Suddenly, Lassiter wasn’t in view. He was out of his chair and beyond sight of the window.
I was dumbfounded.
Then the lights went out. Not only the gas, but the fire — doused by a bucket, I’d guess. The womenfolk weren’t in evidence, either.
One tiny click!
A finger stuck out from a curtain and tapped the window-pane.
No, not a finger. A tube. If I’d had the glass out, I could confirm what I intuited. The bump at the end of the tube was a sight. Lassiter, the fast gun, had drawn his iron.
I had fire in my belly. I smelled the dying breath of Kali’s Kitten.
I changed my estimate of the American. What had seemed a disappointing, drab day outing was now a worthwhile safari, a game worth the chase.
He wouldn’t come out of the front door, of course.
He needn’t come out at all. First, he’d secure the mate and cub — a stronghold in the cellar, perhaps. Then he’d get a wall behind his back and wait. To be bearded in his lair. If only I had a bottle of paraffin, or even a box of matches. Then I could fire The Laurels: they’d have to come out and Lassiter would be distracted by females in panic. No, even then, there was a back-garden. I’d have needed beaters, perhaps a second and third gun.
Moriarty had said he could put reliable men at my disposal for the job, but I’d pooh-poohed the suggestion. Natives panic and run, lesser guns get in the way. I was best off on my tod.
I had to rethink. Lassiter was on his guard now. He could cut and run, spirit his baggages off with him. Go to ground so we’d never find him again.
My face burned. Suddenly I was afraid, not of the gunslinger, but of the Prof. I would have to tell him of my blunder.
One bloody click, that was all it was! Damn and drat.
I knew, even on brief acquaintance, Moriarty did not merely dismiss people from the Firm. He was no mere theoretician of murder.
Moran’s head, stuffed, on Moriarty’s wall. That would be the end of it.
I eased the cock of the Webley shut and pocketed the gun.
A cold circle pressed to the back of my neck.
‘Reach, pardner,’ said a deep, foreign, marrow-freezing voice. ‘And mighty slow-like.’
Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles
By Kim Newman
Available from Titan Books, September 2011
_______________
1 Henry James Prince (1811-99), excommunicated from the Church of England for ‘radical teachings’, founded a pseudo-religious order, the Agapemone (Abode of Love), in Spaxton, Somerset, in 1845. His most fervent disciples were women with money. The Agapemone was one of several 19th century communions run along the lines of the cults later established by Sun Myung Moon or L. Ron Hubbard. The circumstances of Moran’s encounter or encounters with Prince are not known at this time. See: The Reverend Prince and His Abode of Love (Charles Mander, EP Publishing, 1976).
2 A more balanced account of these incidents can be found Riders of the Purple Sage (Zane Grey, Harper & Brothers, 1912).
MORIARTY
THE HOUND OF THE D’URBERVILLES
KIM NEWMAN
Imagine the twisted evil twins of Holmes and Watson and you have the dangerous duo of Professor James Moriarty — wily, snake-like, fiercely intelligent, unpredictable — and Colonel Sebastian ‘Basher’ Moran — violent, politically incorrect, debauched. Together they run London crime, owning police and criminals alike. Unravelling mysteries — all for their own gain.
ISBN: 9780857682833
AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 2011
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES
OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE TITANIC TRAGEDY
William Seil
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson board the Titanic in 1912, where Holmes is to carry out a secret government mission. Soon after departure, highly important submarine plans for the U.S. navy are stolen. Holmes and Watson work through a list of suspects which includes Colonel James Moriarty, brother to the late Professor Moriarty — will they find the culprit before tragedy strikes?
ISBN: 9780857687104
AVAILABLE MARCH 2012
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES
OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE WEB WEAVER
Sam Siciliano
A mysterious gypsy places a cruel curse on the guests at a ball. When a series of terrible misfortunes affect those who attended the ball, Mr. Donald Wheelwight engages Sherlock Holmes to find out what really happened that night. With the help of his cousin Dr. Henry Vernier and his wife Michelle, Holmes endeavors to save Wheelwright and his beautiful wife Violet from the devastating curse.
ISBN: 9780857686985
AVAILABLE JANUARY 2012
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES
OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE BREATH OF GOD
Guy Adams
A body is found crushed to death in the London snow. There are no footprints anywhere near. It is almost as if the man was killed by the air itself. This is the first in a series of attacks that sees a handful of London’s most prominent occultists murdered. While pursuing the case, Holmes and Watson have to travel to Scotland to meet with the one person they have been told can help: Aleister Crowley.
ISBN: 9780857682826
AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 2011
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES
OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
The STAR OF INDIA
Carole Buggé
Holmes and Watson find themselves caught up in a complex chess board of a problem, involving a clandestine love affair and the disappearance of a priceless sapphire. Professor James Moriarty leads the duo on a chase through the dark and dangerous back streets of London and beyond.
ISBN: 9780857681218
AVAILABLE AUGUST 2011
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES
OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA
Richard L. Boyer
For many years, Dr. Watson kept the tale of The Giant Rat of Sumatra a secret. However, before he died, he arranged that the strange story of the giant rat should be held in the vaults of a London bank until all the protagonists were dead...
ISBN: 9781848568600
AVAILABLE NOW!
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES
OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE WHITECHAPEL HORRORS
Edward B. Hanna
Grotesque murders are being committed on the streets of Whitechapel. Sherlock Holmes believes he knows the identity of the killer — Jack the Ripper. But as he delves deeper, Holmes realizes that revealing the murderer puts much more at stake than just catching a killer...
ISBN: 9781848567498
AVAILABLE NOW!
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES
OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HOLMES
Loren D. Estleman
When Sir Danvers Carew is brutally murdered, the Queen herself calls on Sherlock Holmes to investigate. In the course of his enquiries, the esteemed detective is struck by the strange link between the highly respectable Dr. Henry Jekyll and the immoral, debauched Edward Hyde...