notice, but actually, he tasted pretty good.”
“WHAT! You ate the guy? You ate the guy?”
“Well, Niles, I don’t often follow the family history, but eating your
enemies is a time-honored werebeast tradition.”
Lyle spoke.
“Really, Niles, I’m not all that sure you understand.”
“I understand what you told me. But I still can’t believe you actually
ate that guy.” I shuddered at the thought.
“Believe whatever you want, it’s still the truth.” He responded. “At
least I’m not like some other werebeasts which I could all too easily name.
Besides, you act as if you still don’t understand me. You’re sitting there,
fidgeting, looking at me like any second I’m about to jump up and eat you.
You’re treating me like I’m some kind of wild animal.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Oh. Well — yes.” Without knowing it, I had caught Lyle off-guard and
thrown him and emotional curve. But I continued nevertheless.
“You’re making it very hard for me not to act that way. After all, you
have the qualities of some of the world’s most vicious — and successful –
predators, you have better senses than I could even hope to imagine, you killed
a man–”
“Would you kill, to save your own life?”
“Well, I–”
“The question is no different when applied to a human. It’s just
because I’m a werebeast that it has a little different twist.”
“You do have a point, but Lyle–”
“I’m one of the good guys, Niles. Think about it. ‘Private
Investigator’. Why would I devote myself so much to helping humans?”
“Because humans were the only ones who accepted you?”
Lyle beamed. “Now you’re catching on!” He said. “You were right.
Humans were the only ones who accepted me for what I was, as you are learning to
do, Niles. The human world was the only one where I was treated without bias or
disdain.
But still, let me tell you about one of my cases, just to make sure you
understand.”
“One of your cases…”
“Yes! You wouldn’t believe how much help it is to be what I am,
particularly when it comes to my cases. I get some pretty weird ones. In fact,
some I wouldn’t even be able to solve if I were just a human. I could tell
you…”
“Well then, by all means, go ahead.”
“Really? Well, okay, let me think of one…
One morning, I was at my desk when this woman walks into my office. She
was dressed all in red, just like she had come straight out of some old
detective movie from the 40s. Really weird, really spooky stuff, to say the
least.
She said she had come to me because she was worried about her husband.
He worked for an oil company, and she thought that might have something to do
with what was going on with him. Her husband had been doing strange things,
working with suspicious people she didn’t know, barely even coming back home.
Nobody else could find him. So she turned to me.
There must be good money in oil. She looked rich. I remember she was
wearing a white fox on her shoulders. She must have forgotten it, because she
left it there and didn’t come back for it.
If there’s one thing I share with other werebeasts, it’s an absolute
hatred for cruelty to and mistreatment of animals. So, after I’d torn the awful
thing to shreds and disposed of it, I started working on her case.”
So saying, he began his story.