Lord of the Silent - Elizabeth Peters [184]
“She went looking for Sethos,” Ramses said. His father nodded. “D’you suppose she found him?”
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” Emerson said gloomily.
• • •
Seventeen
• • •
When Emerson burst into the sitting room and found me placidly drinking tea, his expressions of pleasure and relief took a predictable form.
“Well, what the devil have you been doing?”
“Good afternoon to you, too,” I replied. “Close the door, Emerson, and make sure there is no one lurking in the corridor.”
Cyrus kissed his wife and joined her on the settee. Ramses did not kiss his wife. However, he took the hand she extended and continued to hold it as he stood beside her.
“And how was your day?” I inquired. “Speak up, Emerson, Bertie is resting, but he will be down soon, and so will Sennia, and William may take it into his head to do more reading.”
“I beg,” said Emerson, slamming the door, “that you will not provoke me, Peabody. You first. I presume you found the—you found him, you are looking particularly smug. Where is he?”
“It was really very clever of her,” Margaret said. “The way she deduced where he had gone—”
“I don’t give a damn where he was, I want to know where he is now,” said Emerson.
“At our house. Locked up and guarded.”
“By Jamil and Yusuf? Good Gad, Peabody—”
“And Kadija.”
“Oh. That’s all right, then. Selim and Daoud will be there by now. What did he tell you?”
“He maintained he does not know the identity of his rival or the location of the tomb.”
“He lied,” said Emerson, starting for the door.
“For pity’s sake, Emerson, sit down! I told Kadija we would come round this evening. It is all arranged. Now tell me what you did this afternoon. Did you find the tomb and capture the villain?”
“We are getting closer to a solution, I think,” Ramses said, over Emerson’s growls. “Father and I agree that Kuentz is the most likely suspect. There are several circumstances—”
“You needn’t explain,” I interrupted. “I had come to the same conclusion. He must have had a confederate in Cairo. William Amherst?”
Emerson rolled his eyes, in that way he has, and Ramses said, “Not necessarily. We haven’t made out a timetable—unless you have, Mother?”
“I haven’t got round to it yet.”
“I believe you will find, when you do, that Kuentz could have been in Cairo on the significant dates. He maintains two residences, if they can be called that; it’s a useful device, since people would assume that if he’s not in one place he is at the other, whereas in reality he could be somewhere else—on the train to Cairo, for instance.”
“William has been behaving suspiciously,” I said.
“Whether he is involved or not,” said Ramses, somewhat impatiently, “Kuentz is the man we must watch.”
“You intend to follow him?” Nefret asked.
“It’s the only way, Nefret,” Emerson said. “With Daoud and Selim we should be able to keep him under surveillance, at least during the hours of the night. He’s got to do something soon. The longer he waits, the greater the chance someone will find his prize, and the word has got about that we are engaged in a survey of the Western Valley sites.”
“Perhaps he will attack one of us,” I said, giving Katherine my cup.
“Don’t get your hopes up, Peabody,” Emerson said amiably. A cup of the genial beverage had refreshed him, and I knew he was looking forward to trailing Kuentz. Emerson loves disguises, though he is not very good at them.
“An attack on us would be futile,” Emerson went on. Katherine, who had been watching Cyrus anxiously, let out a sigh of relief. Emerson gave her a reassuring smile. “He can’t wipe out the lot of us. By descending on Luxor en masse, we have left him with only one viable alternative. He’s got to clear that tomb before we find it.”
“Christmas Eve,” I murmured.
Even Emerson, who ought to know me better, stared at me in surprise. Strangely enough, my son was the first to comprehend.
“Of course. He’ll expect us to be absorbed with holiday merriment that night—decorating the