No Living Soul

by Julie Moffett

  “What motive would she have?”

  “Oh, I don’t know...money?”

  Slash put a hand on my shoulder. “I already checked her out. Her finances are clean, as is her record. A review of her cell records for the past six months shows no calls to any known felons or criminals. She appears to be an intelligent, hardworking and reliable woman. She still lives with her parents and younger siblings in Cairo and helps support them. I also think she’s smart enough to understand what’s at stake with those spores. In fact, she’s worked hard to get ahead in a field that isn’t kind to women in this part of the world, which reminds me a bit of someone else I know.”

  I don’t know why I felt worse after hearing that, instead of relieved, but I’d have to figure that out later. “You’ve certainly been busy.”

  “Always. I’d better go.”

  “Okay. By the way, can you look in the front pocket of my toilet kit? I’ve got a couple of SIM cards in there. Would you bring me those? At least we’ll be able to connect from here, even if it is slow.”

  “Absolutely. Good thinking. I’ll see you later.” He gave me one more kiss, this time a lingering one on the mouth, before disappearing down the street.

  Frowning, I went back inside.

  I knocked lightly on the guys’ door. Elvis opened it and looked over my shoulder. “Where’s Slash?”

  “He’ll be back in a bit.”

  I walked into the room. Arthur was at the desk pouring himself more orange Fanta.

  “Where’s Gwen?”

  “She went to take a shower and hit the sack. By the way, here’s your room key.”

  “Thanks.” I took it and slipped it in my pocket. “Are we done for the night?”

  “Yeah. We’re done. Tomorrow morning, we head to the museum to take random photos of chariots to satisfy my father’s wishes. We just have to figure out who’s going and how to do it without getting spotted and trailed back here.”

  “Don’t think I can’t hear the note of derision in your voice,” Arthur said, turning around.

  “Note?” Elvis crossed his arms against his chest, facing his father. “Try a whole symphony. Your behavior has been inexcusable, not to mention embarrassing. We came here to help and this is how you treat us.”

  “How dare you speak to me in that tone!”

  “How dare I not?”

  I cleared my throat. “Well... I, ah, really need to take a shower, too, so I’ll just be going...”

  Elvis reached out, put a hand on my arm. “Stay, Lexi. Please.”

  The urge to bolt was strong, but how could I say no? If he wanted me to stay, then I had to stay no matter how uncomfortable the situation became. Swallowing hard, I nodded and pressed my shoulders back against the wall.

  Elvis turned his attention to his father. “There are things that need to be said between us. I swore to myself a thousand times if I ever saw you again, I wouldn’t say them. But they aren’t going to stay locked inside anymore. So, here goes.” He pushed a shaky hand through his hair. “Why the hell did you leave us, Arthur? I deserve to know.”

  Arthur took a few steps forward until he faced his son. They glared at each other like two gunslingers in a Western movie. Except the only bullets that would be fired here were verbal, although I suspected just as deadly.

  “I didn’t leave. I had to work.” Arthur’s frown deepened. “When you, your brother and mother could no longer accompany me on-site, I had to find a good home base for you. I chose a spot near your mother’s parents and saw you settled.”

  “That’s what you tell yourself? You settled us?”

  “I had to work. There were bills to pay. It’s not my fault your mother and grandparents shut me out.”

  “Maybe because you left us.”

  “I’m an archeologist. My work requires me to be in the field.”

  “You’re a teacher, Arthur. A professor. You could have found a job in the same damn country as us, even if it were just for a little while. We needed you.”

  Arthur pushed his hand through his hair in a gesture eerily similar to the way Elvis did it. “I admit the timing was terrible. It’s just I was onto something big, Elvis. Those inscriptions in the cave in Jordan—while it wasn’t the significant find I’d hoped for—it was the clue I needed. It eventually led me to the artifact...and the spores. This is the one, Elvis. I swear.”

  “So, you abandoned us when we needed you most because your search for some stupid artifact buried for thousands of years was more important to you than your family?” Elvis’s hands shook badly, so he pressed them against his side. I wanted to close my eyes, pretend I was anywhere but here listening to this intensely private and painful conversation. But he had asked me to stay, so I stayed.

  “You don’t understand.” There was a defensive note in Arthur’s voice. “I did this for you. For our family.”

  “No, Arthur, you did it for you. In the meantime, Xavier and I had to finish high school without the assistance of a responsible adult when grandma and grandpa died. We had to take care of mother, too, pretending she was fine so we didn’t get stuck in foster care. Do you understand how hard that was when we were just two scared teenage boys?”

  Elvis enunciated each word with small intakes of breath, as if it were strangling the life out of him. I wanted to put a hand on his arm as a measure of support, but I was afraid the slightest touch would cause him to fall apart and I knew he had to get through this.

  Arthur looked shaken. He sagged into a chair. “I thought I was doing the right thing. It took me longer than expected. I thought if I could find the artifact, it would save our family, not hurt it. It would make all the effort worthwhile.”

  Elvis shook his head. “That’s just an excuse, and a lousy one at that.”

  “You’re right.” Arthur pressed his hand to his forehead. “That’s not the whole truth. A part of me believed you were better off without me...after what happened.”

  Anger flashed across Elvis’s face. “Don’t you dare say that. You don’t have the right. Maybe it was better for you, but we needed you, especially after Sadie. What kind of man leaves his wife at such a time? What kind of father just...leaves?”

  Arthur closed his eyes and then seemed to steel himself. “None of this is going to get settled tonight and it isn’t the time to rehash old family matters, especially not in front of her. I reached out to you and your brother, Elvis, because we’re family and the discovery of this artifact is bigger than me. Bigger than you. It’s history in the making. The impact on humanity could be staggering.”

  Elvis exhaled, steadier now. “Make no mistake, Arthur. That’s the only reason I’m here. If you think I came because I wanted some kind of family reunion, you couldn’t be more wrong. I deserve better, and so do Mom, Xavier and Sadie.”

  With those words, Elvis turned sharply and left the room, closing the door hard behind him.

  I stood alone in the small room facing Arthur Zimmerman. I had no idea who Sadie was and what exactly had happened to this family that had torn them apart so terribly. Daring a glance across the room, I saw there were tears shimmering in Arthur’s eyes.

  He took a shaky breath and looked at me imploringly. “I tried to do the right thing by my family, by him, Lexi. I really tried.”

  I met his gaze evenly. The anguish was palpable in his voice, but that didn’t excuse his actions.

  “You’re his father,” I said. “You better try a lot harder.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I went in search of Elvis.

  There was no sign of him, which told me he wanted to be alone. I figured he knew where I was if he needed me. I went to my room and found Gwen already in her bed dressed only in a T-shirt and underwear, her hair wet.

  “No clean pajamas and no hairdryer.” She lifted a strand of
her limp hair. “The shower was basically a handheld sprayer and there was no shampoo or soap. But it’s better than nothing.”

  I took off my sandals and sat on my twin bed with all my clothes on. “Oh, well.”

  She yawned. “How’s Elvis?”

  “He’s dealing.”

  “It’s tough. Dealing with an absent father sucks.”

  There was something in her voice that made me look over my shoulder. “You sound like you know something about that.”

  She shrugged. “My dad split when Angel was six months. Haven’t heard from him since. I don’t miss him because I didn’t really know him. But I kind of miss the idea of a father, if you know what I mean.”

  I didn’t know—thank God—but the revelation she had an absent father made me wonder if that had helped Elvis feel more comfortable sharing the details of his father with her.

  Gwen let out a huge yawn and raised her arms above her head. “While it’s really cool being your roommate, Lexi, I’m just too tired to chat. I hate to say it, but do you mind if I go to sleep? We can have a meaningful girl-to-girl conversation tomorrow night. It will be a true slumber party. Afterward, I’ll blog about what it’s like to sleep in the same room as Lexi Carmichael.”

  Oh, God, no! What had I done to deserve this? I made a mental note to schedule a hack on her website to make sure that blog never went up. “Go to sleep, Gwen. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

  To help things along I turned off the overhead light for her. In less than five minutes, she was asleep. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sleepy in the slightest. I sat in the dark, my head resting back against the headboard, my mind playing and replaying the painful scene between Elvis and his father.

  About an hour later I heard a soft knock on the door. I went to the door and whispered, “Who is it?”

  “Me. Elvis. Are you decent?”

  I opened the door. He smiled tiredly when he saw I was fully dressed.

  “Where’s Gwen?” he asked softly.

  “Asleep, thankfully. Is Slash back?”

  “I haven’t seen him. Where is he?”

  “At the Marriott. He wanted to do some more research on the guy who held us at gunpoint at your house.” We didn’t have to wonder whether he’d be careful in returning to our location. Slash was a pro.

  Elvis nodded and then paused. “You got a few minutes to talk?”

  “Of course. Let me get my shoes.”

  I put on my sandals and locked the door behind me as we left. The building had a small terrace with a single iron table and four chairs. No one else was around.

  We took a seat at the table and I leaned back in the chair. The night was hot, the air scented with the rich, intoxicating aroma of jasmine. The moon shone bright.

  I’m not sure how many minutes we sat in silence. It could have been five, it could have been thirty. I had taken off my watch, so I had no idea.

  “I hate him,” Elvis finally said. “I absolutely, totally hate him.” He fell silent for another minute before sighing. “Well, I want to hate him. He deserves it. But somehow I can’t. So, who I really hate is myself for that weakness.”

  There wasn’t a question involved, but he paused as if waiting for me to make a comment. This was clearly an emotional statement and since there was no logical way to address this, I said, “You just used hate four times in six sentences. I’m sensing a pattern here.”

  “Of course, there’s a pattern. He abandoned us. He left his wife who was ill with grief and two teenage boys who didn’t have a clue how to deal with it. How could he do that? How can I not hate him for that?”

  The agony in his voice caused a physical reaction to me. He hurt, so I hurt. I spoke gently. “I don’t know the answers to those questions, Elvis. I don’t even know if there are answers to those questions. Who is Sadie?”

  Elvis looked down at his hands. “My sister.”

  My mouth dropped open. “You have a sister?”

  “Had a sister. She passed away while we were living in Jordan. That’s where Arthur had made his so-called big discovery. The ancient inscriptions in the back of the cave. Sadie was four. She was the sweetest, happiest child. She was special, Lexi. Really special.” His voice shook. “She contracted some kind of airborne sickness. It happened so fast. One day she was there and the next day she wasn’t. We didn’t even have time to take her to the hospital.”

  My heart twisted at the anguish in his voice. I put a hand on his forearm. “I’m so sorry, Elvis. I had no idea. You never talked about her.”

  “I should have. That’s on me. I dishonor her memory by not talking about her. But it’s hard because it still hurts. Even after all these years, it’s still an open wound for me, Mom and Xavier. People say time heals wounds, but they are wrong. It doesn’t heal at all. You just learn to live with it. When she died, we lost a part of our hearts. Then we lost Mother. And without Mother to hold us together, our family collapsed.”

  “Your mother...what happened to her?”

  “I don’t know,” Elvis said. “She just...changed. Grief. Loss. Depression. I can’t say for sure.”

  I’m not an overly emotional person, but I had to blink back tears. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what the Zimmerman family must have endured. I didn’t know what to say, or if I could say anything that would help, so I squeezed his arm to let him know I was listening.

  “Yet, here I am in Egypt, having traveled halfway around the world to find him.” Elvis rested his chin on his hand and stared at the moon. “He sends one damn letter, without an apology or a care for his family, and I do exactly what he asks. No wonder Xavier is furious at me. Why did I come, Lexi? Nothing has changed. Nothing will ever change.”

  I finally found my voice. “You’re wrong, Elvis. Something did change. You changed. You came because you didn’t let your father’s actions, or inaction, define you. You’re a good person, a decent man. Despite your father’s dysfunction, you were mature enough to make a decision to help. I know you can argue you came because your father uncovered something that put millions of people in danger. But I also know you well enough to say you also came because Arthur is still your father. And because you knew it was the right thing to do.”

  Elvis closed his eyes and sat in silence. I leaned over and took his hand, squeezing it, knowing there was nothing more I could say or do that would help.

  We sat there in sadness and friendship, connected to each other by nothing more than our hands. At that moment, while I understood life was better lived outside of virtual reality, this was one of those times I longed for the safety and anonymity of that world.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Morning came early. Especially because I’d had a difficult time falling asleep in a strange place, in a strange bed, and without the warmth of Slash’s arms. It was funny how accustomed I’d become to sleeping beside him.

  A soft knock on the door woke both Gwen and me. When I answered it, Slash was there looking handsome, fresh and completely rested.

  “What time is it?” I asked, my eyes barely open.

  He stepped inside, giving me a kiss. “Eight o’clock. Did you sleep in your clothes?”

  I smoothed my blouse. “I didn’t have pajamas and I don’t know Gwen well enough to sleep naked. Where did you sleep?”

  “Next door with the boys, of course.”

  “How can you look so good? The beds are lumpy and the shower is more like a trickle of water from a handheld showerhead. I couldn’t even brush my teeth.”

  “I showered and changed clothes at the Marriott before I returned.”

  “Good thinking. No one followed you back?”

  “No.” He handed me two laptop bags. “Yours and Gwen’s. The front pocket of yours has the SIM cards, your phone charger, a change of clothes and a toothbrush. Gwen’s has a ch
ange of clothes, too.”

  I kissed the bag, hugging it to my chest. “Wow. Mr. Laptop. I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you.”

  “You’re making me jealous,” Slash said.

  Gwen sat up in bed, raising her arms above her in a big stretch. “Good morning, Slash. Lexi is right. You do look good in the morning.”

  “Don’t give him a big head,” I warned.

  Slash chuckled. “What happened next door while I was gone? Elvis and his father aren’t talking and it’s pretty frosty over there.”

  I rubbed my eyes and sat on the side of the bed. “A family thing. Can we get coffee?”

  “At the museum.” He motioned to the door. “Come next door when you’re ready, okay? Make it quick. We’ve got a lot to do today.”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  I changed clothes before going to the bathroom, splashing water on my face and brushing my teeth—essentially completing my morning routine. After grabbing my purse and phone charger, I waited for Gwen to get ready before we knocked on the men’s door.

  To my surprise, Zizi opened the door.

  “Hey, Zizi,” I said. “What’s up?”

  She opened the door wider, letting us in. Today she was dressed in a light green skirt, a white blouse and plain white sandals. The green of her skirt matched her eyes and it was a stunning look. And I wasn’t even a fashionista. A museum identification card hung around her neck.

  “I came by to see if I could help. I’ve got a light load today at the museum, so I can shift things around as necessary. I thought this is much more important. Elvis and Slash have already caught me up on what the plan is for today.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Seeing as how I didn’t know what the plan was yet, I looked over at Elvis for guidance.

  He shrugged. “Well, it looks like we’re chariot hunting today. The only questions are who goes, who stays, and how do we ensure we aren’t followed back here?”

  “I’ll be the guide,” Zizi said. “I think I know the location of all the chariots currently on display.”