Death Comes as End - Agatha Christie [29]
He murmured questioningly:
‘Sobek?’
‘Oh no,’ Renisenb heard herself saying. ‘Oh no…Oh no…’
Satipy said again urgently: ‘She fell from the path. It is narrow just above here–and dangerous…’
Sobek liked killing. ‘What I do, I shall enjoy doing…’
Sobek killing a snake…
Sobek meeting Nofret on that narrow path…
She heard herself murmuring brokenly:
‘We don’t know–we don’t know…’
And then, with intimate relief, with the sense of a burden taken away, she heard Hori’s grave voice giving weight and value to Satipy’s asseveration.
‘She must have fallen from the path…’
His eyes met Renisenb’s. She thought: ‘He and I know…We shall always know…’
Aloud she heard her voice saying shakily:
‘She fell from the path…’
And like a final echo, Yahmose’s gentle voice chimed in.
‘She must have fallen from the path.’
CHAPTER NINE
FOURTH MONTH OF WINTER 6TH DAY
Imhotep sat facing Esa.
‘They all tell the same story,’ he said fretfully.
‘That is at least convenient,’ said Esa.
‘Convenient–convenient? What extraordinary words you use!’
Esa gave a short cackle.
‘I know what I am saying, my son.’
‘Are they speaking the truth, that is what I have to decide!’ Imhotep spoke portentously.
‘You are hardly the goddess Maat. Nor, like Anubis, can you weigh the heart in a balance!’
‘Was it an accident?’ Imhotep shook his head judicially. ‘I have to remember that the announcement of my intentions towards my ungrateful family may have aroused some passionate feelings.’
‘Yes, indeed,’ said Esa. ‘Feelings were aroused. They shouted so in the main hall that I could hear what was said in my room here. By the way, were those really your intentions?’
Imhotep shifted uneasily as he murmured:
‘I wrote in anger–in justifiable anger. My family needed teaching a sharp lesson.’
‘In other words,’ said Esa, ‘you were merely giving them a fright. Is that it?’
‘My dear mother, does that matter now?’
‘I see,’ said Esa. ‘You did not know what you meant to do. Muddled thinking as usual.’
Imhotep controlled his irritation with an effort.
‘I simply mean that that particular point no longer arises. It is the facts of Nofret’s death that are now in question. If I were to believe that anyone in my family could be so undutiful, so unbalanced in their anger, as wantonly to harm the girl–I–I really do not know what I should do!’
‘So it is fortunate,’ said Esa, ‘that they all tell the same story! Nobody has hinted at anything else, have they?’
‘Certainly not.’
‘Then why not regard the incident as closed? You should have taken the girl North with you. I told you so at the time.’
‘Then you do believe–’
Esa said with emphasis:
‘I believe what I am told, unless it conflicts with what I have seen with my own eyes (which is very little nowadays), or heard with my own ears. You have questioned Henet, I suppose? What has she to say of the matter?’
‘She is deeply distressed–very distressed. On my behalf.’
Esa raised her eyebrows.
‘Indeed. You surprise me.’
‘Henet,’ said Imhotep warmly, ‘has a lot of heart.’
‘Quite so. She has also more than the usual allowance of tongue. If distress at your loss is her only reaction, I should certainly regard the incident as closed. There are plenty of other affairs to occupy your attention.’
‘Yes, indeed.’ Imhotep rose with a reassumption of his fussy, important manner. ‘Yahmose is waiting for me now in the main hall with all sorts of matters needing my urgent attention. There are many decisions awaiting my sanction. As you say, private grief must not usurp the main functions of life.’
He hurried out.
Esa smiled for a moment, a somewhat sardonic smile, then her face grew grave again. She sighed and shook her head.
II
Yahmose was awaiting his father with Kameni in attendance. Hori, Yahmose explained, was superintending the work of the embalmers and undertakers who were busy with the last stages of the funeral preparations.
It had taken Imhotep some weeks to journey home after receiving the news of Nofret’s death, and the funeral preparations were