'Which leads to Ra again,' Meren said.
'I'll find Iry and see if his searches have revealed anything else.'
'Ky,' Meren said as his son walked away, 'while you're doing that, assign Reia's brother Simut to guard Bener and Isis. I don't think they're in danger, but I'll rest easier knowing someone is watching them.'
'I should have thought of it earlier.'
When he was alone, Meren summoned a servant and had him take the wine jar, flagon, and wine cup to his office. They would be safe there with a sentry posted outside the door. He could think of nothing else to do that would delay his visit to Bentanta.
The women's quarters lay on the opposite side of the house. As he directed his steps in that direction, he realized that he'd been hampered from the beginning of this inquiry. It was almost impossible to intimidate people who remembered him as a muddy, sticky-faced boy. He dreaded demonstrating his power and authority, but his family-and Bentanta-were fast forcing him into a position in which he'd have no choice.
Reia was outside Bentanta's room with another charioteer. He almost went inside alone but instead gave an order to Reia. Reia left, and Meren paced outside the door while he waited briefly for him to return.
Leaving the second man outside as guard, Meren stepped back from the door to allow Reia to knock and throw open the portal. Bentanta was stalking around the chamber and paused in midstride when they appeared. Her brows drew together as her gaze fell on the charioteer. Reia had a scimitar stuck in his belt and was holding a scribe's palette and papyrus.
'I've told you I didn't poison Sennefer or kill Anhai, Your trained colts have searched every possession I brought with me. My patience is wearing, Meren.'
Meren didn't answer. Reia walked past Bentanta, picked up a chair, and brought it to him. Meren sat down, gathering the complicated folds of his robe around his legs. Reia drew his weapon, sat on the floor, and placed it beside him. Then he took a rush pen from his palette and mixed some ink with water. Placing the papyrus on the length of his kilt that stretched between his crossed legs, he dipped the pen in the palette inkwell. All the while, Meren remained silent.
'What are you doing?' Bentanta demanded.
Meren studied her as he would any person whom he had cause to suspect of a great evil, assessing, probing, looking for any sign of guilt. Sometimes this treatment worked, but often, with the quick-witted or those with experience at the imperial court, he was met with a facade of impenetrable innocence. Unfortunately, Bentanta stared right back at him without guilt, but with a bargeload of anger. Ah well, he hadn't expected her to succumb to simple tactics.
'Lady Bentanta, I'll send for another witness to this examination if you wish it.'
'Examination?' Bentanta walked over to face him and put her hands on her hips. 'You're going to examine me like a common thief who steals honey from your beekeepers?'
'Then you don't require another witness,' Meren said. 'Very well. We'll begin, Reia.' He leaned over the side of his chair and glanced down at the charioteer. 'Count Meren, son of Amosis, the Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh, Nebkheprure Tutankhamun-may he have life, health, and prosperity-year five, season of Drought. He speaks as follows: the examination of the Lady Bentanta, widow of Lord Hekareshu the justified, in the matter of the deaths of Lord Sennefer and Lady Anhai.'
He waited, staring impassively at Bentanta as Reia's pen brushed across the polished paper. She looked from him to the paper and back. Her eyes grew wide, and her hands dropped to her sides. He watched the muscles in her throat work as she swallowed. Other than this movement, her face was still. She'd learned to conceal her thoughts at the side of two queens.
'I've told you I've done nothing,' she said.
'And I will have Reia record all your answers to me. I remember all of them. But now I will ask you what it was that Anhai and Sennefer held against you. And you will give me the truth.'
Bentanta walked away from him. She paused beside a table laden with cosmetics-kohl tubes, unguent containers, spoons, tweezers, an ivory comb, and a bronze mirror. She touched the polished surface of the mirror. He could almost see the rush of her thoughts. Best not to give her too much time.
'Answer me,' he said.
Her hand jerked back from the mirror. She clenched it and thrust it behind her back. Turning his way, she lifted her chin and gave him a slight smile.
'The Lady Bentanta answers thus. I wish to consult with my family.'
'In time,' he said. Bentanta's family was a powerful one. In one way or another she was related to Meren's friend, the royal treasurer Maya, to General Nakhtmin's wife, to the high priest of Osiris, and to the divine adoratrice of Amun.
'No, Meren. I want to consult my family now. Send for my father and for Maya. Both Anhai and Sennefer provoked anger from many people, and I'll not submit to your hounding without my family near me to help.' She walked back to him again, her carriage erect, her manner confident.
Drumming his fingers on his chair arm, Meren leaned back and studied her. Suddenly he quit tapping the wood and closed his eyes. He summoned the spirit of warfare, that attitude that allowed him to face his own death and the deaths of friends and remain calm and battle-ready, When he opened his eyes, Bentanta blinked at his expression. Her lips moved soundlessly, but he spoke first.
'I had hoped to spare you humiliation and pain. You refuse to answer, and I will not allow this.' He stood abruptly.
Using the advantage of his greater height, he looked down on Bentanta, unsmiling. 'I've questioned those far greater than you. If you think I'll spare the whip and the cane because of our past, you're wrong. Someone is killing people in my house, and I'm going to find out who it is. I want the truth from you, Bentanta. It's your choice as to whether I use force to get it.'
She was staring at him, eyes round, body rigid, like a startled ibex. At last he'd force her to take him seriously. He took a step toward her, and she backed away. Nodding to Reia, he went to the door.
'What are you doing?'
'A forced inquiry takes preparation,' he said as Reia opened the door to reveal the sentry. 'Perhaps by the time I return, you'll have realized you have no choice but to answer my questions.'
He left quickly with Reia, before she could protest. For the first time there had been alarm in her voice; perhaps a night spent alone in fear would loosen her tongue. She would start each time she heard a footfall. Her fear would grow at every whisper, every raised voice. He had much to do to keep him busy in the meantime.
Besides, he had no great faith in confessions obtained by force. Often one got only what the victim thought one wished to hear. With his men on guard, there would be no more deaths. He would revisit the granary before dark, talk to Idut and Aunt Cherit. Yes, there was much to do, and he could afford to wait for Bentanta to lose her courage. But if she didn't, would his be as great when he had to follow through with his threats?
Not wanting to know the answer to this question, Meren left the guest house and walked toward his own. As he made his way through the trees that clustered around the high walls, he heard shouting. People crowded around the front gate, pointing and muttering. Reia strode ahead of him, parting the observers.
As the onlookers stepped aside, the shouting grew louder, then ceased. Abruptly those closest to the center of the commotion scattered, leaving Meren to stare at Kysen and Ra. At the same time, a roar erupted from his brother's lips. Ra sprang backward. A dagger leaped into his hand, and Kysen drew his own.
'I'll teach you manners, you lowborn son of a goat!'
Ra's arm darted at Kysen's gut. Kysen parried the thrust, and the blades clashed together. Metal slid against metal until the two weapons locked at the hilt. As the two pushed against each other, Meren jumped at them, grabbed Ra's dagger arm, and jammed his foot into his brother's chest. Ra flew to the ground, still holding his dagger. Meren stood between his son and his brother and glared at Ra.
'What demon possesses you that you dare attack my son?'
Ra wiped sweat from his upper lip with the back of his hand. 'He tried to keep me from leaving. The cur told me to go back to my chamber as if I were some pubescent girl! He says I'm suspected of killing Sennefer and Anhai, the dung-eater.'
Meren held his ground as Ra sprang to to his feet and walked toward Kysen. He grabbed his brother's forearm, immobilizing the hand that held the dagger.
'You don't want to fight Kysen,' he said. 'You want to fight me. Why don't you do it?'
