Page 81 of Sinful Crimes for the Artistically Inclined
Joe glanced at the barren landscape out the window. “I’m just trying to take a holiday.”
“And you’re about to have the best holiday of your life.” Percy smiled across at him, sounding, as he always did, quite convincing. “One short boat trip, just maybe one or two meetings with some criminals, and I’ll make sureof it.”
Joe, looking none too sure about the criminals, wondered aloud, “Maybe we should have gone to Malta.”
“Not Malta,” came the swift response.
“Not Malta?”
“Not… I can’t go there. The Knights.”
A loud pause followed as Joe looked over at Percy, and Percy concentrated hard on the road. “Did you piss off the Knights of Malta?”
“They started it,” he muttered sulkily.
As tolerantly as any boyfriend ever could, Joe asked, “Was it Caravaggio again?”
“I just…” A small shrug. “It wouldn’t have been honest to not say anything.”
Joe burst out laughing, which got a slightly bashful grin from Percy, which Althea watched with interest. “How long have you two known each other?”
“I don’t know.” Joe looked to Percy. “Five months maybe?”
“About that.”
“And how do people like you find each other?” she asked.
Joe winced. “People like us?”
“Mmm. Weird supernatural-obsessed guys. Did you meet at a séance or something?”
“Not far off,” Joe chuckled.
“That’s a funny story actually,” Percy said, then hesitantly added, “but… it’s also a long one.”
Althea looked around pointedly at the lack of anything to see. “It doesn’t look like we’re there yet, so?—”
“Well, all right,” Percy cut her off. “I’ve been dying to tell someone, actually.”
“It is a pretty funny story,” Joe concurred with a smile.
Althea leaned forward excitedly. “Let’s hear it.”
“Okay, so,” Percy began, “my brother went missing when I was a child, and I was told he was abducted.” He glanced overwith a half-apologetic look and added, “That’s not the funny bit yet.”
Joe nodded his happy agreement.
“Store that bit away for later. Anyway, I had this book, the Necronomicon?—”
“The necra-what-now?” Althea asked.
“The Necronomicon,” Joe said. “The Book of the Dead. It’s supernatural. It holds all known knowledge of darkness and evil dead things.”
Althea nodded uncertainly, and Percy continued, “But naturally those evil dead things want the book too, so whoever has the book is in constant mortal peril. So obviously I needed to offload the book.”
Joe let out a laugh at the memory, and Percy smiled lovingly over at him, but noting Althea’s increasing discomfort, he added, “That’s not the funny bit yet, either. So, I had to get rid of the book, and I had this—or Ihave—I have a brother, a different one to the one I mentioned before, whom I was estranged from at that time. We’re great friends now?—”
“Great friends,” Joe reiterated.
