‘Two reasons. One, timing. The Festival is pointless without her. Two, she’s far more loved and admired than him. I sometimes think the only reason everyone goes along with the new religion is because they believe in her far more than they believe in the worship of the Aten. Even people who have nothing but negative things to say about everything that’s happening have to admit that she’s an astonishing person. There’s never been anyone like her. But that in itself is a problem. Some people see her as a threat.’

I took a sip of wine. ‘Who?’

‘People who have something to lose by her power, and something to gain by her death.’

Disappearance. Why did you say death?’

He looked disconcerted. ‘Sorry, disappearance. Everyone thinks she’s been murdered.’

‘Rule one: assume nothing. Just look at what is and isn’t there. Deduce accordingly. Who would profit from such a situation, from the uncertainty?’

‘There’s not just one candidate, there are many. In the new military, in the old Priesthoods of Karnak and Heliopolis, in the Harem, within the new bureaucracy, even’-he moved closer-‘in the royal family itself. Apparently the inner circles of the court are rife with people saying even the Queen Mother has resented her beauty and her influence-things she herself lost a long time ago.’

We paused and looked at the suddenly darkening sky. He had spoken well, and everything he said had confirmed my worst fear: that indeed I was now caught up at the centre of a mystery as delicately complex as a spider’s web that could destroy not only my life, but the life of the country. I suddenly felt a dark nest of serpents stir inside my stomach, and a voice in my head told me it was impossible, that I would never find her, that I could perish here and never see Tanefert and the children again. I tried to breathe myself calmly back to the task in hand. Concentrate. Concentrate. Use what you know. Do the job. Think. Think it through.

‘Remember, Khety, there is no body. A murderer wishes only to hurt, punish and kill. A death is a death. It is an accomplished fact. This situation is different. A disappearance is far more complex. Its achievement is instability. Whoever has done this has introduced tremendous uncertainty and turbulence into a settled equation. And there is nothing worse for those in authority. They find themselves fighting illusions. And illusions are very powerful.’

Khety looked impressed. ‘So how do we proceed?’

‘There is a pattern to all this; we just have to learn to read its signs, to connect the clues. Her disappearance is our starting point. It is what we know we know. We do not know why, or how. We do not know where she is, or whether she lives. We must find out. And how do you think we should do that?’

‘Umm…’

‘For heaven’s sake, have they given me a monkey as an assistant?’

He flushed with embarrassment, but his eyes glittered with anger. Good. A reaction.

‘If you have lost something, what is the first question you ask yourself?’

‘Where was the last place I had it?’

‘So…’

‘So we must discover the last place, the last time, the last person. And trace her backwards and forwards from there. So you want me to-’

‘Exactly.’

‘A name will be on your desk first thing in the morning.’

After a while I smiled. ‘Khety, you are becoming a wiser man with every passing drop of this fine wine.’

His anger dissipated a little. I refilled his cup.

‘No-one ever just disappears,’ I continued, ‘as if they had stepped out of their sandals and up into thin air. There are always clues. Human beings cannot help but leave traces. We will find and read these traces. We will track her footsteps in the dust of this world, and discover her and bring her safely home. We have no choice.’

We bade farewell at the crossroads where the Royal Road met the way back to my office. Khety saluted, then stepped towards the Medjay headquarters, no doubt to report everything to Mahu with the confident fluency of the inexperienced drinker. But perhaps I was too harsh. He had been candid with me, more than was strictly required. I could not trust him, nevertheless I liked him well enough. And he would be a useful guide to this strange world.

10

I woke early like a condemned man to the naivety of birdsong. I could not believe I was still here, and that I had committed myself and my family to this madness. I wanted Tanefert lying next to me. I wanted to hear the girls talking to each other next door, in their room. But the room was an empty box. Would that I could turn back the river that carried me here.

Khety and Tjenry arrived together. Tjenry carried breakfast, a jug of beer and a basket of bread rolls which he put down in front of me. Khety looked pleased with himself. He carefully placed a papyrus document on my desk. On it was written a girl’s name: Senet.

‘Who’s this?’

‘Nefertiti’s maid. The last person to see her, as far as I can discover. She reported her disappearance.’

‘Good. Let’s go.’

‘But we don’t have an appointment.’

‘Why do we need an appointment to speak to the Queen’s maid?’

‘Because it’s how things are done, it’s etiquette. She’s not just anyone. Her family-’

‘Look, Khety, in Thebes, I just turn up. I decide who I want to talk to, when, where and how. I go out into the streets, I talk to people who work, who have lives one can understand more or less at a glance; they talk before they’ve had a chance to work out their story properly. I know the way of things. I know how to find the people I need to find. I ask them questions. I get the answers.’

He looked worried. ‘May I speak?’

‘Only very quickly.’

Tjenry grinned. Khety ignored him.

‘The capital is a very formal kind of place. There is always hierarchy to respect; etiquette, procedure, propriety. Even the simplest request for an audience or a meeting can take days to administrate and negotiate. People are very…sensitive, and demand to have their status respected and acknowledged. It’s all very finely balanced, and if you get it wrong and upset people, it makes things very… difficult.’

I couldn’t believe this. ‘Khety, do you remember what we talked about last night? Do you realize how little time we have? We have ten-no, nine, as of now-days. At most. If we wait at these invisible doors, knocking politely and saying, “Please may we come in, please grant us a moment of your precious time, please may we acknowledge your high status, please may my assistant Khety kiss your honourable arse,” we’re never going to survive. And besides, we have authorities. From Akhenaten.’

I unrolled the papyrus, with its royal symbols-his two names written within the cartouches-and showed him.

Tjenry was impressed.

We walked out into the early morning and Khety showed me a ramshackle chariot that he had procured for the purpose of driving me from place to place.

‘Sorry, sir, this is all that’s available.’

‘So much for honour and status,’ I said.

We drove off, Tjenry following in another chariot that was in an even worse condition. There were still fine traces of night coolness in the air and in the freshness of the light. The twittering of thousands of birds, the already dazzling brightness of the buildings, the way the first light awoke among little things-in the blades of the grasses, in the leaves, in the running waters-helped restore my heart to the belief that perhaps after all I could solve this mystery and return to my family.

Khety drove us at speed away from the central city, along the wide Royal Road and then off on a spur which soon turned into a sinuous and beautiful pathway beside the river, beneath an avenue of mature palm trees.

‘Were these trees already here when the city was built?’ I asked.

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