slashing at each other with their tongues. Only Wah's appearance saved everyone from witnessing a fight. There had been talk of the days at Horizon of Aten when both Anhai and Wah had served Nefertiti. But Wah had made even discussion of the fabulous Nefertiti tedious.
Until Ra had arrived. Meren swerved away from considering the ugly reunion with his brother and the annoying discovery that Ra had linked himself with his cousin's wife. His next memory was of being cornered by Wah, succeeded by that quarrel between Bentanta and Anhai. Why hadn't Sennefer stopped it? He'd been nearby, reclining on a chair and footstool, touching his slightly melted unguent cone and sniffing his fingers. Yet he'd done nothing to stop his wife and her supposed friend from quarreling at so important a celebration as Meren's feast of rejoicing.
After the fight and his unsuccessful attempt to make Bentanta confide in him, Meren had been waylaid by Antefoker, then rescued by Kysen, only to be forced to listen to Hepu's Instruction. During this ordeal he remembered seeing Sennefer, Nebetta, Idut, and Wah, but not Ra or Bentanta. However, he'd been distracted by Isis's conversation with Ra's dissolute friends.
He leaned over the pool and spoke to the black reflection of his body. 'It's no use. I see nothing that points the way. No signs of guilt, no marks or traces to lead me to the evil one.'
And he was beginning to suspect Anhai had been killed by magic. How else could she have been dispatched without any trace of violence or poison? Yet a search of the house and grounds had revealed no signs of the use of magic-no replicas of Anhai, no collection of the dead woman's hair or nails, no evidence of ritual burning of sacrifices. However, if someone had performed magic while in the midst of some household ritual, at the shrine, for example, such behavior might go unnoticed.
No, that didn't make sense. If someone was using magic, he wouldn't need to dump Anhai in a granary. The magic could have been worked while the murderer was at the feast among those he could call upon as witnesses to his innocence.
Several loud cracks and a yelp, then another, interrupted his musings. The door to the garden banged opened, and Idut marched in, holding an ivory fan. Behind her the two men guarding his privacy bent over, one rubbing his head, the other his shin. Idut descended upon him, shaking the fan in his face.
'No more of this skulking and hiding, Meren. I want to know what's happening. What demon possesses you? How could you take a dagger to Ra?'
'Me! I'm not the one who-'
'Never mind,' Idut said. She slapped the fan against her palm. 'Not only have you accused your own brother of murder, but Kysen has accused my poor Wah. Wah, of all men, isn't a murderer. He's gentle and sweet, and, and…'
'And a sycophant and a place-seeker.'
'He doesn't need to seek a place. He was steward to Queen Nefertiti. And how can you make Ra and Bentanta prisoners in their rooms? They've done nothing.'
Meren looked at the pool, wishing he could dive into its black waters. 'Idut, I'm trying to solve two murders, and I need to be alone.'
'Nebetta blames you.'
Turning to stare at his sister, Meren said, 'Me? What have I done?'
'I don't know. She says you're responsible for both her sons' deaths. She says if Sennefer and Anhai hadn't come to the feast, both of them would be alive.'
'She doesn't know that. If the same person killed both, then that person was determined to get rid of them and would have tried elsewhere. And I was nowhere near Djet when he killed himself.'
'I tried to tell her that,' Idut said, 'but she wouldn't listen to me. No one listens to me. You have to find out who killed Anhai and Sennefer. The whole household is fearful. What if there's some evil demon loose among us? I think I should take the girls and go to Memphis. Wah says he'll take us on his yacht. You can stay here with the murderer.'
'My charioteers are on guard now. There will be no more deaths, and I'm not sending Bener and Isis anywhere with that fool Wah.'
'There you are!' Hepu strode toward them like a colossus with a sagging belly and jowls. 'I hear you've confined Ra and Bentanta to their chambers. Did they kill Sennefer?'
'I don't know,' Meren said.
'Why not? It's been hours since my poor boy died.'
'Catching a murderer isn't a simple task, Uncle.'
Hepu seethed with barely contained rage. 'But that woman poisoned him!'
'That isn't certain,' Meren said.
'Oh, Uncle,' Idut said. 'I can't imagine Bentanta killing anyone.'
'Ah-ha!' Hepu pointed at Meren. 'You're protecting her. I see it now. You're all in some evil plot together.'
Meren walked over to Hepu. Even now the older man was taller, but Meren wasn't a child anymore. He studied Hepu's indignant face for a moment, then asked quietly, 'Are you accusing me of murdering Sennefer?' Hepu's indignation turned to uneasiness as he watched Meren's expression. 'I thought not, Uncle. It's your grief. It's taken hold of your heart and interfered with your reason.'
'I'm going to see how Nebetta fares,' Idut said. 'The physician's potion was wearing off before the evening meal.'
As Hepu turned to accompany Idut, Meren held up a hand. 'A moment, Uncle.' Idut left the garden.
'What do you want now?'
'Have you any idea who might want to kill your son or Anhai?'.
'My son was beloved by all who knew him.'
Hepu said.
'Perhaps by the women,' Meren said, 'but not necessarily by all the men.'
'I don't understand you.'
'Surely you knew about Sennefer's dealings with women, especially married ones.' Hepu gave him an openmouthed stare. 'You're mad.'
'Are you saying he never talked to you about his adventures? He talked about them to everyone else.'
'My son knew the advice of the great man who said beware of approaching women in a man's home. He was a man of honor and upright judgment.'
'Hepu, Sennefer made a habit of seducing married women. It's a wonder some wronged husband hadn't already taken a knife to him.'
'My son didn't do such things,' Hepu said as he drew himself up to his full height so he could look down his nose at Meren. 'It wasn't possible for him.'
'Why not?'
Hepu went as still as a temple relief before answering. He looked away from Meren and said, 'Because I taught Sennefer well. Unlike Djet, he learned virtue, respect, the conduct of a decent man. No doubt Bentanta killed him in a jealous rage because he refused her. Perhaps she killed Anhai so she could have my son.'
Meren could find no reply to this fanciful reasoning. Anyone should know a woman like Bentanta wouldn't want Sennefer. Hepu's conception of his son had more to do with imagination than with Sennefer's true nature. 'I must return to Nebetta. She isn't well at all.' Left alone, Meren tried to regain his calm so that he could resume contemplating what little evidence he had for the two deaths. Eventually he gave up and went to bed. He fell asleep wondering if he could face arresting his own brother for murder.
Early the next morning a vessel arrived with priests of Anubis. Along with the grieving parents and the family, Meren witnessed the ceremonial removal of the two bodies to the ship that would take them to Abydos for embalming. Then he went to Green Palm.
Now he walked down the main path of the village. It was lined with the trees from which its name was derived, and between the palms squatted stalls covered with goods-vegetables, fruit, basketry, pottery, amulets, cloth. He and Reia stopped beside a rickety awning that sheltered a vendor of melons and surveyed the two-story structure. In the door's stone lintel was carved 'The Green Palm,' the name of the tavern and village alike.
'Reia, you're staying outside. I don't need a guard to visit a tavern.'
