He Shall Thunder in the Sky - Elizabeth Peters [155]
Nefret put her arm round me and murmured soothingly, but it was Russell’s incredulous question that made me realize I might not have taken the right approach. “Are you telling me, Mrs. Emerson, that you and Miss Forth came alone to the flat of a man you knew to be a spy and—er—Master Criminal?”
“Not together,” I said. “When I failed to return home, Miss Forth came to rescue me.”
“The devil she did!”
“The devil I didn’t,” Nefret said with wry amusement. “Rescue her, that is. I confess neither of us behaved sensibly, Mr. Russell. Don’t scold, but get your men after him. Our imprisonment and his flight are, surely, evidence that he is guilty of something.”
Russell gave a grudging nod. “Very well. Go home, ladies, and get out of my . . . That is, go home. I will send one of my men with you.”
“But what of Emerson?” I demanded. “He and Ramses ought to have been back hours ago.”
“Ramses went with him?” Russell’s cold eyes grew even frostier. “Where?”
“Into the Eastern Desert. They were looking for—”
Now it was Mr. Russell who was in danger of forgetting himself. I cut short his incoherent anathemas with a useful reminder.
“I will take Miss Forth home, as you advised. You will let us know at once if you—when you hear.”
“Yes. And you will send to inform me if—when they return. They had no business . . . Well. Good night, ladies.”
As we passed through the sitting room, one of the constables spoke. “Look here, sir. The man was a criminal! In his haste he forgot his implements of crime.”
They were set out on the tea table: handcuffs, a coil of rope, a little pistol, and a long knife.
“Those are mine,” I said, holding out my hand. “Except for the knife. It belongs to Miss Forth.”
For some reason this harmless statement brought Russell’s temper to the breaking point. He bundled us out the door and directed a constable to put us in a cab.
All along the homeward path I looked for a yellow motorcar being driven at breakneck speed toward the Count’s flat. No such vision rewarded my search. When we arrived home we found, not Emerson and Ramses, but Fatima, Selim, Daoud, and Kadija. All of them except the ever-calm Kadija were in a considerable state of agitation. They took turns embracing me and Nefret and peppered us with questions, while Fatima produced platter after platter of food. It took us considerable time to convince them we were unharmed, and then we had to apologize for failing to tell them where we had gone.
“You did not come home for dinner,” Fatima said, fixing me with an accusing stare. “Ramses and the Father of Curses did not come back. Then Nur Misur went away. What was I to do? I sent for Daoud, and Selim, and—”
“Yes, I see. I appreciate your concern, but there is nothing to worry about now. It is very late; good night and thanks to you all.”
Selim and Daoud exchanged glances. “Yes, Sitt Hakim,” the former said.
After they had left the room, Nefret said, “They won’t leave, not until Ramses and the Professor are safely back. Go to bed, Aunt Amelia. Yes, I know, you won’t sleep a wink, but at least lie down and rest. If they lost their way, they may have decided to wait until daylight before starting back.”
Hoping that she at least would rest, I agreed, and we went to our respective rooms. I was removing my crumpled frock when she tapped at my door.
“See who I found, asleep on my bed. I thought you might like her company tonight.”
She was carrying Seshat.
It was unusual for the cat to be in my room or Nefret’s unless she was in search of something or someone. This did not appear to be the case now; when Nefret put her down on the foot of the bed she curled herself into a neat coil and closed her eyes. Feeling somewhat comforted and more than a little foolish, I stretched out beside the cat, although I knew I would not sleep a wink.
As I neared the top of the cliff I looked up to see a tall, familiar form silhouetted against the pale blue of the early-morning sky. I was in Luxor again, climbing the steep path that