Death in Luxor

by Graham Warren

  “You are not totally safe here,” said Sanuba, “though safe enough. All ancients talk English here, so this entrance has never been discovered.”

  Kate, Alex and Cairo remembered Ramses saying just how safe Nakhtifi’s dining area was, just before they were attacked.

  “Are you not worried that I will tell someone about all of this?” asked Julian as he nursed his elbow. “Of course, I will not say anything.”

  Cairo picked up a very large silver spoon. Wrapping his hand around its bowl, he held the handle upwards and asked them all to look at the light.

  “You are going to mind wipe me, aren’t you,” said Julian, “just like Men in Black. That is how you keep your secrets.”

  As one they cracked and the laughter was infective. It was some while before Sanuba was able to say that Cairo watched too much television, and that if Julian wanted to tell the world what he had just experienced, then the only people who would believe him, would be those he shared the mental home with. This had the effect of restarting the laughter. One by one they slid to the floor; not one of them was capable of standing.

  It was only when Aggie showed signs of coming around that the laughter stopped. Large Mohammed appeared from nowhere, slung Aggie over his shoulder and carried her very smartly off to her room.

  Chapter 16

  -

  A Birthday to Remember

  Having been told by Three not to eat anything, but to go for a wash and change because they had to be down to the main lounge by four o’clock, they had done just that, though only after a protest from Kate. She had rather forcefully pointed out that they must be at Rose’s villa by four, for the good of the family, to which Three had replied, “Rose will be here by four, so you would have a wasted journey if you left the hotel before then.”

  It was exactly four o’clock as Kate left the lift. She turned left, only to find that the massive lounge doors were not only shut, but that there was a sign outside stating that the room was ‘Closed for Private Party’. Suddenly feeling quite unsure, she hesitated.

  “Just knock three times,” said Three as he appeared from the bar. This made Kate jump. As she still hesitated, he knocked on the door for her. There was the sound of a key turning and a heavy lock mechanism clunking. “Please stand here, young Madam,” he said as he lined Kate up with the centre of the two doors, both of which swung fully open at exactly the same moment. A cacophony of cheering and whooping, which turned into shouts of happy birthday, engulfed Kate. The room was far from full, though there were more than enough people to make quite a din. Three gently ushered Kate forward.

  Once inside, the doors were closed and locked behind her. She immediately hugged Alex, and over his shoulder she could see Quentin and Babs smiling. Leaving Alex, she just had to give Rose a hug, though she could not immediately see Gadeem. When she did see him, she could not believe her eyes, as he was sitting on a sofa talking to Bast. Kate was relieved to see that she was wearing a heavily embroidered galabeya which showed cats of all kinds, colours and in all sorts of playful positions. She wondered what Quentin would have made of it, if Bast had sat there with her breasts covered only by a gem encrusted golden scarab. Kate smiled as she thought that he would have enjoyed doing some digging there. It could even have lead to a new design for one of his awful T-shirts. Whilst giving Three and Cairo a hug, Kate noticed two large and also very professional banners draped across the far window. She read, ‘Happy Birthday Kate’, and then, as her eyes dropped to the lower banner, ‘We wish you Happy Days in Luxor’.

  Several members of the Winter Palace staff left, and as they did, they each in turn wished her a very happy birthday. Kate kept uttering that she had quite forgotten that it was today. Two trolleys filled with dainty little sandwiches along with various other nibbles arrived, and whilst the doors were open both she and Alex noticed Julian looking in.

  “Go on, Kate, ask him to join us.”

  “To be honest, I don’t really like him.”

  “We do not know him, and it sounds as if his life is just as bad as yours. Go on, ask him in,” pleaded Alex, so Kate did.

  Julian had lost the bandage from around his nose which revealed several small and extremely neat stitches where his finger had poked through, though his arm was still heavily plastered.

  “Happy now?” said Kate to Alex as she brought Julian over. She did, however, just have to add, though at only slightly more than a whisper, as well as in a less than serious tone, “I hope that he washes his hands before he touches any of the food.”

  As everyone chatted away, Kate took in the room. Initially it had looked to be so large, yet with not that many people in it, it neither looked empty nor full. She worked out that the extremely high ceiling, when combined with very large windows on three sides, had the effect of making the room appear to be much larger than it actually was. The massive crystal chandelier which hung in the centre of the room added to its grandness.

  Kate thought it strange that she had so totally forgotten her birthday, as in every previous year she had looked forward to it for many weeks beforehand. Suddenly it hit her as to why. Every birthday prior to this one, her mother had been there to share it with her. Thankfully, her thoughts were broken by Alex saying that she must try some of the sandwiches before Cairo ate them all. She immediately swung her head towards the two food trolleys, expecting to see Cairo sitting on the floor, cross-legged, with a lap full of sandwiches, as he munched away, but he was not there. She turned back, and to her amazement Alex and Cairo both stood before her, arms outstretched. Jointly they offered her a small box wrapped in golden paper.

  “On three, Cairo. One, two, three.” They almost sang, “Happy birthday to someone very special. This is with love from us all.” Alex stopped there, though Cairo added, “Can I get some sandwiches now?”

  “Of course you can,” said Kate, though she did give him a hug as well as a kiss on the cheek before she let him go. Alex also received a kiss on the cheek, though once she had opened her present, she gave him a kiss full on the lips. It was a rich blue lapis lazuli scarab, inlayed with what the Egyptians called red gold. Red gold was a favourite of the ancient Egyptians, and though it was not really red in colour, it was a much richer shade than was usual for gold. Even though she had not seen the scarab that had saved her life just a week ago, she knew that this was a copy of it. Everyone in turn looked at the scarab, admiring both it and the amazing workmanship. Everyone that was, except for Cairo, who was now sitting on the floor, cross-legged, with a lap full of sandwiches as he munched away.

  Quentin said, as he turned the small scarab over in his palm, “If I did not know better, I would say that this is an ancient piece.”

  “Oh no, Dad, we had it made for Kate this week.” Now Alex was being economical with the truth, as yes indeed, it had been made this week, though it had been made by ancient craftsmen. With both the stone and the gold being ancient, they were able work on it, and they were more than happy to do so.

  “I could tell you a few things about scarabs,” said Quentin through a mouthful of sandwich.

  “I would much rather hear about the ancient god Ophois,” said Kate. “And it is my birthday,” she added in the hope that Quentin would not refuse her request.

  He would not have refused anyway as he loved to show off his knowledge. “It’s quite strange really, as though I have been shoehorned into being ‘the expert’ on Egypt under Greek rule, and do call Luxor Thebes, I just cannot bring myself to call the ancient gods by their Greek names. To me Ophois will always be Wepwawet, as this is his truly Egyptian name. There are lots of interesting facts that I could tell you about this god. A god, by the way, which you have already seen many times, because he is frequently depicted on the walls of ancient temples and tombs. Though I suspect that like so many visitors, you will have seen the jackal shape and immediately thought that it was Anubis, and in a way, it is … Wepwawet is the son of Anubis.” Quentin averted his eyes from Bast to look at Kate and Alex. “If
either of you had paid the slightest bit of attention when we visited Medinet Habu, the mortuary temple of Ramses III, you would have remembered that I pointed him out several times and even described his hieroglyphs which are …”

  “You must be the great archaeologist Sir Quentin Cumberpatch,” said Bast with a false French accent, as she cut across his spiel. “I have heard so much of you that it is an extreme pleasure, as well as an honour, to finally meet you in person.” Alex thought that he was going to throw up. Bast now moved her eyes to look at Babs. “And you must be Sir Quentin’s lovely wife.” To which Babs nodded and blushed. “How can we rebuke Kate on her birthday for failing to recognise some unimportant ancient god, when I have not been introduced to the great man in front of me? I am Mademoiselle Bast. As you can see from my galabeya, I just adore cats. I was with Kate the other day when she was looking after a particularly beautiful sick cat. Such a concern for the welfare of animals is to be applauded, she is a true natural.” This was not a lie, though tonight the truths were very economical. “What does this god, how do you say … do, Sir Cumberpatch?”

  “Please call me Quentin.”

  “Not professor or Sir?”

  “No, no, that is what my students call me and I am not a Sir. Please call me Quentin, Mademoiselle Bast.”

  “Well, Quentin, what does this god do?”

  “The name Wepwawet translates to mean ‘opener of the way’.”

  Kate leant over to Alex and whispered, “Well, he certainly opened our way.” They could not help but laugh. Julian also laughed, as he had overheard Kate’s comment. Quentin was about to rebuke them for never listening, when Bast intervened, still maintaining her phony French accent.

  “If I am correct in my thinking, Quentin, when you say that Wepwawet’s title is literally translated as ‘opener of the way’, this is not how you would address him in your more academic circles. I would expect that you would endow him with his more formal title of ‘Opener of the way to the afterlife’. Am I correct?” Quentin was nodding like a schoolchild as he was completely captivated by Bast’s beauty as well as her phony French accent. “As Wepwawet is the god of warfare and hunting,” Bast continued, “I can only presume that he personally introduced many good ancient Egyptians to the afterlife.” At this everybody laughed.

  “Why do you think that he used his Greek name?” asked Julian in hushed tones.

  “Because we were in a Greek area,” replied Kate.

  “I am surprised that you know of Wepwawet, Mademoiselle Bast, as he is not one of the most well-known of the ancient gods. Quite the opposite in fact. Am I correct in thinking that you have some expertise in ancient Egypt?”

  “Oh no, Quentin, I do not study ancient Egypt at all. I must, however, admit to having more than a passing interest in their ancient gods. Though it is obvious to me that such an expert as yourself will know far more about Wepwawet than I ever could, no?”

  “Of course, in all modesty, I most certainly do, Mademoiselle Bast.”

  “Just Bast will be fine.” Quentin nodded as Bast continued. “It is a hobby of mine that has stayed with me since childhood.”

  “Have you read much on the ancient gods?”

  “Oh, Quentin, you do not know, at times it is like I personally know them all.” Kate and Alex cracked up and even Cairo almost lost his sandwich, which was not a pretty sight.

  The doors to the lounge opened. This time two waiters, very carefully, wheeled in what looked far more like a wedding cake than any birthday cake Kate had ever seen. It was white and absolutely massive. Four tiers in all, and on the very top was a large red plastic heart covered in silver glitter, surrounded by fourteen lit candles. After a slight delay, as they negotiated the trolley over the edge of the carpet, the cake safely reached the centre of the room, where Kate was ushered to blow out the candles and make a wish. The joyful mood within the room suddenly left as nobody had closed the doors.

  There stood a very drunk Aggie, freshly back from The Gardens, though what she was doing back this early nobody knew. “There you are, my girl. What happened to my morning coffee? You are not only stupid, you are also useless.” Aggie was obviously not finished because she walked into the room with a purpose. Yes, she walked slightly the worse for wear, due to the amount of alcohol consumed, though just as long as she did not speak, she looked the picture of Victorian elegance. Walking past the cake, she stood looking at the banners, as she said loudly, though to nobody in particular, “Well, what is going on here, call this a party, I have attended livelier funerals. Where is the alcohol, where is there anything to drink?”

  Coffee, tea and tamar-hindi were on the tables, so the invited birthday guests had what they wanted.

  “Waiter,” bellowed Aggie, “bring me a large gin and tonic,” to which she added, “make it two … And none of that Egyptian rubbish if you want to be paid for it.” She turned back to look again at the banners draped across the large window at the far end of the room. She stood, moving her head slightly as if she could not take in what they said. Everyone was sitting and looking at her. Quentin and Babs could have been owls, their heads were turned so far around.

  The penny suddenly dropped. Aggie spun around a little too fast. She wobbled rather too much, though she did manage to recover her balance. “I have one thing to say to you, my girl,” though this was as far as Aggie got. She was interrupted by a most dreadful cracking noise as the large glass chandelier detached itself from the ceiling. Quentin and Babs’ heads spun so quickly that it would not have been unreasonable to have expected them to suffer from whiplash. It was obvious that the monster of a chandelier was going to crush the birthday cake, Kate’s birthday cake, as it fell, yet much to their surprise it did not. The chandelier came to an abrupt downward halt roughly half way between the floor and the ceiling, though it still had plenty of momentum.

  It was then, in the silence of the room, that everyone heard a twang, as one of two previously unnoticed safety wires broke. This had the effect of catapulting the chandelier violently towards the entrance of the lounge. The remaining safety wire held, so the chandelier did not carry on out of the lounge as could have been expected. It became motionless at an impossible angle for what seemed to be an age, like a rollercoaster at the very pinnacle of its climb. And then, just like a rollercoaster, it picked up speed at an alarming rate. Traversing through an arc on its backward swing, the chandelier gathered up the entire birthday cake as it headed toward Aggie who was frozen to the spot. It would have missed her altogether, had the second and final safety wire held, however, it did not.

  As the wire broke, both chandelier and birthday cake headed towards Aggie at a speed beyond that of any rollercoaster. It all happened so quickly, yet at the same time, to those who watched, everything appeared as in slow motion. Aggie disappeared into the cake with such force that only her out-splayed hands and feet could be seen. The chandelier took the cake and Aggie through the far window and on to the ground, many metres below. A fall which not the chandelier, not the cake, and definitely not Aggie could possibly survive.

  Kate looked at Aggie’s shoes. They had remained where she last stood. She then looked beyond these to the window, where broken window frame and shattered glass surrounded a gaping hole. She could do nothing except smile as she read her two birthday banners. Despite been ripped to shreds, what remained read as ‘Happy Days Kate’.

  A cough came from the hall which caused heads to turn. Victoria Ramolino stood in the doorway, or perhaps it was more correct to say the doppelganger of Victoria Ramolino stood in the doorway. Without any attempt to maintain an American accent, and not in a particularly loud voice, she said, “Happy birthday Kate, I hope that your wish came true. I have a funny feeling that it just did!”

  Chapter 17

  -

  The Party Resumes

  It was just after ten in the evening as police, medics, and even the Egyptian equivalent of a structural engineer had left the Winter Palace. Kate had felt the need to laug
h ever since Aggie flew through the window, but knew she should not. The more that she knew that she should not, the more she had wanted to. In a curious twist, now that they had all left, her wish to laugh had left with them.

  Even though everyone had seen Victoria Ramolino turn and walk off in the direction of reception, apparently, despite their quick reactions, nobody had been able to find her.

  Despite this, Kate did feel extremely happy inside. No sadness for Aggie at all. She was actually very annoyed that her death had ruined a good party. Her happiness came from knowing that her absolutely dreadful time with Aggie was over and that she would now be able to stay in Luxor. Life was never this simple. At the age of fourteen, obvious things such as where she was going to get the money to live on, were not foremost in her thoughts. Money was there, it had always been there, and so it would always be there, was how Kate saw it.

  Several tourists in the garden had seen the chandelier and a giant strawberry sponge cake fly through the window. They had watched as it hit the ground, though, apart from those in the lounge, nobody had realised that there was a person under all that mess and that the cake most certainly did not contain any strawberries!

  Aggies body was already on route to the British Embassy in Cairo. A police report had been faxed over, so now the Embassy not only had a dead British citizen, but also a British minor who had to be repatriated … or did they?

  Mohammed on reception had kindly forwarded the police report to the British Embassy. It was not his fault that it was delivered in error to the hotel manager’s office, where it was corrected to show the accidental death of a British tourist, travelling alone, whilst under the influence of alcohol.

  By breakfast the window would be completely replaced. They were fitting a new one right now. Actually, they were making and fitting it, as they were making the parts on site as only Egyptians could, at any time of day or night. The manager assured Kate, Alex and his parents that even the chandelier would be replaced within the hour as they just happened to have a spare in storage. Therefore, most residents would be oblivious to the fact that anything untoward had occurred this evening. He expressed his condolences, as he was sorry to hear from Cairo that Aggie had been ‘creamed’.