A Vile Justice by Lauren Haney Read Free Book Online Page A

message."
    "You think I err?" Bak asked.
    "I pray you do." Antef's mouth tightened. "If you've read the signs right, the one you seek is no ordinary man. He does what-he wants, giving no thought to the laws of men or the wishes of the gods."
    "Few men walk the earth so fearless." Djehuty's chief steward, Amethu, was a man of middle years. He had the broad shoulders and narrow hips of youth, but his stomach bulged and he was as bald as a melon. He wore the anklelength kilt of a scribe and a bronze chain around his neck,
    from which hung a dozen or more small colored stone amulets of the ram-headed god Khnum.
    Antef gave the steward a scornful look. "Some men don't share your awe of the gods, Amethu. They hold themselves Above all creatures, mortal and immortal alike."
    "Should I feel shame because I revere the gods?" Amethu asked, raising his chin high. "It certainly wouldn't hurt you to bend your knee before a shrine or in the forecourt of a god's mansion."
    "I served my turn less than a month ago as web priest in the mansion of . . ."
    "Enough!" Bak raised his hands for silence and spoke to them all as one. "You each have duties, I know. They can't be laid aside because I believe the slayer intends next to slay one of you. Go on with what you must do, but stay always in the company of other men. Don't ever walk alone. Don't. . ."
    "Sir!" A young woman, a servant if her rough linen sheath told true, burst through the rear door. Her roundish face was whiter than her dress, her eyes wide open, horrified. "Oh, Governor Djehuty!" she wailed. "It's terrible! Oh, sir!"
    Bak leaped toward the young woman, confused by her words, by her demeanor, very much aware of the men before him, all alive and well. Could another individual have been murdered? One that did not fit the patterns he had so carefully developed?
    Amonhotep, a step ahead, caught her by the shoulders. "What is it, Nefer? What's happened?"
    Tears flowed as if from a river and she began to tremble. "Oh, sir! Oh!".
    "Speak up, woman!" Amonhotep shook her none too gently. "Tell us what's happened."
    "It's mistress Hatnofer," the girl sobbed. "She's dead. Her head smashed. So much blood! Oh, so much blood!" Hatnofer? Bak thought. Djehuty's housekeeper? He spat out an oath, and another and another. From what little the governor had said about the woman earlier in the day, she
    had been as important to him as were the five men standing before the dais. Yet he, Bak, had failed to think of her, to summon her, and now she lay dead. If her life had been taken while he stood here warning the others, he would blame himself through eternity.

Chapter Three
    Djehuty sat as if turned to stone by the gods, his face pasty white, his hands clutching the arms of his chair.
    "No!" Someone-Ineni, Bak thought-breathed the denial.
    ` The portly chief scribe Simut stared at the servant, blinking like a man unable to comprehend. Troop Captain Antef muttered a curse, calling the lord Khnum for strength, and groped for the handle of his dagger as if seeking its protection. The chief steward Amethu's lips began to move, but no words came out-a prayer of some kind, most likely.
    "I must see her," Bak said, his voice sharp above the girl's sobs.
    Amonhotep, still grasping her shoulders, shook his head as if waking from a dream-or a nightmare. "Where is she, Nefer? You must take us to her."
    "I can't look at her again!" Sobbing, shaking her head, she tried to back away, to free herself. "Oh, sir, please don't ask it of me!"
    Bak laid a hand on her arm. His touch was gentle, his demeanor kind, yet he felt her cringe. "We ask only that you show us where you found her, Nefer. Nothing more."
    She gave him the look a drowning man would give one who had thrown out a lifesaving rope, but the tears continued to pour, the sobs to break the flow of words. "We went into the master's quarters in Nebmose's villa. We thought to prepare the rooms for you, sir. That's where we came upon her. Mistress Khawet and