Lady of Heaven (11 page)

He wiped his
mouth as he chewed. “I have a friend who works at the Cairo Museum of
Antiquities,” he said. “I thought we’d go to the museum today.”

She nodded. “I
brought the papyrus. It’s in my suitcase, in the lining. I didn’t want to get
busted for transporting artifacts if they searched my luggage, even if it is
mine, so I hid it.”

He nodded. “I’d
worry more about getting it out of Egypt rather than bringing it in. They are
rather particular about their ancient artifacts.”

“I know,” she
replied with a shrug. “There’s not much I can do about it. I had to bring it.”

He swallowed the
bite in his mouth and finished his orange juice. “I’ll call my friend and see
if she has some time to see us this morning.”

“Okay,” she
sipped her coffee. “Are we bringing the papyrus?”

He shook his
head. “No,” he said flatly. “If we take it in to the museum, I’m afraid we’d
never get it out. They would want to keep it.  I’ll make copies at the hotel
business center and we can bring those.”

“What about the
journal?”

He shrugged.
“Maybe. It’s not as valuable to them as the papyrus.  Plus, it has a lot of
notes in it that might be helpful if we somehow get on the scent of something.”

She pondered
that as her gaze moved between Fox and the blue Nile beyond. “I’ve been
thinking a lot about how we need to go about this,” she said. “It makes sense
to find the correlation between the sites listed on the papyrus and the reality
that they may have existed.  Like, the Claw of the Apes; Fanny’s diary mentions
that the dealer she purchased the papyrus from might have known what it was but
she never elaborates. Do you know what would that be? Are there even any apes
in Egypt?”

He sat back in
his chair. “In ancient times, they were considered living gods, but there are
no indigenous monkeys or apes to Egypt.  I’ve done some research into all sites
mentioned on the papyrus and have come up with a few things.”

“Really?” she
perked up. “Like what?”

He rose, kissed
her head, and went into the bedroom, emerging a short time later with a small
leather-bound notepad.   He resumed his seat next to her as she pushed dishes
out of the way so he could use the table.

Fox set the pad
down and put on his reading glasses. “Well,” he said slowly. “I went through
all the material available to see if somewhere, at some time, there was a
temple or city or some other kind of landmark known as the Claw of the Ape. 
However, we do know that back in pre-dynastic times, baboons especially were
considered vessels of transformation; that is, a deceased king could pass into
the body of a baboon and live again.  Baboons were very sacred back in
pre-dynastic times and even through the Old Kingdom.  There are also small,
early dynastic plaques that show the king or priests performing the
Opening of the Mouth ceremony
and transfiguration before monkeys. 
So, clearly, monkeys were very sacred to the ancient Egyptians.”

Morgan was
listening intently, trying to read his scribbled notes. “What’s the Opening of
the Mouth Ceremony?”

He looked at
her. “It’s part of the mummification process,” he told her. “It’s a ritual by
which the deceased symbolically becomes reanimated.  The priests would perform
this ritual and speak the ancient spell, ‘
Awake! May you be alert as a
living one, rejuvenated every day, healthy in millions of occasions of god
sleep, while the gods protect you, protection being around you every day.’”

She nodded,
digesting the information. “Didn’t you say that my papyrus looks like text that
was copied from another, more ancient source?”

“That’s my
belief.”

“Then wouldn’t
it make sense that the more ancient source, if it’s pre-dynastic like you’ve
speculated, would make mention of apes because they were so sacred to them?
Perhaps even more than later Egyptians?”

He smiled at
her. “You’ve got a brilliant mind, Miss Sherburn.  Your statement makes perfect
sense.”

She grinned in
return. “So maybe pre-dynastic Egypt had a city or monument called Claw of the
Apes.”

He nodded. “I’m
way ahead of you on that. I’ve even looked into the possibility that there was
a festival called Claw of the Apes, but I can’t find any reference to it in any
of the material I’ve researched.”

“So now what?”

He pulled off
his glasses and pecked her on the nose, standing up. “That is why we’re going
to see my friend at the Cairo Museum.  Maybe she knows more.”

Morgan lifted an
eyebrow at him. “”You’ve mentioned ‘she’ a few times,” she said casually. “Who
is ‘she’?”

He closed the
leather-bound tablet. “Dr. Alia el-Shabheen.  She and I did a semester of study
together at Oxford.” He cocked his head, letting out a faint sigh as the mood
shifted. “And I’m not even sure it’s appropriate to bring this up, but I’m all
for honestly in a relationship so here it is: Alia and I dated for a few months
but I broke it off and I don’t think she’s ever quite forgiven me.  Seeing you
might bring back old memories, so be aware.”

Morgan broke
into a smile. “And just how did you plan on introducing me? I could just be a
co-worker, you know. I don’t have to be anything intimate as far as she knows.”

He put his hands
on his hips. “That would involve hiding our relationship and I have no
intention of doing that. As it is, I want to shout it to the world. Why on
earth would I try to hide it?”

She lifted her
shoulders, standing up and beginning to put the dirty dishes back on the room
service tray. “I didn’t mean it that way,” she said. “Maybe I shouldn’t go at
all.  She might be more forthcoming with helpful information if I’m not there.”

He went over to
her and grabbed her by the upper arms, forcing her to face him. “Listen to me
so there is no mistake,” he rumbled. “I am madly in love with you.  At some
point in the very near future, I plan to marry you, so there is nothing in the
world strong enough to cause me to hide my relationship with you. If Alia, or
anyone else, can’t accept it, then they can go to hell.  I mean it.”

Morgan gazed up
at him, wide eyed and stunned by his admission. He’d made a comment about their
future association last night as well but she had let it slide. Now, he was
speaking plainly and she was both overjoyed and speechless.

“If you plan to
marry me, don’t you think you’d better ask my opinion about that first?” she
asked softly, a smile playing on her lips.

He cocked a
defiant eyebrow. “No,” he said firmly. “Well, maybe. Why? Do you have anything
to say about it?”

“Maybe,” she
reached out and wrapped her arms around his narrow waist, gazing up into his
obsidian eyes. “When is this all supposed to take place?”

He was trying to
be firm but felt himself melting in the grip of her gaze. “I’m thinking that
March would be good,” he told her. “My great-grandparents were married on March
twenty-fourth and they were married for sixty-seven years. I think that’s a
lucky date.”

She nodded,
still suppressing a knowing smile. “I see,” she said. “I don’t suppose I have
anything to say about all of this, right?”

“No.”

“Really?”

He faltered. “If
you want to,” he corrected himself. “What do you have to say about it?”

She reached up
and patted his stubbled cheek. “That I love you very much,” she murmured. “And
I want the biggest diamond you can find.”

He pretended to
be full of regret when the fact was that he was elated. “Oh, God,” he groaned.
“I knew it. You’re only after me for my money.”

“And you’re only
after me for my Egyptian artifacts.”

“That’s
not
true,”
he insisted. “Well, maybe for the sarcophagus of Hetep-Ankh-Sheri, but the rest
of it can take second priority behind you.”

“Ugh,” she rolled
her eyes at him and pulled from his grip, moving back towards the bedroom.
“You’re impossible.”

“No, I’m not,”
he kissed her loudly on each cheek. “But I can’t live without those dimples.
They drive me mad.”

She batted at
him, giggling as she went into the bedroom. He grinned as he watched her go.

“Can I at least
introduce you from now on as my fiancée?” he called after her.

Her head
suddenly appeared in the doorway. “Not until you slap that big diamond on my
finger.”

He laughed as he
followed her in to the bedroom. “What if I can’t find one?”

“Then you’re out
of luck, buddy. I’ll go find someone who can.”

He stepped
inside the doorway, looking at her as she dug into her suitcases. “But that’s
just cruel,” he told her.  “Does a piece of crystallized carbon mean more to
you than I do?”

She threw a
pillow and hit him in the face.

November 26,
1922

            We
explored several ancient tombs today.  The ancients communicated with pictures
called hieroglyphs.  I took a try at writing them.  What a marvelous and
beautiful way to communicate, as they are both words and art!

            ~ FS

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Cairo Museum
was a massive building built in 1891, housing the world’s finest collection of
Egyptian Antiquities.  It was also extremely busy by mid-morning as Fox and
Morgan’s taxi pulled up to the curb.

The day was
bright and warm.  Fox climbed out of the taxi first, carrying a photocopy of
the papyrus that they had made at the hotel.  He extended his hand to Morgan,
who stepped out behind him; she was dressed in tight jeans, sandals with a four
inch heel, and a short-sleeved top that, although it didn’t show cleavage or
too much skin, still clung to every curve of her torso.  Only a dead man
wouldn’t have noticed her fabulous body and Fox was no exception. 

He had noticed
it from the onset, even going so far as to suggest she might want to wear
something a little less flattering, but she had made a face at him and, not
wanting a fight on his hands, he backed off.  Truth was, he had absolutely no
problem with the shirt but knew that conservatives Muslims would. When he
explained it to her that way, she took him seriously and wrapped a matching
scarf around her neck, looking stylish yet still covering up somewhat. 
Collecting her giant designer purse with Fanny’s journal safely inside, she was
ready to go. Satisfied and damn proud to have such a gorgeous woman on his arm,
Fox took her hand possessively as they made their way towards the museum.

Morgan pulled
out her digital camera as they approached the museum, snapping several shots,
including a few of Fox, standing in front of the museum.  He took her hand
again as they went in, entering the old halls that smelled of all things
timeless and Egyptian.  As Morgan stood in the middle of the lobby and snapped
away with her camera, Fox went to the Information kiosk and asked for Dr.
el-Shabheen.  

As the
information clerk got on the phone, he turned to watch Morgan shoot pictures. 
He found himself inspecting her from head to toe.  Everything about her was
fluid and lovely. When she finally put the camera away and began walking
towards him, he was giddy with delight.

“Can we look
around a little while we’re here?” she asked. “I’d love to see some of it.”

He nodded.
“Sure,” he replied. “In fact, I’d like to see the collection myself. It’s been
years since I’ve been here and they change out pieces from time to time.”

She looked at
him. “As an Egyptologist, surely you must have spent a lot of time here when
you were working for your degree.”

He shrugged. “My
time was spent on two digs,” he told her. “One of them was far south, almost to
Aswan, and another was at Saqqara.  I didn’t spend a lot of time in the
museum.”

“Do you miss
digging out in the field?”

His gaze moved
over the heights and architecture of the museum. “I do,” he admitted. “It took
me six years to get my doctorate and out of those years, I spent three seasons
digging in Egypt.  After I graduated, I spent four years in various other
pursuits, which took me out of digging entirely, and then I found my way to the
museum. I’ve sort of lost touch with the field work.”

“But you must
have been on digs since then,” she persisted.

He nodded. “When
I first joined the museum staff, I spent three seasons on a dig that the museum
sponsored in Edfu. I was in charge of clearing a temple dedicated to Horus.  In
fact, I’m directly responsible for several of the artifacts in the Bolton’s
Egyptian collection from the Edfu dig.”

She gazed up at
him, her brown eyes soft and bright. “You’ve lived quite a life,” she
commented. “I can’t say I’ve done anything quite so exciting.”

He put his arm
around her, giving her a squeeze. “That is quite possibly about to change.”