‘It’s not poisoned,’ Sobeck laughed.
He picked up my cup, took a generous sip and handed it back. He looked better than the last time; his face was not so lean, though fresh scars marked his cheeks and upper right arm. His kilt was of good quality, as was the shawl which draped his shoulders and the sandals on his feet. Rings and bracelets glittered on his fingers, wrists and arms flashed like fire. His head and face were cleanly shaved, gleaming with oil; his eyes were the same, like those of a hungry hunting cat. He kept his dagger close by.
‘You are well, Mahu, Chief of Police?’
‘I am not Ch-’
‘You soon will be. I heard your aunt laughing about it, that’s how I know.’
‘The night you visited her?’
Sobeck grinned behind his hand. He ordered dishes of catfish with plump, fresh lettuce and slices of lush pomegranate. A beggar girl served us. Sobeck took the dishes and divided the food between us.
‘Well?’ He chewed noisily. ‘What do you want?’
I finished my food, opened the basket and took out the sealed alabaster jar full of flies buzzing over a lump of honey. I placed it on the table before him. Sobeck stopped chewing. ‘Is this a gift?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘For killing your aunt?’ Sobeck pulled a face. ‘It was easy enough. She was arrogant, and thought the soldiers camped in the gardens outside her house would be protection enough. She apparently liked to be alone. Anyway, her neck snapped like a twig. Now you bring me a jar of honey and some buzzing flies?’
I opened my wallet and placed three precious stones on the table.
‘I want you to take the jar of flies to the embalmers and ask them to place it next to the head of Isithia’s corpse. She never could stand flies.’
Sobeck smiled. ‘And? There are three stones here.’
‘You are to bribe the embalmers to remove her heart and its protective scarab before they wrap the corpse in its bandages. I want my aunt’s soul to wander the Underworld.’
‘I didn’t think you believed in it?’
‘I am a calculating man, Sobeck. Just in case.’
Sobeck tapped the third diamond. ‘And?’
‘Isithia’s house will be deserted. I want it burned to the ground, it and everything in it — but do not harm the willow tree in the orchard beyond.’
‘A fire?’ Sobeck glanced up at the ceiling. ‘That will take oil, not to mention desperate men.’
I placed a fourth diamond on the table.
Sobeck swept it up in his hand. ‘You must have hated her.’
‘She made me what I am.’
‘And what are you, Mahu?’
‘As the tree is planted, so it grows.’
‘So what do you want?’ Sobeck’s voice was barely above a whisper. ‘What do you really want, Mahu, friend of princes, confidant and counsellor, soon to be Chief of Police?’
For a moment he looked like the boy I used to play with in the Kap, running wild through the trees or hiding from Weni. I felt tearful but the tears didn’t come. ‘What about this Chief of Police thing?’ I asked.
‘Your aunt told me as I came up the steps. She thought I was her manservant. She kept repeating it as if savouring a joke. “My little Mahu,” she laughed. “The ugly Baboon, Chief of Police. Well, I never!”’
‘How did she know?’
‘I never stopped to ask. In fact, it was only afterwards I reflected on what she had said.’
‘You saw no letter on the table, no documents?’
‘I was there to exact my revenge, not to steal things. I’ll do that before I burn the house down.’ Sobeck pushed a piece of fish into his mouth. His eyes were no longer so hard. ‘Oh, you’ll become Chief of Police, Mahu, don’t worry about that. We are in the time of waiting, aren’t we? The old Pharaoh is dying and the Grotesque waits like a cat hiding in the bushes ready to pounce: he and his two red-haired relatives, the Akhmin gang. They are already making their presence felt.’ He leaned over and filled my cup. ‘It’s our business, Mahu, to watch things: to keep our ear close to the door and listen to the rumours and whispers. Who has been sent here? Who has been sent there? Which officer is in charge of that district? Why are certain regiments despatched upriver, and others brought closer to the city? Why is Ay so insistent on hiring mercenaries?’ He caught my surprise and smiled. ‘Oh yes, he’s supposed to be strengthening the garrison of Akhmin: the numbers have grown so large you’d think the Hyksos had returned. Sooner or later, perhaps sooner than later, Ay will appoint a certain General,’ he waved his hand, ‘the next Mayor of Thebes.’
‘And the new post?’ I added. ‘Chief of Police?’
‘That’s my clever Baboon, Mahu! Ay can’t do it all in one sweep. It’s like drawing a picture: a brush-stroke here, a brush-stroke there, not yet completed, not even formed, but the artist knows what he intends. So, Mahu, Baboon of the South, my question still stands. What do you really want? Is it power? Do you like being close to Ay and his gang?’
‘I want to be part of something,’ I replied, ‘to please and be pleased.’
‘To love and be loved?’
‘Sobeck, sarcasm doesn’t suit you.’
‘But the Princess Nefertiti does you. Is that the real reason, Mahu? Is that why you love the palace?’
‘Why are you here?’ I retorted brusquely.
‘I’ll come to that by and by. Do you know,’ Sobeck picked up the dagger and moved it from hand to hand, ‘I really do like you, Mahu, more than anyone. I’ll never forget I owe you my life. If you hadn’t sent me that message, I would have sent you one. When you are Chief of Police, you and I can do business together.’
‘You already seem to have a lot of partners.’ I gazed around at the men half-concealed in the shadows. ‘Business partners?’ I queried. ‘Where is the Ape?’
Sobeck shouted into the darkness for a basket to be brought. It was dirty and stained with blood which had seeped through the meshes. The little puppy beside me stirred so I stroked it gently. Sobeck placed the gruesome basket on the table, took off the lid and drew out the severed head with its half-closed eyes, jutting mouth and jaw, the neck of fraying black flesh. He placed it gently back. ‘The Ape or what’s left of him. He tried to betray me. You’ve heard of the Hyenas, Mahu?’
Of course I had. The Hyenas were the violent gangs who swarmed through the slums of Thebes and the squalid streets of the Necropolis. Sobeck ordered the basket to be taken away and traced the scar on his face.
‘I also owe you for the treasure you sent me. It has helped me to make a few adjustments to my life.’
‘You control the gangs?’ I asked.
‘Almost,’ he replied. ‘But by next year I will be able to say yes. I learned a lot at that prison oasis, even more on the journey back. Pharaoh has order in his kingdom, I shall have order in mine. The tomb-robbers, the pimps, the smugglers, the traders in flesh, the scorpion men, the unemployed, the mercenaries and discharged soldiers will all know their places in my little world, and if they don’t — well, they don’t deserve to be here. I’ll have my House of Silver and my troops. Whatever you ask, Mahu, from my kingdom you shall have.’ He snapped his fingers. ‘As simple as that.’
‘But you couldn’t find the man who followed me?’ I taunted.
‘No.’ Sobeck smiled thinly. ‘We still make mistakes, Mahu. It’s just like being in the House of Instruction. Learning doesn’t come like a meal on a platter. So,’ he lifted his cup again, ‘let’s toast the past and the future.’
‘Have you met Maya?’ I asked.
Sobeck shook his head. ‘He’s the only one I leave alone. I don’t know why, but one day I will renew my acquaintance. He doesn’t know I am alive.’
I didn’t answer.
‘I know all about the rest. Pentju’s in love, you know — a lady called Tenbra. He’s infatuated with her, they will be married within the year. I hope she keeps him away from the House of Delight here in the Necropolis, otherwise he will need all his medical skill to cure the ailments he’ll catch.’