“Very glad to meet you,” Nora said. “I hadn’t expected you so soon.”
“I’m very pleased to meet you,” Maskelene said. “Dr. Menzies has spoken so highly of you, and everyone just adores you! Dr. Menzies is tied up at present, but I wanted to come down and meet you right away… and see this marvelous exhibit!”
“As you can see, we’re down to the wire.”
“I’m sure you’ve got everything under control.” Maskelene looked around with relish. “I was so surprised to receive the museum’s invitation, and I can’t tell you how delighted I am to be here. XIX Dynasty tombs are my specialty. And, incredibly, the Tomb of Senef has never been studied or published, although it apparently contains one of the most complete texts to the Book of the Dead ever found. Very few scholars even knew it existed! I’d always thought it was mere rumor, an urban myth like the alligators in your sewers. This is an incredible opportunity.”
Nora smiled and nodded, studying the woman intently. The speed with which Wicherly had been replaced—he’d been dead only a few days—surprised her. But then, she reflected, the opening was looming and the museum absolutely had to have an Egyptologist in residence for the run of the show.
Viola, oblivious to the sound and chaos beyond, was looking around at the tomb with wonder. “What a treasure!”
Nora found herself liking the woman’s high-spirited attitude. Her open, frank enthusiasm was infinitely preferable to the pontifications of some dusty old professor.
“I’ve just been checking the placement of the artifacts and doing a final run-through on the label copy,” she said. “Care to come along? You might catch some errors.”
“I’d adore it,” she said, practically beaming. “Although with Adrian having done the work, I’m sure it’s solid.”
Nora turned. “You knew him?”
Viola’s face clouded. “We Egyptologists are a rather small club. Dr. Menzies told me what happened. I can’t understand it. How terribly frightening for you.”
Nora simply nodded.
“I knew Adrian professionally,” Viola said, her voice more quiet now. “He was a brilliant Egyptologist, although he rather fancied himself God’s gift to women. Still, I never would have thought that… What a terrible shock.” She broke off.
For a moment, an awkward silence settled over them. Then Nora roused herself.
“He left a fine legacy behind him,” she said. “In his work for the exhibition. And I know it sounds crass, but the show must go on.”
“I suppose so,” Viola replied. Then she brightened a little. “I hear the sound-and-light show is quite spectacular.”
“It has just about everything, even a talking mummy.”
Viola laughed. “That sounds delicious!”
They walked on, Nora checking her clipboard. She took the opportunity to examine Viola Maskelene more closely out of the corner of her eye as the Egyptologist looked over the cases full of antiquities.
They paused at one spectacular canopic jar. “I’m afraid this is XVIII Dynasty,” Viola said. “It’s a bit anachronistic, compared to the other objects.”
Nora smiled. “I know. We didn’t quite have all the XIX Dynasty objects we needed, so we expanded—fudged—the time period a bit. Adrian explained that antiques, even at the time of the pharaohs, were often put in burials.”
“Quite true! Sorry for bringing it up—I’m a bit of a stickler for details.”
“Being a stickler for details is exactly what we need.”
They circled the burial chamber, Nora checking items off her list, Viola parsing the label copy and examining the objects.
“Can you read hieroglyphics?” Nora asked.
Viola nodded.
“What do you make of the curse above the door, the one with the Eye of Horus?”
A laugh. “One of the nastiest I’ve ever seen.”
“Really? I thought they were all nasty.”
“On the contrary. Many Egyptian tombs aren’t even protected with curses. They didn’t need to be—everyone knew that to rob a pharaoh’s tomb was to steal from the gods themselves.”
“So why put a curse in this tomb?”
“I imagine it was because, unlike a pharaoh, Senef wasn’t a god. He may have felt that the additional protection of the curse might be warranted. That painting of Ammut… whew!” Viola shuddered. “Goya couldn’t do better.”
Nora glanced at the painting, nodding grimly.
“I understand word of this curse has gotten around,” Viola said.
“The guards started it. Now the whole museum is abuzz. A few of the maintenance staff flat-out refuse to go into the tomb after hours.”