Death Comes as End - Agatha Christie [32]
Renisenb said childishly: ‘But I do not like it, Hori. It makes me afraid. Everyone being different from what I thought them. And what about myself? I am always the same.’
‘Are you?’ He smiled at her. ‘Then why have you sat here all these hours, your forehead puckered, brooding and thinking? Did the old Renisenb–the Renisenb who went away with Khay–ever do that?’
‘Oh no. There was no need–’ Renisenb stopped.
‘You see? You have said it yourself. That is the word of reality–need! You are not the happy, unthinking child you have always appeared to be, accepting everything at its face value. You are not just one of the women of the household. You are Renisenb who wants to think for herself, who wonders about other people…’
Renisenb said slowly: ‘I have been wondering about Nofret…’
‘What have you been wondering?’
‘I have been wondering why I cannot forget her…She was bad and cruel and tried to do us harm and she is dead–why can I not leave it at that?’
‘Can you not leave it at that?’
‘No. I try to–but–’ Renisenb paused. She passed her hand across her eyes perplexedly. ‘Sometimes I feel I know about Nofret, Hori.’
‘Know? What do you mean?’
‘I can’t explain. But it comes to me every now and then–almost as though she were here, beside me. I feel–almost–as though I were her–I seem to know what she felt. She was very unhappy, Hori, I know that now, though I didn’t at the time. She wanted to hurt us all because she was so unhappy.’
‘You cannot know that, Renisenb.’
‘No, of course I cannot know it, but it is what I feel. That misery, that bitterness, that black hate–I saw it in her face once, and I did not understand! She must have loved someone and then something went wrong–perhaps he died…or went away–but it left her like that–wanting to hurt, to wound. Oh! you may say what you like, I know I am right! She became a concubine to that old man, my father–and she came here, and we disliked her–and she thought she would make us all as unhappy as she was–Yes, that was how it was!’
Hori looked at her curiously.
‘How sure you sound, Renisenb. And yet you did not know Nofret well.’
‘But I feel it is true, Hori. I feel her–Nofret. Sometimes I feel her quite close beside me…’
‘I see.’
There was a silence between them. It was almost dark now.
Then Hori said quietly: ‘You believe, do you not, that Nofret did not die by accident? You think she was thrown down?’
Renisenb felt a passionate repugnance at hearing her belief put into words.
‘No, no, don’t say it.’
‘But I think, Renisenb, we had better say it–since it is in your head. You do think so?’
‘I–yes!’
Hori bent his head thoughtfully. He went on:
‘And you think it was Sobek who did it?’
‘Who else could it have been? You remember him with the snake? And you remember what he said–that day–the day of her death–before he went out of the great hall?’
‘I remember what he said, yes. But it is not always the people who say most who do most!’
‘But don’t you believe she was killed?’
‘Yes, Renisenb, I do…But it is, after all, only an opinion. I have no proof. I do not think there ever can be proof. That is why I have encouraged Imhotep to accept the verdict of accident. Someone pushed Nofret–we shall never know who it was.’
‘You mean, you don’t think it was Sobek?’
‘I do not think so. But as I say, we can never know–so it is best not to think about it.’
‘But–if it was not Sobek–who do you think it was?’
Hori shook his head.
‘If I have an idea–it may be the wrong