Read Online Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters - Free Book Online Page B

asserting, Emerson, that
she would have come to me. She had received my letter; it was found, open, on
her dressing table."
    "That
is a point against the lady," Emerson said stubbornly. "It proves
that she did return to her room last night. It places her at the scene of the
crime, Peabody, a scene from which she has disappeared. According to the
police, she also changed her clothing."
    "But
they don't know which garments are missing from her wardrobe. She may have been
carried off in her night-clothes, Emerson. The horror of it!"
    "Along
the corridors of the hotel, down the stairs and out into the street?"
Emerson laughed disagreeably. "No, Amelia; not even your favorite
Master—"
    He
stopped himself, pressing his lips together and scowling at me.
    "Now
it comes out," I exclaimed. "I did not want to accuse you unjustly,
Emerson, but you force me to be blunt. You are determined to blame poor Miss
Debenham for a crime she did not commit because of your unaccountable
reluctance to face the truth. How you can be so stubborn, after your own
encounters with the man—"
    "I
warn you, Peabody," Emerson snarled.
    "Who
attacked us and harassed us at Mazghunah last year? Who organized the
inefficient amateur tomb robbers of Egypt into a great professional conspiracy?
Who is a master of disguise, as was proved by his appearance in
the role of Father Girgis, priest of the church at Mazghunah? Who,
Emerson?"
    Emerson,
breathing furiously through his nose, did not reply. "The Master
Criminal," piped Ramses.
    Emerson
turned an awful glare upon his son. Unperturbed, Ramses went on, "I share
your dislike of that sensational and ambiguous appellation, Papa, but I am
forced to agree with Mama that no more appropriate name comes readily to mind.
We have good reason to suspect that Prince Kalenischeff had fallen out with his
master; his decision to leave Egypt, suddenly and secretly, suggests as much.
And I am inclined to agree with Mama's belief that this mysterious personage
was the one behind the attempt on me last night. The criminal mind is a
fascinating study; it may well be that the person in question harbors some
resentment toward me because I—with your assistance, of course—foiled his
attempt to steal the Dahshoor treasure."
    Emerson
acknowledged the reasonableness of this assessment with a muffled "Curse
it." He said no more, because I spoke first.
    "Ramses
is correct, Emerson. The guides who were with him said they were dismissed by
an American gentleman. There were a number of tourists atop the pyramid last
night. In fact—in fact, I may have spoken to the man! Who else could he have
been but a confederate of the Master Criminal?"
    "Why
not the Master Criminal himself?" Emerson tried to speak sarcastically,
but he was half convinced by my irrefutable logic, and his doubt showed in his
voice.
    "Because
the Master Criminal was lying in wait at the foot of the pyramid! And I know
who he is. We thought he might be an Englishman—"
    "Oh,
come, Amelia, that is really going too far, even for you,"
Emerson shouted. "Not Ramses' rescuer? Why would he arrange for the boy to
be kidnapped, and then save him?"
    "Don't
forget that it was my intervention that saved Ramses. My first impression, that
the man was carrying him off, was undoubtedly correct. Once captured by me, he
talked his way out of the situation with the ingenuity one might expect from
such a clever man. And the proof, Emerson—the proof is that he never turned up
this morning, as he promised he would."
    Nemo's
failure to keep his appointment was an additional cause of Emerson's ill humor.
He is accustomed to having people do as he tells them.
    "He
was alarmed by the presence of the police, I expect. A man of his
antecedents—"
    "My
dear Emerson," I said in a kindly manner, "such wild rationalization
is unworthy of you. Every fact leads to the same conclusion—my
conclusion."
    Emerson
did not reply. It was Ramses