Death on Tour - Janice Hamrick [96]
Mohammad groaned. “You’re both insane.”
“Now, that’s not nice, MoMo. This was hardly our fault.”
“Not your fault? Not your fault?” Mohammad sprang up again. He paced back and forth. “Killing that tourist? That wasn’t your fault?”
My ears pricked. Millie? They were the ones who had killed Millie? My mind reeled. I thought back to that day at the pyramids, Millie’s body lying in the sand, Flora and Fiona crying hysterically, then wandering away together. It had all been an act.
“We had to, you know that,” said Fiona in a reasonable tone. “She found the statue from Alexandria in Florie’s purse.”
“So what?” shouted Mohammad. “She was just a foolish American woman. She wouldn’t have known whether it was an antiquity or not.”
“We couldn’t take that chance. If she’d said something to Anni, the whole thing would have been over. Anni would have asked to see it. And she would have known what it was immediately,” Fiona explained.
“And the shopkeeper in Abu Simbel, Foney,” Flora reminded her. “That was MoMo’s fault, too.”
“Yes, it was. And honestly, you should be just a little more grateful to us, MoMo. After all, it was your contact at Elephantine Island who cheated us and gave us those old Sudanese dinars instead of the new currency. How were we supposed to know they’d changed money recently and the old stuff was worthless?”
“Yes, you should have warned us about that,” chipped in Flora.
Fiona nodded, then continued. “Now, I grant you, it would have been more fitting to kill him, but we didn’t find out that he’d cheated us until that shopkeeper refused to turn over the diamonds. And what would your Cairo backers have said if we’d told them we exchanged their money for worthless old currency? They certainly would not have paid us. And I think they might have wanted to kill you, MoMo.”
“Stop calling me MoMo!” snapped Mohammad. “And what do you think? Do you think that my Sudan contacts will be pleased that you killed their man in Abu Simbel? Do you not think that they might want to kill me now?”
“Ah, yes, we did consider that,” said Flora, nodding. “But at least we got the diamonds.”
“Exactly,” Fiona agreed. “And we wanted to talk to you about that little matter. We think there is no need to turn those diamonds over to your backers.”
“What do you mean? They paid for them. They will expect to receive them, and they are not the type of people we can cross.”
“Well, not more than once anyway,” Fiona twinkled. “And once is all we need. After all, Mr. Stratton here is proof that WorldPal is suspicious, and Flora and I aren’t exactly getting any younger. This would have been our last trip anyway. As for you, if you’re smart, you will be leaving the country as fast as you can. With any luck, your Sudanese friends won’t think you’re worth hunting down. But it’s expensive to emigrate. You could probably use your share of those diamonds.”
Silence fell on the little group. In the distance, the music and applause from the sound and light show filtered over the cooling stones. Then Mohammad exploded.
“Are you mad?” he shouted.
“Now don’t be nasty,” said Fiona, with a purposeful look at her sister. Flora stepped slightly to the side, and I could see her slip her hand into her purse. I thought that Mohammad ought to be very afraid, but he did not seem to notice.
“We’ve thought this out very carefully,” she went on. “Naturally, we should split everything three ways, but Flora and I agreed that if you will take care of Mr. Stratton here, we will give you two-thirds of the diamonds. Those will be easier for you to convert into whatever currency you choose. We will keep the statue, naturally, since we will be able to smuggle it out without question.”
There was a brief silence, and then Mohammad rasped out a protest.
“The statue is worth as much as all of the diamonds.”
“Only if it could be purchased legitimately. You know very well that we will be lucky to get even half a million for it. Besides, we know you have the necklace.”
“Only because I knew you would kill that girl to