Lord of the Silent - Elizabeth Peters [51]
“Good evening, Mrs. Emerson. I am sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“Do not apologize. I made certain you did not receive my message until a short time ago, and since I expect my husband will turn up before long, please do me the favor of answering my question promptly and without equivocation. Is the War Office still trying to force my son into cooperating with them?”
His faint smile vanished. “For heaven’s sake, Mrs. Emerson, don’t talk so loudly! I don’t know what you mean.”
“I find that very hard to believe, Lord Edward,” I said severely. “The man whom I met at your brother’s house under an assumed name is in Cairo. Don’t bother asking how I know; I have my sources. He is a newcomer, and therefore of interest to the Anglo-Egyptian community, and the description I extracted from Mrs. Pettigrew fits him exactly. I presume he is the new head of the group of disorganized individuals who make up our intelligence department. I asked you to bring him here this evening. Where is he?”
Never had I seen the imperturbable Lord Edward so uncomfortable. Shifting his weight from one foot to the other and glancing uneasily about, he cleared his throat but did not speak. I felt certain he was trying to invent a lie that would put an end to my interrogation, though he could not possibly have supposed that he would succeed. He was spared that difficulty when he saw the man who had just entered.
“Ah,” I said. “The mysterious Mr. Smith. Perhaps you will be good enough to introduce us, Lord Edward. Otherwise I will be forced to hail him, in a clear and carrying voice, by the name he gave me.”
“You would, wouldn’t you?” Lord Edward muttered. He gestured, hastily and without his usual grace. The mysterious Mr. Smith had seen us. His mouth tightened into invisibility, but knowing he was fairly caught, he made the best of it. “Sorry to have kept you waiting, Cecil,” he said smoothly, and bowed to me, as to a stranger.
Lord Edward presented him: the Honorable Algernon Bracegirdle-Boisdragon. “How do you do,” I said. “You are new to Cairo, I believe. I hope you find it pleasant.” I did not give him time to reply, for I could see he was about to make his excuses. Lowering my voice, I went on, “Do try to look a little more affable; you must have known you would encounter me sooner or later. I do not enjoy your company any more than you like mine, so let us get to the point. Why didn’t your office inform us that one of Wardani’s lieutenants had escaped?”
“I was unaware—”
“Come now, don’t lie to me. If you didn’t know, you are even more inefficient than I had expected. Are any of the others on the loose?”
He was not an easy man to keep off guard. His eyes narrowed into slits. “How did you know about Asad? If you did, why didn’t you notify the police or the military?”
“Well done,” I said approvingly. “It is a pleasure to fence with an adversary of your skill, but you cannot put me on the defensive. I asked you first.”
“You had better tell her,” Lord Edward warned. “The Professor is on his way, and you don’t want him asking the questions.”
Bracegirdle-Boisdragon’s face hardened. “The fact is, we are no longer concerned about that lot of ineffectual revolutionaries. They cannot do any harm now.”
“Do you mean you let the rest of them get away too?” It was my tone of voice, rather than the words themselves, that brought a flush of anger to his face. He looked much more human and, as I had hoped, rising temper produced a prompt answer.
“No, madam, we did not! We have kept them under closer surveillance since Asad escaped. I am sorry if our failure to notify you caused you trouble . . .”
I recognized this as a disingenuous attempt to extract information from me; after considering