The Night of the Shepheard is the night at Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo, 15–16 December 1928, when the three companions went from suspects to forced partners of their enemy, Paul Morand, thanks to a lie: “It’s too late, comrade: Lady Carter has it.”
| Type | Event |
| Date | 15–16 December 1928 |
| Place | Shepheard’s Hotel, Cairo |
| Chronicle | LDC |
| Spanish entry | Noche del Shepheard |
Events
- Bruno Paoli, snooping in the corridor, let slip a word — talatat, the cut blocks found only where they were heading.
- Camille climbed out of a sixth-floor window to spy, slipped, was left hanging and dropped the dagger into the inner courtyard.
- Morand waited for her at the elevator, with Hans escorting her. From above, Teddy read the gesture as a guard’s, not an escort’s, and threw a stone ashtray six floors down to give Camille the second she needed; she played clumsy, fell on the bush and recovered the dagger.
- Otto and Víctor blocked the corridor; Irti knocked the wind out of one and was himself knocked out against the baseboard.
- In the royal suite — columns, antiques, a crocodile in the pool, and an aquarium covered with a black cloth holding the head of Mata Hari — Morand demanded the dagger. Teddy, ending the night unconscious but victorious, said that Lady Carter already had it, which fit precisely what the Frenchman already believed.
Outcome
Morand collapsed, recovered and turned to business: first-class tickets, his Orient Express cars coupled to the local train (Train to the South), five thousand pounds and an order. They left free, with the dagger, and no one else knew.