Page 33 (1/2)

"Osh, Lord Maccon!" cried out Ivy, head lolling back and eyes rolling slightly "Ish that you? Hash you any… indigestion… no… inforave his wife a pained look

"Laudanum," explained Alexia succinctly

"Not as such, Mrs Tunstell I am very sorry Wife, if you could spare o dancing!"

"But, Ivy, we’re in Egypt and your daughter is "

"But I can’t see myself from here!"

Alexia stood up from where she was seated next to her nonsensical friend, experienced soo of her hand, and followed her husband out the door

He spoke in a hushed voice "I traced Madame Lefoux to the dahabiya docks A peculiar sort of place Lost the scent there I’o ascertain how Tunstell is getting on with the local authorities Then I think we eneral Bad publicity, very bad, a o back to the docks, shall I? See if I can work my womanly charm and discover who accepted Madaht be headed"

"You have woht you siave him a look

Lord Maccon snorted "Only one direction to head if one is going by dahabiya"

"Up the Nile to Cairo?"

"Indeed"

"Well, they er had a baby Theyafter someone"

"Very well, Alexia, but be careful, and take your parasol"

"Of course, Conall I shall require a parasol, as the sun is up Don’t tell , wife"

Neither of the the strain of having been awake since four the previous afternoon Bed would have to wait; they had a baby to catch and a Frenchwoling with his hair for a quarter of an hour, returned to the ypt and the expansion of the God-Breaker Plague He’d awakened with a certain feeling that he wasHe went back to the circles he’d drawn and reviewed notes on tieneral location He began to extrapolate inward, trying to deter, very slowly? What if there was a starting point?

He got so distracted he very nearly raphor He took thecha the alone in that tiny attic roons pointed to the fact that the epicenter for the God-Breaker Plague was near Luxor, at one pros His books said very little on the archaeology of the area, but one report indicated that the bend housed the funerary teed and vilified Pharaoh Hatshepsut He had no idea how this ue, but he resolved to send Lady Maccon the infor

He was about to creep out and gather together so chamber activated, the metal particles between the receiver panes shifted about, and a e appeared

"Ruffled Parasol Conall upset Primrose kidnapped Uproar"

Biffy recoiled What interest could Egyptian kidnappers possibly have in Mr and Mrs Tunstell’s daughter? The child of thespians How odd He awaited further inforh He moved next door, dialed in the appropriate frequensor codes, and sent his e back

"GBP center is Hatshepsut’s tetip Spectator"

Silence met that and after a quarter of an hour, Biffy supposed hiselse to relate He shut down the aethographor, made certain his own missive was tucked securely away, and ate the scrap of paper on which he’d scribbled Lady Maccon’s He’d witnessed Lyall do so in the past with delicate inforured it was a olf tradition he’d better uphold Then he went to find his Beta, not certain he was authorized to relay either bits of inforht kidnap Pri with this new crisis--violently, he suspected--that Biffy ca that realization to its inevitable, horrible conclusion, he detoured toward the servants’ quarters

Floote was sitting alone at thethe brass candlesticks, a sturdy apron tied about his waist His jacket was off and draped over the back of a nearby chair The moment he saw Biffy, he made a move toward it, but Biffy said hastily, "No, Floote, please don’t trouble yourself I simply had a question"

"Sir?"

"When Mr Tarabotti traveled in Egypt, did he visit Luxor?" Biffy ca a little too close, pretending to inspect the polishing He bent down as though particularly interested in one of the candlesticks and with one hand behind his back, quick as any vaun out of the inside pocket of Floote’s jacket

Biffy tucked the gun up his own sleeve, wondering that there weren’t ht of hand was easy when one had supernatural abilities

Floote answered hi

"Well, aheood, sir"

Biffy escaped to his own rooun

It was one of the smallest he had ever seen, beautifully le-shot variety popular soe of revolvers It ed Floote to keep it, for it wasn’t theat more than five paces and it probably shot crooked Biffy sed, hoping against hope he wasn’t about to find what he predicted With a twist, he opened and checked the chamber It was loaded He tipped the bullet out into his hand Such a s to damn a man so utterly For that bullet was ed in silver It was not quite the same as the modern ones, of course, but still undoubtedly a sundowner bullet

At first Biffy didn’t want to believe it, but Floote had been at liberty the night that Dubh was shot--with all his employers out of the house Floote had access to Lord Akeldaible, for no drone would co froun that was loaded with sundowner bullets of exactly the kind hich Dubh was shot Then later, when Lady Maccon rushed in with the injured man, Floote had been left alone with Dubh, and Dubh had died Floote certainly had the opportunity But why? Would the butler really kill to protect his deadthe bullet about in his hand and thinking

A polite knock disturbed his reverie He stood to open the door