Free Ripper by Michael Slade Page A

trapped or shot. We often find lice attached to the skins of museum animals and birds. Because specific hosts are prey to certain species of lice, lice, unlike other insects, are categorized by host. When, like here, the host isn't known, identifying the species becomes a daunting task."
    Wong opened the book to page 277. The header read Keys to the Families of Phthiraptera. The illustration showed a pair of lice: the shaft louse of chickens and the cattle-biting louse.
    "Each of the two orders—here Mallophaga—subdivides into family, genus, and species. I use the keys in this book to determine family. Each key is a couplet that offers an either/or choice. Each choice directs me to another couplet, blazing a trail to follow until the family's identified. Read the first couplet," Wong said, taking Craven's place at the microscope.
    Nick scanned the page to orient himself. "The choice is between 'Head as wide as or wider than the prothorax; mouthparts mandibulate,' and 'Head narrower than prothorax; mouthparts haustellate.' "
    "The lice on your slide fit choice one. Basically the couplet confirms they're chewing lice. What's the number after that choice?"
    "Two," Nick said.
    "And if we'd gone the other route?"
    "Eight," he said.
    "Okay, that means we go to couplet two. If we'd made the other choice, we'd go to couplet eight. Read two," Wong said.
    "Here the choice is between 'Antennae clubbed and concealed in grooves; maxillary palps present,' and 'Antennae filiform and exposed; maxillary palps absent'."
    "Your lice fit the second choice. Where does that lead us?"
    "Couplet seven," he said.
    Nick flipped to page 278. "Here we choose between 'Tarsi with two claws; antennae five-segmented,' and 'Tarsi with one claw; antennae usually three-segmented.' "
    "Your lice fit the first choice, indicating which couplet?"
    "There is no number. Instead it says 'Philopteridae.' "
    "Good, that's the family at the end of the road. You follow the couplets until you get a family name. Philopteridae are lice parasitic on birds."
    "Which birds?" Nick said.
    "Here we reach a roadblock. The next step is to break the
    family down into genera and species. Find the species and we isolate the host. In North America there are about 60 genera and 450 species of Philopteridae. The problem is there are no comprehensive keys beyond this point. Keys do exist for domesticated fowl like chickens and pigeons, but there are only checklists for other birds. Texts like Emerson and Price contain Mallophaga host-parasite lists, but it might lake a week to work through them. I'd have to compare your lice with an example of each species on the list."
    "Willing to try?" Nick asked.'

    Magick

    Vancouver 
    5:25 P.M.

    DeClercq studied the Tarot cards at the end of Jolly Roger: the Hanged Man, Judgement, and the Devil. He tried to fathom their meaning.
    His knowledge of the Tarot was rudimentary, consisting of one or two basics encountered here and there. He knew the Tarot is one of the great systems of divination, others being the I Ching and Scandinavian Runes. Tarot magic is "in the cards," for each symbol relates man to the physical and spiritual worlds. Symbols evoke both conscious and subconscious reactions, so each card is a door to the occult mind. Divination motivates the mind to bring it about, so the cards reflect what is, has been, and will be. The Tarot's magic is in the reader's response.
    A person wanting his fortune told cuts the cards, concentrating on the question to be answered. The cards are then laid out in a prescribed manner, how they fall and how they relate determining the future. The simplest layout is a three-card Gypsy Spread. A card called the Significator is chosen to represent the inner being of the querent. This card, placed faceup, may be any from the deck, and in the Jolly Roger spread was the Hanged Man. Two cards selected at random are placed facedown to the right: in Jolly Roger, Judgement and the Devil. Read together, all three