Evelyn settled on a medium-sized hotel that catered mostly to travelers and archaeologists, and at times a few locals. It had once been a way station that now could boast of having been there for almost fifty years. There was no restaurant the downstairs canteen catered both to locals and out of towners and frequently could be a good source of gossip, both local and outside of Cairo.
The first stars were pricking the Egyptian night sky when the foursome unloaded themselves wearily from the taxi. The driver unloaded their bags, holding out his hand which Roma filled with a generous tip.
"Please let me know if you hear any gossip that might be of use," she told him, "Nothing is too unimportant, mind you, I will pay you well for anything you hear."
The hotel was comfortable but lacked valets, only a weary-looking concierge sitting behind a counter. Roma paid for the rooms, plus a little extra.
"No one needs to know we are here," she told him, "And there will be more if you let me know if someone asks about any of us." Greed, she knew, could be counted upon and taken advantage of is necessary.
It took all of her energy to consume the excellent dinner at the little restaurant they had found around the corner from the hotel. The Muslim proprietor did not approve of spirits of any kind but he had learned that if he kept a good red wine to be consumed with dinner, he attracted more of the British travelers who appreciated the good food and service that he provided.
The sky had now filled with stars when they left, but Roma was too tired to appreciate the beauty of the night sky. Ardeth's strong arm kept her from stumbling as they made their weary way back to the hotel for one last drink in the canteen.
"As soon as Father's body arrives, I can get him buried and we can get to Luxor. Roma held up her glass and gazed at the amber liquid she swirled around, "Ardeth, do you think we should show them what we found?"
"I thought you didn't want to go back there," he replied but she shrugged her shoulders.
"Now that I'm away from it I don't see it so evil as what happened to Father. You would want to see it, I think, Evelyn. An elaborately carved tomb with no cartouches to say who the owner was. The sarcophagus made of basalt and polished to a shine, but even with no carving on it he must have been someone important.' She looked at them to see if she was holding their interest.
"I was wondering if it belonged to a priest of Set, I saw a carving of him on the wall, complete with the ankh and a staff."
"Really," Evelyn breathed and Rick thought, oh no. To search for jewel caches in the Valley of the Kings under the nose of Howard Carter sounded harmless in comparison to the tomb of a priest of the God of Chaos.
Fortunately, Ardeth came to his rescue, "You had nightmares in that place, Roma, you said that you never wanted to go back there. You are over-tired, that is all. Let us go to bed and get a good night's sleep. The events of the past few days have been hard on you, you are not thinking clearly."
And it did feel good to slide into bed, feeling his naked body against hers. He made love to her as if she were one of her fragile artifacts then held her in his arms all night as if he would ward off any bad dreams.
Towards morning, the dawn sky lightening but the sun not yet risen, she opened her eyes to see a tall black figure standing at the foot of the bed. She closed her eyes, then opened them—it had not gone away. She started screaming, disturbing the guests in the rooms near them.
Ardeth took care of them, assuring them that the Englishwoman had had a very bad nightmare, but she would be all right, and he apologized for what had happened. The hostile glares he received let him know that apologies weren't sufficient, but they were too polite to say so.
Rick and Evelyn appeared, and Ardeth admitted them into the room where Roma sat huddled in bed, the covers pulled up under her chin,
"She's all right," said Ardeth, "She just had a bad dream."
Rick handed her the flask that he had brought with him, and she drank deeply.
"No, Ardeth, it was no more a dream than it was last time it happened. Something was standing at the foot of my bed, it was tall, black, and opaque, no light came through it. I saw it in the desert when we spent the last night in the tomb. I closed my eyes when I saw it, then opened them again and it was still there. Please tell me it didn't follow us from there."
Two days later, her father's body arrived from Luxor. "We could lift the lid for you, miss," said the mortician, "But I wouldn't recommend it. You should remember him the way he was the last time you saw him, it's better that way."
The O'Connells were next to her for the graveside service, and, to her surprise, Pierre Lacau made an appearance to pay his respects. She watched as the acacia wood coffin was lowered into the grave—he would rest now next to his beloved wife. His secret knowledge went with him.
She dreamt about him the next night. They were sipping tea in the parlor in their Cairo house. "I'm sorry about my deception, my dear, but I didn't want to frighten you."
"Who killed you, Father, and what were they after? The jewels? Do you know who betrayed you?"
"I'd be careful about that tomb if I were you, you know how the Egyptians felt about names. Not a good sign that you didn't find any hieroglyphs, you'd only find a cartouche if he were royalty." He stood up and kissed her, "I've got to be going now." He walked out the front door and disappeared.
She jerked up and shook her head. The dream had seemed so real—but how had her father known about the tomb? She certainly didn't have the chance to tell him. Her father was not familiar with the desert, let alone any ruins that might be found there.
"Ardeth, wake up, please," she gently shook his shoulder and he was awake immediately.
"What's wrong?" his face was full of concern as it always seemed to be these days.
"Nothing's wrong, but I had the strangest dream—Father was here and it seemed so real that it felt like he was alive, not dead. He warned me about the tomb, the fact that it had no hieroglyphs, and how I would only have found a cartouche if the owner was royalty. Then he walked out the front door and disappeared."
"You should listen to your father, that tomb is an evil place. Remember how you said you'd never go back there? Your bad dreams? Why do you want to return?"
"I don't know, that figure that appeared at the foot of my bed, well, I don't think I can make it go away if I don't go back there. We won't be alone this time, Rick and Evie will be with us. Evie is an Egyptologist, too, maybe she'll know something about it that I don't."
He sighed, "I wish we hadn't taken shelter in that tomb; you have not been the same since we did. We'll go to your house in Luxor and see what we can find out about your father's murder. Wouldn't you rather investigate those marking on your father's map than go back into the desert? It was three days by camel, we'll have to bring everything we need with us. Doesn't Evelyn have a job with Howard Carter waiting for her?"
She slumped down, defeated for the moment. "Yes, everything you are saying makes sense. All right, I'll forget it for now, but if Evelyn wants to see the tomb and we can do it, I want to try to find it again. After all, we won't be going all the way to Minya this time."
There was a party atmosphere on the ship that was taking them to Luxor but she would not have been in the mood to enjoy it if it was not for Evelyn. Rick and Ardeth would disappear together for hours at a time. Evelyn told her that Rick carried an arsenal with him and Ardeth was more than competent with firearms. They would no doubt be well protected, but what if firearms could not kill whatever threatened them?
The night before the boat was due to dock in Luxor, Evie took Roma aside and grabbing a bottle of whiskey and two glasses and led her to a table located at the stern. She poured a glass for each of them then said,
"Tell me about this tomb." Her eyes seemed to glow as she said this.
"Well, there's not much more to say, I've pretty much told you everything there is to know."
"Of course, there is, like, how did you find it?"
"There was a sandstorm. It's about a month too early but that doesn't mean it can't happen. We saw this opening in the cliff and decided to see if it was big enough to shelter us and the camels. The opening led to a long corridor which led to a huge chamber with a sarcophagus."
"We didn't give it too much thought, you know, we needed a place where we could find refuge until the storm was over, and it seemed perfect. The tomb was kind of strange, the walls of the chamber had been finished and carved, but the ceiling and the corridor were left rough. And the tomb is in an out of the way place, if he was a priest, he might have been able to have a small tomb in the Valley near the pharaoh he served—why did he pick such an out of the way place?"
"You told me the walls were decorated, what was on them? Evelyn's voice seemed eager, obviously wanting to hear more.
"Well, there were the usual gods carved on the walls, they had been finished but not plastered over and painted. There was also a carving of what may have been him and his two sons. But no hieroglyphs, no names, nothing. There was a carving of the god Set where the sun would hit it from the corridor, but neither he nor any of the other gods had their cartouches. I've never seen a tomb like it."
"I'd love the see it," she breathed, "How old do you think it was?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm guessing by the style of the carvings that it was New Kingdom. He may have been a priest of the Set cult, though I can't be sure. There's nothing of value there, I found a few beads and some ushabtis, that's all. The only thing that would be important is the wall carvings and the fact there are no names."
"It sounds intriguing, I've never seen anything like you just described. Just think, if it hasn't been officially discovered, we could claim credit. This might be something important, we could submit a paper and get official recognition. There are so few women archaeologists, we could set an example for future generations!"
"All of that will be irrelevant if we can't get anyone to take us there. I know Ardeth will try to keep me away, and I won't go there by myself, it's too dangerous. That tomb scares me, Evie, I'm not so sure I want to go back there—ever."