prowling restlessly in some dark arena of the past.“ Did he go?” Catherine finally asked.
“ What? Oh, yes. She told Vasilly that death was going to come to him unexpectedly and quickly and warned him to beware of a lion at noon. There are no lions in Greece, except for a few old mangy ones at the zoo and the stone ones you have seen on Delos.”
Catherine could feel the tension in Pappas’ voice as he continued.
“ Vasilly went to the zoo personally to check the cages to make sure that the animals were secure, and he made inquiries as to any wild animals that might have recently been brought into Athens. There were none.
“ A week went by and nothing happened, and Vasilly decided that the old witch had been wrong and that he had been a superstitious fool for paying any attention to her. On a Saturday morning I dropped by the police station to pick him up. It was his son’ s fourth birthday, and we were going to take a boat trip to Kyron to celebrate.
“ I drove up in front of the station just as the clock in the Town Hall was striking twelve. As I reached the entrance, there was a tremendous explosion from inside the building. I hurried inside to Vasilly’ s office.” His voice sounded stiff and awkward.“ There was nothing left of the office— or of Vasilly.”
“ How horrible,” Catherine murmured.
They walked on for a moment in silence.“ But the witch was wrong, wasn’ t she?” Catherine asked.“ He wasn’ t killed by a lion.”
“ Ah, but he was, you see. The police reconstructed what had happened. As I told you, it was the boy’ s birthday. Vasilly’ s desk was piled with gifts that he was going to bring to his son. Someone had brought in a birthday gift, a toy, and laid it on Vasilly’ s desk.”
Catherine felt the blood leaving her face.“ A toy lion.” Count Pappas nodded.“ Yes.‘ Beware of a lion at noon.’” Catherine shuddered.“ That gives me the creeps.”
He looked down at her sympathetically.“ Madame Piris is not a‘ fun’ fortune-teller to go to.”
They had crossed through the park and reached Piraios Street. An empty taxi was passing by. The Count hailed it, and ten minutes later Catherine was back at her apartment.
As she prepared for bed, she told Larry the story, and as she told it, her flesh began to crawl again. Larry held her tightly and made love to her, but it was a long time before Catherine was able to fall asleep.