At last she moved. She bent and kissed the poor tortured features and the wound which was already going black and rotten, then she folded the rug over his face and whispered a quiet prayer. Climbing stiffly to her feet she stood for a moment, overwhelmed by grief, before she turned away and staggered out into the pitiless sunlight.
She barely remembered the walk back through the hills to the front of the great temple, or her tearful plea to the other visitors she saw there and to the tall blue-robed dragoman from another yacht who took charge, sending men for Hassan’s body, calling for a boat to take her to the Ibis, summoning women from the village to weep and cry for the man they did not know. She would not be allowed to see him again, to attend his funeral which would be before dark, to know even the place of his grave.
She was dimly aware of Augusta’s arms around her, of Jane Treece helping her off with her dusty, stained dress and of lying in her darkened cabin. She heard the anchor being pulled up, the creak of the rigging, and the gentle slap of the river water, then lulled by a drink heavily laced with Augusta’s laudanum she slept at last.
Anna stared at Serena. Both women had tears in their eyes. ‘Poor Louisa. She loved him so much!’ Anna was clutching the diary to her chest.
‘Do you think the Forresters knew they were lovers?’ Serena reached for her can of juice, then pushed it away untouched.
Anna shrugged. ‘I get the feeling that Augusta guessed. I don’t suppose it crossed Sir John’s mind that such a thing could happen. If only they hadn’t gone off alone. If only she had drawn the temple from the boat!’
They sat for a moment, lost in thought, then Serena turned back to her. ‘I think we’d better go on looking for Andy, don’t you?’
Anna nodded. Then she shook her head violently. ‘I want this all to be a legend!’ she cried suddenly. ‘A story! I don’t want it to have been true.’
‘It is true. And Hassan died somewhere out there.’ Serena nodded towards the shining blue waters of the lake. ‘Those low hills around the temple site are all drowned now under that great inland sea. His grave, wherever it was, has gone.’
A shadow fell over them for a moment and they looked up. Toby and Omar were standing looking down at them.
‘Are you all right?’ Toby touched Anna’s shoulder gently. He had seen the tears in her eyes.
‘We were reading about Hassan’s death,’ Serena replied for her.
Toby sighed. ‘So, the bastard killed him, did he? Poor Hassan. I’ve told Omar why we feel we have to find Andy urgently.’ He glanced at the other man. ‘He’s prepared to give history the benefit of the doubt even though he doesn’t believe it himself, isn’t that right?’
Omar nodded. ‘It is only necessary to believe one is cursed for the curse to begin to work its way in one’s head,’ he said. ‘I have told Toby that I think Andy has gone round to see the back of the temple. One can walk in to see how the artificial hill was constructed. It is very interesting. I show you?’
They followed him back towards the great temple statues where the crowds were as thick as ever. Beside them a small entrance led into the face of the cliff. Omar gestured towards it. ‘If you go in here I think you will find him. I will search elsewhere in case he changed his mind and went somewhere else. I will follow you soon.’ He bowed and disappeared back into the crowd.
‘He doesn’t believe there’s any danger, does he?’ Anna was following Toby towards the entrance.
He shook his head. ‘Of course he doesn’t. He thinks we’re mad. He says there are no snakes here. They are shy creatures. No way would they come to a place like this, that’s crawling with humanity. But he’s a good tour guide. He’s prepared to indulge us. And he doesn’t want any of us to be unhappy so he’ll do his best and that’s all that matters.’
They plunged out of the sunlight into darkness as they found themselves penetrating the huge hollow area beneath the artificial hill which had been constructed to hold the reassembled temple. Anna gazed round at the vast dome over their heads, for a moment too astonished by this strange juxtaposition of space age technology with the ancient temple thousands of years old which had been slotted into its heart to do anything other than stand and stare.
As they climbed the stairs their eyes grew used to the dimmer light after the bright sunlight outside. Here too there were crowds of people, displays, a soft-drink stall and at the top of the stairs a huge walkway. ‘We’re not going to find him.’ Anna was staring round frantically. ‘I can see faces in here, but there are too many.’
‘We’ll find him.’ Serena was emphatic. ‘I promise you we will.’
Toby was in front of them, narrowing his eyes as he peered round the viewing platforms. He shook his head. ‘I don’t think he’s here, you know. He’s probably ducked out again. Omar says they’re all due to meet anyway in about an hour to get back on the coach.’
‘It’ll happen here. In Abu Simbel. I know it will.’ Anna was frantic suddenly. ‘We’ve got to find him.’ She turned and began to push her way back towards the entrance. ‘We’ve got to find him. We’ve got to! Andy!’ Her cry was lost in the huge spaces around them.
‘Let her go!’ Toby called to Serena. ‘I don’t think he’s here, but we’d better be systematic.’
But Serena had already turned to follow Anna. He stayed where he was, frowning. Then he turned to scan the faces of the crowds once again.
Anna was pushing her way out of the entrance, staring more and more anxiously around her. She could not rid herself of the image of Hassan lying on the ground, his body contorted by the swift passage of the venom; the cobra, if cobra it was, sliding silently towards the lovers as they kissed in the shadow of the cave; the desperation and sorrow of Louisa as she walked away from the body of her love, never to set eyes on him again.
However angry she was with Andy she would not wish that on him. Her anger itself was serving to make her feel guilty. If anything happened to him it would be because he had taken her bottle; if she had not brought it to Egypt, if she had not talked about it, if she had not shown him the diary, let him read the extracts, if she had not in some way led him on he would not be in this position now.
She turned blindly towards the one place she hadn’t looked – the smaller temple which Rameses had built for his wife, Nefertari. It was far less crowded than the great Sun Temple itself.
A frieze guarded the door to the temple. A frieze of cobras. Anna stopped and stared. There was a lump in her throat. For a moment she hesitated, trying to steady herself, then she plunged into the darkness beyond the square entrance.
As her eyes grew accustomed to the dim lighting inside, the first person she saw was Andy standing studying one of the pillar capitals, at the near end of the pronaos. She stared at him, unable to believe her eyes, then almost hesitantly she walked up to him and touched his arm. Serena, some ten paces behind her, stopped and watched.
‘Andy?’
He jumped. ‘Anna! What are you doing here? You weren’t on the bus!’
She shook her head. ‘I wasn’t feeling well. I came on later with Toby in a taxi.’ Suddenly she wasn’t sure what to say. She realised that Serena had stepped up beside her and she glanced at her helplessly. ‘I need the scent bottle, Andy,’ she burst out at last. ‘You must give it back to me. Now.’
He inclined his head slightly. ‘What scent bottle?’
‘Oh please, Andy. Don’t play games with me.’ She held out her hand.
He shrugged. His face was cold. ‘I put it somewhere safe. On the boat. You don’t think I brought it with me, do you?’
She was overwhelmed with a feeling of relief. ‘Where on the boat did you leave it?’
‘I gave it to Omar to put somewhere safe.’
She shook her head. ‘Well, it’s not in the boat’s safe. I looked.’
His eyes narrowed and she saw the angle of his jaw harden. ‘Did you indeed? So, you stayed behind to snoop.’
‘Andy, I had to.’ She couldn’t believe she was t
rying to justify herself to him. ‘You had taken two things that belonged to me. Two things you had no right to.’ She held his gaze resolutely. ‘I found the diary.’ She paused.
His expression did not change.
‘That was in the safe, in an envelope under your name, but the bottle wasn’t there and I want it back.’
‘OK. So I didn’t leave it in the safe.’
‘So, where is it?’
‘Somewhere else. In my cabin. It’s perfectly all right.’
‘It’s not in your cabin. I looked there too.’
His face darkened. ‘You had no right to do that.’
‘You had no right to steal my belongings.’ She took a step forward and was surprised that he stepped back defensively. ‘It was stealing, Andy.’ She pressed home her advantage. ‘I asked you if you had my diary and you denied it. It is worth a great deal of money, as you yourself pointed out.’
‘Hang on a minute!’ he interrupted. ‘I took it to make sure it was safe. I wasn’t going to keep it. You be careful about your accusations.’ A patch of red had appeared above each cheekbone.
‘Then you should have told me what you had done with it and not accused Toby.’ She could feel her own anger rising to match his.
‘Ah, Toby! The hero of the taxi trip across the desert!’ He folded his arms. ‘Well, I was right about him!’
There was a moment’s silence. A group of Italian tourists filed past them and disappeared into the depths of the temple. There was a flood of excited conversation and a howl of laughter as they made their way into the depths of the great hall and stopped, clustered round a far pillar.
‘What Toby did is in the past. He paid for it.’
‘Oh, he paid for it, did he, Anna? Is that what he told you?’ Andy glanced at Serena. ‘Well, he doesn’t seem to have learnt from his past. As you were not there, on the bus, I sat next to a chap called Donald Denton. He’s a retired doctor who used to live near Toby. He remembered the whole story. Toby killed a man who he claimed in court had raped his wife, but in fact the wife and this chap were having an affair and she was about to run away with him! And Toby murdered his wife as well.’ His face softened. ‘I’m sorry, Anna. I know how disappointed you’ll be –’
‘It’s not true! She committed suicide.’
‘Is that what he told you?’
‘He told me all about it, yes.’
‘And you believed him, of course.’ He sighed. ‘I don’t suppose I can change your mind then.’ He pushed his hands into his pockets and stared up at the great cow-head of the goddess Hathor above their heads. ‘You really like him, don’t you?’ He glanced at Serena. ‘And I suppose you do too? I can never understand women!’ He grinned. He had relaxed, obviously confident that the diary and bottle were forgotten.
‘Why don’t you speak to Toby yourself? He’s here somewhere.’ Anna gestured towards the doorway. ‘I’d like to hear what he has to say about your accusations.’
‘Oh no! You’re not setting us up for another sparring match, sweetheart.’ He looked at his watch suddenly. ‘Anyway, the coach is leaving before long. I suspect it’s time we were heading in that direction.’ He strode past her towards the entrance.
Anna looked towards Serena. ‘I don’t think he has got the bottle with him. After all that, he was safe!’
Serena nodded. ‘So, Andy lives to fight another day,’ she said succinctly. ‘And in more ways than one.’
Anna shrugged. ‘I don’t believe him. Not about Toby.’
‘Good. He’s a complete, congenital liar.’ Serena tucked her hand through Anna’s arm. ‘Come on. Come back with us on the bus.’
Anna hesitated. ‘We came in a car. Toby told the driver to wait.’
Serena wrinkled her nose. ‘How very rich this ex-con must be!’
‘I don’t think so.’ It was Anna’s turn to colour. ‘He did it for me. He cares, Serena. You saw how much he cares.’
They emerged from the temple and looked round. There was no sign of Andy.
Omar was standing some fifty yards away, a cluster of people around him. He saw them emerge into the sunlight and he raised his hand to beckon them over. ‘We must go soon, people. The bus is waiting.’ He grinned at Anna. ‘I saw Andy. He says you found him.’
Anna nodded. ‘I did indeed.’
‘And there was no cobra?’
She shook her head.
‘Jolly good!’ Omar smiled even more widely. ‘Now please, we collect everyone and go.’
Anna was looking round. ‘Serena? Where did Toby go?’
‘He stayed in the hill when we left to look in Nefertari’s temple.’ Serena gave a small grimace. ‘I’m sure he will find us.’
‘I don’t know what to do. He’ll expect me to go back with him. I’ll have to find the car.’
‘Well, that won’t be a problem. Presumably it will be in the car park, near the bus.’ Serena sighed. ‘OK, we’ll find it and then you’ll have to choose. Anna, I like Toby too. I trust him and I would never trust Andy, but be careful. When all is said and done we don’t know anything about him do we, any more than we really know anything about each other.’
The two women looked at one another for a moment; Anna grinned and with a helpless shrug she turned to follow Omar.
Andy met them in the car park. He was smiling broadly. ‘Well, you’ll never guess what’s been happening here!’
Anna frowned. He was looking at her. Almost, she suspected, he was gloating. Her heart sank without knowing why. ‘So? What’s been happening?’
‘Your friend, Toby. The police came. They’ve taken him away, and your car has gone. I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with the hoi polloi on the bus.’ He gave a small bow.
‘Toby’s been arrested!’ Anna echoed. She stared at him. ‘You’re lying!’
‘You wish! No, I’m not lying.’ He stopped and his face sobered. ‘Oh dear, I can see it’s been a shock. He had you fooled, didn’t he? He had us all fooled. The painting he was doing must have been a cover for something. To make him look respectable.’
‘But what’s he supposed to have done? I don’t understand. Has he left me a message?’
Andy shrugged. ‘No doubt we’ll hear all about it soon enough!’
Serena touched Anna’s arm. ‘Let’s get on the bus,’ she said softly. ‘There’s nothing you can do here.’
Andy was watching Anna’s face intently. ‘Don’t think about him any more, Anna. Just be thankful you didn’t get wound into his net.’ He lifted a hand in greeting as he saw Joe approaching and turning, climbed into the bus past Omar who was standing by the door counting heads.
Anna sat with Serena at the back, too shocked and miserable to speak as the doors shut and the coach swung out of the car park and back onto the dusty road. In minutes they were out of the shabby breeze-block town of Abu Simbel and into the desert, insulated from the broiling desert heat by air conditioning and window blinds and the gentle crooning of an Egyptian singer on the bus stereo.
Twice they stopped on the way back. Once to see a particularly spectacular mirage which everyone but Anna, who was without her camera, duly photographed, gasping in the dry oven-heat of the early afternoon, and once to see a camel train coming in off the desert. She stayed in the coach this time, watching the poor creatures being loaded onto lorries and beaten to their knees beneath the heavy rope nets which would hold them in place, wondering bleakly whether the few shots of the young blades cavorting round on their racing camels really made up for the despair in the eyes of those proud creatures on their way to the meat markets in Aswan.
‘You OK?’ Serena climbed back into the bus and lowered herself into the seat beside her.
She nodded. ‘I think I’ve had enough of Egypt. As a holiday meant to cheer me up and restore my sense of self-worth and security it has failed totally.’
Serena sat back, staring up at the ceiling. ‘Toby means a great deal to you, doesn’t he?’
‘Yes.’
‘I�
�m so sorry. Andy’s a bastard. I bet he’s got the whole thing wrong. I’m going to double-check everything he’s told you.’
Behind her sunglasses there were tears in Anna’s eyes. ‘I don’t understand any of it.’ She gave a deep sigh. ‘But there must be something we can do to help him.’
It was like coming home. The crew with their friendly smiles were all back after their two-day break, with scented towels to wipe away the heat and dust of the desert and warm freshly made lemonade.
Standing in the crowded reception area sipping her drink before making her way to her cabin, Anna was suddenly confronted by Andy. He came up to her and put his hands lightly on her shoulders.
‘Anna, I am truly so very sorry. It was crass, the way I broke the news to you. And will you forgive me for taking the diary? I never meant you to be worried. It was thoughtless beyond belief. Meet me in the bar when you’re freshened up and we’ll have a drink. Please.’ His eyes on hers were sincere and very kind.
‘Andy, I’m so tired. I just want to rest …’
‘And so you shall. After the meal. We’re having a late lunch, then we can rest so that after dark we’re restored enough to go to Philae to see the son-et-lumière. Please, Anna. I want us to stay friends.’ He paused and grinned enquiringly at Omar who had stopped beside them.
‘Your bag, Andy. You left it on the bus.’ Omar slapped him on the back. ‘Luckily the driver spotted it.’ He handed over the bag and moved on, searching for the owner of some other piece of left luggage.
Andy automatically swung the bag onto his shoulder. ‘Say in half an hour? In the bar?’ he said to Anna. ‘Please.’
She was looking at the bag. As he had lifted it up the side pocket had gaped open and she had spotted the flash of scarlet silk. Banging down her lemonade glass on the reception desk counter she reached out and caught at the broad canvas strap as it hung over his shoulder, pulling the bag towards her.
‘Strange, this scarf looks so much like mine.’ Before he could move back she had pulled the small bundle out of the pocket and unrolled it in her hand to reveal the scent bottle. ‘You had it with you all the time?’ She spat the words at him. ‘You had the bottle on the bus! Don’t you realise what that could have meant? Why did you lie, Andy?’ She shook the bottle under his nose. ‘Why do men always have to lie?’
Whispers in the Sand Page 37