The Serpent on the Crown - Elizabeth Peters [152]
“You are too generous, my boy,” Emerson said grandly. “I do apologize. And while I am in a forgiving mood, I would like to apologize formally to my—er—to Sethos, for suspecting him. I will never do so again.”
“The more fool you,” said Sethos, grinning. “But I appreciate your sentiments, all the same. Perhaps if I repeat them to Margaret she will look more kindly upon me. I’m off to Cairo tomorrow to meet her and, as the saying goes, press my suit.”
“You must bring her here for the wedding,” I said. “I will make the arrangements.”
“Don’t let Fatima start on the wedding cake yet,” said my brother-in-law amiably. “Margaret may turn me down again.”
“You can tell her I have apologized too,” Ramses said. “And that if she does accept you she has my heartfelt sympathy.”
Sethos burst out laughing. “Spoken like the true son of your father. And the true nephew of your uncle.”
Emerson said, with seeming irrelevance, “Carter is in town. He wanted to pay his respects to you, Peabody, but I put him off.”
“I would be glad to see Howard. Ask him for tea tomorrow.”
“He and I have an appointment tomorrow in the Valley of the Kings. No, Peabody, you cannot come along, so don’t badger me.”
I put my glass down. “Emerson, you have been playing games with me for weeks. I know why you have been so slow to finish in KV55, and I think I know what you are up to. It is time you confessed.”
“Hmph,” said Emerson. His eyes moved warily from one face to the next—David’s open and candid, Nefret’s curious, Sethos’s wearing a knowing smile, and Ramses’s even more enigmatic than usual.
“You can trust all of us,” I said.
“Hmph,” said Emerson again. He picked up the statuette, which occupied a place of honor on the tea table, the uraeus restored by Ramses’s careful hands. “This is not Akhenaton, and it did not come from any tomb of his. It came from the burial of the only Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh whose tomb is still missing—namely and to wit—”
“Tutankhamon,” said Ramses.
Emerson turned a reproachful look on his son. “I beg your pardon for interrupting you, Father,” Ramses went on. “But although Mother’s analysis was brilliant, as usual, it does not entirely eliminate the possibility that ordinary thieves entered KV55 before the official government party did so. I can now prove that was not the case.”
“What?” Emerson cried. “How the devil?”
Ramses leaned back and folded his hands. I had the distinct impression that he was enjoying himself. “As I told you, the papyrus was fragmentary and partially indecipherable. I have been working on it for the past few days. The scrap I located yesterday has an additional sentence. It includes one of the names of the king whose tomb was robbed: Nebkheperure.”
“Tutankhamon!” I exclaimed.
“Hmph,” said Emerson, obviously crestfallen.
Ramses is a kindly soul, and he adores his father. Having enjoyed his moment of triumph, he at once made amends. “But you knew that, Father. When you spoke some time ago about your far-fetched theory, as you put it—”
“Ha, yes,” said Emerson, cheering up. “I thought at once of the missing tomb of Tutankhamon, but it seemed impossible that any modern thief could have found the place without anyone knowing of it. In fact, the idea was so preposterous I felt it necessary to examine the other tombs of the period, in case the excavators had overlooked something.”
“Well done, Father,” said Ramses. “That idea never occurred to me.”
“Or to me,” I said. “Brilliant, my dear Emerson!”
“Would you care for another whiskey, my dear Peabody?” Emerson asked, smiling broadly.
More cursed tourists than ever this year,” said Emerson. He shook his head sadly. “Very difficult working in that part of the Valley.”
He had brought Howard back with him for tea, after their visit to the Valley. I had been touched by Howard’s concern for me, though the sight of the statuette had distracted him somewhat.
“When will you start work?” I asked. “It is getting to be late in the season.”
Howard accepted a second glass of whiskey. “His lordship is due in a few days. I had hoped to find a few