The sun sent shafts of light through the stained-glass windows and formed dancing patterns on the tile floor of her room. For the first time in days, she felt safe—and clean. She and Ardeth had soaked in the giant tub before retiring to bed.
The son of the desert had grumbled a little at the softness of the bed, but they'd made love and gone almost immediately to sleep. And not just sleep, a deep, dreamless sleep from which neither had woken until the early hours of the morning.
"Good morning," he opened his eyes, leaned over her, smiling, and kissed her. "I am ashamed to say that I found this bed most comfortable, but perhaps it was because of the woman I shared it with."
She lay her slender hand on his cheek and was about to kiss him when they heard pounding at the front door.
"Missy, Missy," Busa said, her hands slapping at the bedroom door.
"It's all right, Busa, we're coming," she assured her and she and Ardeth slipped their gallabiyahs over their heads. "Just a moment," she told him and opened the top drawer of her dresser. She withdrew two Colt pistols, "They're loaded, I'm taking no chances."
Busa followed anxiously as they went to the front door. Roma made ready to pull aside the panel that covered the peek hole, but Ardeth pushed her away, saying, "Let me." He shoved aside the panel and looked out. "The police," he told her and stepped away to open the door.
Two Egyptians stood on the front step, patiently waiting to be allowed in. "Salaam Aleichem," they said in Arabic, bowing politely. "We have an urgent matter to discuss with you, may we come in?"
"Of course," Roma replied and showed them into the dining room. "Please, sit, Tea, Busa." The maid bowed and left the room.
What must they be thinking? She and Ardeth were looking rumpled and it was obvious to any who would see that they had just come from their bed. An unbeliever and a Muslim were bad enough, but this one was a Bedouin. She handed Ardeth her pistol and he deposited both on a bookshelf.
Busa returned, carrying the steaming samovar on a tray along with cups and saucers. She served policemen first, her look saying that they had no right to disturb her mistress this early in the morning. She bowed when Roma waved her away and left the room, her aged face full of concern.
"Will you please tell me why you are here?" she asked politely in Arabic, fear growing inside her, the police never came unless something was wrong.
"We have bad news for you miss," one policeman said, obviously grateful to be speaking in Arabic, not English, "A body was found in the desert outside Luxor, we are afraid to tell you that it's your father."
"What? No, that can't be," she was grateful for the hand that Ardeth had placed on her shoulder, "We left him a week ago, he intended to drive to Cairo, the truck was packed with the artifacts he had found this season. There had been no trouble with bandits this season so he made the drive with just one of his men."
"His clothes were quite tattered but we found his papers in the inside pocket of his coat. It was him. We also found the body of the driver, but no sign of the truck. It must have been bandits, miss."
"How did he die?"
"We will not know until the post-mortem is performed. Once that is completed, we can release the body to you—do you have a preferred mortuary?"
How can they ask me that, thought Roma, my father has just been killed and they are asking me to give them the name of a funeral home?
"Just pick one in Cairo that the British most frequently use and notify me. I will have him buried here in Cairo next to my mother. Now, please, I just ask you to leave me, I am quite distressed at this news." Tears were starting to form in her eyes but she did not wish to cry in front of the Cairo Police.
Busa showed them out with an anxious look for her mistress. Ardeth took her in his arms and she began to cry uncontrollably. "Go," he told the maid and she scurried out of the room.
Rick and Evelyn O'Connell walked into the room, intending to wish them a good morning when they came upon Roma crying, while Ardeth tried to soothe her.
Evelyn's motherly instincts came to the fore, "My dear, my poor dear, whatever is wrong." Rick stood stoically by.
"Her father was murdered outside Luxor," Ardeth said wearily, "Can you pour a cup of tea for her?" Evelyn nodded.
"Here, try and drink some of this," he held the cup to her lips and she complied, "There's my good girl," he said in soothing tones as she complied, "Now drink the rest of it for we must talk."
She took the cup from him and drained its contents. "I'm so sorry," she told them, "I wish I could say this came as a shock, but Father hinted that something could happen."
"Don't worry about that," said Rick, "Tell us what we can do to help."
She set the cup down. "I am going to call the Egyptian Museum and talk to Lacau, I want to get these jewels out of my house as soon as I can. Lacau may see me today, Cairo is like a small town, I am sure that the news of Father's murder has already spread. Evelyn, would you come with me? I don't feel up to doing it alone."
"Of course," she answered, looking up at Rick, "Call him now and see what he says."
Roma pushed herself out of her chair and went to the phone. The others could only hear her side of the conversation, but it became apparent that not only would Lacau see her, but he would also see her that afternoon, say, at one?
She hung up the phone. "I suppose I should be grateful for pity; in this instance, it is accomplishing what normally might take days. I haven't told him about the jewels, only that I have some artifacts I need to turn over to him. Except for the king's jewels, I've lost all that we collected this digging season. Some of the pieces on the truck could fetch a nice price and a better one on the black market."
"Let me take you to your room," said Evelyn, "And help you get cleaned up. I need to borrow a suit if you don't mind, my trunks haven't arrived from England yet." She took her by the arm and led her to her bedroom.
A little while later they emerged, Roma dressed in a black linen suit and grey blouse, Evelyn wearing Roma's new linen suit. They sat at the table and Busa poured them tea.
"I just realized I'm in mourning, though I haven't the time for the formalities. Ardeth, as soon as I settle things with Lacau and get Father buried, I want to go back to Luxor. Someone must have known what Father found, that's why he sent us into the desert. I thought he was using us as a decoy, but it was the other way around." She sighed and Ardeth came and sat next to her.
"Some of my people worked for him, we can talk to them and see if they know anything, but shouldn't you leave this to the police?"
"The police are incompetent; they'll say it was bandits and leave it at that. Even if I bribe them, they'll do a bare minimum and say the case is closed. It doesn't matter who investigates, Cairo, Luxor, the results will be the same. All they want to do now is work for Howard Carter and collect easy money—they don't care about an old British archaeologist's murder. All they will do is say he must have been careless and that it must have been the will of God. If I want justice, I have to get it for myself."
Normally the offices in museums were located in the basement, but in the Egyptian Museum, Pierre Lacau had his on the top floor. All eyes would be on him as he walked through the museum to the stairway that led to the floor of his office. In this way, he was able to make an entrance without seeming to.
His latest headache, just one of many for the man who oversaw all the legal archaeological digs in Egypt, was Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon. Since he had the concession, Carter considered the Valley of the Kings his private venue and would brook no interference from Egyptian authorities, himself in particular.
He did not know why Roma Wilkes-Pemberley had insisted on meeting him, but with the news of the death of her father, he felt obligated to do what he could. There would, of course, be an inquest into his death, but bandits were common and if he had not traveled with an adequate guard his fate was not so unexpected.
What he did not expect was the entrance Roma Wilkes-Pemberley made with her entourage. Evelyn O'Connell accompanied her, along with her disreputable husband Rick O'Connell. With them, watching anxiously over Miss Wilkes-Pemberley was a Bedouin whose name he ought to know but could not place.
He was quick to see them seated, and ordered tea. Then, rubbing his hands together, a nervous habit he had developed, he said:
"What may I do for you Miss Wilkes-Pemberley."
The Bedouin placed a strongbox on his desk and unlocked it, then gestured to him. Lacau opened the box and removed a square of linen and drew in a deep breath.
Carter's find was bringing in a sizable number of gold ornaments, but Lacau had never seen so much gold jewelry from the Pharaohs in one place. He picked up a bracelet that had the cartouche of Amenhotep I worked into it, then picked up another piece.
"My god, where did this come from? Where on earth did he find it?"
"That, Monsieur Lacau, I do not know. Father has been secretive, even with me this season. What he was up to I do not know. I know there have been rumors of caches left behind by thieves who would drop their loot and avoid being caught by the Medjai. And there is the story of treasures cached that the thieves intended to come back for later but didn't out of fear or lack of opportunity."
"I don't know how much credence I put in this," she continued, "But this is mostly eighteenth dynasty pieces, with a few from the nineteenth. I know Father believed the story, but how was he able to know where to look, especially with Carter working in the Valley?"
"I'm turning these over to you, I don't know Father intended to do with him, but they belong to Egypt and this is where they should stay. They may have cost Father his life, I don't know, either way, I want them out of my house. I don't want to see them again, ever."
Lacau looked at the glittering hoard that lay before him. He was falling under the spell of what lay before him and could not believe his good luck. He would pay her the standard ten percent fee he had initiated; she didn't seem greedy like Howard Carter who had intended to retain fifty percent of what he found.
"On behalf of the Egyptian Museum and Department of Antiquities, I wish to thank you. This is a very generous gift, so little jewelry from the eighteenth dynasty has survived and the diadem," he held it up to the light, "No one has seen anything like this before, they were all thought to have been destroyed by the thieves. It will have a place of honor and your name as finder will be fully displayed."
"Say rather, that it was my father who found it," she replied, "But I think you for taking this off my hands. At least the people of Egypt will be able to enjoy it."
She rose and shook his hand, then he repeated with the other members of her party. He escorted her out himself, pleased with the picture that he presented. He was already trying to decide how he would display the jewels.
The foursome left the museum, stepping out into the bright Egyptian sunlight. "I am glad that is over," Roma said, "Now I must deal with Father and when that is over, I want to begin to search for his killers."
"Miss Wilkes-Pemberley," Rick said gently, "We are heading into the hot season, it wouldn't be a good idea to venture out into the desert now. Let the police do their work and then when the cool weather comes you can begin."
"In the meantime, the trail will grow cold and it will be hard to learn what happened. Memories will fade and the perpetrators will have time to escape. I cannot live without knowing what happened, he was my father." She turned to Ardeth, want a drink, will you come with us even though you don't?"
"You need to go home and rest, you have had an eventful day."
She was finding it hard to refuse him these days, "All right, if that is agreeable with the O'Connell's-I was thinking of them, too." It was a weak rationalization and she knew it.