Missing in Egypt by Rita Lee Chapman Read Free Book Online Page B

through to John at the Australian Embassy.   It was nice to hear his cheerful voice again.   I filled him in on my meeting with Mrs Ahmose and my trip to the Valley of the Queens with her sons and my visit to the Police Station. He was pleased that I had met with the family but not surprised that we had found nothing at the Valley of the Queens .   “Unfortunately, I too have no news at this stage” he said.   “They seem to have just disappeared into thin air.   I had hoped Mrs Ahmose might have told you something she hasn’t told me – I have the feeling she is holding something back”.   We talked a bit about Australia and what was happening there and then I hung up, promising to call in and see John next time I was in Cairo.
     
    Hamidi found me some time later, sitting in the bar with a coke, staring into space.   My mind was too tired to think and I was at a loss as to what to do next.   “Something will happen soon Anna, I feel sure of it” he said, trying to console me.   “ Many people are looking for them – it can’t be long before someone sees something.”   I went to bed early that night, emotional and exhausted.   What was I doing here, in a land I didn’t understand, looking for someone I had only known fo r a few weeks?   I eventually fel l asleep, only to dream I was being chased by a man carrying a huge “Paul Hogan” knife.   Then I fell into a deep hole and I was falling, falling……
    When I awoke the next morning the sun had been up for quite a while but I felt lethargic and tired and not at all refreshed.   Whilst I was having breakfast Hamidi
    came to tell me there was a call for me.   It was Mrs Ahmose.   “Anna, my dear” she said. “It’s Waleed. I have something I must tell you.   Can you come to see me again? I’m sorry to ask you this but I do not want to tell you over the phone in case someone is listening.   You can stay overnight in Yasmeen’s room again.”   I quickly agreed that I would fly to Cairo as soon as I could get a flight.   I managed to get one later that morning and rang John to tell him I would be in Cairo that day and would ring him once I knew what it was Waleed wanted to tell me.
     

6. The Secret
     
    I sat back in my seat as the plane took off and calculated how much I had spent on airfares since Kareem had disappeared.   My meagre holiday money would soon be spent and I would have to think about returning to work – not only because of finances but because I couldn’t expect Jim to manage without me much longer, especially when I was not making any headway.
    Mrs Ahmose made me very welcome when I arrived.   She had tea and cakes waiting for us in the lounge.   Again she told me to call her by her first name, Waleed.   Omar and Pili were nowhere to be seen – I gathered they were downstairs working in the shop.
    “What is it you want to tell me” I asked, wanting to find out as quickly as possible.   “There is something I should have told you before, but my husband made me promise never to tell anyone.   In fact I had forgotten all about it, it was so many years ago.   It was only when Omar asked me if I knew where the golden collar and jewelled dagger were that I remembered.   It seems they are missing.   I think Masud took them with him and that is what reminded me.   You see, a long time ago, when Masud was just a child, his father had taken him to see a tomb in the Valley of the Queens .   It had been shown to him by his father, who learned of it from a very good friend.   It was an amazing sight, he told me.   The tomb was full of things for the afterlife – a golden carriage, a boat, jewels, even food and urns filled with wine – treasures beyond imagination.   Both Masud’s father and his friend died suddenly after they had entered the tomb and Masud believed it had a curse on it.   When we were first married he told me about it one night but made me swear not to mention it to anyone, not even to our