The Abominable Dr. Phibes Page #2

there and then in cash,

and the other half later.

She was delighted with them -

as well she might be.

That's beautiful craftsmanship, you know.

Could I take another look at it?

One more question, if I might, sir.

What did she look like?

She was a tall... attractive... young lady.

She didn't speak much, as I remember.

- But she was...

- Smart, sir?

Fashionable.

Ah. Yes, sir.

Can you tell me anything else about her?

No, I don't think so. Aren't you going

to write down "fashionable"?

- I think I can remember that.

- Oh, good.

No, she didn't stay very long. And then

there was the money to be counted.

Yes...

Thank you, sir. I'm sorry to take up

so much of your valuable time.

Reasonably valuable, yes.

- Good day, sir.

- Good day, Inspector Pike.

- Trout, sir.

- Yes, of course.

Oh, by the way... Psst, psst...

Sir?

That sign, that mark on the amulet...

I don't know whether this is of any

assistance, but it is, I believe, Hebrew.

Thank you very much, sir.

Hebrew.

This is it, sir.

It's a Hebrew symbol for blood.

- Oh, I see.

- Part of the G'tach.

- The what, sir?

- The G'tach.

The ten curses visited

upon the Pharaohs before Exodus.

- Here, I'll show you.

- Thank you, sir.

They were all ancient maledictions.

Solemn curses, anathemas,

wished upon the Pharaohs

for keeping the Israelites in bondage.

Ah, here it is.

But all this would just be myth,

of course, sir?

- Oh, I think not.

- No?

No. There is little doubt

that the plagues did occur -

though so distant now as to seem a myth.

I see. What form

would the curses take, sir?

Oh, such as the curse of boils, of bats...

- Frogs?

- Frogs, yes. And the curse of blood...

I see, sir, yes...

These ten curses -

would they follow any particular order?

That is a point Talmudic scholars

have debated for generations.

But there is no doubt that the classical

tradition is the curse of boils,

bats, frogs, the curse of blood,

the curse of rats,

hail, of beasts, the locusts of course...

the death of the first-born,

and then, finally, of darkness.

- Darkness, Rabbi?

- Yes.

The final curse upon the land.

To end for ever the sleep of man.

My love...

sweet queen and noble wife,

I alone remain

to bring delivery of your pain.

Severed, my darling,

too quickly from this life

of fires drawn and of memories met.

I shall hold our two hearts again

in single time.

I have prepared a little mathematical

equation for you, Inspector.

These files represent

all of the surgical cases

on which I have served

over a decade - some 1200.

As you know, modern surgery

is all a matter of teamwork,

sometimes involving a dozen or more

people - interns, residents, specialists...

Quite so, sir.

Now, ruling out all the cases

that are over five years old -

the year that Dr Dunwoody, our bat victim,

resumed his practice in London -

that leaves us 37 cases on which I worked

with any two of the four now-dead men.

A scant dozen with three...

but only one...

just one case...

where I worked with all of them.

"Victoria Regina Phi-bes."

I think they called it Phibes.

"Victoria Regina Phibes.

Born November 27th, 1893,

married, no children.

Diagnosis:
immediate radical resection."

- Well, what happened?

- We were too late.

Nine killed you.

Nine shall die,

and be returned your loss.

Nine times nine.

Nine killed you.

Nine shall die.

Nine eternities in doom!

- Very attractive.

- Quite beautiful.

A strange presence, even in death.

- And the husband?

- Dr Anton Phibes.

He was in Switzerland. We cabled him.

But, as he raced back, his car went off

the cliff and he was burned to death.

Are you quite sure of that, sir?

I know it must be

a tempting theory for you,

but they were interred at the same time

in the family vault just outside London.

- Were they fond of each other?

- They seemed so. Completely devoted.

Of course, you realise

what your equation proves.

Some madman has condemned

the whole surgical team for her death.

Everybody in this list here -

including yourself.

Obviously you'll put the remaining people

involved under police protection.

Although, heaven knows, from what?

From the G'tach, sir -

if you know what that is.

Isn't that the... curse of the Pharaohs?

That's right, sir. Someone

is using these ancient biblical curses

to kill everyone associated

with the Phibes operation.

But the husband's dead, there's

no children, so who are we looking for? :

There's a young lady in trouble, Benson.

See if you can help her out.

Hello, what have we got here?

Ah. Needing some help, miss?

Hail, rats, beast, locusts - take your pick.

Or there's death of the first-born,

and darkness.

- Darkness?

- Yes, darkness.

- Coffee.

- Thank you.

On this list of Vesalius',

five people are in danger.

- There's Hedgepath, Kitaj...

- It's pronounced "Kit-eye".

...Whitcombe, the woman Nurse Allen

and Vesalius himself.

I've located everybody else, but so far we

can't find... Kitaj. We think he's in Europe.

What about the Phibes estate

in Switzerland?

The insurance and bank accounts

were closed after his death.

- So his money's still over there?

- No.

Two years ago

the bulk of it was transferred here.

- To whose account?

- I don't know.

But later it was withdrawn

by a woman, in cash.

In fact, the whole estate

was transferred into her name.

A woman.

- Tall, attractive, hardly speaks a word?

- Right.

Now I'm very interested in her.

It's a quarter to three

There's no one in the place

Except you and me

So set 'em up, Joe

I've got a little story

I think you ought to know

We're drinking, my friend

To the end of a brief episode

So make it one for my baby

And another one...

For the road

Over here, Inspector.

We found him beside the road, sir.

He's in shock.

You won't get much out of him, poor devil.

- Well, what happened to him?

- Well...

- I see. Is that the car?

- Yes, sir.

We traced the owner.

A man called Hedgepath.

- Dr Hedgepath?

- What's all this?

He's in the back, sir.

It's frozen solid.

A curse of hail.

In the bloody middle of nowhere:

Take a look at this, sir.

He worked it off the motor.

He brought the internal temperature

down to at least 100 below zero.

- Mercifully, he didn't feel much, sir.

- Like hell he didn't.

Check.

- Check.

- Huh? Oh.

Well done. Go up to bed.

It's not mate, father.

You can still move.

Oh, well, we'll finish tomorrow, Lem.

Up you go.

- You wouldn't like to hear some...

- I'm not very good company tonight.

I must play to you tomorrow. Old Darrow

put me onto it. It's a super piece.

Darrow.

You know, the chap at the music shop.

I always thought he was a bore,

but what a fantastic memory he's got.

Get him talking

about the great organists...

Bridges, Drew and Phibes,

he knew 'em all.

Anyway, 'night, Dad.

Good night.

Mr Darrow.

Mr Darrow, did you know this man?

Excuse me, Mr Darrow?

Did you know this man?

Sixpence.

Yes, but did you know him?

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