The Wolf Gift Page 0,162

secrets about the world of lore and legend that others had foolishly dismissed."

Grace studied Felix sympathetically as he went on.

"You mean they were interested in this thing, this man wolf, for private medicinal research?" asked Phil.

Jim,s face was solemn, remote, his eyes moving over Felix gently and unobtrusively as Felix spoke.

"Does it surprise you?" asked Felix. "There are scientists out there treating billionaire clients with unorthodox youth serums, human growth hormone, stem cells, sheep glands, cloned skin and bone, and cosmetic transplants of which the rest of us only dream. Who knows what they know, or where their research has led them? Of course they wanted to get their hands on the Man Wolf. Perhaps there are sub rosa laboratories under American auspices with the same aims."

Grace murmured wearily that there would always be scientists and doctors who dreamed of being morally free to do exactly as they pleased.

"Yes," said Felix, "and when I heard from Arthur Hammermill that Jaska had been pestering Reuben,s family, well, I thought to myself perhaps we can be of some assistance."

"And you,d met them in Paris - ," said Phil.

"I knew them," said Felix. "I suspected their methods. I suspected the lengths to which they might go to achieve their ends. I suspect the police will discover their Sausalito Rehabilitation Center was a front, that they had a plane waiting to take Stuart and Reuben out of the country."

"And all this to determine why the boys were exhibiting these symptoms, whatever they are, these strange changes - ," said Phil.

"Because they,d been bitten by this thing," said Grace. She sat back, shaking her head. "To see whether the saliva of the Man Wolf had imparted some element that could be isolated from the victims, blood."

"Precisely," said Felix.

"Well, they would have been extremely disappointed," said Grace. "Because we ourselves have researched the matter from every conceivable angle."

"Oh, but you don,t know what scientists like that have at their disposal," said Phil. "You,ve never really been a research scientist. You,re a surgeon. Those two were Frankensteinian fanatics."

Jim looked past the others at Reuben, his eyes tired, grieved, faintly afraid.

Jim had gone with Simon Oliver to the emergency room, and had returned only an hour ago, reporting that Simon was all right and on his way back to the city by special ambulance. He would be fine.

"Well, there is one thing we all know, isn,t there?" asked Grace. "Whether we are surgeons, priests, or poets, right Phil? We,ve seen this monster with our own eyes."

"Doesn,t matter," said Phil. "It,s like a ghost. You see it yourself, you believe it. But nobody else will believe it. You,ll see. They,ll sneer at us just like they,re sneering at everybody else who,s seen it. The witnesses could fill Candlestick Park and it wouldn,t make any difference at all."

"That,s true," said Jim softly, speaking to no one in particular.

"And what did you learn from this," asked Felix, looking intently at Grace, "that you didn,t know before?"

"That it is real," said Grace with a shrug. "That it,s no criminal in a costume, or matter of a collective hallucination. It,s a freak of nature, to use the old phrase, a human being who,s suffered a monstrous deformity. It will all eventually be explained."

"Perhaps you,re right," said Felix.

"But what if it,s an unknown species?" asked Phil. "Something that simply has not been discovered yet?"

"Nonsense," said Grace. "That,s impossible in today,s world. Oh, I mean maybe it could happen in New Guinea but not here. It,s a one-off. It,s suffered some hideous calamity or it,s a freak since birth."

"Hmmm, I don,t know," said Phil. "Exactly what accident or illness or congenital deformity could account for that thing? Nothing I ever heard of, but you,re the doctor, Grace."

"It will all be explained," she said. She wasn,t adamant or arguing, really. She was merely convinced. "They,ll catch the thing. They have to. There,s no safe corner of the modern world for such a thing. They,ll get to the bottom of what he is and how he became what he is, and that will be the end of it. In the meantime, the world can run rampant with the idea of the Man Wolf as if he were a template for a new form of hero, when, sadly, he,s no more than an aberration. Eventually, they,ll autopsy him, eviscerate him, stuff him, and mount him. He,ll end up in the Smithsonian in a glass case. And we,ll tell our grandchildren that we once glimpsed him with our own