"What is it?" the old woman asked sharply.
"It's nothing, really - at least I don't suppose so - but I thought I'd just like to ask -"
Esa cut her short. "Come in, then; come in.
And you -" she tapped the little black slave girl, who was threading beads, on the shoulder with her stick - "go to the kitchen.
Get me some olives - and make me a drink of pomegranate juice."
The little girl ran off, and Esa beckoned Henet impatiently.
"It's just this, Esa."
Esa peered down at the article Henet was holding out to her.
It was a small jewel box with a sliding lid, the top fastened with two buttons.
"What about it?"
"It's hers.
And I found it now - in her room."
"Who are you talking about?
Satipy?"
"No, no, Esa.
The other."
"Nofret, you mean?
What of it?"
"All her jewels and her toilet vases and her perfume jars - everything - was buried with her."
Esa twirled the string from the buttons and opened the box.
In it was a string of small camelian beads and half of a green glazed amulet which had been broken in two.
"Pooh," said Esa. "Nothing much here.
It must have been overlooked."
"The embalmers' men took everything away."
"Embalmers' men aren't any more reliable than anyone else.
They forgot this."
"I tell you, Esa - this wasn't in the room when last I looked in."
Esa looked up sharply at Henet.
"What are you trying to make out?
That Nofret has come back from the Underworld and is here in the house?
You're not really a fool, Henet, though you sometimes like to pretend you're one.
What pleasure do you get from spreading these silly magical tales?"
Henet was shaking her head portentously.
"We all know what happened to Satipy - and why!"
"Maybe we do," said Esa.
"And maybe some of us knew it before!
Eh, Henet?
I've always had an idea you knew more about how Nofret came to her death than the rest of us."
"Oh, Esa, surely you wouldn't think for a moment -"
Esa cut her short. "What wouldn't I think?
I'm not afraid of thinking, Henet.
I've seen Satipy creeping about the house for the last two months looking frightened to death - and it's occurred to me since yesterday that someone might have known what she'd done to Nofret, and that that someone might have been holding the knowledge over her head - threatening maybe to tell Yahmose - or Imhotep himself -"
Henet burst into a shrill clamor of protestations and exclamations.
Esa closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
"I don't suppose for a moment you'd ever admit you did such a thing.
I'm not expecting you to."
"Why should I?
That's what I ask you - why should I?"
"I've not the least idea," said Esa.
"You do a lot of things, Henet, for which I've never been able to find a satisfactory reason."