The Falcon at the Portal - Elizabeth Peters [145]
“Aunt Amelia! I have been haunting Shepheard’s this past week in the hope of seeing you. May I offer you tea?”
“No. You had better take yourself off before I express my opinion of you loudly enough to be heard by everyone on the terrace.”
“Ah.” His face took on a look of quiet suffering. “Then the rumors I have heard—”
“I don’t know what you have heard. If they accuse my son of one of the vilest crimes a man can commit, they are lies. Had you not lost all semblance of decency, you would clear Ramses and avoid the company of those who know the truth.”
“But that is what I want to do!” Percy exclaimed vehemently. “To clear myself with you, at any rate. Won’t you hear my side of it? You did not used to be unjust.”
Ostentatiously I consulted my lapel watch. “You have sixty seconds.”
He had remained standing. He did not venture now to sit down, but he put both hands on the back of a chair and leaned forward, lowering his voice.
“The child may be mine. I don’t deny the possibility. No—please let me finish! I knew nothing of it, I swear! When I was last in Cairo I was young and foolish and easily led, but the—the act that led to the present difficulty was a single aberration, and one of which I am bitterly ashamed. I will do anything in my power to put things right. Money—any amount you think proper—”
He broke off with a strangled gasp and straightened, staring over my shoulder at something. I knew what it was, of course, even before I turned my head.
“The tables are very close together, Ramses,” I said. “If you strike him he will fall over and injure some innocent people. Percy, I warned you you had only a minute. You ought to have heeded my advice.”
Ramses’s fists uncurled, but I thought I had better take hold of his arm just to be on the safe side. Percy had backed away as far as he could—only a step or two—but he had apparently decided he could risk a few more words.
“I meant what I said, Aunt Amelia. Do you believe I spoke the truth?”
“I don’t care whether you spoke the truth or not,” I said. “What you did is indefensible, and your attempts to excuse yourself only make it worse. I really don’t think I can restrain Ramses much longer, Percy, and I am not at all certain I care to. Go away and never darken my door again.”
“Very well.” He bowed and backed up another few steps, glancing behind him in order to avoid running into a tourist. “I had meant to call on Nefret to offer my felicitations, but …”
I almost lost hold of Ramses. Percy beat a hasty retreat, weaving a path among the closely crowded tables with an agility born of a strong sense of self-preservation.
“Sit down,” I said. “A public scene would only fuel the gossip. I remember once you asked me for permission to pound Percy. I am sorry now I didn’t let you.”
“I shouldn’t have given myself away,” Ramses muttered. “He only suspected before. Now he knows.”
“Oh, I’m sure he already knew how thoroughly you detest him.”
“What did he say before I arrived on the scene?” The angry color began to fade from Ramses’s cheeks.
“He admitted the child might be his. It was a single aberration that occurred when he was young and easily led.”
“He’s good,” Ramses said with grudging admiration. “He admits the truth only when he’s backed into a corner, and then twists it to the best advantage.”
“Well, my dear, we can be sure he will avoid us in future. I believe I made my feelings clear. Shall we order now? I could do with a nice hot cup of tea.”
Two days later the body of a young woman was found caught in the reeds along the riverbank just above the barrage. We would probably not have heard of it had not Ramses’s persistent inquiries made the Cairo police aware of our interest in any such discovery. It was Mr. Russell, the assistant commissioner, who informed us—or Ramses, to be precise. Ramses did not tell us until after he had seen the remains. A certain identification was impossible, since the body had been in the water for several days, but the general description matched that of Rashida, and twisted round the neck was a string of cheap beads like one she