“In the morning, while I coordinate transportation across the Nile. She need not depart on a camel. Mahmoud and Abdul can carry her trunks to the pier, cross the river with her, and settle her into a hotel. It has been a while since she has had the opportunity to bathe in hot water and sleep on a mattress, even if it might be riddled with bedbugs. When she is back in her cozy cottage, her cat settled in her lap, she can write of her thrilling adventures in the desert, living among the wild and exotic Arabs and Bedouins.”

“If you will excuse me, I would like to see the serdab. I will drag the Professor back here when it is too dark to continue work. Selim can post guards at the site overnight.”

I embraced her and sent her away. Despite the archaeological fever that Emerson’s new find had sparked, I felt duty bound to find out who was behind the problems at Amarna and the source of Herr Morgenstern’s erratic behavior, and resumed perusing my notes. Dullard, I concluded, was the most likely candidate to have spiked the bottles of schnapps. Subsequently, he had followed Morgenstern to Cairo and continued to supply him with the wicked drug until his victim had slipped away into gloomy and dangerous alleys. What I could not explain was why Dullard had been provided with the drug in the first place. Morgenstern had shown no peculiarities until he had taken the bust of Nefertiti to the dig house to gloat over her serene beauty. Dullard had encouraged him to partake of the schnapps; therefore Dullard already had the drug with him. No one could have anticipated the remarkable discovery. The most perplexing question was why the attaché had given him the drug and for what purpose. I realized that I needed to visit the Coptic village, but I would have to wait until the morning.

I had a more compelling mission for now, which was to alert Fatima of the predawn arrival of Ramses and David. Our breakfast would be lavish, as well as lunch, tea, and dinner in the foreseeable future.

Eighteen

From Manuscript H

Ramses was unable to sleep despite the soothing rhythm of the train as it rattled through the darkness. The students were slumped in their seats, and although the elderly woman remained erect, she was snoring loudly. Latif was sprawled across David’s lap; both were lost in their dreams.