Lynda Robinson: Murder in the Place of Anubis

It had been many seasons since he'd been shocked by a woman. He was shocked by this one. Her tongue laved her lips as once more she studied the brown flesh of his thigh visible through his robe. Suddenly Beltis bent low. Meren felt moist lips on the top of his foot. Hot breath tickled his skin as she whispered to him.

"Forgive me, great lord. I was driven to madness by those cruel men, and now I behold the virility of a lion, such beauty."

"Get up," Meren said. Beltis raised her head. Her lips were slack. He supposed their open readiness had brought rewards before. "I said get up. One would think the death of a generous master would have you weeping with the mourners outside."

Beltis sat up and regarded him as a scribe regards a schoolboy. "Great lord, I served my master according to a contract freely made. If you could speak to him, he would tell you how I pleased him. But the master was cursed with an ungrateful, selfish wife and sons. They are his family, but they don't grieve. Do they abstain from meat and wine? Do Djaper and Imsety fail to cut their hair and beards? Selket still bathes and paints her face. And none of them have gone to Hormin's mortuary chapel to weep for him."

"I'm not interested in weeping. I'm interested in what Hormin did on the night he was killed. Mistress Selket says he spent the night with you."

"Indeed." Beltis smirked at him. "Hormin craved me as a bull lusts after his cows. I gave him much pleasure, with my hands and-"

Meren spoke with deliberate slowness and clearly pronounced words. "When did Hormin leave your bed?"

"I don't know, my lord." Beltis sighed and lifted her shoulders. "I was exhausted from our play and slept heavily. I woke after the sun was up, and the master was gone."

"He told you nothing of where he might go?"

Shaking her head, Beltis cast her eyes down. "I am only a concubine."

"Yes." Meren rose and went to stand behind the chair. "So you heard nothing during the night, even though your master's office isn't far from this room."

Beltis's head shot up. "I didn't need to hear anything. I know one of them robbed my master. They were taking his possessions, and he caught them." The concu 42 Lynda 5. Robinson bine narrowed her eyes. "They fought with my master, lord. Those two sons wanted his farm all to themselves. I heard them yelling at each other."

"How is it that you heard what must have been a private talk?"

"I listened at the door, Lord Meren. I have to protect my son, and you can see why after what happened today. And now they want to blame me for all the evil. They hate me, Selket and Imsety and Djaper. They would like to see me condemned for his death. If he'd lived, Hormin would have given me more of his wealth, and entered my son in his will."

"You witness against all three. Yet you say you slept the night." Meren traced the carving on the back of the chair and waited.

Beltis pursed her lips. "My slave girl, she says the brothers went out after the evening meal and didn't re turn until almost morning. If my poor lord was killed in the Place of Anubis, they could have set upon him."

"All the servants will be questioned," Meren said. "I'll find out where each of you was during the night. Each of you." When Beltis appeared undisturbed, Meren continued. "You were screaming about a necklace being taken when I found you all in Hormin's office."

"Yes, lord, I tell you Djaper took it, or Imsety, or Selket. They all hated it that the master bestowed gifts upon me. This was a broad collar of great beauty and cost. It was of gold and lapis lazuli and red jasper." Beltis chewed on her lower lip and scowled. "The master promised it to me, but it's gone."

Meren said nothing. His men would take inventory of Hormin's possessions and question the household to confirm the family's claims. He resumed his seat, taking care to move the chair so that he was too far away from Beltis for her to pounce on him again. Having basked in the favor of ladies far more sophisticated, intelligent, and lovely than Beltis, he had no desire to be mauled.

"You fought with your master," he said. "On the day of his death you quarreled with him and ran away to the tomb-makers' village on the west bank."

Soft laughter bubbled up at him, and Beltis laid her head to one side. "A quarrel between lovers, my lord. We had many, and always my master begged me to forgive him. He needed me. Why, if he had to do without me for even one night, he was as engorged as a stud ox."

"Spare me your stories of Hormin's lust. What was the quarrel about?"

"I wanted matching bracelets for my new broad collar, and he wouldn't have them made." Beltis tossed her head. "I am a woman of great beauty, and I deserve jewels and fine robes. Hormin made me so angry. He could have given me twenty bracelets if he weren't so greedy. I was angry, so I went away. After all, he is- was so much more generous after a few nights without me."

Meren began to think that Hormin was not only a hot-bellied man, but a fool as well.

"You see, lord, my father is a sculptor in the tomb- makers' village, so it is not far for me to go. I went there yesterday after Hormin slapped me, and I waited for him to come for me. He did, and we made up our quarrel. He even took me to see his tomb before we left. It's on the edge of the nobles' cemetery. Then we came home."

"And during all the time you were together, Hormin never spoke of going to the Place of Anubis, or of anyone who had threatened him?"

"No, great lord." Beltis raised her voice. "But I'm sure that Selket has accused me. She hates me for being beautiful while she is ugly and old. The brothers are the same. Imsety is stupid, and Djaper hates me."

The concubine's rancor swelled as she related her tri als. "They will all tell you lies about me, but I'll tell you the truth. Djaper hates me because I spurned him when he would have lain with me and because my son displaced him in the heart of Hormin. I tell you they killed my master so that my son and I wouldn't take their place in his will."

"Enough."

Meren shoved himself out of his chair. He took Beltis's hand and helped her rise. As soon as she was up, he dropped her hand and went to the door. While he was opening it, he spoke again.

"While he was with you, did Hormin spill perfume on himself?"

Beltis furrowed her brow. "No, my lord."

Meren stepped out of the bedchamber. He looked back at Beltis, and saw that she had resumed her posture with her breasts pressed forward. Determination seemed to be a great part of her character. Meren surveyed the gleaming nipples, then let his eyes slowly drift to Beltis's face.

"You say the wife and sons of Hormin are guilty of this murder. Over and over you have complained that they hate you. If they hate you so, Beltis, tell me why it wasn't you who was found buried in natron with a blade stuck in your pretty neck?"

After a few hours he'd grown used to the stench of the Place of Anubis, but it would take an eternity of the gods to accustom himself to the priest Raneb's screeching. Kysen tried not to wince as Raneb flapped his bony arms and cawed at a hapless apprentice who was unlucky enough not to know anything about Hormin, his life, or his death. The priest raised an arm, and Kysen sucked in his breath. He turned away and pretended to study one of the natron tables. The old miasma engulfed him, and he was a child again, bewildered and cowering under blows he was sure would kill him.

That clenched fist, the swinging arm, they belonged to Raneb, who would hurt no one. When he turned back to the group of men in the drying shed, he was calm. From the fire stokers to the highest priest, all had been questioned either by Kysen or one of his men. Further haranguing would yield nothing.

"Priest Raneb."