Agatha Christie - Death Comes as the End

"Oh, Esa, how you misjudge me!"

"In which, I say, Henet assists you - either because she is a fool too, or for some other reason -"

"May Re forgive you, Esa, for your unkindness to a poor lonely woman!"

Esa swept on, shaking her stick in an impressive gesture.

"Pull yourself together, Imhotep, and think. Your dead wife Ashayet, who was a very lovely woman and not a fool, by the way, may exert her influence for you in the other world but can hardly be expected to do your thinking for you in this one! We have got to act, Imhotep, for if we do not, then there will be more deaths."

"A live enemy? An enemy in this house? You really believe that, Esa?"

"Of course I believe it, because it is the only thing that makes sense."

"But then we are all in danger?"

"Certainly we are. In danger, not of spells and spirit hands, but of human agency - of live fingers that drop poison. In food and drink, of a human figure that steals up behind a boy who returns late at night from the village and forces his head down into the waters of the lake!"

Imhotep said thoughtfully: "Strength would be needed for that."

"On the face of it, yes, but I am not sure. Ipy had drunk much beer in the village. He was in a wild and boastful mood. It may be that he returned home unsteady on his feet and that, having no fear of the person who accosted him, he bent of his own accord to bathe his face in the lake. Little strength would be needed then."

"What are you trying to say, Esa? That a woman did this thing? But it is impossible - the whole thing is impossible - there can be no enemy in this house or we should know it. I should know it!"

"There is an evil of the heart, Imhotep, that does nor show in the face."

"You mean that one of our servants, or a slave -"

"No servant and no slave, Imhotep."

"One of ourselves? Or else - do you mean Hori or Kameni? But Hori is one of the family. He has proved himself faithful and trustworthy. And Kameni - he is a stranger, true, but he is of our blood and he has proved his devotion by his zeal in my service. Moreover, he came to me only this morning and urged that I should consent to his marriage with Renisenb."

"Oh, he did, did he?" Esa showed interest. "And what did you say?"

"What could I say?" Imhotep was fretful. "Is this a time to talk of marriage? I said as much to him."

"And what did he say to that?"

"He said that in his opinion this was the time to talk of marriage. He said that Renisenb was not safe in this house."

"I wonder," said Esa. "I very much wonder... Is she? I thought she was - and Hori thought so - but now..."

Imhotep went on.

"Can one have marriages and funeral ceremonies going on side by side? It is not decent. The whole Nile would talk about it."

"This is no time for convention," said Esa. "Especially since it would seem that the embalmers' men are with us permanently. All this must be a blessing to Ipi and Montu - the firm must be doing exceptionally well."

"They have put their charges up by ten per cent!" Imhotep was momentarily diverted. "Iniquitous! They say that labor is more expensive."

"They should give us a cut-rate price for quantity!" Esa smiled grimly at her joke.

"My dear mother." Imhotep looked at her in horror. "This is not a jest."

"All life is a jest, Imhotep - and it is death who laughs last. Do you not hear it at every feast? Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die? Well, that is very true for us here - it is a question only of whose death will come tomorrow."

"What you say is terrible - terrible! What can be done?"

"Trust no one," said Esa. "That is the first, the most vital thing." She repeated with emphasis: "Trust no one."

Henet began to sob.

"Why do you look at me?... I'm sure if anyone is worthy of trust, I am. I've proved it over all these years. Don't listen to her, Imhotep."

"There, there, my good Henet - naturally I trust you. I know only too well your true and devoted heart."

"You know nothing," said Esa. "None of us know anything. That is our danger."

"You accused me," whined Henet.

"I cannot accuse. I have neither knowledge nor proof - only suspicion."

Imhotep looked up sharply.

"You have suspicion - of whom?"

Esa said slowly: "I have suspected once - and twice - and a third time. I will be honest. I suspected first Ipy - but Ipy is dead, so that suspicion was false. Then I suspected another person - but, on the very day of Ipy's death, yet a third idea came to me..."

She paused.

"Are Hori and Kameni in the house? Send for them here - yes, and Renisenb too from the kitchen. And Kait and Yahmose. I have something to say and all the house should hear it."

II

Esa looked round at the assembled family. She met Yahmose's grave and gentle glance, Kameni's ready smile, the frightened enquiry in Renisenb's eyes, the placid incurious glance of Kait, the quiet inscrutability of Hori's thoughtful gaze, the irritable fear in Imhotep's twitching face and the avid curiosity and - yes - pleasure in Henet's eyes.

She thought: "Their faces tell me nothing. They show only the outward emotion. Yet surely, if I am right, there must be some betrayal."

Aloud she said:

"I have something to say to you all - but first I will speak only to Henet - here in front of all of you."

Henet's expression changed - the avidity and the pleasure went out of it. She looked frightened. Her voice rose in a shrill protest.

"You suspect me, Esa. I knew it! You will make a case against me and how am I, a poor woman with no great wits, to defend myself? I shall be condemned - condemned unheard."

"Not unheard," said Esa with irony, and saw Hori smile.

Henet went on, her voice growing more and more hysterical:

"I have done nothing... I am innocent... Imhotep, my dearest master, save me..." She flung herself down and clasped him round the knees. Imhotep began to splutter indignantly, meanwhile patting Henet's head.

"Really, Esa, I protest - This is disgraceful..."

Esa cut him short.

"I have made no accusation. I do not accuse without proof. I ask only that Henet shall explain to us here the meaning of certain things she has said."

"I have said nothing - nothing at all..."

"Oh, yes, you have," said Esa. "These are words I heard with my own ears - and my ears are sharp even if my eyes are dim. You said that you knew something about Hori. Now what is it that you know about Hori?"

Hori looked slightly surprised.

"Yes, Henet," he said. "What do you know about me! Let us have it."

Henet sat back on her haunches and wiped her eyes. She looked sullen and defiant.

"I know nothing," she said. "What should I know?"

"That is what we are waiting for you to tell us," said Hori.

Henet shrugged her shoulders.

"I was just talking. I meant nothing."

Esa said:

"I will repeat to you your own words. You said that we all despised you, but that you knew a lot of what was going on in this house - and that you saw more than many clever people saw.

"And then you said this - that when Hori met you, he looked at you as though you didn't exist, as though he saw something behind you - something that wasn't there."

"He always looks like that," said Henet sullenly. "I might be an insect, the way he looks at me - something that practically doesn't matter."

Esa said slowly:

"That phrase has remained in my mind - something behind - something - that wasn't there. Henet said, 'He should have looked at me.' And she went on to speak of Satipy - yes, of Satipy - and of how Satipy was clever, but where was Satipy now?..."

Esa looked around.

"Does that mean nothing to any of you? Think of Satipy - Satipy who is dead... And remember one should look at a person - not at something that isn't there..."