Death on Tour - Janice Hamrick [88]
“Smuggling!” I said. “I think it’s smuggling.”
He smiled at me, his eyes warm. “Exactly. But smuggling what? The most obvious thing here in Egypt is ancient artifacts. In the past, tomb robbing was practically a national sport. But these days, that’s not so easy. The government guards the archaeological sites and really monitors imports and exports. However, the only thing more valuable in Egypt than antiquities are tourists. They smooth the way for tourists in every way possible. So, if you were able to use a tour group as a cover, the smuggling part of it just got a lot easier. I decided I needed to come see for myself.”
“But if Anni was suspicious, that means this has been going on for a while.”
“Yes. Which points to one of my employees.”
“Mohammad.”
“The obvious candidate, but not the only one. He hires people too, to check out hotels, to make arrangements. To be honest, it could have been anyone with access to the trip itinerary and connections to someone who could appear as an ordinary tourist. An American, for instance.”
“Or an Australian,” I said slowly.
“True,” he agreed. “I did some background checks on everyone on this tour. No phony names or addresses, no criminal records. As far as I could tell, we are all who we say we are. Except me, of course,” he added with a grin.
“So you signed up for the tour as a regular tourist.”
“Yes, I figured if I just stayed in the background, kept my eyes open, I’d be able to spot something,” he said. “And then the second morning, one of the guests, my guests, is murdered. And I didn’t see a thing. To be honest, I feel responsible. I knew something was going on.” He looked down at his hands. “I should have been able to prevent it.”
I wanted to throw my arms around him, but I settled for patting his shoulder awkwardly.
“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “There’s no way you could have known that would happen. There was never any reason to think it would turn to violence, right?”
“No, I suppose not. But then there was a second murder. Even though the victim wasn’t part of our tour, we were there. And it was the same method used on Millie. Too much of a coincidence. And now you’ve been attacked.” He put his hand over mine. “Twice. I just don’t understand it all. And to be honest, I haven’t really learned anything more than I knew before all this started. Except that I’m sure now that Mohammad is involved in some way. His coming along is definitely not part of his job.”
He didn’t seem to notice he was holding my hand. It was now harder to concentrate on what I was saying.
“I’ve learned some things,” I managed. “I don’t know what they mean, but not everyone on this trip is who they seem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the Carpenters.”
He looked surprised. “What about them? They’re great.”
“I know. They are. They’re just about my favorite people on this trip. The thing is, they arrived at the airport just a little after Kyla and I did. We were just heading for the car when they came into the baggage claim area, and I know this is going to sound crazy, but the girl who is with them, their niece? She is not the same girl who arrived in Cairo with them.”
His eyebrows shot up. “What? That doesn’t make any sense at all. Who else could she possibly be?”
“I have no idea. I can’t even begin to imagine what is going on.”
“She’s been ill. Are you sure she doesn’t just look different because she’s been losing weight?”
“No. I’m completely sure. If you look carefully, you’ll see it too. The clothes she’s wearing are too big for her. Not loose, like she’s lost weight, but really too big as though they belong to someone else. Probably the girl I saw in the airport. And this girl isn’t sick—she’s terrified. I mean, she might be sick too, it’s hard to tell, but that’s not the reason she’s spent most of the trip hiding in her hotel room. And Ben and Lydia are afraid too. You should have seen them at Abu Simbel when we found the body.”
“I think everyone was pretty scared then,” he pointed