The Hippopotamus Pool - Elizabeth Peters [108]
So it was arranged, and as Kevin tenderly escorted Gertrude down the gangplank, Emerson caught Sir Edward by the arm. ‘I need not remind you,’ he said, ‘that the photographs you take while in my employ are not to be sold or shown to anyone without my permission.’
The moonlight glimmered in the young man’s fair hair and made it possible for me to observe the stiffening of his frame. ‘No, sir, you need not,’hesnapped. ‘Good night, Professor, Mrs Emerson.’
‘You have offended him, Emerson,’ I remarked, watching Sir Edward stalk angrily away.
‘Better safe than sorry, Peabody. O’Connell will have made him an offer before they push off.’
‘I expect you are right, my dear. It was clever of you to think of it.’
Pleased by this little compliment, of the sort husbands much appreciate and which I am careful to apply as often as I can, Emerson drew my arm through his and led me to our room. Conversation of a general nature was not resumed until a later hour, at which time I returned to an idea O’Connell’s questions had recalled to my mind.
‘I know your methods, Emerson, and I am in complete agreement with them, of course; but would it really constitute a violation of those methods to have a look – just a private little peek – into the burial chamber? I am dying of curiosity.’
I had chosen my moment well. Emerson was in an extremely affable mood. ‘I sympathize, my dear, and I am as curious as you are; but it won’t be as easy as you think. The debris beyond that door is not fill, like the rock chips in the antechamber; it resulted from a partial collapse of the roof of what appears to be a flight of stairs – leading down, as is commonly the case in such tombs. The modern thieves dug part of it out and shored up their tunnel with sticks and planks –’
‘And how do you know that? Oh, Emerson, how could you? You have already investigated that tunnel. And you didn’t confide in me!’
Emerson looked a little uncomfortable. ‘I only had a look, Peabody. Only a few feet, as far as I could reach, holding a candle. I couldn’t get into the damned place, it is too narrow for me.’
‘But not for me. Let me have a go at it.’
Embracing me, Emerson expressed his disinclination to permit this, adding, ‘Your dimensions and those of the tunnel, both familiar to me, are not compatible. You would stick, Peabody, I assure you you would.’
‘You could pull me out by my feet.’
‘And risk damage to your – er – your person? Not under any circumstances, my dear Peabody. Ramses might manage it.’
‘David is thinner than Ramses.’
When Emerson failed to respond, I said, ‘You still harbour reservations about him. That is unjust, Emerson.’
‘Perhaps. But what has he done to prove his loyalty to us? Twice now Ramses has risked himself to save the boy from death and from suspicion of a vile crime. Yet David continues to insist he can tell us nothing that would assist us or explain why he is allegedly in danger.’
Owing to the press of work, I had not seen much of David for the past few days. He always went with us to the tomb, since I felt he was safer there than alone on the boat, but he kept to himself, avoiding all society except that of Nefret and Ramses. Emerson’s remarks had made me more uncomfortable than I liked to admit and I determined to speak with the boy at the earliest opportunity.
I was able to do so on the morning following Mr O’Connell’s arrival. Mohammed had finished building the staircase the previous afternoon, and under Emerson’s direction the men set to work putting the structure in place. There was nothing for me to do until they finished, and O’Connell – who had turned up bright and early, notebook poised – was absorbed in watching the procedure, so I sought David out.
There are many unfinished and unexcavated private tomb shafts along the base of the hill. Like an early Christian anchorite, David had chosen one of these as his retreat. He – or Ramses and Nefret – had made it as comfortable as possible, with a piece of matting on the ground, a water jar, and several