Missing in Egypt (7 page)

The next morning we were all up early and after a very filling breakfast Omar, Pili and I set off for the Valley of the
Queens
.
 
Mrs Ahmose stood at the door waiving to us and dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief.
 
Omar did the driving and he and Pili said very little on the way, both caught up in their private thoughts and their hopes of finding something that would lead us to their father and sister. Occasionally they would make a comment about the road or another driver.
 
It seemed Omar, being the oldest, was more confident than his brother but I had the feeling that Pili was perhaps the smarter of the two.
 
Both were very good looking and wore designer jeans and open-necked shirts.
 
Both had dark, flashing eyes that took in everything around them.
 
Neither were very tall but they walked with an air of confidence that added height.
 
Their manners were impeccable and I felt very comfortable with them. I also spent much of the journey lost in thought, hoping against hope that we might find Ramy and that Kareem would somehow be with him.

We parked at Queen
Hatshepsut’s
tomb.
 
We took the photo of Ramy and Yasmeen over to the guards and asked them if they had seen them.
 
They all replied in the negative.
 
Pili also showed them a photo of his father, but this brought the same response.
 

We wandered around the tomb.
 
Pili told me that Queen Hatshepsut had ruled for 22 years, bringing
Egypt
peace and prosperity.
 
When her husband, King Thutmosis II died, she became co-regent with her 12 year old stepson, Thutmosis III.
 
As he approached manhood she declared herself a Pharaoh and insisted on being depicted as a man by adding a beard to her statues, as kings were considered to be demi-gods. “It is generally believed” he concluded “that it was Thutmosis III who had her face damaged or removed wherever possible after her death.”

We started the trek up the hillside, not knowing what we were looking for or where we should look.
 
There were little caves dotted around everywhere in the hills, many of which held the bodies of the working class.
 
We tried calling out, but although our voices echoed around the hills, there was no answering call.
 
The going was tough and after walking around for a couple of hours we decided this course of action was hopeless.
 
If Mr Ahmose had been here, he was either long gone, or dead and buried in one of the caves.

Pili went to speak again to one of the guards to see if there was a road that went behind the tomb.
 
From the gesturing and pointing it seemed that there was.
 
Pili came back to the car, his brow and shirt damp from sweat and confirmed that we could pick up a track back from where we had turned off to the tomb.
 
The track was only dirt and we bumped and bounced along it for about half an hour.
 
There was nothing to see other than the barren hills and more caves.
 
We stopped and walked over to a hill with several caves and peered inside them, but there was nothing to be seen.
 
We called their names but our voices echoed back to us and there was no reply.
 
Soon the sun was starting to set and we had to admit defeat and call it a day.

Omar and Pili dropped me off at Hamidi’s hotel.
 
They stayed for a cold drink and then set off for the return trip to
Cairo
.
 
I promised to keep digging and to let them know if I had any news.

Hamidi was keen to know what we had been up to and was not surprised that our search in the Valley of the Queen’s had not produced any results.
 
“It is quite a wild and barren area” he told me. “Over the hill from Queen
Hatshepsut’s
tomb there are many ravines and gulleys where a man could hide or be hidden.
 
Very few people venture out into that part of the country”.

The next morning I called around to the Police Station but the news was always the same.
 
“We have no further leads on Kareem’s disappearance” the Sergeant told me. He was large and sweaty and appeared
not to have very much interest
in this case.
 
“As soon as we hear something we will let you know” he said, walking me to the door.
 
In other words – don’t call us, we’ll call you.

I phoned through to John at the Australian Embassy.
 
It was nice to hear his cheerful voice again.
 
I filled him in on my meeting with Mrs Ahmose and my trip to the Valley of the
Queens
with her sons and my visit to the Police Station. He was pleased that I had met with the family but not surprised that we had found nothing at the Valley of the
Queens
.
 
“Unfortunately, I too have no news at this stage” he said.
 
“They seem to have just disappeared into thin air.
 
I had hoped Mrs Ahmose might have told you something she hasn’t told me – I have the feeling she is holding something back”.
 
We talked a bit about Australia and what was happening there and then I hung up, promising to call in and see John next time I was in Cairo.

Hamidi found me some time later, sitting in the bar with a coke, staring into space.
 
My mind was too tired to think and I was at a loss as to what to do next.
 
“Something will happen soon Anna, I feel sure of it” he said, trying to console me.
 
“
Many people are looking for them – it can’t be long before someone sees something.”
 
I went to bed early that night, emotional and exhausted.
 
What was I doing here, in a land I didn’t understand, looking for someone I had only known fo
r a few weeks?
 
I eventually fel
l asleep, only to dream I was being chased by a man carrying a huge “Paul Hogan” knife.
 
Then I fell into a deep hole and I was falling, falling……

When I awoke the next morning the sun had been up for quite a while but I felt lethargic and tired and not at all refreshed.
 
Whilst I was having breakfast Hamidi

came to tell me there was a call for me.
 
It was Mrs Ahmose.
 
“Anna, my dear” she said. “It’s Waleed. I have something I must tell you.
 
Can you come to see me again? I’m sorry to ask you this but I do not want to tell you over the phone in case someone is listening.
 
You can stay overnight in Yasmeen’s room again.”
 
I quickly agreed that I would fly to
Cairo
as soon as I could get a flight.
 
I managed to get one later that morning and rang John to tell him I would be in
Cairo
that day and would ring him once I knew what it was Waleed wanted to tell me.

6.
The Secret

I sat back in my seat as the plane took off and calculated how much I had spent on airfares since Kareem had disappeared.
 
My meagre holiday money would soon be spent and I would have to think about returning to work – not only because of finances but because I couldn’t expect Jim to manage without me much longer, especially when I was not making any headway.

Mrs Ahmose made me very welcome when I arrived.
 
She had tea and cakes waiting for us in the lounge.
 
Again she told me to call her by her first name, Waleed.
 
Omar and Pili were nowhere to be seen – I gathered they were downstairs working in the shop.

“What is it you want to tell me” I asked, wanting to find out as quickly as possible.
 
“There is something I should have told you before, but my husband made me promise never to tell anyone.
 
In fact I had forgotten all about it, it was so many years ago.
 
It was only when Omar asked me if I knew where the golden collar and jewelled dagger were that I remembered.
 
It seems they are missing.
 
I think Masud took them with him and that is what reminded me.
 
You see, a long time ago, when Masud was just a child, his father had taken him to see a tomb in the Valley of the
Queens
.
 
It had been shown to him by his father, who learned of it from a very good friend.
 
It was an amazing sight, he told me.
 
The tomb was full of things for the afterlife – a golden carriage, a boat, jewels, even food and urns filled with wine – treasures beyond imagination.
 
Both Masud’s father and his friend died suddenly after they had entered the tomb and Masud believed it had a curse on it.
 
When we were first married he told me about it one night but made me swear not to mention it to anyone, not even to our children if we were so blessed.
 
He had decided not to do anything about it, just to let the dead sleep in peace.
 
We have always had enough for our needs and don’t believe that earthly possessions bring happiness.
 
We have never spoken of it since that night.
 
But now I think maybe someone else knew about it and that is why my husband and daughter have been abducted”.

It took me some time to digest this latest piece of information.
 
Unlikely though it may seem, it would help to explain their disappearance, especially since no ransom demand had been received.
 
I asked Waleed if she had any idea where the tomb lies.
 
“No, my dear” she replied “only that it is in the Valley of the
Queens
”.
 
I also asked her if she was sure that her husband had not mentioned it to either of their sons, but she was adamant that he would not.
 
“You know what young men are like” she said. “They would not be able to resist going to have a look and then they would want the treasures and the money it would bring them”.
 
This seemed to make sense, as neither Pili nor Omar had mentioned it on our trip and had not shown any signs of looking for such a tomb.

“Do you have any idea where the family of your father-in-law’s friend might be now?” I asked.
 
“Only that they lived not far from the Valley of the
Queens
” she replied.
 
“I think the friend’s name was…….um……let me think now.
 
Yes, I’m almost sure it was Edjo.
 

This was also the name of one of my cousins, which is why I remember it.
 
But as for his family name, I’m sorry, I have no idea.”

We talked more about what could have happened to Kareem, Masud and Yasmeen.
 
It seemed we were just going around in circles.
 
“I beg you, my dear, use this information cautiously.
 
In the wrong hands it will do a lot of harm and will not help our loved ones.”

I rang John Turner and arranged to meet him for dinner.
 
I didn’t tell him over the phone the secret that Waleed had revealed to me and I wasn’t sure if I would tell him later.
 
What, if anything, was I going to do about it?
 
I needed to get away and think so I left the house and wandered out into the streets of
Cairo
.
 
There was a museum not far away with beautiful gardens and I made for this, ignoring the taxis calling out to me, so that I could sit under a shady tree and sort out my thoughts.
 
I found a seat under a huge tree and closed my eyes.
 
It would be foolhardy for me to try and do anything with this information on my own.
 
But who could I trust?
 
I thought of Kareem’s aunt and uncle.
 
They were likely to be of little help – they were quite elderly and I couldn’t imagine what assistance they could offer.
 
Hamidi?
 
I hardly knew him and certainly didn’t think I should trust him with this sort of information.
 
That only left John Turner.
 
How well did I know him?
 
He made you feel you could trust him – but could I?
 
Working for the
Australian Embassy
he should be more interested in the welfare of two missing Australians than antiquities.
 
Another possibility occurred to me – I could ring Jim and relate the story to him and seek his advice.
 
It was not really something I could tell him over the phone though and I knew if I flew back to
Sydney
now I would find excuses – money, work, the impossibility of it all – not to return to
Egypt
.
 
I felt I owed it to Kareem to try and find out what had happened to him and to his brother.
 
If I did nothing and never found Kareem I would be forever haunted by guilt.