skillful warrior like his father.'
'You're kind, my lady.'
'I visited Tefnut and Bener at your town house last month, but you were away. Your daughters were kind enough to give me plant cuttings for the garden. Your house is magnificent.'
'Thank you, princess.'
Iaret indicated two high-backed chairs of ebony and ivory. 'Let us sit, my lord. Why insist on stuffy etiquette, eh?'
Iaret seated herself and settled her cat on her lap. To Meren the creature looked like a miniature Sa-long and lean with shining black fur. This cat's eyes weren't green, though. They were tawny gold and as large as olives. Iaret was holding the cat up to her face.
'My little Miu. You got lost yesterday didn't you. Mother was frantic. Yes she was.' Iaret turned to Meren. 'She went out hunting and got lost in the servants quarters. She's the first animal I've ever owned, and I love her dearly. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her.' Iaret's eyes grew bright with tears. She buried her nose in Miu's black fur. 'You will think me foolish, Lord Meren.'
'Soft hearted, princess, but not foolish. It is never foolish to give one's love.'
Iaret looked at him over her cat and grinned. 'They say you're the consummate royal courtier, and now I know why.'
'Forgive me, my lady,' Meren said with a smile. 'I have a few questions I would like to ask you.'
'Yes?'
'Do you own a bronze dagger with an alabaster pommel?'
'What an odd question. Why do you ask?'
'Please, my lady. Do you own such a dagger?'
'No, I don't think so.' Iaret's brow furrowed. 'I own a few knives, cosmetic implements like razors and the like. I've no need of a dagger.' She gestured widely. 'There are plenty of guards with daggers and spears should I need a weapon.'
'I thought perhaps the king, your father…'
'No, I don't remember him giving me something like that. I rarely saw him you know.' She eyed him. 'You're so grave. If it's that important, you should ask the steward for the latest inventory. I think it was done six or seven months ago. It should list everyone's possessions.'
'Thank you, princess. I will.' Meren hesitated. 'I must also ask you about the garden doorkeeper called Kar.'
Iaret was stroking her cat, her head lowered. 'The doorkeeper Kar, yes. He's gone, you know.'
'He's dead.'
The princess' head jerked up. She stared at him with wide eyes, her mouth open. Moments passed before she spoke.
'Dead? But he was here only a few weeks ago cursing and weaving around drunk. Oh. Did he have some accident while besotted? I was so worried about him. He was drinking himself into ill health.'
'No,' Meren said softly. 'He was murdered. Stabbed to death with a dagger engraved with the name of your father.'
Iaret continued to stare at him in horror. 'But that can't be. Wait.' She narrowed her eyes. 'Surely you don't entertain suspicions of me. Me? By all the gods, how could you think I would do such a thing?'
'Princess, I am the Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh. When murder touches those near pharaoh, I pursue the evil one no matter where the trail leads. You know this.'
'But me. It's ridiculous. I tried to help Kar.' Iaret was clutching her cat to her breast as if to protect herself.
'Sometimes there are false trails,' Meren said, feeling guilty for upsetting this sweet girl in spite of himself.
'Oh.' Iaret sighed. 'I see. Then you aren't going to arrest me?'
'Of course not.'
'Good. I've never been arrested before. I'm sure I wouldn't like it.'
Meren shook his head. Iaret seemed guileless, dangerously so for a member of the imperial court. They talked about Kar, but Iaret had little to add to what Meren already knew. Kar was a wastrel who had been given many chances to reform to no avail. Finally even Iaret had given up on him.
Meren took his leave of the princess and requested the household inventory from the steward, Lord Peya. The official produced a leather box filled with papyri. Meren located the inventory of the princess only to find that Iaret had been right. She owned no daggers. She had lots of jewels of gold, electrum, lapis lazuli, carnelian and other precious stones. She owned many clothes, and dozens of bolts of royal linen, vessels of alabaster and granite, and a valuable mirror of silver, but no weapons. Several of the foreign princesses who had married into the royal family possessed daggers, but none of the descriptions matched the murder weapon. Looking at the stacks of inventories, Meren considered sending someone else to plough through them. But he was already here. So he read of lists of royal possessions, his fingers tracing the columns in a fruitless search for the engraved dagger. He even sent for the few daggers he located in hopes of finding one similar to the one that killed Kar. A fruitless effort. Finally he thanked Lord Peya and left Hathor's Ornament for his town house.
At home he met Kysen in the large room on the second floor that served as his office. It was late afternoon, and he could smell antelope roasting in the kitchens. Kysen entered the office with a stranger trailing behind him.
'Lord Meren, this is the unguent maker Onuris, brother of Kar. I have brought him to you that you may hear his story.'
Meren nodded, taking his seat on his favorite chair on the master's dais at one end of the office. Kysen had been born into the artisan class, the son of a tomb worker in the Place of Truth. His ear was more attuned to the nuances of conduct in commoners. In the past year he'd grown more confident in his position as Meren's heir. Now he could intimidate a reluctant witness almost as well as Meren. They seldom had to resort to physical punishment, which was good in Meren's opinion. Beatings extorted lots of information from people, but often it was useless, given simply to escape pain.
Kysen leaned on Meren's chair and whispered to him. 'It was hard going, but I got the truth out of him.' Kysen straightened. 'Onuris, son of Wersu, tell Lord Meren what you told me.'
Onuris was a slim version of his younger brother, with thick hair and a habit of wiping his clammy hands on his kilt. He smelled faintly of myrrh and frankincense. He bowed and cleared his throat.
'Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh, to my great sorrow my younger brother was a dissolute and unworthy man who took it as a great insult that he had to work for his livelihood. I'm afraid my parents doted on him throughout his childhood and youth. They praised him when he made little effort and excused his shortcomings rather than correct them.'
'Is this why Kar occupied the master's chamber in your house when it should have been your parents' room?' Meren asked.
Onuris hesitated. 'In part, lord. I have explained why Kar behaved as he did, but there came a time when he grew intolerable even to my parents, about a month ago.' Swallowing hard, Onuris stuttered before continuing. 'I–I have been so worried. I knew something was wrong, but he was my brother, no matter his faults, so I kept silent.'
'This isn't the time to keep secrets,' Meren said.
'Yes, lord. You see, a couple of months ago Kar began bringing home valuable things-alabaster jars, a gold armband, fine leather sandals. He said he won these things gaming at his favorite tavern. Well, Kar was not the kind of man who won things. He was usually too drunk to concentrate. I thought…'
'He stole them,' Meren finished.
Onuris hung his head.
Meren glanced at Kysen. 'The dagger?'
'No,' Kysen said. 'It appears he never brought such a thing home.'
'No, lord,' said Onuris. 'I followed him once, thinking to solve the mystery, but Kar only went to his usual tavern and drank until he fell on the floor. Last week I tried again, but he saw me. After that Kar took all the valuable things and hid them. I don't know where.'
