessandro thought of the papal letter of marque tucked securely in his waistcoat.
    "Make a study of the supernatural, do you, Sandy?"
    Mr. Tarabotti said nothing.
    "Course you do. You Italians are all the same. Religious fanatics, the lot of you. Church says jump, you bounce about waving silver and wood, hoping it'll rid the world of all that goes chomp in the night."
    "And yet I see acceptance of the supernatural has clearly done you and your family proud."
    "Touché, touché. Fair enough. I'm not claiming to be a progressive, simply saying as how one extreme don't balance out the other. Far as I'm concerned, vampires and werewolves can do theirs, so long as I'm let alone to do mine. If you take my meaning." He removed the half finished cigar from his mouth and looked at the glowing tip thoughtfully.
    "Would you be so magnanimous, Baronet, had you not inherited a title because your brother chose the supernatural over family obligation?"
    "Now see here, that's hardly the thing to say!"
    Mr. Tarabotti held up a hand sharply, cutting off any possible tirade. He cocked his dark head to one side, listening.
    Far away, somewhere in the depths of a desert wadi, something howled.
    "Damn this country with all its foreign critters. I'm telling you, it's all very well