‘Is she rich?’ I asked.
‘Oh, immensely, I should say. The amount of donations coming in from people who want to discover that they’re really the reincarnation of ancient Egyptians! As far as I can tell, Theodora could have bought fifty houses if she’d wanted to. She’s absolutely rolling in it. So that’s a motive to kill her – which, at first, seems excellent for someone in her family, like Daniel or Heppy. But the interesting thing is who the accounts are registered to. It’s the Breath of Life account. Theodora is the only person authorized to draw money out – but there are two people who are also listed on the accounts, who will be able to access them now that Theodora’s dead: Miss Doggett and Mr DeWitt. So—’
‘— so they might be able to take all that money!’
‘Well, technically, it’s the society’s money, but yes, there’s no reason why Miss Doggett or Mr DeWitt couldn’t now draw it all out and flee to Outer Mongolia. Which is very interesting, Hazel! It reveals a most excellent motive for them both – especially Miss Doggett, who as we’ve seen has expensive taste in clothes. Mr DeWitt’s name was only recently added too – it’s in different ink, much less faded. But that’s not all. Look at this!’
Daisy brandished something at me, so enthusiastically that she hit me on the forehead with it.
‘Ow!’ I said, for the thing was heavy glass, as round as a stone, on the end of a chain.
‘Hazel, your reflexes are still not what they ought to be,’ said Daisy unrepentantly. ‘Look at it!’
I looked, and recoiled. The round thing was a glass locket, very old-fashioned and rather dusty, and inside its clear glass dome was something that looked like – ‘Fur?’ I asked.
‘Close enough,’ said Daisy. ‘It’s hair.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Well, on the back of the locket it says Alfred 7.5.1915 RIP and Gabriel 31.7.1917 RIP. Now Alfred and Gabriel might be dogs or cats, of course, but it’s rather more likely they’re people, especially when you consider that these dates coincide with the sinking of the Lusitania and the Battle of Passchendaele. And don’t you know about the disgusting habit old people have of taking hair from people they loved and keeping it? Horrid. It seems at least likely that Theodora lost two men who were important to her.’
‘Poor Theodora!’ I said. ‘How awful for her!’
‘Poor nothing!’ said Daisy. ‘She was an awful person – look how she treated everyone she was with before she died! If you ask me, it’s not a surprise at all that someone’s done away with her. Now I believe that we have discovered all we can from this cabin. Let us move on quickly before we’re compromised.’
8
We stepped carefully out of Theodora’s cabin, looking around to make sure we had not been seen. The deck was still clear, becoming brighter and brighter – but from cabin number eleven we heard the sound of sobbing. It was so lost and broken that it made my skin tingle with uneasiness.
‘It’s Miss Bartleby!’ I whispered. ‘It has to be!’
‘An excellent opportunity!’ Daisy whispered back.
‘Daisy!’ I said, but Daisy had already reached out her hand and knocked.
‘Who is it?’ asked Miss Bartleby’s voice tremulously. ‘Please, I want to be left alone!’
‘I’m sorry, Miss Bartleby!’ said Daisy, as charming as she can be. ‘We only wanted to see if you were all right?’
‘Quite all right! Oh, do leave me alone!’
She sounded so upset that I drew away from the door. ‘We can’t go in!’ I whispered. ‘She doesn’t want to see us!’
‘Watson!’ hissed Daisy. ‘Clearly we can’t listen to her! She is one of our suspects, and she is also in a weakened emotional state. We need to observe her room, and observe her, and she is giving us the perfect opportunity to do that. Go on, go in!’
Daisy, of course, never does bother about people. To her, they are merely pieces moving about on a board where the only real players are she and I. I made a frantic face at her, for Miss Bartleby really did sound distraught – but she was already pushing me forward, opening the door, and I had no choice but to step into Miss Bartleby’s cabin. There were no bloodstains that I could see, at least, although the room was untidy.
Miss Bartleby was curled up in a little heap on her bed, in her nightie, a handkerchief draped over her face, howling.
‘Oh dear!’ cried Daisy, all sympathy. ‘Whatever’s the matter!’
‘Please!’ sobbed Miss Bartleby. ‘Oh, do please go away!’
‘But we heard you crying,’ I said. ‘We wanted to make sure you were all right.’
And I really was worried. Miss Bartleby looked so harmless, so upset. But I knew Daisy wanted me to take my true feelings and use them to trap her further, trick her into saying anything that might help us shine light on this case. I reminded myself sternly that Miss Bartleby might be the murderer.
‘Please go away!’ gasped Miss Bartleby again. ‘Death! Death, everywhere!’
I glanced around, and Daisy elbowed me crossly. ‘Not literally!’ she said under her breath. ‘Bear up, Hazel!’
‘I’m so sorry, Miss Bartleby,’ I said.
‘I’m sorry!’ Miss Bartleby said. ‘I – I ought to be ashamed of myself. That’s what she said. I ought to pay more attention, only I can’t.’
This seemed to be rather sideways to the matter at hand. Daisy and I exchanged a quick, confused glance.
‘Do you mean about the objects for the ritual?’ Daisy asked.
‘Did I forget them?’ asked Miss Bartleby. ‘I didn’t mean to!’
‘I – er – well – you helped Mrs Miller to bed last night, didn’t you?’ asked Daisy, trying not to look bewildered.
‘Yes, I do that,’ said Miss Bartleby. ‘Dear Theodora lets me serve her. Such a thrill. I help put on her night things, and tuck her tightly into bed just as she likes. She tells me that, if I continue my good work, she may be able to tell me my reincarnation soon. She says it may even be – so exciting – Queen Nefertiti.’
‘But—’ I began. We knew perfectly well that Miss Bartleby had been confirmed as Nefertiti already.
Daisy’s fingers closed over my wrist.
Miss Bartleby’s eyes clouded. ‘But what are you doing here? Where’s Joshua? What’s happened?’
‘Miss Bartleby,’ I said, pulling my hand out of Daisy’s grasp, ‘Joshua isn’t here. It’s Mrs Miller. Something’s happened to her.’
Miss Bartleby flinched. ‘No!’ she gasped. ‘No, surely not!’
‘I’m afraid it’s true,’ said Daisy. ‘She was found dead this morning.’
‘Oh no!’ said Miss Bartleby. ‘It’s happening again! I can’t stop it!’
‘Stop what?’ I asked.
Miss Bartleby sat up and fixed her eyes on me. ‘Things keep on going missing, you see. Sometimes I put things down, and they’re not there when I turn to pick them up. Sometimes my mornings go missing, and it’s two afternoons in a row. Or people – they move about, and it’s all wrong somehow. Like – like you. Are you new members? Do I know you?’
‘We’re Miss Wells and Miss Wong,’ I said. ‘We’re on this ship with you.’
‘A ship? No, that can’t be,’ said Miss Bartleby. ‘We’re in Humbleby, dear, at home.’
Then I saw her eyes change. She leaped off her bed. ‘What are you doing here?’ she cried. ‘Who let you in? Help! Help!’
‘Miss Bartleby!’ protested Daisy, staggering backwards as Miss Bartleby charged at us, shrieking. She was tiny, even shorter than me, but in her current state she was quite alarming. ‘Miss Bartleby! OW!’
‘We’re leaving, aren’t we, Daisy?’ I said. ‘We’re so sorry, Miss Bartleby – we only wanted to help.’
‘HELP!’ shouted Miss Bartleby. ‘You wanted no such thing! Get out! Get out!’
Daisy lunged at me and, clinging together, we backed out of the cabin and closed its door behind us. We gripped each other for a moment longer, staring at each other in shock. Things on the
Hatshepsut, I thought, were getting odder and odder every moment.
9
And we were still reeling from the strangeness of the encounter when we walked straight into another alarming scene. Miss Doggett was standing at the end of the row of cabins with her back to us, beside the cane chairs and potted plants where I had found May. Her arms were outspread towards the Nile river and her eyes were closed, her face tipped back. Her gold-embroidered bathrobe was still tied tightly round her waist.
She did not look like someone at all concerned with what had just been discovered – although, I thought, sometimes people do hide their grief. She seemed to be quite in a trance – but, when she heard the sound of our footsteps, her eyelids flew open and she spun round and glared at us. We both froze.
‘Good morning,’ said Daisy, recovering as quick as a blink, and oozing politeness.
‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ I added, trying to be charitable.
‘Loss?’ said Miss Doggett, closing her eyes. She spoke in a strangely deep voice that I had never heard before, as though she was pushing it down into her chest. ‘There is no loss. The Breath of Life teaches that there is no true death. The ba flies out of the dying body in the shape of a bird, and it can settle into another when it finds a true heart. Theodora’s imperfect body may be gone, but the great spirit of Hatshepsut is already in flight, seeking another body to inhabit with the rising of the sun.’
‘Will Hatshepsut land soon, then?’ said Daisy, nudging me at this mention of hearts.
Miss Doggett’s eyes flew open again. ‘That is not for you to know!’ she cried. ‘It is only for society members to learn.’
‘Oh, I see,’ said Daisy. Then she took my arm and began to pull me past Miss Doggett, so that she was forced to turn sideways to look at us. I could not think what Daisy was doing – until there was movement to my left and I caught a flicker of blond hair ducking out of one of the cabins and then back in again.
George, Alexander and Amina, I thought – and I knew that Daisy and I had to work to make sure that Miss Doggett did not notice what was happening.
‘But – but could it be anyone?’ I asked. ‘How is the, er, body chosen?’
‘Again, that is not a question to ask!’ said Miss Doggett, annoyed. ‘These are mysteries, girls, deep mysteries that cannot be revealed to simply anyone.’
‘But what if we’re reincarnations of someone?’ asked Daisy, still shuffling round so that Miss Doggett had to spin after us. We had almost got her turned all the way round, with her back to the cabins – and, as I watched, I saw Alexander edge carefully out of one, George creeping behind him. ‘What if I had – er – Queen Elizabeth’s ba in me – or Boadicea’s?’
‘It’s quite clear that—’ Miss Doggett began, and then a red ray of sun rose up above the trees and caught the top of Daisy and Miss Doggett’s heads, lighting them like fire.
Daisy said, ‘OH!’ and stumbled forward, as though she had been dazzled by it. She brushed against Miss Doggett, knocking the tie of her bathrobe loose.
Miss Doggett made a hissing noise like a teakettle and staggered backwards, thankfully no longer interested in the deck behind her.
‘Clumsy girl!’ she cried.
I looked over her shoulder, and saw the door to the next cabin closing gently. The boys and Amina were safe.
‘Terribly sorry,’ I said, reaching out for Daisy’s elbow and tucking my arm through it. ‘We’ll go. Come on, Daisy.’
‘It’s supposed to be me who says that to you!’ said Daisy as we trotted away towards the starboard side. ‘And you’re trembling, Hazel! Goodness, it’s all right. The others are safe, if you’re worried about that.’
‘It wasn’t the others!’ I said. And it was not. It was Miss Doggett. It had been such a strange little encounter, but somehow it felt quite enormous and unsettling.
‘Oh, do calm down!’ hissed Daisy. ‘Good heavens, Hazel, who’s this now? Another suspect!’
A figure was hovering just round the corner of the starboard side. I saw his cane, upraised, and the glint of metallic greenish gold on his head in the sunlight, and knew that this was Mr DeWitt.
‘Good morning!’ I said, and Mr DeWitt jumped.
‘Hello – er – young ladies,’ he said. ‘What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in your cabin? I was – er – just keeping an eye on Miss Doggett. What’s she up to?’
He gestured towards Miss Doggett, who had her eyes closed once more and had turned back towards the rising sun.
‘Er,’ I said, ‘I’m not sure. She said some things about Mrs Miller’s spirit – er – her ma?’
‘Her ba, you mean. She thinks Hatshepsut is going to rise again in her!’ said Mr DeWitt with a snort. ‘That woman understands nothing about the niceties of reincarnation. She’s got quite the wrong kind of personality to be Hatshepsut. She’s a natural Cleopatra – although I guess it’s in Cleopatra’s nature to be dissatisfied with her lot.’
That was the oddest thing about the Breath of Life – the way they would say things in such an ordinary tone. Mr DeWitt might have been talking about his next-door neighbours instead of two long-dead pharaohs.
‘If you ask me,’ said Mr DeWitt, still staring at Miss Doggett, ‘that woman is not just useless, she’s a danger!’
‘Oh!’ I said, shocked.
‘She only has herself to blame if she’s feeling shut out. She was a useless second in command, always pinching society money to buy herself clothes and hoping Theodora wouldn’t realize – I’m already turning the fortunes of the society around, and she’s furious about that.’
Mr DeWitt seemed hardly to notice we were there, so wrapped up was he in his own thoughts. ‘Well,’ he went on, ‘I think that’s one of the first things I’ll do. Get rid of Ida. Oh, things will change around here.’
I tried not to shudder. I could smell Mr DeWitt under his cologne, sour and slightly off, and I could see the gold caps on his back teeth as he talked.
‘Do excuse me, ladies, I must go to my room.’
He bowed to us both and hurried away to his cabin, his cane tapping on the floor.
Daisy and I looked at each other.
‘Bother!’ said Daisy. ‘Now we’ve missed the chance to check his room for clues.’
‘But, Daisy – wasn’t that awful!’
‘Everyone on this ship is quite mad,’ said Daisy. ‘Quite mad, Hazel! I believe either of those two could have done it. And – wait, who’s that?’
10
The sun had come up fully by now, and was floating hot and yellow just above the trees. The day was beginning to get warm, but the heart-rending sobs coming from the other end of the saloon deck made me shiver.
Miss Doggett, still wrapped in her bright bathrobe, turned and hurried away towards the noise, and Daisy, eyes wide with excitement, grabbed my hand and towed me after her. Mr DeWitt, I noticed, pointedly went on towards his cabin.
I remembered the screams this morning, and my feet stumbled against the boards of the deck, but Daisy’s grip was firm and sharp, and before I could do anything much we were on the scene.
Daniel was standing at the top of the stairs on the starboard side, his arm round Heppy, who was weeping, her rusty hands up against her face, so her cheeks were becoming more and more smeared with blood. ‘Ruining evidence!’ hissed Daisy.
Next to Daniel and Heppy was Mr Mansour, one foot on the second step of the stairs. He had an extremely determined look on his face, his suit jacket absolutely impeccable, although his hair was not quite combed.
‘Sir,’ he was saying. ‘Mr Miller. Please.’
‘See here, you can’t do this to her!’ Daniel snapped. ‘Look at her! She’s terrified!’
‘Sir, if you please – there has been a crime—’
‘You simply don’t understand! She doesn’t know what she did, poor girl. Heppy’s always been mentally delicate, and cooped up with our mother and her hideous group she was bound to come to grief. I should have got her out sooner
!’
Heppy’s shoulders shook. ‘I’m so sorry!’ she wailed. ‘Oh, poor Mother!’
I felt a pang of pity. Heppy reminded me more and more of our friend Beanie. She was so upset, and she seemed so helpless. I knew we had to save her.
But Mr Mansour cleared his throat and said, in a tone of voice that told me that he had said it at least five times before, ‘Sir, madam, if a crime has been committed, it is my duty to take the suspect into custody and keep them there until we reach the nearest town. Miss Miller, you cannot remain in your cabin, and you cannot bathe until the police have taken your picture. I will make you comfortable in a cabin on the lower deck, and you will be entirely safe there. I will have one of my men guarding you at all times until we reach Aswan, where you will give your statement. I trust that this matter will be cleared up soon, but you must see that I cannot allow you to wander about the ship. I have the other passengers to think of. There is breakfast to serve. The ship must sail. Please.’
Aswan! I thought. So Amina was right!
‘Mr Mansour, Heppy is no danger to anyone! Look at her, man! This is barbarous!’
‘On the contrary, our police service is very advanced,’ said Mr Mansour, bristling a little. ‘As good as anything you’ll find in England, as you’ll see when we reach Aswan. Now please let me take Miss Miller to her new quarters.’
‘Daniel,’ gasped Heppy, and she seemed to be trying to pull herself together. ‘Let him. Please. It’ll only be for a few hours. And – and I can’t be trusted.’
‘Nonsense!’ said Daniel. ‘You know you’re not a danger.’
‘Oh, this is infuriating!’ whispered Daisy in my ear. ‘I thought Mr Mansour would be a clodhopper, but it’s worse – he seems quite competent! If he has Heppy locked up, we shan’t be able to get in to see her easily. And we still need to question her!’
‘But isn’t it good that he’s trying to preserve evidence?’ I asked.
‘Humph!’ said Daisy, the crease appearing at the top of her nose.
Death Sets Sail Page 10
