Black Ceremonies (17 page)

“Doctor Lorencio!” Strombolli called. “I think it is time for you to attend to your patient.”

The labourer came running. He knelt beside the sailor, reached into his bag of tools, and took out the instrument he needed to use on Theroux. He adjusted the sailor’s clothing so he could perform the prescribed surgery.

The surgery prescribed by his master.

Doctor Lorencio licked his lips, muttered a prayer, and set to work.

And Jean Theroux shrieked in agony as Doctor Lorencio operated upon him with a
castratori
.

Once severed, the labourer held up Theroux’s testicles for Strombolli’s approval.

“Very good.” Luigi Strombolli clapped his hands. “Now there’ll be no more seducing other men’s wives for you, captain.” He turned to go back into the villa, but then paused as if remembering something.

“Oh, there’s one more thing … Marie!” Strombolli gave a nod of his head and the kitchen servant who had been waiting for the signal emerged from the house. She was carrying a wooden box, which she placed on the ground in front of the wailing Theroux and beside his testicles, which Lorencio had quickly dropped.

“I think that this belongs to you.” Strombolli’s lip curled into a sneer. Laughing, he went inside.

Randolph crouched next to the sailor and shook him. “Open it, damn you!”

Slowly, Theroux reached out and removed the lid. Inside the box was a sealed glass jar.

Randolph grinned. “Only the master gets to stuff his wife.”

The jar contained a solution of formaldehyde that preserved a human foetus.