Amelia Peabody Omnibus 1-4 (34 page)

‘Yes,’ he said, when I finished. ‘The clue is there, somewhere. A vast amount of money may be an inducement to violence. But how? I cannot see it, even now. Is it possible that his lordship lied to you about the old man’s death? If he still lives, and contemplates restoring Evelyn as his heiress – ’

‘No, he is dead; one of my acquaintances in Cairo knew of it.’

Emerson struck his fist against the floor.

‘The conclusion is inescapable, Peabody; in some way we do not comprehend, Evelyn must have control of the fortune his lordship so ardently desires. He has done everything a man could do to induce her to become his wife. I believed his sole motive was passionate love of his cousin. But in this day and age an English girl cannot be forced into marriage, and a forced marriage is the only kind that could come out of this night’s work. Nothing the wretch could do now would induce Evelyn to marry him of her own free will. No; it is the lady’s money that is being sought, not the lady’s person. If we only knew how – ’

‘I believe I do know,’ I interrupted. ‘I told you that before the late Lord Ellesmere died he gathered all Evelyn’s belongings and sent them to her. Lucas told me – good heavens, he actually boasted of it – that he was in full control at Ellesmere Castle while the old gentleman lay ill. If Ellesmere had softened toward Evelyn and wished to restore her to favour, Lucas would make certain he did not reach his lawyers in order to make a new will. But he might write a new will – a holograph will, I believe it is called. Knowing Lucas as he did, the poor old man saw only one way to ensure that such a document would survive. He could send it to Evelyn – packed in with her other possessions. He hoped to escape arousing Lucas’s suspicions that way.’

‘By Gad, Peabody, I think you’ve got it!’ Emerson exclaimed.

‘I think so too. Lucas has tried every possible means of getting to those boxes of Evelyn’s, or of having them destroyed unopened. He must have missed them in Rome; and when they arrived in Egypt they went into the safekeeping of Baring, who is the most powerful man in the government. He was a friend of Father’s, and he knows of Lucas’s unsavoury reputation; from such a man Lucas had no chance of extracting the precious boxes. Alas; for if he had – ’

‘Evelyn would not now be in danger,’ Emerson’s quick wits supplied the conclusion. ‘He may not be certain that such a will exists, but he must have reason to suspect that it does. If he could destroy it he would be safe. Failing that, he pursued Evelyn. As her husband he would have control of her fortune in any case, and he would have a good excuse to take charge of her baggage. But the marriage plan failed as well; thanks to our strenuous efforts, his lordship has now only one means left of gaining his ends…. Peabody, you must not blame yourself. How could you possibly have suspected this?’

‘I don’t blame myself,’ I said, wiping away the tears that were stealing down my face. ‘As you say, I could not have suspected. It is the most farfetched scheme I have ever encountered; only a frivolous, amoral man, who had been reading too many wild romances, would think of such a thing. And vain regret is useless. I will not indulge in it. I will get out of here and go after Evelyn, and I will kill his lordship if he has harmed her.’

I rose to my knees. Emerson put his hand in the centre of my back and pushed me down again.

‘I am in complete agreement with your programme. But let us try to think of some safer way to do it.’

‘Can we expect no help from anyone? What of Abdullah? And the crewmen on the boat – surely they heard the shots.’

‘I have grave suspicions of Abdullah,’ Emerson said grimly. ‘You forget, Peabody, that these people are desperately poor.’

‘And Reis Hassan too? I thought he looked strange the other day when you were questioning him.’

‘Hassan is one of the few honest men I know. Unfortunately he is also superstitious. He was ashamed to admit to me that he had been terrorized by Mohammed’s tales of ghosts and curses. No; he will come, I believe, if he can overcome his fears and persuade his crew. But we cannot count on that. Then there is the crew of his lordship’s dahabeeyah to be considered. What if they have been paid to prevent a rescue attempt? No, Peabody, if we are to get out of here in time, it must be by ourselves. And I think we had better set about it.’

‘But how … ?’

‘There are pebbles and rocks on the threshold. When I give the signal, begin rolling them down. Meanwhile, I will creep along the path in the other direction and try to get behind him.’

‘It is a foolhardy scheme,’ I said. ‘He will surely see or hear you.’

‘From below he has a poor chance of hitting me if I keep low. You must cover any sounds I make by the exuberance of your performance and, if possible, induce him to empty the magazine of his repeater. Come, come, Peabody; if you have any more practical suggestion, I will be happy to hear it. I have never had the inclination to be a hero. But we must do something, and soon.’

I had nothing to say – nothing practical, that is. There were many things I wanted to say. I wanted to say them so badly that I had to bury my teeth in my lower lip to keep it from forming the words. I turned my head away.

Emerson took me by the shoulders and rolled me over. He had lifted himself upon his elbows; I lay between them, like an unfortunate mouse under a cat’s paws. His face was so close I could see the bristles of his whiskers.

‘It seems possible that we shall not live through the night,’ he remarked. ‘I would hate to die without having…. Damnation! I
will
do it, even at the risk of surviving to face the consequences!’

Whereupon he bent his head and kissed me full on the mouth.

At first I was too stupefied by surprise to do anything. Afterward, I was simply too stupefied to do anything. It was not the first time I had been kissed. Several of the suitors who appeared after I inherited Papa’s money had presumed…. Well, let us be honest. I had encouraged them to kiss me. I was immensely curious about the process. In all cases it proved to be a deadly bore. It occurred to me, very soon after Emerson began kissing me, that previous experience in this field is not always a dependable guide.

At some point I must have closed my eyes, although I was not aware of doing so. I kept them closed after he raised his head. Thus I did not see him go. He was, I think, somewhat stupefied himself, or he would have waited for me to begin the divertissement he had suggested. The first intimation of his departure I received was a shot that struck the entrance above my head and sprayed my upturned face with little stinging pellets of stone.

I rolled over, snatched up a handful of pebbles, and pitched them down the path. They made considerable racket, but to my straining ears, Emerson’s progress along the path made even more noise. I began throwing out everything I could lay my hands on. Boxes, books, bottles and Emerson’s boots went tumbling down, followed by tins of peas and peaches, the mirror, and someone’s shaving mug. What Lucas thought of this performance I cannot imagine; he must have concluded that we had lost our wits. Such a cacophony of different sounds was never heard. The mirror made a particularly effective crash.

The action accomplished what we had hoped. Lucas was nervous; he let off a perfect fusillade of shots. None of them came anywhere near the mouth of the tomb, so I concluded he was shooting at the mirror, the tins, and the boots. A period of silence ensued. I had meant to count the shots, and had forgotten to do so. It would not have been much use in any case, since I had not the slightest idea of how many bullets the gun held. I could only hope that the cessation of shooting meant that he had emptied the weapon and was now reloading, or refilling, or whatever the term is; and that Emerson had succeeded in descending the cliff unharmed.

He had! Shouts, thuds, the sounds of a furious struggle told me that so far our plan had miraculously succeeded. I leaped to my feet and ran to join the fray, hoping to get in a blow or two on my own account. I had an urge to pound something, preferably Lucas, with my clenched fists.

As I neared the scene of battle I found Emerson engaged, or so it appeared, with two adversaries. The agitation of long white skirts identified one of them as the missing Abdullah.

In the struggle Emerson was flung to the ground. Stepping back, Lucas lifted the rifle to his shoulder and aimed at Emerson’s defenceless breast.

I was several yards away, too far to do anything except shout, which of course I did. The sensation was nightmarish; I felt as if I were on a treadmill that ran backward as fast as I ran forward, so that I made no progress at all. I screamed again and ran faster, knowing I would be too late….

And then Abdullah sprang forward and wrenched the weapon from Lucas’s hands. The villain’s finger had been on the trigger; the bullet exploded harmlessly into the air.

I did not pause to speculate on Abdullah’s change of heart; I flew straight at Lucas. I shudder to think what damage I might have inflicted if Emerson had not anticipated me. Rising, he seized the wretch by the throat and shook him till he hung limp.

‘Calm yourself,’ he gasped, fending me off with his elbow. ‘We can’t murder the rascal until he has told us what we want to know.’ Then, turning to his erstwhile foreman, he said, ‘You will have to decide whose side you are on, Abdullah; vacillation is bad for the character. I am willing to forget your recent indiscretions in return for cooperation.’

‘But I did not know,’ Abdullah muttered, holding the rifle as if it were burning his fingers. ‘He say, he want only his woman; she is his. What is a woman, to make such trouble for us?’

‘A true Moslem philosophy,’ said Emerson drily. ‘As you see, Abdullah, he lied. He was ready to kill – and you, I think, would have been among the victims. He could not leave witnesses against him. Now…’

He was still holding Lucas, whose face had turned an unbecoming shade of lavender. He gave him an extra shake for good measure.

‘Now, your lordship, speak up. Where have they gone? I beg, don’t tell me you don’t know; for the expectation of that information is the only thing that keeps me from throttling you here and now.’

His tone was almost genial; his lips were curved in a slight smile. But Lucas was not deceived.

‘Very well,’ he muttered. ‘The royal tomb. I told him to take her there – ’

‘If you are lying …’ Emerson squeezed.

Lucas gurgled horribly. When he had got his breath back, he gasped,

‘No, no, it is the truth! And now you will let me go? I can do you no more harm….’

‘You insult my intelligence,’ Emerson said, and flung him down on the ground. With one foot planted in the middle of Lucas’s back, he turned to me. ‘You must sacrifice another petticoat, Peabody. Only be quick; we have lost too much time already.’

We left Lucas bound hand and foot where he had fallen – not with my petticoat, for of course I was not wearing one. Using Abdullah’s knife, which he politely offered me, I ripped up the full skirts of my dressing gown, slit them fore and aft, and bound them to my nether limbs. It was wonderful what a feeling of freedom this brought! I swore I would have trousers made as soon as possible.

Abdullah remained to guard Lucas. Emerson seemed to have regained all his former confidence in his foreman; he explained that Abdullah had not been fighting him, but had been trying to separate the two Englishmen. I suppose the Egyptian’s attitude was understandable, considering his sex and his nationality.

If it had not been for the gnawing anxiety that drove us, I would have found the moonlight hike a thrilling experience. With what ease did I glide across the sand in my makeshift trousers! How lovely the contrast of shadow and silver light among the tumbled rocks of the wadi! There was food for meditation, too, in the events of the evening; our brilliant triumph just when disaster seemed imminent was a subject for modest congratulation. Hope began to raise a cautious head. Surely, if the mummified villain had carried Evelyn so far, her immediate demise was not meditated. We might yet be in time to save her.

The pace Emerson set left me no breath for conversation; and I do not think I would have spoken if it had. Let my reader not suppose that I had forgotten the effrontery – the bold action – in short, the kiss. I could not decide whether to bury the subject forever in icy silence, or to annihilate Emerson – at a more appropriate time, naturally – with a well-chosen, scathing comment. I occupied myself, when I was not picturing Evelyn in a variety of unpleasant positions, by composing scathing comments.

With such thoughts to distract me, the journey was accomplished in less time than I had expected, but it was a tiring, uncomfortable walk – or run – and I was breathless by the time we reached that part of the narrow canyon in which the royal tomb was located.

Emerson spoke then for the first time. It was only a curt order for silence and caution. We crept up to the entrance on all fours. The precaution was not necessary. Expecting Lucas’s triumph, the foolish mummy had not kept guard at the entrance. When I peered into the opening I saw a tiny pinprick of light, far down in the black depths.

Now that we were almost at our goal, feverish impatience replaced the exhilaration that had carried me to the spot. I was on fire to rush in. I feared, not only for Evelyn, but for Walter; either he had lost himself in the desert, or he had met some disastrous fate, for if he had succeeded in wresting Evelyn from her necromantic admirer we would have met him returning. Emerson’s anxiety was as great as mine, but he held me back with an arm of iron when I would have rushed impetuously into the tomb. He did not speak; he merely shook his head and pantomimed a slow, exaggeratedly careful stride. So, like stage conspirators, we edged around the fallen rocks still remaining from the avalanche, and set off down the long, steep corridor.

It was impossible to move in utter silence, the path was too encumbered underfoot. Fortunately there were other things in the tomb that made noise. I say ‘fortunately,’ but I am a liar; I would rather have taken the chance of being overheard than walk through a curtain of bats. The tomb was full of them, and night had roused them to their nocturnal life.