Nothing could have prepared me for how dreadful it was in that place, dense smoke assailing my lungs and eyes. "The bed is to the right in an alcove," I tried to shout to Ben, who had to be somewhere inside, but the words came out a croak.
"I can't find her," he gasped, a few feet away from me. "She's not in bed. We've got to get out of here. There's nothing we can do. Go for the door."
I knew he was right. I turned and, disoriented, tried to figure out the way back. My foot hit something and I went down. "She's here," I choked out. "On the floor."
I felt Ben pulling me to my feet, and then, with each of us grabbing one arm, we dragged her along the floor. I wasn't sure we'd make it, but then there was Cliff, anxious, framed in the light, and several hands--Mohammed and Ed and even Catherine--pulling us to safety, as several staff with fire extinguishers rushed past us into the room. We burst into the hallway, and then stood, stunned by what we saw.
"What the hell!" Ben exclaimed, because it wasn't Kristi. Aziza coughed and opened her eyes.
PART II
Multum ille et terris iactatus
Much buffeted by sea and land
5
Ship's manifest
Glass beads, one pithos
Ivory pieces, one pithos
Gold jewelry, one pithos
Wine, 200 amphorae
Oil, 200 amphorae
Olives, 100 amphorae
Copper, 250 ingots
Tin, 100 ingots
Silver, 100 ingots
Coins, 5 amphorae
1 Cedar box, contents unknown
B E CAREFUL. SHADOWS are dangerous. Not if you keep to them perhaps. Where to look for the weapon? Mago. I don't like Mago. Cuffed me yesterday for no reason. But worse than that, he is an evil man. Safat, too. But Safat is stupid, and therefore not so dangerous. I found the short-sword, didn't I? Found it right away, in Mago's kit. Mago had Abdelmelqart's pendant, too, didn't he? Does this make Mago a murderer, or just a thief? The captain will know.
Check the cargo, now. Pithoi, yes. Contents as specified. Amphorae, 505 amphorae, all accounted for. Tin, 100 ingots. Silver, 99 ingots. One missing. Theft again?
No, too difficult. All will be counted before the crew leaves the ship. Thrown overboard? Too valuable. It will have to be returned. I will hide in the shadows and wait.
K RISTI LINGERED UNTIL morning, but she was gone by the time they released Ben and me from hospital. She'd obviously made an attempt to get out, but like me, had become disoriented. They found her huddled between the bed and an armoire next to it. I figured she was dead drunk, a condition that would have considerably reduced her chances of escaping.
Ben and I stopped by to see Aziza before we left. She lay propped up on pillows, pale and a little weepy. Her husband sat beside her, holding her hand. He got up when we came in.
"What kind of tour are you running here?" Curtis demanded. "People are dropping like flies!"
"Curtis!" Aziza coughed.
"That hotel is a deathtrap. You should never have brought us there."
"Now wait a minute, here!" Ben huffed. "It is hardly Lara's or the hotel's fault. I wouldn't put it past that Ellingham woman to have disconnected the smoke detector so she could smoke in bed."
"She brought that bitch on the trip, didn't she? For the publicity."
"Curtis, please!" Aziza implored.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Ben demanded. It was a side of Ben I hadn't seen before. The two men were almost nose to nose, barking at each other. "If it weren't for the fact that Lara raised the alarm and went in there--risking her own life, I might add--your wife most assuredly would be . . ."
"Stop it, both of you!" I interrupted. "Can't you see you're upsetting her?"
They ignored that. "What exactly was your wife doing in that room, anyway?" Ben asked. It was a very good question.
"Silence!" a nurse ordered, coming into the room. "Mme. Clark needs rest. You gentlemen will leave the room, please. Maintenant. Now."
"I'll meet you outside, Ben," I said. "Do you need anything, Aziza?" I asked her. "A nightgown? Something to read?"
She shook her head. She looked just miserable. "The doctor said I could probably leave tomorrow. Thank you for getting me out," she added. "And don't mind Curtis. He's upset, that's all."
"Why were you in Kristi's room, Aziza?" I asked her. I might have objected to Ben asking the question, but I was just as determined to find out what had happened.
"I was out for a little walk around the hotel," she said. "I saw that Kristi's door was open very slightly. Just a crack. Anyone could just walk in, and after Catherine's necklace having been stolen, and Jimmy's money and everything, I just thought I shouldn't leave it like that."
"You were out walking at that time of night?" I said.
She didn't answer for a moment. "I couldn't sleep and didn't want to bother Curtis," she said finally.
"So you noticed the door was ajar, and then . . ." I prodded as gently as I could.
"I wasn't sure whether she had left it that way deliberately, you know, cross ventilation or something, so I tapped on the door and then went in. All of a sudden there was this whooshing sound, and the room filled with smoke. I tried to find the door, but I couldn't."
"The door was locked when I got there," I said.
"I suppose I must have closed it behind me when I went in, and it locked automatically," she said. She was picking at some lint on the hospital blanket, and didn't look at me once while she spoke.
"It's horrible what happened," she said. She started to cry a little.
"You rest, Aziza," I said. "And if you think of anything you need, anything at all, please give me a call at the hotel."
As I turned to leave, I looked back. She lay there, eyes closed, one small tear running down her face.
I was absolutely certain she was lying, but I didn't know what to do about it. It could have something to do with Curtis, given to nocturnal ramblings of his own. Not that I could blame him for being upset right now. His wife really was within minutes of being the third corpse on this tour. Which brought me back to the subject of the rest of the group: I had to believe that they were all considering asking for their money back and heading home any time now.
As we arrived back at the Auberge, two men were loading a very sodden mattress, or what was left of it, into a police van. It was an upsetting sight, and it all seemed so unnecessary. If anything, this was an even more idiotic death, to use Jimmy's expression, than Rick's had been.
But two people on the tour were dead, no matter how supremely careless both may have been, and it was a very subdued group that greeted us as we returned.
"Jamila," I said, taking her aside. "Ben and I are considering taking the rest of the day off." That was an understatement. "You've got to take these people somewhere special today. Do you know a really splendid restaurant around here that serves lunch outside? A patio overlooking the water or some such thing?"
"I can arrange something like that," Jamila replied. "I know just the place."
"Good. Just take them there and let them order whatever they want. We'll cover it. But you'll have to manage on your own today."