All the women laughed.
'Is she very beautiful?' someone asked.
'I've told you before - I've never seen her,' replied Fatima. 'But she must be very beautiful. He does all the housework and she stays in her bedroom. I'm not allowed in there - the door is always locked. My job is to do the shopping and clean the kitchen - that's all.'
'And you're well paid for it too,' said another woman.
Everybody laughed loudly.
Fatima picked up her shopping basket. 'I must go back now. He'll be waiting for me.'
There was more laughter and Fatima walked way. Leila stood up and said goodbye to the women. She followed Fatima for about ten minutes. Fatima stopped in front of an old house and knocked at the door. A man's face appeared at an upstairs window. Fatima stood waiting at the door.
Someone is being very careful, Leila thought to herself.
A few minutes later, the door opened and Fatima went inside. The door closed immediately.
Leila hurried to a small shop at the end of the street and asked to use the telephone. Half an hour later, Chief Inspector Ahmed arrived with two policemen. They stopped the car where Leila was waiting for them.
Leila told Ahmed about the servant in the market. Then she showed Ahmed the house.
'Fatima, the servant, says there's a sick European woman in the bedroom,' Leila explained to Ahmed. 'Fatima has never seen the woman and the bedroom door is always locked. Perhaps this is the house we are looking for.'
'But we must make certain,' said Ahmed cautiously. 'It may not be Christine Farrow. Perhaps it is a sick woman.'
'We must make certain,' said Leila. 'I must get inside the house and find out who she is.'
'But how are you going to get inside?' asked Ahmed.
'Let's wait until Fatima comes out. Perhaps she will help us.'
They sat in the car waiting. Just after five o'clock, Fatima came out of the house again. She had a basket in one hand and a bunch of keys in the other. Leila and Ahmed got out of the car. Leila stopped Fatima and spoke to her. She showed Fatima her police identity card. 'We want to ask you about the man you work for,' said Leila.
'He's a foreigner,' replied Fatima.
'And what about the woman in the bedroom?' asked Leila.
'I've never seen her,' replied Fatima. 'The bedroom door is always locked.'
'But if you haven't seen her, how do you know it's a woman in the bedroom?' said Ahmed.
'I've heard her crying - and I know the sound of a woman crying.'
'How long has she been in the bedroom?' Leila asked.
'About five days,' replied Fatima. 'Since last Friday.'
Leila and Ahmed looked at one another.
'Where are you going now?' Leila asked Fatima.
Fatima told them that she was going to buy bread. Because of the heat in Cairo, bread does not stay fresh. In the morning, people buy bread for breakfast and lunch. Then they buy more fresh bread in the evening.
'Are those the keys of the house?' asked Leila.
'The foreigner locks himself in his bedroom every evening between six and seven,' Fatima explained. 'It's the only time he gives me the keys to the house.'
'What does he do in his bedroom every evening?' asked Ahmed.
'I don't know what he does in there,' replied Fatima. 'But sometimes I've heard voices. But there's no one in there but him.'
'Will you help us?' Leila asked Fatima.
'What's happening?' asked Fatima. 'Who are you? I don't want to get into any trouble.'
'We are police officers,' she explained again. 'You won't get into trouble if you help us.'
'What do you want me to do?' asked Fatima.
'We don't want you to do anything,' replied Leila. 'We want to find out more about the people you work for. Let me take the bread back into the house.'
Fatima was not happy about this suggestion. But finally she agreed.
'I'm worried about this,' said Ahmed when Leila was ready to go into the house. 'It could be very dangerous.'
'It's the easiest way of getting into the house,' said Leila. 'And we must make sure that it is Christine Farrow who is locked in that bedroom.'
'What will you do if it is her?' Ahmed asked.
'That's easy,' replied Leila. 'I'll open the front door and let you in. Make sure you are waiting near the door with the two policemen.'
Leila turned to Fatima, 'Now tell me again,' she said, 'where is his bedroom and where is the bedroom with the woman in it?'
Fatima explained once again and Leila listened carefully.
'Good,' she said. 'I'll remember that easily.'
Leila walked up to the front door with the keys in her hand.
CHAPTER TEN
The Valley of Death
It was just after five o'clock when Farrow told De Fries to stop the lorry. They were at the entrance to a narrow valley. 'We're here now,' said Farrow. 'The Queen's tomb is in this valley.'
'How do you know?' Keesing asked.
Farrow pointed up at the mountain top to the east.
'That looks like a snake, doesn't it?' he asked.
Keesing and De Fries looked up. The top of the mountain was about three hundred metres long. It ended with a great rock rising high in the sky. The mountain top looked like a snake with its head raised.
'And that's a sitting man,' Farrow continued, pointing to the mountain top to the west.
Keesing and De Fries looked upwards towards the setting sun. In the middle of the mountain top there was a large rock. It looked like a man's head. Below the rock, a gully ran down the mountain side to the bottom of the valley. The mountain had the shape of a sitting man.
'A snake with raised head and a sitting man guard the tomb of Queen Axtarte,' said Farrow. 'Those words are written on the pillar from the Temple of Karnak.'
'And where's the tomb?' said Keesing turning to Farrow.
Farrow pointed to the gully that ran up the mountainside.
'Somewhere between the legs of the sitting man,' he told Keesing. 'That's all I know. You'll have to go and look for it.'
They climbed back into the lorry and De Fries drove down the valley to the bottom of the gully.
'You know that it can take a long time to get inside a tomb,' said Farrow.
'Why is that?' asked Keesing.
'The Ancient Egyptians always made secret entrances to the tombs,' replied Farrow. 'And they sealed the entrance with huge rocks. They wanted to keep out tomb robbers. It could take you years to get inside.'
'We've got a box of dynamite in the back of the lorry,' Keesing told Farrow. 'When we find the entrance, it won't take us long to blast our way in.'
'What about the Queen's Curse? Aren't you afraid of that?' asked Farrow.
'That was written a long time ago,' replied Keesing. 'The Queen wanted to frighten tomb robbers. It doesn't mean anything today.'
'You could be wrong, you know,' said Farrow. 'I'm going to get as far away from you as I can.'
'Don't you want to make sure that I radio to Greer?' asked Keesing.
Farrow did not know what to do. If Keesing did not radio, Greer would kill Cristine. So Farrow had to stay near.
Farrow looked up the gully. There was a large rock on the right leg of the sitting man.
'I'm going up there,' Farrow told Keesing. 'You can shout to me if you want me.'
Farrow climbed up the leg of the sitting man and sat down on the large rock. De Fries climbed up the gully and started to search for the entrance to the tomb. Keesing took torches and spades out of the lorry and waited. After some time De Fries shouted down to Keesing, 'I've found some steps cut into the rock of the mountain!'