She would see only one simple thing - not various possibilities or probabilities, and since she did not want Sobek to die, it would never occur to her that he might come back unexpectedly."
"And now Sobek is dead and Yahmose is living!
How terrible that must be for her if what you suggest is true."
"It is the kind of thing that happens to you when you are stupid," said Esa.
"Things go entirely differently from the way you planned them."
She paused and then went on:
"And now we come to Kameni."
"Kameni?"
Renisenb felt it necessary to say the word quietly and without protest.
Once again she was uncomfortably aware of Hori's eyes on her.
"Yes, we cannot exclude Kameni.
He has no known motive for injuring us - but then what do we really know of him?
He comes from the north - from the same part of Egypt as Nofret.
He helped her - willingly or unwillingly, who can say? - to turn Imhotep's heart against the children that had been born to him.
I have watched him sometimes and in truth I can make little of him.
He seems to me, on the whole, a commonplace young man with a certain shrewdness of mind, and also, besides being handsome, with a certain something that draws after him the eyes of women.
Yes, women will always like Kameni and yet I think - I may be wrong - that he is not one of those who have a real hold on their hearts and minds.
He seems always gay and lighthearted and he showed no great concern at the time of Nofret's death.
"But all this is outward seeming.
Who can tell what goes on in the human heart?
A determined man could easily play a part... Does Kameni in reality passionately resent Nofret's death, and does he seek to exact revenge for it?
Since Satipy killed Nofret, must Yahmose, her husband, also die?
Yes, and Sobek too, who threatened her - and perhaps Kait, who persecuted her in petty ways, and Ipy, who also hated her?
It seems fantastic, but who can tell?"
Esa paused. She looked at Hori.
"Who can tell, Esa?"
Esa peered at him shrewdly.
"Perhaps you can tell, Hori?
You think you know, do you not?"
Hori was silent for a moment, then he said:
"I have an idea of my own, yes, as to who poisoned that wine and why - but it is not as yet very clear - and indeed I do not see -" He paused for a minute, frowning, then shook his head.
"No, I could make no definite accusation."
"We talk only suspicion here.
Go on, Hori, speak."
Hori shook his head.
"No, Esa.
It is only a nebulous thought... And if it were true, then it is better for you not to know.
The knowledge might be dangerous.
And the same applies to Renisenb."
"Then the knowledge is dangerous to you, too, Hori?"
"Yes, it is dangerous... I think, Esa, that we are all in danger - though Renisenb, perhaps, least."
Esa looked at him for some time without speaking.
"I would give a great deal," she said at last, "to know what is in your mind."
Hori did not reply directly.
He said, after a moment or two during which he seemed to be thinking:
"The only clue to what is in people's minds is in their behavior.
If a man behaves strangely, oddly, is not himself -"
"Then you suspect him?" asked Renisenb.
"No," said Hori. "That is just what I mean.
A man whose mind is evil and whose intentions are evil is conscious of that fact and he knows that he must conceal it at all costs.