Page 74 of The Stolen Queen

“From what I recall, it was the local Egyptian workers who did most of the hard labor. I don’t remember seeing you lift a pickax.”

“Henry said he wanted to take care of you and…”

As he trailed off, Charlotte spoke up fast, not wanting to hear the baby’s name come out of his mouth. “You survived. How did you survive?”

“All those years swimming for Cambridge paid off and I made it to shore, somehow. I assumed you and Henry had perished, as hardly anyone escaped. It’s truly astonishing to see you, really. In any event, I took it as an opportunity to turn my life around, eventually becoming a guide.”

“After a stint in jail for smuggling.”

Leon shifted in his seat. “You’ve done your homework.”

“I have.”

“Well, you’ve got me there. When I first got to Cairo, I changed my name to get the authorities off my back, did what I could to get by. But yes, I eventually got caught and paid the price. An Egyptian prison is not something you want to ever be inside, trust me on that. I learned my lesson, and now I take tourists around, charm the ladies, make the men think they’re getting a look at the ‘real Egypt,’ collect my fee. It’s not much, but it keeps me going.”

“I know you and Henry took the broad collar that I found.”

“Thatwefound.”

She ignored his correction. “It ended up in New York, on loan to the Met. How did that happen?”

Leon shrugged. “All I know is that it was in the suitcase that Henry was carrying. What happened next is anyone’s guess.”

“He’s still alive.” It was a statement, not a question. “Where is he?” She’d avoided this question until the last moment, knowing the answer could send her reeling. To anyone walking by, they looked like two people having a pleasant enough conversation, when in fact she would have enjoyed clawing the smug look off his face.

Leon licked his lips. “I have no idea. I assumed he died as well. Never heard from him again. Heck, maybe the broad collar washed up on shore and someone else nicked it. The curse lives on, it seems.” He checked his watch. “I have to get to work, there’s a dozen Swiss tourists waiting for me to reveal the wonders of the ancient world. It was nice catching up, best of luck to you, Charlotte. And to your pretty assistant.”

Charlotte rose to go and Annie did as well. “You’re despicable,” said Charlotte. “Zimmerman trusted you, we all trusted you.”

“I didn’t work alone. Maybe you don’t know the man you married.”

The accusation cut to the quick, but there was something else to it, something that didn’t fit.

Charlotte and Annie walked back to the main road, where Charlotte ducked into a store selling tunics and pulled Annie in with her. “Let’s just make sure he’s not following us,” she said.

They pretended to peruse the offerings, and a minute or so later Leon hurried by, looking haggard, and boarded a bus headed to the ferry.

“He’s lying about Henry,” said Annie.

“You noticed that, too?”

“Instead of saying, ‘Maybe youdidn’tknow the man you married,’ he said, ‘Maybe youdon’t.’ Present tense.”

“I caught that as well.”

The truth had come out, even with all of Leon’s denials and evasions. Henry was alive, and her heart soared with hope that maybe, just maybe, their daughter was also alive. But that line of thinking would get Charlotte nowhere without tracking down Henry, and she wasn’t any closer to the answer than she’d been before ambushing Leon.

“What curse was he referring to?” asked Annie.

“It’s said that if you take something that was dear to Hathorkare out of the kingdom, you’ll face the wrath of the gods.”

“Then the shipwreck was Hathorkare trying to stop them?”

“I’m not sure what it was.” She explained how the curse first came to light in the early 1900s, with the tragic deaths of the earl and his wife not long after they brought the Cerulean Queen to England. She also mentioned her aborted attempts to return to Egypt, which both times had ended in disaster. Charlotte waited, expecting Annie to offer some kind of platitude or repudiation, as Helen had done when she’d brought up the curse.

But Annie didn’t question it. “That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”

In spite of the heat, a chill ran down Charlotte’s spine. “Let’s go back to Leon’s apartment building, speak to some of his neighbors.”

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