Michael Pearce - The Fig Tree Murder

And those were merely the formal protections. Informally, there were jugglings for reference, disputes about nationality and the use of cases as pretexts for the assertion of national interests. In such circumstances the cards were always stacked against the unfortunate policeman; and especially so if he happened to be Egyptian.

It made sense, then, for Mahmoud to ally himself with the Mamur Zapt. It protected him personally against political comeback and increased the chances of successful prosecution. At the very least it meant that the Belgian-owned Syndicate would not be able to fob him off without even listening to his questions.

Owen was quite willing to allow himself to be used. Like many of the British officials, like, indeed, the Consul-General himself, he had considerable sympathy with the Egyptians over this issue of legal privileges, the Capitulations as they were called.

But only up to a point. The Parquet, too, had its political agenda. The Ministry of Justice was the most Nationalist of all the Ministries and the Parquet lawyers were Nationalist to a man. Mahmoud himself was a member of the Nationalist Party. Might not the Parquet be seeking to use the case for own political ends?

‘Why have they put you on the case?’ he asked.

Mahmoud smiled.

‘Why have they put you on the case?’ he countered.

'There is this Tree,’ said the site foreman doubtfully.

‘Tree?’ said the man-higher-up-in-the-Syndicate, Varages, another Belgian. ‘What Tree is this?’

‘I gather there’s been some problem,’ said the site foreman, looking at Owen.

‘Is it in the way or something?’ said Varages.

‘If it’s a case of compensation-’ said one of the lawyers.

The Belgians had brought two lawyers. They had also insisted that the foreman could only be interviewed in the presence of someone high up in the Syndicate. It was likely that Varages was another lawyer. With Mahmoud, that made four of them. This meeting wasn’t going to get anywhere, decided Owen.

‘The Tree, actually, is beside the point,’ he said.

‘I thought you told me I had to look out?’ said the foreman.

‘That was because of the attitude of a local sheikh-’

‘That awkward old bugger?’

‘If it’s a question of compensation-’ began the lawyer again.

‘Pay him and let’s get the Tree moved,’ said Varages impatiently.

‘It’s not-’

‘Can we get the ownership straight?’ cut in the other lawyer. ‘It belongs to this old sheikh-?’

‘No,’ said Owen. ‘It belongs to a Copt. His name is Daniel. But-’

‘Ah, the ownership is disputed? Well, that gives us our chance, then. It will have to be settled in the courts. A Copt, you say? And a sheikh? That will be the Native Tribunals, then-’

‘I wouldn’t recommend that,’ said the other lawyer. ‘Not in the circumstances. Much better to get it referred straight to the Mixed Courts-’

‘On the grounds that the Syndicate is a party? Well, yes, of course, that is a possibility-’

‘Listen,’ said Varages, ‘we don’t want to get this tied up forever in the courts. We’ve got to get on with it. How long is it all going to take?’

‘About four years.’

‘Four years! Jesus! Can’t you speed it up a bit?’

‘If the Syndicate cared to use its influence-’

‘What would it take then?’

The lawyers looked at each other.

‘Two years?’ one of them ventured.

‘Two years? Listen, two months would be too long! We’ll have to do something else. Or rather-yes, that’s it. Why don’t we just dig up the Tree and argue about it afterwards? It wouldn’t matter then how long you took-’

‘Dig up the Tree of the Virgin,’ said Owen, ‘and you’ll have the whole desert in flames!’

‘Did you say the Tree of the Virgin?’ asked one of the lawyers.

‘Yes, it’s-’

‘The Tree of the Virgin?’ said the other lawyer. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, but-’

‘Does that make a difference?’ asked Varages.

‘It certainly does. Captain Owen is quite right. The desert would be in flames. However, that is not the real difficulty.’

‘Not the real difficulty?’ said Owen.

‘No. Not from a legal point of view. The fact is-correct me if I’m wrong,’ he said, looking at his colleague, ‘the fact is that, well, the Tree doesn’t belong to either the sheikh or the Copt-’

‘The Copt’s put a railing round it,’ said Owen.

‘Who does it belong to, then?’ asked Varages.

‘The Empress Eugenie.’

‘Just a minute,’ said Varages, ‘the Empress Eugenie? Of France?’

‘That’s right. The Khedive gave it to her. In 1869. When she came to open the Suez Canal.’

‘Gave it to her?’

‘Yes. As a present.’

There was a moment’s stunned silence.

‘It’s still there!’ said Owen. ‘I saw it yesterday!’

‘Yes. She didn’t want to take it with her.’

‘And it-it still belongs to her?’

‘In theory, yes.’

‘We could ask the courts to pronounce,’ said the other lawyer eagerly.

‘How long would that take?’ asked the site foreman.

‘Oh, about eight years.’

‘I don’t think we’d better move the Tree,’ said Varages.

‘I would strongly advise against it.’

‘The French wouldn’t like it.’

‘They wouldn’t, indeed. They might even, I go so far as to suggest, see fit to treat it as a casus belli.’

‘Moving the Tree? A cause of war?’

‘It cannot be ruled out. As Captain Owen will know better than anybody, the French have always resented their exclusion from Egypt by the British. They might see this as an opportunity to reassert their influence.’

‘I don’t care who runs Egypt,’ said Varages, ‘just so long as I can get on with my job. Which happens to be building a railway. What are we going to do about this Tree?’

‘The Tree, actually, is beside the point,’ said Owen desperately.

‘It certainly is,’ said Mahmoud.

At the last moment the Syndicate had made difficulties. It had no objection in principle to meeting a representative of the Parquet and answering any questions he might care to put, but it failed to see any reason, beyond the purely adventitious one of where the body was found, why it should be expected to answer questions bearing on the circumstances of the man’s death.

True, the man had been part of its workforce. But the death had occurred off the company’s premises and out of company time, while, in fact, the man had been at home and in his native village. The death was, surely, a private or domestic matter, on which the company could hardly be expected to be able to throw any light.

Nor was it reasonable for the Syndicate to be asked to make working time available for Mahmoud to question the workmen. If the death had resulted from an accident at work that would have been quite another matter. The Syndicate would have been glad to comply. But it had already lost a lot of valuable work time as a result of the accident of the body having been found where it had been and it was loath to lose any more.

Besides, if the death arose, as it appeared it did, out of private or domestic circumstances, what was the point of questioning the man’s working colleagues about it? What light could they be expected to throw on the incident?

In vain had Mahmoud put forward reasons. The Syndicate’s lawyers had merely raised further objections.

At last he had looked at Owen despairingly.

‘I think that the reason why the Parquet has asked for this meeting,’ said Owen, ‘is that it is in the Syndicate’s interests.’

‘How so?’ asked the lawyers.

‘Because while the circumstances of the man’s death remain undetermined, all sorts of stories are getting around. He is concerned that some of these could have an effect on your workforce.’