Missing in Egypt (6 page)

We returned to the hotel and I had a late lunch before settling into a sunlounge in the leafy courtyard with a book.
 
Try as I might though, I couldn’t concentrate.
 
I re-read the first page three times before giving up and falling into a light sleep in which I was being chased by people with rams’ faces!
 
I was relieved then when Hamadi came and woke me.
 
“Come quickly” he said ‘The Australian Embassy is on the phone for you”.

It was John Turner.
 
“Sorry to get your hopes up” he said.
 
“I don’t have any news but I just wanted to let you know I am working on it.
 
How are you today?”
 
I said I was fine.
 
His voice was friendly and warm and I knew from his tone that he didn’t ring all his compatriots to give such an update.
 
It was nice to hear from someone who seemed to care though and made me feel less alone in this country so alien to me.
 
“Look” he said “I was thinking I might fly up there and have a look around the
Temple
of
Luxor
where the ransom exchange was to take place.
 
I can ask a few questions and maybe someone will remember something.
 
If I come up tomorrow will you come out to the
Temple
with me?”
 
I explained that I had already been out there but none of the guards seemed to remember seeing anything.
 
“It will be easier for me as I speak some Egyptian” he pointed out.
 
“It’s worth a try isn’t it?”
 
I readily agreed that anything was worth a try and at least I would be doing something other than sitting around.
 
He arranged to pick me up at the hotel at 1 o’clock.

I was already waiting outside the hotel when John pulled up in a taxi at the designated time the next day.
 
“Jump in” he said and gave me a warm smile.
 
“Let’s go and see what we can find out”.

The
Temple
of
Luxor
was just as impressive on my second visit.
 
I think I took more in too because on the first occasion I was concentrating so hard on trying to find out something about Kareem’s disappearance.
 
John was a good guide and pointed out the most important aspects of the
Temple
.
 
He explained that whilst Amenophis III built most of the complex, the first courtyard, including the statues of the seated pharaohs and the obelisks at the entrance was the work of Ramses II.
 
 
“No other city had so many obelisks and colossi made from a single stone” John told me.
 
It was nice to be with an Australian again, to talk easily without the language or accent restraints.
 
I suddenly became overwhelmingly homesick. “What was I doing here, so far from home
?
” I thought for a moment.
 
Then I thought of Kareem and our time together and I reproached myself for even thinking this.
 

We made our way to the columns where Kareem was to have met with the kidnappers.
 
John saw a guard in his black garb.
 
“Here, give me the photo of Kareem” he said.
 
He took it over to the guard and asked him something in Egyptian.
 
He was a different man to the one I had tried to speak to on my first visit.
 
They exchanged a few words and he looked intently at the photo.
 
He nodded his head and became very garrulous.
 
John came back to me smiling. “He said there was a bit of an incident that morning.
 
He heard a cry and came around the corner in time to see a man running away with a bag and another man lying on the ground.
 
He went over to assist him but he jumped up and chased off after the other man.
 
That was all he knew and he was the closest to the scene.
 
But at least it’s something” John added.
 
“We know the kidnappers took the money, that obviously they didn’t relinquish his brother and that Kareem was alive and well at that point.”

John talked to the other guards but no-one else remembered seeing Kareem.
 
One of them confirmed that there was an incident that day but said it was all over by the time he arrived.

We returned to my hotel and I invited John for a cold drink at the bar.
 
We talked easily until it was time for him to catch his return flight to
Cairo
.
 
He wanted to speak of
Australia
and what was happening in the political scene.
 
He said he was very homesick and was hoping his next posting would be back in
Australia
– preferably in
Canberra
.
 
Then all too soon it was time for him to go and he left promising to contact me as soon as he had any news.

5.
Kareem’s Disappearance

It was a couple of days later when John Turner rang to say there had been a report to the police in
Cairo
of a husband and daughter going missing.
 
The daughter’s description matched that of Ramy’s girlfriend, so John was going to interview the mother himself that morning.
 
He had asked her to bring in a photo and he said he would ring me as soon as he had spoken with her.

It was an anxious couple of hours before he called back.
 
I drank numerous cups of coffee and paced the hotel lobby.
 
When he rang he confirmed that it was indeed the same woman seen with Ramy.
 
“Her name is Yasmeen and I asked the mother if she would be willing to talk to you.
 
She said she would do anything to find her husband and daughter.
 
Why don’t you get yourself on a flight to
Cairo
?”
 
I didn’t need telling twice.
 
That afternoon I was back in
Cairo
, with the photo of Yasmeen and Ramy.
 
I took a taxi straight to the shop, which was underneath their home.
 
Mrs Ahmose welcomed me, saying “please, call me Waleed.”
 
Not very tall and slightly overweight, she was still a very beautiful woman and I thought what a stunner she would have been in her youth.
 
She wore a pair of beautifully tailored slacks and a very decorative black top with a black peacock picked out in green sequins. Her long fingernails were painted a very dark red which matched her lipstick perfectly and were covered in expensive looking rings. “Come, meet my sons Omar and Pili”.
 
Two very good looking young men in their early twenties greeted me.
 
It was obviously not just their sister who had inherited their mother’s good looks.
 

John had already explained my situation to Mrs Ahmose and she was happy to talk to me.
 
Over a cup of tea I filled her in as best I could on Kareem’s disappearance.
 
She nodded and then told me about her husband’s disappearance.
 
“He received a phone call” she explained “saying that Yasmeen was being held captive and that he had to go to the Valley of the
Queens
to get her back.
 
He was not supposed to tell anyone, especially not the police.
 
He only told me because he knew I would worry if he was gone too long and that I would then call the police.
 
He told me not to tell anyone, not even our boys.”

“But what did they want in exchange for Yasmeen?” I asked her.
 
“He didn’t tell me” she replied.
 
“He just said not to worry, everything would be alright – he would take care of everything.
 
When they didn’t return the next night, nor the next, I was worried sick.
 
I told the boys what had happened and they wanted to go up to the Valley of the
Queens
but I forbade them to.
 
I said I needed their support here and they should keep the shop running so if anyone was watching us they would not be suspicious.
 
After a week had passed I went to the police – what else could I do?
 
For all I know, I will never see either of them again”.
 
At this she started weeping but I could see there were few tears left – Mrs Ahmose had obviously already done a lot of crying over the past few weeks.
 
“The police have found nothing” Mrs Ahmose continued after a couple of minutes.
 
“There have been no reports of any unidentified bodies, they have contacted the ticket office at the Valley of the
Queens
and they had seen nothing suspicious.
 
I don’t even know if my husband made it there.
 
Why would they want to meet him there?
 
It doesn’t make any sense to me. We are quite well off but we are not super rich.
 
If they wanted money, why didn’t they tell Masud to take the money with him?
 
My husband takes care of all our financial matters, but after we had heard nothing from the police I spoke to the Bank and he has not withdrawn any large sum of money.
 
In fact he has not withdrawn any money since he left – the Bank has undertaken to contact me immediately if the accounts are activated.”

Omar interrupted us at this point.
 
“It is time we went to look for them ourselves” he told his mother.
 
“We cannot just sit around like this, day after day, wondering what has happened to them.
 
We have waited long enough – it is time for Pili and me to go and search for them.”

Mrs Ahmose became very upset at this point.
 
“Isn’t it enough that my husband and only daughter are missing?
 
You want me to be left alone to run the shop and worry about what is happening to you as well as to them? You want me to end up childless?” she remonstrated.
 

I interrupted her “I will keep looking for them“ I assured the boys.
 
“The police are looking
and the Australian Embassy is
trying to find Ramy and Kareem.
 
You really are better off looking after the shop and your mother.
 
You need to be here in case there is any contact from your father or sister.”

This seemed to appease them but it was clear they were anxious to do something practical to find Yasmeen and Mr Ahmose.
 
“Tomorrow is Sunday” I said to them.
 
“Why don’t you drive me out to the Valley of the
Queens
where your father was to meet with them and we will see if there are any clues there to their disappearance”.
 

This suggestion seemed to be satisfactory to everyone.
 
I had intended to return to
Luxor
that night so I hadn’t booked any accommodation.
 
I asked Mrs Ahmose if there was a small hotel nearby where I might stay, but she insisted that I sleep in Yasmeen’s old room.
 
“It will be nice to have some female company” she said as I helped her change the sheets. “Yasmeen is a good daughter, she comes as regularly as she can with her job and often stays overnight.”

Over dinner I also learned a bit about Mr Ahmose and Yasmeen.
 
It seemed both were quite worldly wise and not the types to be easily duped.
 
Mrs Ahmose was very proud of her daughter, who she said was clever and hard-working.
 
“She loves the antiques” she told me “I know she would love to work in the shop but her father thinks it is a man’s world.
 
Perhaps one day she will open her own shop.”
 
This of course brought more tears as she contemplated the possibility that Yasmeen would not be returning home.
 
We spent the rest of the evening going over possible scenarios for their disappearance.
 
Mr Ahmose was highly regarded in the community and well-known in the antique business.
 
I asked Mrs Ahmose if she thought her husband might have come across a rare antique so valuable that someone would kidnap Yasmeen and hold her for ransom.
 
“If he had such a valuable piece, I am sure he would have mentioned it to me” she replied.
 
Obviously they were a devoted couple, although clearly Mr Ahmose made all the decisions in the family and his wife tended to the home, as was their traditional custom.