Thieves Like Us by Robert Edmond Alter

Author:Robert Edmond Alter [Edmond Alter, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2017-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

11

“YOU’VE found something.”

She made it more of a statement than a question, but I wasn’t that positive about it.

“Yeah. But it comes with problems.”

“Such as?”

“Well, it’s a pitfall in a long keyhole passage and right now it’s the only way we have to reach the inner tomb. We’ve boarded the shaft over with planks and it’s perfectly safe to use — as long as the planks stay right where they are.”

Her teeth flashed in the dark.

“But if the planks were moved —”

I said, “Uh-huh. All I have to do is get on the gallery side of the shaft and push the planks back toward the stairs so that my end will barely be resting on the edge. Then, when some poor unwary bastard comes crawling along the passage from the hall—zowie!”

“Darling, you’re beautiful! I knew you would come up with something good.”

“Um. But like I say, there’s problems.”

“Well, tell me.”

“Too many people. Any one of them might take the spill. Doc, Jeff, Anne, Hassan —”

“Then wait. Wait for the right time. Some time when you and Farley are alone in there. It’s bound to happen sooner or later. You mustn’t chance it when the others are around.”

“That’s one of the problems, Greta. I can’t wait too long. Papa’s got the boys pounding out a hole between the gallery and the hall. Once they get that open there won’t be any reason for us to use the tunnel over the well.”

Greta rolled over on the blanket, onto her stomach. Her bare derrière was a pale glowing mound in the crepuscular moonlight. I put my hand on it and worked my fingers in. She let out her breath in an open-mouthed sigh and made her hips squirm, a little, grinding her groin into the blanket and the firm sand under it.

“Don’t, Dave. I’m trying to think.”

I removed my hand and tried to think too. It didn’t work so well for me.

“What’s the schedule for tomorrow?” she asked.

“Well, the boys will be working in the gallery. That’s all right. Jeff will either be wandering around in the tomb taking pictures or stick in camp and develop what he’s already got. There’s a good chance of the latter. Anne, I’m sure, will stay in camp and work on her notes because we’re not going any deeper into the tomb tomorrow.”

“Why not?”

“Because Papa and I have to dope the bed and chairs we found with preservative. That was one of the stipulations of the concession: Farley is responsible for the preservation of all artifacts found in the tomb.”

“All right. What about Doc and Hassan?”

“Hassan, you can bet your little thing, will be standing over us making sure we do everything according to regulation. That’s his job. I don’t know about Doc. He’ll probably wander around reading glyphs.”

“It sounds better all the time. You don’t have to worry about the boys or sweet little Anne, and probably not about Jeff either. All you have to do is wait for the right moment. A time when Doc is either out of the tomb or in some other part of it.

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