Death on Tour - Janice Hamrick [82]
“A passenger has been attacked,” I heard Alan say to someone. “We need a doctor and you need to search the ship at once.”
Someone had been attacked? I wondered who it was. Mostly I wondered why I was lying on the floor in the hallway.
Kyla now knelt beside me and took my hand. Even in my current state, I couldn’t help but notice how white she looked and that she was trying not to cry. Very puzzling. I sort of drifted off again. When I opened my eyes next, DJ was shining a little penlight into my face in a most annoying way. I flinched away.
“Stop,” I protested and sat up.
Surprise and relief showed on everyone’s faces. DJ gave a huge smile. “Ah, this is a very good sign. Her pulse is strong and her eyes are focusing properly. I do not think she has a concussion. Nevertheless, she should be kept awake for the next two hours. Someone should stay with her.”
“I’ll stay with her,” said Kyla, her voice quavering a bit.
“Did she see who it was?” asked Ben from somewhere behind Alan.
“Should we get her to a hospital?” asked someone else.
“I’m fine,” I said, with the same instinct that makes people deny they were asleep when they’ve very obviously just been awakened. I didn’t really know if I was fine or not, but I did know I wanted everyone to stop talking about me as if I weren’t sitting right there. I put my hand to my head and to my surprise felt wetness there. I looked down and saw blood.
“What the hell? Did I fall down the steps?”
Alan looked grim. “Someone hit you. And your necklace is missing.”
I clapped my hand to my throat. Sure enough, my beautiful, mysterious necklace had vanished.
Friday, Queens and Karnak
Spend the morning in Deir el-Bahari, the monumental temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt’s only female pharaoh. Stop for pictures at the two Colossi of Memnon, which guard the way to the Valleys of the Kings and Queens. Experience a grand finale to your sightseeing in the Nile Valley with the stunning monuments of Karnak, the greatest city of ancient Egypt. As you stroll among the pillars of the colossal Temple of Amon-Ra and along the Avenue of the Sphinxes, you will believe you have journeyed back in time.
—WorldPal pamphlet
Chapter 13
HEADACHES AND HATSHEPSUT
The rest of that evening and much of the next morning was a bit of a blur. The ship’s crew saw to it that another doctor was brought on board at the crack of dawn, ostensibly to check me out but in reality to wake me up and make sure I wasn’t going to sue.
Kyla, for once dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, followed the doctor out and returned a few minutes later with a tray stacked with rolls, fruit, coffee, and juice. I looked at her gratefully.
“Wow, room service. I might need to get hit on the head more often.”
She snorted. “There are easier ways to get breakfast in bed. For example, making a phone call.”
“Yes, but then I would have had to give a tip. This is loads better.”
“Seriously, how do you feel?”
I stopped chewing for a second to consider, then answered with my mouth full. “Headachy, but pretty good. So what’s going on down there?”
“You’re the talk of the town. The prevailing theory is that some thief must have sneaked on board earlier in the day and been waiting for a chance to steal something valuable. And then apparently slipped overboard and swam away, because no one has been found and the guards in the lobby are positive no one left the ship.”
“That’s ridiculous. They check for boarding passes every time we sneeze. There’s no way a stranger could get on board.”
She agreed. “It had to be a crew