Doctor Who_ Wolfsbane - Jac Rayner [45]
The Doctor shook his head lightly. „Never seen it at the pictures. It‟s real, all right. Like faeries and cold iron, you know. Vampires and garlic. It‟s poisonous to them, has protective properties.‟
„Yes, but faeries and vampires don‟t exist.‟
The Doctor shot Harry what he could only think of as a funny look.
„And is there some scientific reason for it?‟
The other laughed. „Give me a werewolf, a scalpel and a microscope and I might be able to tell you. But probably not.‟
„Something to do with the moon, perhaps?‟ said Harry, speculating. „The moon‟s silver... a sort of essence of moon?
Or should that be anti-moon?‟
There was a snort of laughter from the Doctor. „I doubt that the moon is actually silver, you know. It‟s just a reflection of the sunlight. When man walks on the moon he‟ll see it‟s...
grey, probably.‟
„You think man will walk on the moon one day?‟ Harry asked.
„Of course. Don‟t you?‟ The Doctor was staring up at the sky. He looked wistful. Yearning, even. Harry thought back to the stories in the Doctor‟s desk. This was a man who thought about the future, about spaceships and strange creatures and walking on the surface of alien worlds.
Harry suddenly had a sweeping desire to assure the man that yes, man would walk on the moon one day. Travel further than that, even. Tell him that there was life on other planets - perhaps aliens wandering the Earth even now. That he, Harry, had touched alien soil, met men from the end of the world.
But of course, he couldn‟t say anything of the sort.
„Mmm,‟ he said, as he bent down to his unpleasant task.
Between them, they carried the stiff body to the surface. It was like handling a thing, not a person - in some ways that made it easier. Then, bringing the lanterns closer, they knelt down beside the thing that had been Lucinda Ryan.
„Ah,‟ said Harry after about five minutes, leaning back. He indicated a cluster of wounds on the stomach, and the Doctor moved forward to examine them. After a few moments, he too went, „Ah‟.
„Some sort of narrow blade?‟ Harry said.
The Doctor nodded. „Yes. About four inches long, I‟d say. In any case, it was neither teeth nor claw. And look here.‟ He showed Harry a spot on the left arm. „I would say that the angle and depth of the teeth marks - just here - imply jaws which are nearly closed. Yet there are only marks of the upper teeth, no corresponding ones from below. So unless we‟re looking at a wolf who only has a top set...‟
„Faked,‟ said Harry. „The whole thing, faked. Knife her to death, then work her over with - what? A stuffed claw and the jaw of a German Shepherd?‟
„Something of the kind. In any case, Emmeline is exculpated.‟
Harry‟s mind had been working overtime. „Ah, but is she?‟
The Doctor looked questioning.
„What I mean to say is, just because she‟s really a wolf, there‟s nothing to stop her stabbing someone while she‟s a woman, then doing the business with fake claws. Double bluff. I‟ve seen it before. Chap says, I‟m not the villain of the piece, and here‟s the real villain to prove it. Oh wait, it was me all along controlling him. That sort of thing.‟
The Doctor‟s eyes were opening wide.
„In books,‟ Harry added hurriedly. „Always happening in books.‟
The Doctor did seem to give it some thought. Then he shook his head. „I really don‟t think she did it,‟ he said.
Harry opened his mouth to protest.
„Oh, I‟m not saying my judgement is infallible. But combined with everything else... From what I‟ve seen of werewolves, they have to be completely shielded from the moon‟s light to change back into a human. The moon had been up for some time before you found Lucinda‟s body, it shone down brightly in that clearing, and she was very newly dead when I examined her, at least. It‟s not conclusive, but I‟m going to give her the benefit of the doubt.‟ He smiled at Harry. „Come on, let‟s get this young lady back in the ground.‟
Sarah awoke to find a thin sheen of frost on her face. She thought of the stories she‟d heard: explorers at the South or North Poles, going to sleep in the snow and never