HAMUNAPTRA AGAIN
Chapter 2 : Clues
It had been as he feared, when Rick got back to the house he didn’t find Evelyn there, and he had a sinking feeling that something was terribly wrong. However, he was willing to think of the logical places she might be before jumping to any conclusions. Now, his first line of business was to check around with their neighbors. They lived in a house on the north end of Cairo, not far from some of the other homes, placed close together, where their friends lived, or more specifically Evelyn’s friends lived. His first stop was at Becky’s home. He knocked on her door, but she wasn’t in, and he guessed she was at the dig in Thebes. His next stop was at Safia’s home, and when he knocked on the door, he only had a short wait until Kiya, Safia’s 6 year old daughter, answered.
“Hello Kiya. Have Evelyn and Alex come by?” he asked. Rick spoke slowly, so she could understand him. Out of the three of them, Kiya, and her mother and father, she was the only one who spoke, or understood any amount of English. At his question, she shook her head.
“They were by in the morning but not since then,” she said.
“Thank you. Will you watch for them?” she nodded. Then her father called out for her, and she had to leave. The next hour was spent looking for Evie, and Alex at various friends homes, and when Rick didn’t find her in any home, he went back to theirs.
Upon his arrival, Rick found Jonathan seated in the kitchen eating some pasta with fresh tomatoes. His brother-in-law looked up and smiled.
“Hey Rick. Is Evelyn working another late night?” he asked, oblivious to the fact that she wasn’t where she needed to be.
“No Jonathan she isn’t. I can’t find her. She isn’t at the museum, or at any of our friends houses, and its just not like her to take off without telling me,” he said. That news didn’t seem to worry Jonathan.
“She likely went to the market,” he said, though it was getting late, and Rick pointed that out.
“Jonathan it’s almost nine, and she doesn’t go to the market this late,” he said. He was worried and began to pace, and that for Jonathan was a wake up call. Most of the time Rick was one of the most laid back people Jonathan had met. The only time he got worked up was when something wasn’t right, and this was one of those times.
“Look, will you help me. Go to the market place, and see if anyone has seen her there, and then meet me at the museum,” he said. After he gave Jonathan instructions, he went into the parlor to his desk and got out his revolver, and holster and put it around his waist, then headed out to the museum to see if he could find any clues.
The museum was pretty much the same way he had left it. The doors were still unlocked, and he was surprised that Ahmhad had not been by to close things up. As he entered, he was very careful, and drew his gun just in case anyone was there who should not be. Cautiously he moved down the passage to Evelyn’s office, and when he got there he didn’t find anyone inside. However, he still kept his gun out ready to use it should anyone come who was not a friend. The satchel was still laying on the floor, and he went to that, and began putting the few things that had fallen out back in. It was while he was picking up, that he noticed a piece of gauze, and he picked that up. There was some sort of stain on it, and he lifted it to his nose and sniffed, and suddenly felt dizzy. Carefully he sat down, and realized that what was on the rag was something to make one sleep, Chloroform perhaps, but then again he was no doctor. When the dizziness passed, he got up and went out of her office to the Egyptian section of the museum and looked around. As he was looking for more clues, he heard foot fall quickly approaching him, and he quickly clicked his gun, ready to shoot whomever it was, then Jonathan ran in with Ahmhad. Rick put the gun away.
“She’s not anywhere in the market, and no one has seen her,” Jonathan informed. That was not what Rick wanted to hear.
“When I was here today there was a couple who came by looking at the treasures. They kept asking me how we obtained them, and I told them that you and Evelyn had been to the lost city,” he said.
“What did they do when you told them,” Rick said having a sinking feeling that whomever Ahmhad had seen and spoken with had taken his wife and son on another expedition to Hamunaptra.
“Asked when we closed,” he said, and looked down. He was a young man, younger than Rick and Evie, and it was evident that he felt bad for having said anything about who had found the treasures. Rick walked over to him.
“Ahmhad It’s not your fault. I should have insisted that she not display the treasures,” Rick said. That seemed to make him feel better. After reassuring him, Rick walked over to the display cases and found one of them shattered.
“Ahmhad can you tell me what she put in this one?” he asked.
“Yes she had in it a small statue of Anubis, and a gold box, also a scepter,” he responded. Rick looked at Jonathan.
“We need to pack and get going.” For once in his life Jonathan didn’t complain. He knew that Evelyn and the baby were in danger, and he would do what it took to help find them and bring them home to safety.
After leaving the museum, the two men went back to the house. In their room, Rick packed a rucksack with cloths for Evelyn, as well as cloths and diapers for Alex, realizing she didn’t have any way to change him, when he had a dirty or wet diaper. He had vowed to himself that if any harm came to either of them, the people who took them would pay dearly. Once he finished that, he went to their closet and pulled out his weapons bag and then headed downstairs. Jonathan was waiting for him in the Parlor, and though it was late they knew they could get Camels, and set off toward Hamunaptra.
“Are you ready?” Rick asked. Jonathan stood.
“As ready as I can be,” he responded, and there were no more words as the two men set off for another parilous journey across the desert to a city that seemed to haunt them.
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